Brisbane Fisheyed and Solarized

Merry Christmas!

This picture was taken from the balcony with a fisheye lens. I then transformed it into rectangular coordinates and ran it through a solarizing filter. The fisheye lens was my Christmas present to myself.

Pop Art Lou

This week we went to see the Andy Warhol show here in Brisbane. Andy created a pop art style using silk screen and vivid colors. His Marilyn Monroe pictures are icons. He also loved television.

With a digital camera and software it is pretty easy to generate pop, although I am not sure it is art. Here is "Lou on a Red Couch" converted to pop art. Since Andy liked television, I've animated it too. Click on Lou and you can see him change colors in true '60s style.

Anhinga Catches Fish

Anhinga, Round One

Today I went for a walk along the river at lunch, needing to just get out and clear my head of work. For the first time in I don't know how long, I didn't take my camera. It was cloudy, I was just taking a short walk, and couldn't be bothered.

As I walked along, an anhinga popped up about 10 feet out in the river with a small fish speared in it's bill. Anhinga have a body a bit larger than a duck that floats very low in the water. Their neck is like a snake and the beak is needle shaped and about 3" long. The silvery fish, about the length of the bird's beak, was speared cleanly through the middle of the body.

The anhinga worked it around, popped it up in the air, and swallowed it on the way down. He then smoothly dived back under the water looking for new fish. I don't know if I'll ever get to see that again so close up. Next time I'll have a camera.

Anhinga, Round Two

On the way home, I saw another anhinga, this time in a tree in the mangrove. I had my camera this time but having a camera is of limited use if you can't use it properly. The light was low and I had left a polarizing filter on from the last time I used it. Having a polarizing filter on your lens in low light is like wearing sunglasses when it gets dark. Needless to say the pictures aren't too good. All this despite the fact that I got down in the mangrove to take the picture wearing my dress shoes.

Oh well, if you want to see what an anhinga looks like, here is a picture I pasted behind Yebisu a while back: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v661/fmilburn/?action=view&current=FHM_8915Anhinga.jpg

This fine fellow was sitting on the pelican statue on the piling in the river below where we live.

Ant Down Under

This ant is surveying his kingdom. He is about 5/16 of an inch long (8 mm).

I am the king of the world!

Angel Girls on Queen Street

There is almost always something interesting on Queen Street. I don't know exactly what these two were doing but they were getting attention as they strolled along. Click on the picture and look at the expression of the girl in the background on the right.

Longfinned Eel (Anguilla reinhardtii)

I spotted this eel in the duck pond of the botanical gardens and believe him to be a Longfinned Eel, one that is found along the eastern coast of Australia. Handsome fellow, isn't he? He is about a meter long.

V=9863

CBD from Kangaroo Point

This is a view at dusk from on top of the bluffs at Kangaroo Point where the bats cross over to the park.

More Bats

Flying bats are hard to photograph - they are moving fairly fast, they are moderately far away, they are black, and they only fly at night. Moving black things are hard to photograph at night. But tonight we went up to the place on the bluff at Kangaroo Point where they cross the river to the park. There are thousands of them. This is the best picture I got, taken right at dusk. Click on him and you can see some detail in his wings. I like his pointy little ears.

I've been taking a fair number of bird pictures and have pasted some of them behind Yebisu.

Skippy at the Golf Course

Today I played golf at a golf course that had a lot of kangaroos. These three were lining up to carry bags but we rented carts instead of getting a caddy. They were thick though. I hit about a 300 yard drive right into a bunch of them and when I yelled "fore!" they all looked up, covered their heads, and gave me a look like I was the 9th yahoo that day to hit into them.

We saw another python today. He was full length beside the walk along the river just down from the apartment. I was able to pace out his length - right at 10'. It was the second time I had seen one in that area.

Howse Boat 4 Sale

Tell me this isn't good engineering, not to mention nice design. I like the way the colors of the trailor have been perfectly coordinated with the pontoons. At first I thought it was a store bought boat but when I saw all the custom features I knew this had to be the work of a home craftsman.

This is so well done I began to wonder if maybe we don't have relations here in Australia. For sure, you would be proud to have this craftsman as family.

Carpet Python (Morelia spilota)

This python was basking in the sun just next to the walkway through the park at the bottom of the cliffs on Kangaroo Point. I am no snake expert but believe it to be a carpet python. If you are good at snake identification, post me a note below.

It is easy to overestimate the size of a large snake but this one was on the order of 3 meters (10 feet). The head shot at left was taken from a distance of about two feet. He was very still while I photographed him except when I accidently moved the post beside him and he raised his head and tasted the air around him with his tongue.

Pythons are not poisonous although they can be agressive feeders I understand. They are helpful by ridding us of mice, rats, and other such pests. There are lots of stories around here of pythons getting into houses - especially the old Queenslander style. We haven't spotted any in the apartment yet :-)

Carpet Python (Morelia spilota)

Full body shot of python next to walkway on Kangaroo Point.

Balloon Man

As I have written before, there are lots of street performers in Brisbane. This fellow makes balloon animals on Queen Street. Just after I made this photograph he sold a balloon dog to a little girl with her father.

Digeridoo

This aborigine man is playing the digeridoo on Queen Street just up the street from the baloon man. If you want to know more about the digeridoo here is a site: http://www.didgeswedoo.com.au/digeridoo.html