Simon says blog

Sandown V8Supercars

2011-11-27T01:09:00.001+11:00

Last weekend my son (Bradley) and I went along to Sandown Raceway to watch the V8Supercars.
Of course I had to take my Nikon D5100 and got some nice pics using the 55-300 zoom lens.

You can check out more of my Sandown pics on Flickr

Gippsland

2011-10-05T08:04:00.000+11:00

We recently had a family get-away to Gippsland, and of course I had to take the DSLR along. I'm really happy with some of the photos I took while we were away, here's some of my favourites.

GPS camera attachment

2011-09-18T02:56:00.000+10:00

I've recently bought a GPS attachment for my Nikon D5100 from ebay. Sure its not a Genuine Nikon product, but it's about a quarter of the price.

First impressions are that it is very slow (several minutes) to get an accurate GPS position, and before it does it can record old info to the Exif data of photos taken. When I turned the camera on today, for the first few minutes (and 30 odd photos I took of kangaroos in a field), it actually recorded GPS data from my front yard that it got from test shots taken the day before.

Anyway, now I've got another excuse to get out and about taking more "test" photos.

Night Sky Photography

2011-09-04T14:52:00.001+10:00

The latest subject in my DSLR learning curve was the night sky, as I continue to play with long exposures.

With the neigbour's roof and TV antenna at the bottom foreground for perspective, this was my best shot from about 45 minutes in the back yard. It's a 30 second exposure with my Nikon D5100.

Conflicting Google Accounts

2011-09-01T23:17:00.000+10:00

Well, it's taken almost all night, but I've finally resolved my problem of "conflicting" Google accounts. The conflict was a result of originally opening Blogger and You-Tube accounts using a Google-apps account, rather than a regular Google or Gmail account. I've had to open a new account, but at least my mail, blogs and videos can now all co-exist without getting in each other's way!

With that all sorted, hopefully you'll see a few more blog posts now!

Nikon D5100

2011-08-23T23:28:00.000+10:00

Well I finally entered the world of DSLR photography when my lovely wife got me a Nikon D5100 dual lens kit for my birthday back in June.

For the past couple of months, in-between work and kids, I've been learning my way 'round this great camera. Being a big fan of Flickr.com, I've posted lots of pics online (check out my photostream). Last weekend I dug out the old tri-pod and thought I'd try my hand at some long exposure night shots, and I'm very happy with the result.

I plan to do more photography, and blogs, as we head into Summer, so watch this space...

My photo on Planet Earth blog

2011-01-28T23:11:00.000+11:00

It's nice when strangers like my photos.

In October 2009 I told you about one of my photos (showing motorbikes on their way to Phillip Island for the Grand Prix) appearing on the blog site A PHOTO A DAY FROM PLANET EARTH.

From time-to-time I will add photos to their flickr group, and this week they chose my photo of the Cape Schanck Lighthouse to publish on the site.

Steamrail Shuttles

2010-05-01T14:02:00.000+10:00

Last weekend, steam train "shuttles" were running between Berwick and Pakenham. I took the kids for a ride in the morning and then spent a few hours in the afternoon photographing the old train (and trying to keep up with it).

I've posted lots of photos on flickr;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smjb/sets/72157623926847744/

Mornington photos

2010-04-04T17:09:00.000+10:00

I spent a couple of hours yesterday taking some nice scenic pics of my old home town, Mornington.
Check out the pictures on my flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smjb/sets/72157623635802643/detail/

Windows 7 RC expires

2010-03-07T15:44:00.002+11:00

After running surprisingly well on the (free) Windows 7 Release Canditate, it looks like this old x-work PC will be going back to Linux real soon.

The kids and Santa

2009-11-22T15:19:00.000+11:00

Yes it's that time of year again - Christmas.

This year will be a little different for us as Santa will have an extra little person to bring gifts for, so we took Karla and the boys to Fountain Gate to meet with Santa...

Remake of "V"

2009-11-04T17:18:00.000+11:00

This re-make of the 80's mini series "V" looks like it could be pretty good. Premiered in US this week, hopefully will be on Oz tv soon.

Photo a day from planet earth

2009-10-25T12:58:00.002+11:00

Last week I blogged about taking Brad down to Tooradin to watch the bikes heading to Phillip Island for the Grand Prix.
One of my photos from that morning have been used on the photo blog site "A photo a day from planet Earth".

iPhone blogging

2009-10-24T13:11:00.004+11:00

Testing out a new iPone app for posting blogs from my phone.

I can even add photos direct from the phone.
This is Brad and Karla as seen from my spot on the couch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Motorbikes run to Phillip Island

2009-10-17T23:28:00.000+11:00

The last few years at Phillip Island MotoGP time, we've gone to Cranbourne to see hundreds of Harleys, and every other make of motorcycle, get waved off on their way down to Phillip Island for the Grand Prix.

The trouble with this is that everyone else has the same idea.

This year, I took Bradley to Tooradin, which is only about 15 minutes out of Cranbourne, to beat the crowd. We just pulled up in the service lane of the Main Street and watched the hundreds of bikes roar through under police escort.

These photos, and more, along with others from the last few years, can be found on our flickr.com set.

Toy Story 3

2009-10-15T09:21:00.000+11:00

Toy Story 3 Preview...

iPhone

2009-10-09T23:31:00.003+11:00

It might sound geeky, but Mandy and I have just upgraded out mobiles to the Apple iPhone 3GS.

We're still finding, and experimenting with all the apps available on iTunes, and learning how to drive the phones them selves, but overall we reckon the iPhone is pretty cool.

2009-09-26T23:58:00.001+10:00

Even though I was tipping St Kilda to win today's AFL Grandfinal, I was glad to see a close game and Geelong were deserved winners.

I've even written a couple of blog posts over at simonsweblinks.com

Blog Imports

2009-09-26T03:15:00.000+10:00

I've been able to import entries from my earlier Blogger site to this one, so any entries prior to August 2009 originally appeared on simonyeo70.blogspot.com

At this stage I haven't been able to import my much older posts at Wordpress.

Below are some of my favourite blog entries from my old Wordpress blog, hopefull I'll be able to import them here at a later date.

Baby Karla, Ultrasound, Josh the photographer

New photos on Flickr

2009-09-16T16:46:00.001+10:00

I've just uploaded a heap of new photos to Flickr, mostly of Baby Karla as she grows so quick!

"Web Links" blog

2009-09-13T01:11:00.001+10:00

I've just started a "Web Links" blog, with the intention of posting regular links to interesting stuff on the World Wide Web.

Check it out... www.simonsweblinks.com

“Shine” TV Commercials partly shot at kids school

2009-09-06T19:49:00.001+10:00

The YouTube clips below are TV commercials partly shot at our kid’s school

Windows Live Writer

2009-09-02T20:50:00.001+10:00

This is just a quick post to check out Windows Live Writer to post blogs rather than the blogger web site.

Bradley's first trip to the MCG

2009-08-31T18:08:00.006+10:00

Sometimes kids go to the football and have had enough by quarter time. This wasn't going to be an issue when I took Bradley for his first live AFL match at the MCG. Why not? Well, due to some car parking issues (no spots = long walk) we didn't make it to our seats until quarter time!

The three quarters of the round 22 Essendon V Hawthorn match were very exciting and Bradley certainly didn't loose interest. We were both rapt to see the Bombers come from behind and beat Hawthorn for a spot in the finals.

Check out more photos on flickr.

Ashes almost lost

2009-08-22T01:11:00.002+10:00

The Aussies are looking very ordinary in the 5th and final cricket test match in England. At the time of writing the Australia first innings score card is 7 out for 117, with only two batsmen making double figures so far. What's going on??!!!