After completing a bunch of assignments, I finally had some time to get out and take some photos. I had intended to get photos of surfers after last weeks swell so I was armed with my Sigma 70-300mm lens ready for some telephoto shots. However, the beach was flat and the weather was overcast so I gave up on that idea and loaded up c:geo on my phone and found that I was within 50m of a geocache. Whilst looking for the cache I spotted this eastern water dragon watching me and figured this shot is worthy of a POTW, although this isn’t the first time I’ve spotted one of these in the wild. If only Bear Grylls was around…

More to come as the project progresses…

Bit of a delay in the photo of the week lately. Things with uni have been pretty full on and I haven’t had much time to myself to get creative with the camera. This photo represents the hard yakka of studying and the build up of work that accumulates throughout university. Hopefully things should settle down and I’ll get back on track.

Today I got some video of my cousin doing backflips at Glenbrook skatepark. Whilst I was I was using my Pentax KX in video mode for most of the day, I had to get a few shots for photo of the week and I reckon this one is quite awesome! It has been about 3 years since we made our last bmx video and his skills have definitely improved.

Woot woot, I got a new phone. Still working out all the hacks but it’s pretty awesome so far. It has a real nice screen on it and syncs to everything online with all sorts of Android apps and can also  shoot 720p video.

Initial settings provided by TPG in an email after requesting the server configuration details.

Here’s the basic settings for VoIP:

– Interface name: ppp_8_35_1-pppoe_8_35
- Local Selection: AUS
- Priority codec: 1st> G729 (2nd and 3rd should be disabled)
- SIP Proxy: aphone1.tpg.com.au
- SIP Proxy port: 5060
- SIP Proxy Domain: tpg.com.au
- Register Expire Time: 60
- Display Name, VoIP Phone number, Authentication ID: TPG USERNAME
- Authentication Password: TPG PASSWORD
- Incoming PSTN calls to ring on: BOTH
- Differentiating PSTN & VoIP Ring Tone : Enable
- Differentiating PSTN & VoIP Dial Tone :  Enable
- Enable Internal Call – Should be checked
- Enable Phone 1 & 2 Call Waiting – should be ticked
- Phone 1 & 2 Call Forward Feature: disabled
- Signaling and Media Qos: ticked
- Assign Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) Mark: AF43(100110)
- Click on Apply and Save All VoIP Parameters

With these settings my VOIP service did not work. I would experience an engaged signal when making phonecalls to any number yet the router would register with the server correctly.

The major problem here is that aphone1.tpg.com.au does not support the G.729 codec. This took me 3 days to figure out and finally found it mentioned on http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=VOIP_TPG

aphone1.tpg.com.au – This server only support G.723, if your hardware doesn’t support this, contact the help desk and asked to be moved onto another server.

So from this knowledge I tried using aphone6.tpg.com.au but received the following message when making calls.

“Your account balance is too low to place a call. Please visit the www.tpg.com.au website to top up your account.”

It turns out that TPG allocates a VOIP server specific to your account. I phoned them up and got my account switched over to use aphone6.tpg.com.au that support G.729 codec and everything now works how it should.

Screenshots of Billion 7301VGP with TPG VOIP working configuration after changing server.

Kalang Falls is located at Kanangra Walls, passed Jenolan Caves. We had a quick stop at the caves and looked at the Blue Lake, to our surprise we saw a platypus! This is the first time I’ve ever seen one in its natural habitat. A 30km dirt road lead us to Kanangra Walls, there was a short steep track to get down to the falls and after some heavy rain the water was cascading down with a decent flow. After taking about 20 shots of the falls I settled on this one. It would have been nice to have less light to do a longer shutter speed but it wasn’t viable. I settled on this taken at 1/1000th of a second leading to a sharp photo and even managed to capture the rainbow. If only it was summer, the temperature was actually quite cold and it was a windy day but any day is good for an adventure. After the hike back up to the top we did the plateau walk and the view looking back towards the lookout was fantastic. It reminded me of scenes from Jurassic Park.

Taken on an adventure with Ross out near Hanging Rock. The sun was setting just as the moon was rising. I was standing about 50m down the mountain with full zoom giving Ross directions on where to place his hands. I thought it was pretty creative.

The rope on the front deck of the Rivercat taken with the nifty fifty.

Whilst back in the mountains for a break from uni I got some mates to come on a photography adventure into Sydney with the only real purpose to see the  Sydney Morning Heralds 1440 Photos exhibition at the State Library.

We were armed with:

• Pentax K100D Super + SMC Pentax-DAL 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL
• Pentax K-X + SMC Pentax-A 1:2  50mm
• Canon 500D + Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II

To enhance the photography adventure we caught the Ferry from Parramatta. Although it was actually Rydalmere as the water level was too low for the ferry. It was about 50mins to Circular Quay with a better view than what Cityrail could offer.

Once off the ferry we blended in with our DSLR’s, a lot like ninjas. It didn’t feel as awkward to take random photos as about 80% of everyone else in the city was doing the same thing. I used the cloning technique that I had previously learned to create the skateboarding photo and also utilised some HDR techniques for the Centrepoint shot.

The exhibition was held at the State Library. The majority of photos were significant moments captured in time from around the world. A lot of the photos came across as being in the ‘right place at the right time’ but the text detailing each photo was both interesting and sometimes disturbing. As the city lights switched on and the day turned to night it led to some interesting night photos.

We couldn’t go into the city and avoid taking photos of the Harbour Bridge or the Opera House. The 50mm prime lenses came into the spotlight in the lower light conditions.

A long walk to Chinatown led us to an array of restaurants with plenty of Chinese girls trying desperately to coax us into their restaurant. It was slightly annoying getting a menu shoved in your face every 3 metres. The way to deal with them was to simply take a photo of them, they didn’t like this too much. After reviewing some of the menus we were still hesitant on where to go so we consulted to the 20c coin toss. She didn’t like that either, but it was her lucky day and we made our way up for the $16.50 per head banquet that consisted of:

Entree:

• Springs Rolls
• Dim Sims
• Chicken & Corn Soup

Main:

• Satay Chicken
• Mongolian Lamb
• Beef & BBQ

The only thing missing from Chinatown was dessert but we had that covered and took a walk to Darling Harbour to arrive at Pancakes on the Rocks just before closing time to finish the night off.

Actually, there was an old drunk on the train that provided us with Cityrail entertainment for a good half hour that finished the night.

I’ve never really taken photos of flowers because our garden doesn’t have any. Whilst working at the hardware store I took the opportunity of getting some colourful flower photos even though it was a cloudy day. I’ve no idea what type they are but find the various colours interesting.

I’ve had a busy few weeks living on my own. I came across this tutorial and felt inclined to test it out. Quite a simple but effective technique.

Constructed in 1885, the reservoir has a diameter of 20m and a height of 6m with an original capacity of almost 2,000,000 litres. The reservoir was decommissioned in 1990. Source: http://www.hunterwater.com.au/1012.aspx

Photo number #26 wow, that’s halfway through the year since starting this challenge! I was told about this location from another photography enthusiast and it was well worth the effort to take a look. The HDR gives a surreal feel to the pics. Newcastle also gets some great sunsets and when I spotted a few clouds on the horizon I was certain I’d get something good. The sunset shots haven’t been altered, just cropped. Below is an old construction photo I found whilst researching the reservoir.

Since I’ve clocked up about about 40hrs playing Left 4 Dead 2 in 3 months I chose this character resembling the hunter from the game as this weeks photo. It was taken at Supanova that was held at Homebush.

David and I went and had a look at Supanova. I didn’t really know anything about it but figured it’d be an interesting day out that was guaranteed to get some interesting photos. We lined up for nearly 2hrs before getting inside. As you can see from the photos, the only thing interesting was the amount of people who had incredible costumes.

Once inside it was a bit underwhelming. Just a bunch of stalls selling crap you could buy on ebay. There didn’t seem to be any real “event” as such. There was some amateur wrestling going on in the centre.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any famous people, it would have meant waiting around for even longer and I just couldn’t be stuffed. It was a good day out though, saw some crazy costumes, plenty of hot chicks and people geekier than me.

More photos in the gallery –>

I like the perspective in this. Taken at Homebush Olympic park on the way to Supanova.

So this weeks photo is a catchup from last weekend when we were watching Eurovision with popcorn. I’m a bit jumbled up with the pics and didn’t want this photo to get buried as I think it has good memorabilia. I’d also like to throw in a photo of my lamp as building that was a significant achievement this week and you can see how it works on my desk. It’s hard to choose just one photo when it’s been such a busy week but this popcorn shot is something different so it’s locked in for week 23.

There’s also a range of photos that I think are worthy of showing. I had intended last weeks photo to be from the Panthers vs Bulldogs game but the housefire was more interesting.

Project Title: Desk Lamp

Description: To create a 12v L.E.D bar lamp in the shape of the letter T. The bar must be able to rotate 360° horizontal to achieve desired lighting angle and effect. Light can be directed onto the working area or bounced off a backing wall.

Activities (what processes you will use to complete the project)

• Metal Folding
• Metal Rolling
• Metal Lathing
• Milling machine
• Aluminium welding
• Eletrical Soldering

Download the Portfolio

Another uni project to add to the list:

• The Chocolate Train
• Food Dehydrator
• LED Desk Lamp

We were watching an episode of Doctor Who when we started hearing sirens. 1 cop, 2 ambos, 3 fire trucks and a police rescue truck went flying passed our house and I had to go find out what was going on. I felt kind of bad taking these photos but at the same time I felt like a newspaper photographer getting in on the action. I didn’t get too close as there were plenty of emergency service people doing their thing but took this shot at the start of the street capturing the smoke and lights.