Fishing Village

Driving past Island Bay at sunset it's always hard to resist capturing the scene. On this occasion I only had the iPhone with me, so grabbed a few shots and later worked on this one with the app 'Cool FX'.

'twas the day before Christmas

and all through the town there were buskers and shoppers scurrying around. The air was swirling with bright red pohutukawa needles and the sound of ringing cash registers.... aaah, Christmas in the city.

Street Decoration

Yeah, the Kiwi Christmas Tree is really starting to flourish around Wellington. They seem to be flowering a bit later than usual, which is supposed to indicate a short summer... lucky I'm not superstitious.
I used Camera+ on this image (once again) - cropped to a square, black border and a slight colour boost.

'Tis the Season

Things are definitely taking on a Yuletide feel in Middle Earth. This rather grand tree is in a private backyard.... but the private backyard of Peter Jackson's house!
The 'aurora' look has been caused by a manipulation called 'Purple Haze'.

Au Naturel

There's something wonderfully textural and refreshing about back-lit leaves. I tried a few adjustments on this image but decided that it looked better just as the iPhone captured it!

Life's a...

I think we Wellingtonian's have reached the conclusion that summer has arrived. Barbies are being lit, festive decorations are being strung, and beaches are the place to be.
This shot has been given the lens tilt effect with an app called 'Tilt Shift'.

Ancient superhero

This modern Maori carving was photographed during a visit to Te Papa Museum - given the 'So Emo' filter in Camera+

Refreshment

A handle of Tui with a dear old friend visiting Wellington. Used the app Infinicam to give the image a bit of treatment.

Moon, whale, house

Twilight is often pushing the limit of my iPhone's camera, but it's also one of the nicest times to shoot pictures.
No apps were used and no animals were harmed in the making of this picture.

Vantastic

There's something special about the life of a caravan. I guess it's to do with the fact that it's a portable holiday machine, like Dr Who's tardis, it could pop up anywhere.

Sundown

A bit of the old lens flare as that big yellow thing sneaks down behind a Dr. Seuss tree. Loving the long evenings and distant aromas of BBQs.

A capital day

Wandering around Wellington on a sunny Sunday makes it easy to see why Lonely Planet voted this the "coolest little Capital in the world" - and makes me wonder if I can squeeze any more alliteration into this post.

Fright Night

A local home-owner has done well for the big night - I think they can expect a few trick or treaters tonight.
I 'treated' this shot with the very appropriate filter called So Emo.

Precioussss Internet

Blatant Tolkienism in the title at a time of National joy that The Hobbit movies are to be filmed in NZ (well, lots of happy peeps in Miramar, anyway!).
So, our family of 5 has been without broadband for 24hrs now and are all feeling rather disconnected. Have got a 'thin' lifeline in the iPhone's 3G data reception... but it just ain't the same.
Please Mr Telecom Man put the plug back in!
By the way, how are we supposed to know if our service has been restored...? Oh, yeah, try resetting the modem every 10 mins... sigh...

Boy in the Bubble

He seemed happy enough - trapped inside his own little world. I felt that I should have smashed the shell and let him out, but he was doing his cleaning, so I just left him to it.
I think this is one of those action/attractions that keeps people entertained along the waterfront - hire the bubble and 'walk' on the water of the nearby lagoon.

Encroaching

I found this view outside Welly's new hospital and gave it a bit of the Canera+ treatment. The safety dots on the footpath almost look like someone has laid out some pills in the late-afternoon light.

Hot Wheels

This little beauty was parked near a Rolls Royce at The Chocolate Fish recently - I'm not sure which car I preferred....
This shot has been tweaked in the Camera+ app.

Stretcho Photo

Of course there are quite a few apps that allow panoramic images to be shot and merged together - it seems that every week my iPhone can do more and more crazy tasks.
It was a lovely day by the harbour so I used Panoramatic to experiment with this stitch-up shot. The app gives a ghost-frame of each shot taken so you can line up the next shot, plus some options when it comes to the stitching. This was a quick test, and while not perfect, it ain't bad for a phone.

Scrambled Pixels

Seems I had a graphics processor meltdown in my laptop - this is NOT what my screen should have looked like (and I haven't used an image-changing iPhone app).
I discovered that this was due to fault with a batch of processors that ended up in my model MacBook Pro so the motherboard was replaced promptly with no loss of data and all for free. Happy ending to what could have been a scary and expensive story.

Brewing an image

I'm not quite sure what to make of this photo app. It's called Percolator and will add a variable pop-art effect to an image, after it goes through a 'brewing' process. Most of the shots I've tried it on just look weird!

Kiwi Cuisine

Looking through my 'Hipstamatic' album on the iPhone, I came across this image that I'd shot a while ago. It was captured on a clear, but cold Friday evening while heading for the dining salvation of our local 'greasy' shop.

Which witch?

Some late afternoon/early spring lighting helps to give a bit of life to these cones. There has been a lot of road work being done in the neighbourhood lately.
Processed this shot thru' Camera+ once again.

Free now

I guess if you were brave or desperate you could actually use this charming piece of porcelain and timber. I suspect that the owner of it would rather that you took it home to use it, which is why it wasn't chucked in the skip with the rest of the building debris.
So many apps include the ability to give a pseudo Polaroid frame to images along with all their other functions, but with the Polarize app, that's all it does (and add some text if you'd like).

Mt. Vic Hillbillies

Well, it looks kinda like the Clampett's old truck. To try and help give this shot a little more atmosphere I used the Camera+ app and a filter called 'So Emo' (great name) and then gave it a rough border.

Beaded Icon

I found this tiki amongst all kinds of fantastic plastic items making up a curtain in a local hotel that's become a rather fashionable hang-out. What used to be a fairly seedy student pub is now a venue for knitter's, quiz contestants, businessmen, young mothers & oh-so cool photographers!

I fought the law....

...and won! Further to an earlier posting ("What Rubbish"), after being given a ticket for parking my high performance 50cc scooter on a footpath and writing an excuse, I was excused.
I'm sure that my iPhone photos showing how much less of an obstruction my scooter was, compared to the rubbish containers, helped my case enormously.
Aaah, time for a cigar & a glass of scotch with Denny Crane...

Beaded glory

A great collection of rosary beads, necklaces, trinkets, leather straps and assorted neck adornments - given a bit of a retro feel with one of my original favourite iPhone apps, CameraBag.

No mail today

Yeah, I still check for real old-fashioned printed mail every now & then. Yesterday there was a fire service call out at the building where the Post Office is, so they weren't letting anyone check their mailboxes.
I used the 'miniaturize' filter in the Camera+ app.

What rubbish!

No, not in the bins - the fact that I got a parking ticket for leaving my scooter on the footpath - that's rubbish.
Well, technically I shouldn't have done it, but these bins were taking up a lot more pedestrian room than my little scooter. I took a couple of snaps on the iPhone & sent them in with a pleading letter to be excused of my heinous crime. Fingers crossed.

Feeling blue

So, with a bit of help from the Hipstamatic app this bare oak tree with a grey sky manages to take on a feeling of grungy, wintry ambience. There are a variety of effects and edge treatments within the app, and the ability to purchase further options if the included ones don't float your boat. The only downside to this app is that it doesn't work with images in the iPhone album (as at version 160), so you have to shoot with the effects enabled & hope you like the shots. 

 

Arty installation

These rather aeronautical structures are the fourth in a series of kinetic art to be installed along the route to Wellington's airport.
The app de jour is a 'high dynamic range' app to help deal with the contrast between bright & dark areas.

Seaside kitsch

There's a man with a passion for shells and outdoor decorating who lives in Scorching Bay....and he's not afraid to combine his hobbies. This is a small part of his shell-encrusted mosaic which I've given a bit of treatment to - using my new favourite iPhone app, Camera+. It's a nicely designed app that will add a variety of effects, cropping & borders to your images.

Helps to pasta time

It's pretty cool fun to make sheets of pasta starting with just flour & eggs - great to eat it too!
This shot was worked on slightly with the mobile Photoshop app - increased brightness a little, and added an edge blur.

Winter Promenade

Great to see the long-lost sun. No matter what the weather, there are
always some interesting people on Oriental Parade.
This shot has been cropped, converted to soft black & white, and given
a border with the Photoshop app.

Life Pods

I hadn't noticed the fairly unique look of this apartment building
until recently. From most angles it looks like a normal city block,
but from this particular angle it seems to separate the balconies into
a whole lot of cubes.
Unlike Auckland, the Wellington building code doesn't place a minimum
size restriction on city apartments - shoeboxes are OK.

When will it end?

OK, so I may have a compulsion to keep trying different photo apps,
but there are people out there continuing to feed my addiction.
I've used a couple of different HDR (high dynamic range) apps that
combine (hopefully) the best elements of 2 exposures of the same scene
(a light exposure & a darker exposure).
I ended up with an extra piece of clothes line in this HDR shot, so I
tried out an app called Retouch to get rid of it.
Pretty amazing really when you think that all this is being done on a
phone!
There are some very clever people out there

Life Saver

I finally had a chance to visit the newly refurbished Maranui Cafe (in
the Lyall Bay Surf Life Saving clubrooms), that was damaged by fire
some time ago.
Great to see that it's just as funky as ever & full of classic touches
- from the bottles of Foxton Fizz, to the milkshake machines, and what
is probably Watties tomato sauce in the squeezy bottles.
No editing/retouching at all this time (I just focused the iPhone on
the foreground area to lift the overall exposure).

Here we go again....

So, this morning Apple announced their next-gen device - of course,
very nice & highly desirable... will I be able to resist it's allure?
My current 3Gs iPhone is working extremely well...but the new camera
sensor & the high resolution screen will probably be enough to turn my
head...sigh... I do love a multi-function gadget that works well,
makes my life better, & will clean up oil spills!

Harbour Capital

A different mood displayed by Wellington during another weekend stroll
with the iPhone.
I often do a bit of image enhancing by using 2 apps on an image, but
this time I decided to use 3 - True HDR, Photoshop and Best Camera.

Hazy, lazy days

This was shot a few weeks ago, during a spell of settled autumn
weather ...lately winter has hit with a vengence.
For those interested ....anyone .....anyone ....Bueller...?
This shot had saturation, exposure & 'soft focus' adjusted in the
Photoshop app & then a graduated filter applied in Photo fx.

Nobody home!

I wonder how much longer the junk mail delivery people and the posties
will keep trying to stuff things into this busted letterbox before
they realise that maybe, just maybe no one lives there anymore??

Weekend Retreat

Queen Sally's Diamond Deli in Lyall Bay has a fantastic selection of
food and drink to keep us Wellingtonians happy....but it'll be great
when the fire-damaged Maranui is back in action. This shot was edited
in 'Best Camera'.

Poor Design

Part of the mosaic floor pattern of the lovely Embassy Theatre....just
seems wrong. This is the second time our kids have pointed out this
particular symbol within a larger overall design.
The other location was Lower Hutt - I'll have to check my files to see
if I photographed it.

Ready to race

A great line up of mobility scooters at a small town community centre.
I'm not sure whether it was bingo or bridge day, but it certainly had
the punters interested.

Stepping Out

Walking across the 'rocky' carpet at Wellington Airport to get to my
delayed flight. Oh, well, at least I could use the free wifi to update
my blog.

Alt Art

Some more local graffiti - this time putting a good use to the waste
left on a vacant industrial site.
I used an app called True HDR to help balance the exposure somewhat -
it also gives the shot a bit of a seventies look.

Multi-media violation

Odd, but for some reason the spray paint seems more offensive than the
actual carving of the tree trunk.

ANZAC Day

Still life from the gun room. A poppy resting on the receiver of a WW
I .303 rifle.....in remembrance.

Transition

Yes, it was a beautiful day, water lapping on the sand, people lapping
up ice creams....but the breeze has a definite autumn chill to it.
Aaaah, summer I was only just getting to know you....