"In the beginning"

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The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Old time photography.

A couple of months ago, while I was in SA I bought a new printer/scanner, its a Canon MP980 for anyone who is interested in such details.
I bought this printer with a specific task in mind, back in my early days of photography, I, like many others used mainly "slide" film the images really came alive when projected onto a screen, again like many others I have had these "slides" resting securely, but un-viewed,in trays and boxes for many years.
The MP980 has a neat ability allowing the conversion of the slides into digital images which can be stored on my computer.... where they will sit similarly un-viewed no doubt for many years to come, be that as it may I am having fun (is it possible to have tedious fun??) transferring them to digital format.
We are not talking about a few slides here folks, we are talking about several thousand, until the task is finished I don't have an accurate count, suffice to say, the task will take several more weeks I'm sure.
The fun part of the exercise comes from seeing again images I haven't seen for up to twenty years... from one of my different lifetimes all those years ago.
The few samples I am posting here will just give some idea of what took my interest 20 to 30 years ago, many of the same things still do !!!

There is some colour correction needed on some of these photos to combat the ravages of time...
Please click on photos to enbiggen.


Tea growing at "Nerada Tea" in North Queensland. (A variety of the Camellia family)


A giant burnt out Tingle tree in SW of WA serving as a garage for our Toyota Ute.

An old saw pit in NSW, a dirty job if you got the bottom position.

Giant buttress roots of a Fig tree in Qld rain forest.

A thing of beauty provided by Nature free of charge.

We did it pretty rough on our first visit to Central Australia

A giant "Gum Nut" just starting to open.

The top has popped of to reveal the flower.

A huge Boab Tree, this one is hollow inside and provided a roadside "lockup" for early troopers when on patrol in the area. (near Derby, WA)

Albert Natmajira the Aboriginal painter made this pair of Ghost Gums world famous.

One of the rail motors built on an Albion truck chassis used on the Gulflander railway in the NT.

Another one of Natures wonders, the seed head of a native grass.

Kangaroo Paw, just one of thousands of the wildflowers found in WA.

A beautiful Orchid at a nursery in North Queensland.

This one was a complete accident... I had taken a photo of the sunset as we approached Melbourne on one of the many trips we did between Vic and Qld, when putting the camera away I accidentally knocked the switch "double exposure" the next photo I took was of a National Trust property "Como House" in Melbourne.... I love my "mistake"

9 comments:

Dave said...

Wow, there are some outstanding photos there Peter!!!!

I hope you save them on CD or DVD so they last.

I can't wait to see more!

Cliff said...

All stuff you can't get a glimpse of here in the states. Beautiful flowers.
Yes the mistake with the double e was great.
You and I are old enough to remember that as a problem with most cameras. We never had one that would do it on command tho.
I loved the taser story below. I couldn't go to sleep knowing Marilyn had one of those.

willowtree said...

Brilliant.

Merle said...

Hi Peter ~~ So you have discovered a new way to fill in your time!! Very
nice too, I likked the Two Trees best and the Thing of Beauty. Is it
driftwood? Would you please e mail as soon as you hear how Rex is
tomorrow. I got a nice e mail from Vick yesterday, but it is one less to contact. Take care, Love, Merle.

Christina said...

My favorite picture is the last one - the mistake!

Jack K. said...

Great photos.

I just love the "mistake".

Pamela said...

this was a pleasure post m'dear friend!!

Jeanette said...

Gday Peter,Now you have new printer and discovered this program we might see more pics of your trip around Oz..Love the mistake with Como house..
.I tryed this out
with a lot of Negatives ive found stored away with some of my old photo's when I first bought my cannon MP810 a couple of years ago, but unfortunately a lot come up very pink..and havent tryed since to alter any.awww well maybe one day ill try again.

Walker said...

If I sawe a bit of what you take pictures of people wouldn't be able to find me because I'd be lost out there looking