Saturday, February 27, 2016

Thiele Highway Scenes

Travelling back from Renmark a few days ago I captured a few more rural scenes to add to my collection on the Thiele Highway on the Road to Morgan.



 And also some pics from Renmark for good measure.






Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Bird Art of Roger Murcott

Today when traveling back from Renmark I called in at the studio of Kapunda Bird Artist Roger Murcott.

Roger in his studio


I had been there before and posted an article about this studio.

It's called "Birds of A Feather"

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/birds-of-feather-studiogallery-fine-art.html

Roger politely put up with my enthusiastic presence and allowed me to take a few pics.

I believe Roger's Bird art and also his wood sculpting is right up there with anyone else in this field.

He has original artwork for sale and also prints and postcard size prints.

He does all his framing on site and you can also buy prints unframed.

The studio is unique as you can see from the pictures.

Below is also a link to his website.

http://rogermurcott.com.au/gallery/

Well worth the visit if you love birds and bird art.

Roger has 40 years experience doing this and it shows.




Not only birds

Part of the underground gallery




tools of trade








Saturday, February 20, 2016

My 4 Blogs

For the information of those who frequent this blog please note I have 4 blogs all up.
This one is very eclectic and the other 3 are more specialised.
A lot of what is on this blog appears in the others.
You will see all the blogs listed under view my complete profile.
It may enable some to find the areas of interest a bit quicker than searching through the archives here.

Friday, February 19, 2016

For Pentax Enthusiasts- The Pentax K1




Well for the long list of Pentax camera fans the long awaited full frame Pentax Digital SLR has arrived.
See a  link below to DP Review.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/7158808396/worth-the-wait-a-look-inside-the-pentax-k-1

It's a wonderfully "specced" camera with some of the features I like the most.

1. Full frame and can use all my old pentax lenses.

2. High megapixel count and 204,000 ISO.(When I started photography we were mainly shooting Kodachrome at ASA 25. (same as ISO).

3. External flash connection socket.

4.Built in WIFI and GPS

5. Dual card slot.

And lots of other features.

The one I anticipate I will find frustrating is the strange articulated screen.

The one on the Canon DSLR's works a treat.

Great for taking shots from any angle and for lining up video self capture.

It almost looks good enough to tempt me out of retirement as a wedding photographer.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

More evidence that demands a verdict




Find below an article from the ABC that talks about a growing belief that all the variations of human species lived together at the same time.
This is being shown with DNA testing.
It also suggests they might have interbred with each other.
This really supports the Genesis account of the Creation of man from the get go or beginning if you like.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-17/27planet-of-the-apes273a-human-species-one-of-many/7175906

Watch the story tonight on Lateline at 9.30pm (AEDT) on ABC News 24 or 10.30pm on ABC TV.


I applaud scientists who are examining the facts on Human beings and can accept that their previous models should be challenged on the evidence.


See some of my earlier posts on such things. 

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/yet-another-blow-for-evolution.html

Ps. I have written a post to explain in part why I am a creationist and not an evolutionist for those who are interested.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/why-i-belive-in-biblical-creation.html 


From the Wayside Chapel by Rev Graham Long




Dear Inner Circle,

“Torrid” is one way of explaining life here just lately. We had a fellow attempt to take his own life with a rope although he fell into the capable and compassionate hands of Una before he came close to doing himself damage. Another dear lady, under the influence of ICE, suddenly produced a knife and threatened two of our staff. The saddest part of this situation was that she was threatening the person who loves her in this world the most. I’m thankful for highly trained and disciplined staff members who handled this according to long-practiced policy. The person was soon enough contained behind a locked door. Police responded quickly and soon enough the lady was in custody and on her way to psychiatric help. To top off a busy few days, on Sunday while our little church was on, a lady at our front door suddenly produced a knife and cut her own arm open causing a dramatic, spurting bleed. If that was me, I would have fainted, but this lady ran, fast. Our staff who were concerned that excessive blood loss could be fatal, also ran, fast. The outcome was a quick resolution where medical care and psychiatric care were put in place. Fabulous work on the part of all our people but you’ll understand that while they look pretty relaxed, they are on their toes all the time.

Quite often, members of our inner circle write back to me with stories that resonate with something I’ve written. I have to share this one with you (with permission) because it made me laugh out loud.

Dear Graham,
I always love reading your "Inner Circle" letters. When I read your comments on rules in the latest one, "wisdom is a tricky business", I thought you might enjoy this little story. I went to mass yesterday for Ash Wednesday and because it's a day on which Catholics come out of the woodwork to go to church, the church itself filled up quickly and the overflow was directed to a hall underneath. We were sitting on chairs waiting for the priest when a nicely dressed man standing towards the back (a church warden apparently?) said in a booming voice, "Please turn your phones off. It's rude to have them on." ...so far so good... "And if you don't like our rules, you can f*** off." Well, that's telling it like it is! (A few more interjections made it clear he probably had some kind of mental health issue. To state the obvious, one hopes that those outraged by the breaking of rules about appropriate language in a church could look past that.)
Best wishes

Do you want to be part of Wayside history? Over the past few months we’ve been working with renowned photographer, Gary Heery, and creative director, Andrew Henderson, on a follow up book to Stories from the Wayside. Our last two shoot days for the book will be next week so it is your last chance to be included in what will be a stunning book, celebrating the sometimes raw, sometimes confronting but always awesome and beautiful community. We extend to you, our inner circle readers, neighbours, volunteers, supporters and visitors, a warm invitation. Final shoot days are Wednesday 24 February from 11am to 2pm at Wayside, 29 Hughes St, Potts Point and Saturday, 27 February from 10am to 3pm at the Kings Cross Markets, El Alamein Fountain. We’d just love to include you what will be an important snap shot of our history.

We’re on the hunt for a Direct Marketing Manager to develop and drive direct marketing programs across multiple channels. Applications close this Friday so if you or someone you know is interested, find out more information here.

Walking in the front door this morning a lovely, gentle Aboriginal man stepped over to me to shake my hand. A rather lovely woman that we only see once every few months also walked over and gave me a hug. A group of four men interrupted their conversation long enough to each shake my hand. As I passed them and was near the door, one of them yelled, “So are you busy today, Rev?” “Well,” I responded, “that is the impression I’m trying to give”. One of them came back with, “You mean ‘that’s the illusion you want to create’”. I walked through the door with all four of them doubled over with laughter.

We shed more tears here than in your average community. Often tears of laughter and sometimes they express unspeakable sadness. It’s what we do. We stand with those who are discarded or irrelevant. We stand with those who just couldn’t cope in this high tech, low human world, in order that no one will be alone. This is not an act of charity on our part but rather is an acknowledgement that our deepest need is to belong to one another. We not only stand with the ‘down and outs’ but we stand with the ‘up and outs’ for every act of racism, every act of snobbery, every act of blindness gives the illusion of 'them and us' but the deepest, truest, highest thing we know is that there is just 'us' and when one is hurt or devalued, all are hurt and devalued.

Thanks for being part of our inner circle,

Graham


Rev Graham Long AM
Pastor and CEO
The Wayside Chapel
Kings Cross
http://www.revgrahamlong.com/
http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Playful Puppy

Newest addition to Renmark menagerie.










Monday, February 8, 2016

Re-Visiting Parkinsons South Australia

Today I had the privilege of attending as a guest at the Parkinson SA Group Photography Interest Group.
I was able to share with the group some thoughts on night photography and a few other ideas.

We looked at some of their recent work and the quality was very good considering the difficulties that go with the Parkinson's Disease condition.

My Friend Heather also came and offered her valuable  assistance by keeping me on track with the aims of the group.

See a link below to the Parkinsons SA website.

http://www.parkinsonssa.org.au/support/groups/recreational-groups.aspx

The group produced a 2016 calendar for this year which has proven very popular.
They also conducted a very well received exhibition in 2015.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54370246@N03/sets/72157648061860493

People with Parkinsons or similar movement disabilities and an interest in Photography would find this a helpful group.

They meet monthly.

The co-ordinator for the group is Anne Heard.