You call that creative?

As some of you may now, I entered photos into Canon photo5 contest, run by Canon Australia.

The premise of the contest was as follows - they mailed you a set of 5 items, which were a cardboard box, (4x4x4" approx), a red balloon, a piece of chalk (I got yellow), 10 1-inch diameter yellow dot sticker, and maybe 3x3 ft sheet of blue cellophane.

They goal was then to submit the most creative photos, 5 total, one with each of the items. I would like to repeat, the creativity aspect was key, and was highlighted extensively.

The finalists, top 10 for each object category, were posted today. None of my shots made it. I'm disappointed, yes, but much more so by the crappiness of the photos that were chosen than by my photos not making it. Seriously, some of the photos (balloon #1940, for example) have no creative merit whatsoever.

Sour grapes? See for yourself (hideous hard-to-use Flash warning): http://www.canon.com.au/photo5/gallery/default.aspx

My photos are here. Once again, not trying to say mine should've been in the final, but rather that they could do far better than they did.

Just a photo

Gear: Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D), Canon 50 mm f/1.8 II
Postprocessing: Levels, Channel Mixer, Dodge/Burn/Clone, Contrast, Unsharp Mask

Look what I have created

One skills that is not particularly well enhanced by working at Google MV is cooking. When you get 3 awesome meals a day, the motivation to cook is definitely lacking. So, when one finds oneself in an office that doesn't serve dinner for a change, one starts to learn more of this cooking business they speak of :)



Thanks Matt for the recipe.

And yes, I know many of you guys can cook just fine. I, however, have never really gotten into it. So, progress.

Going native

All of these are from Koala Park in West Pennant Hills, abotu 20 km out of Sydney.

Look, an awake koala (awwww):


The usual state of a koala (sleeping 20+ hours per day):



The crowd pleaser, feeding the 'roos:



What do they eat you ask? Cheerios. I kid you not. I think the premise is, if you buy a kid some kangaroo food, and they decide to try it themselves, no one is worse for the wear.

Moving on to more interesting things, like results of nuclear experiment induced mutations. Part one looks like a cross between a kiwi bird and a porcupine (part 2 is a platypus, which is a cross between a duck and a beaver, not pictured here).



That is an Echidna. E-what? Echidna.

Oh, and how's that for a chicken?



I would NOT want to mess with that chicken. That chicken looks like it preys on small animals, like kangaroos or something.

Come to Australia...where you just might get eaten by a chicken :)

Sculpture by the sea, or, there is a spoon

There is a nice 6 km (4 mi) walk in Sydney, connecting the world-famous Bondi beach to the beaches further south via a seaside path, ending at a quieter Coogee beach. It's named, with stunning creativity, Coogee to Bondi Walk. A nice walk any time, it was particularly interesting this weekend due to Sculpture by the Sea event. A whole bunch (nearly 100) sculpture were mounted along the walk, for enjoyment/amusement of locals and tourists.

The highlight? A most awesome SPOON!



A few other were really neat as well (look closely...):



And we couldn't figure out whether this one was a sculpture or a fruit stand :)



Yes, that is exactly what it looks like, lemons.

A few other pics are on: http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SculptureByTheSea

4-wheeled toys

Haven't posted in a while, have a few updates backlogged. To start things off, a photo set from Sydney Motor Show.

http://picasaweb.google.com/olegace/SydneyMotorShow

Those not interested in cars stay tuned, more updates coming up.