A Self Portrait...or Two...

Gesh...probably the hardest thing that any woman and maybe even any male for that matter, has to do is take their own picture. I found it difficult to get my mind around and then to figure out how to do it without showing any of my "ugly" bits...and I'm not talking about the private parts here!

So, another challenge and seeing as this time, I have not got a willing subject of the human variety, I have bit the bullet, or in this case, put the camera on a tripod and taken some photos of myself...

After an initial kind of "what the heck am I doing?" reaction, I came up with the rather, (well I thought so) brilliant idea of dressing up for the camera. I've got plenty of costumes! So, I had ideas for Cowgirl Tam, Pilot Tam, Biker Tam...you get the picture...

Cowgirl Tam was NOT all that good...didn't quite get what I wanted there...so you may not see any of those shots. There were two versions of Pilot Tam...One with a pilot helmet and a green military style jacket, the other with the classic sheepskin jacket, a Pratt & Whitney cap and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Now, where on earth would I get such props you wonder! Not...Pilot Tam v1 was not really very good because of the focus issue and a big white helmet, I'll probably give that one another go at a later date. Pilot Tam v2 was far better.

Anyway...after lots of hits and miss, the hardest part was actually setting up the camera. Time and again I had to go back and try to get the focus right. In the end, I figured out to leave it focused on a spot and move myself closer or further away.

The point of all this?

Well, the challenge is for lighting. So, in effect, I had to set up my own little photography studio and use some reflected lighting. Lighting is something I get. I love using any props or lights for more lighting. Lighting is what I did as a teenager for theatre. And if it hadn't been for Teen Ranch, I'd probably still be sitting in the dark somewhere, doing the lighting! So, lighting this was easy for me.

Although an overcast day outside, there was still a very nice bit of light coming in through the window...actually, a window that I'd like to block the light out of! Maybe not now I've been playing around with self portraits! And with a big piece of white card, I managed to get some good light onto the side of me that would have been in shadow.

Without further ado...here are the results...the one's I'm happy with.




If you look closely, you'll see the reflection off the white card in the sunglasses and in the next one, its quite clear in the helmet visor.



So, as much as I'm serious in these photos, there were one or two where I tried laughing but its pretty hard to laugh at yourself when the camera is loudly counting down the seconds! I had put on a funny dvd on the tv and turned it up loud but I couldn't really hear it over the beeping camera and the airconditioning!

Anyway, don't be surprised to see me revisit the self portrait. I have to admit, after I managed to get over myself, I had a bit of fun and am enjoying the results. I hope you do too.

Long Time No See...

Damn blogger...

Sorry if you've left comments recently and they've not been published. In order to reduce the spam problem, I moderate the comments before publishing them. It appears the last lot got eaten by some bug in the system! Sorry folks! But I did get to see that you'd left me some comments! Thankyou!

Yes, I've been a bit busy of late. A few pictures will tell a thousand words I'm sure.

The first one is of a joey that was thrust into my life by her mother who committed suicide on the side of my car one night a few weeks ago. She's doing very well and even hops around after me...well, bounces off things and hops after me! She's quite the feeder and is doing well with weight for age I think.



We've had a fairly mild winter but it has had its share of frosts too...The new back deck has even had a frost on it. Reminded me of the snow!



I'll be back soon...this time I promise!

To Ride A Bike is to Ride the Sky...

Well, I've kind of plagarised that saying. It should say to Ride A Horse is to Ride the Sky! But, a bike is up there with riding horses and I've done both!

Putting some photo's away the other day, I happened across one very tiny photo of myself that my mother had passed onto me. I was photographed sitting up on a dirt bike, gripping the handle bars, my feet barely touching the pegs at all of about 5 years of age. Great photo! I can actually remember riding that same bike a few years later all by myself after dad taught me. It wasn't real fast and wasn't all that big a bike but I had fun roaring around on it out at a friends farm near Sofala in NSW.

Now, I am riding that big bike in the above photo. Who'd have thought!? For those of you not in the know, that is a Ducati 900ss. A 1998 model to be precise. The newly reinvented fuel injected model as opposed to carburetted. I could go on but I'd bore the non bike folk out there!

I went out riding again the other day and took that picture. The picture was taken on my crappy camera phone but it speaks volumes to me about riding and the country we live in. It's an awesome photo that speaks of the power and majesty of the bike and the majesty of the beautiful country we live in, even if it is gripped by the worst drought on record. Just look at that sky! It's not called "Big Sky Country" out here for nothing!

I hadn't been out for ages. What with work, school holidays, a trip to Sydney, not to mention a broken part on the bike (how typical for a Duke!) that needed fixing, stopping me from doing it. When I finally got a chance to go, I took my time and enjoyed the experience.

On a Ducati forum, there was a thread started about How Can You Explain Why You Ride A Ducati. Some of the replys were ones that had me nodding my own head in agreeance. There are many reasons why but one of the good ones was because the Ducati chose you not the other way round!

The reason I liked the best however was "Because you ride with your soul and not the throttle." That is what riding a Ducati is. You riding with your soul...

If anyone has in their mind a desire to learn to ride...go and do it. Do it well and do it properly. Learn to ride because you want to ride with your soul...