actionpactpix

How to Download a Facebook File

2012-02-22T10:21:00.000+11:00

To grab that file you want and place it on Facebook. (You might as well choose a couple as it saves a lot of time)

Facebook Downloads are FREE.

Choose the file you want

1. Add to Cart
2. ONCE YOUR SHOPPING CART APPEARS ON THE SCREEN CHOOSE "DIGITAL FILES"

2. Change the quantity to 1.

3. Do this for all Facebook images you want.. or you can purchase bigger files.

4. Once you are happy with everything Proceed to Checkout. Your Shopping Cart will remember all the images you have chosen along the way. This sample Cart has a Print in it as well as this new file (which is the $7-00)

5. You can either click the "Continue Shopping" button or "Enter Your Information" and you will be taken to the next screen.

The EASIEST way to complete this screen is to complete the Left Column and then tick the "Check to use Billing address in the Right Column and directly under that type in your name.

6. Once you have completed the information required: Click on "Review Digital Licences"

7. The next screen wants you to confirm that this is for personal use only then click "Proceed"

Seriously this doesn't take long and you just need to read the instructions on how to download your files once you are done.

ENJOY YOUR FILES.............

Paynesville Corporate Triathlon - Part Two...

2012-02-21T10:04:00.000+11:00

In case you missed Part One

I have edited the bike pics and I managed to get a lot of riders (but not everyone), 211 photos of bike leg only are uploading to here

With over 100 teams of three there were a ton of bikes all numbered up, waiting for their riders, from the most serious of triathletes with aero helmet, deep dish wheels, full tri suit

To comfy t-shirt, runners and mountain bike

Right through to this bike complete with basket and I believe a GPS (being held?....maybe another use for Iphone)

The expressions on peoples faces ranged from happiness in being part of this great event

To nerves?? about the hill just ahead

and those who were out for fun and wanted to tell the world that they were smashing this

The owner of the Green bike, obviously had used the WD40 and was speeding down the road ready to take on the hill

NO whips were needed to keep this machine under control...a lot of work went in though, the "horse" has a head, a body (around the top bar), and a tail......Great effort!

As long as you checked off the list on the way out, the bike didnt matter, you just had to race (or ride), 7kms and get back to race or at least run/jog the final 2kms to finish

Then perhaps head over to Gary Jackson from Giant Bicycles to check out a new Giant

With the pictures, you can download facebook size files for free, just add to cart (digital downloads) and follow the prompts, they are only a small file, but a great way to show off your acheivement of a triathlon...unfortunately I wasn't able to get everyone on the bike, but the run pics are coming so check back on Wednesday...they are all just waiting to upload.

Actionpactpix has a double whammy weekend.

2012-02-19T18:02:00.002+11:00

Well, the whole idea of getting out there in the world of photography has been good and there has been some positive feedback on my images which is great.
I am loving the variety of sports and events I have been to and this weekend I went to Nippers on Saturday and then to the Paynesville Corporate Triathlon today. I have taken a lot of images and will be editing them over the next few days and putting a selection on my website at www.actionpactpix.com but today was fantastic for so many reasons.

The Triathlon run by the Riviera Triathlon Club "RTC" in Bairnsdale was about participation and getting people of all levels involved and they certainly achieved that. The RTC also raised $10,000-00 towards the Lakes Entrance Surf Lifesaving Club in the process to buy a Surfboat for rescues (as pictured in the following photo).

RTC event organiser Ryan Cross Presents Kristine Cordery from the Lakes Entrance Surf Lifesaving Club a cheque for $10,000-00

So a sneak peek of how my day at the Triathlon unfolded:-

4:45am - Alarm goes off, I am off to a big event and no nervous pre-race issues as I am not racing, but double checked I had everything, including the all important sunscreen!!

6:20am - Arrive in Paynesville and see how it is unfolding

Rolling out the Blue Carpet

I can see it has been a massive event to organise and there are people everywhere, AND a whole bunch worked harder yesterday to set things up.Then I found the most important person of all.......after it it was still very early and COFFEE was needed....

The Mobile Coffee Machine didn't take long to have queues forming

As the sun was beginning to come up, the athletes were all obviously either still getting valuable sleep, or were on their way from all over Gippsland (and even Melbourne)

The Rotary ladies had started preparing for the sausage sizzle (no cooking was being done here as the men were yet to arrive and a BBQ needs men to cook it)

A contingent from GIANT set up near the finish line to assist everyone with any bike problems from pumping up a tyre to realigning gears, they even had a range of Giant bikes there for "test rides" or in case of emergency.

The Start-Finish line is the most important for any competitor..

Security was tight in the bike transition area.

Nobody comes in here without the accreditation

The standout was easily the variety of bikes being ridden in this event. Normally a triathlon would have something like.....carbon fibre, carbon fibre, carbon fibre.....disc wheel, tri spokes, deep dish wheels, disc wheel.........but not here...

For some it was time to show off the good gear:-

For some it was a serious affair

Others were there to enjoy their ride in the sun and perhaps find a use for that can of WD40 in the shed.

OK, for others it was a time to rescue their bikes from Hard Rubbish........(maybe time to test drive a new Giant!)

Whilst others were just out on a limb doing whatever made them happy

Others had their "steeds" fed and watered in transition happy to wait for their rider to "saddle up"

So that is how it unfolded......the athletes were all arriving and it was an 8am start. The event was teams of three and each person had to complete a 1km run, a 7km ride and then a 2km run and tag their next team member.

I am going to work on some photos now and they should be completed by Wednesday and can be viewed at www.actionpactpix.com once they are all uploaded. I havent got photos of everyone, but I managed to get a lot of people.

.......Part 2 to come.....stay tuned.......

Nippers at Woodside Beach.

2012-02-05T17:56:00.001+11:00

The Beach is a great place to be, just listening to the surf.

Today i was really looking forward to getting on the bike and riding but I knew that the pictures I took at Lakes Nippers in January were appreciated and I was keen to get up to Lakes on 18th February with a little more knowledge of Nippers and Surf Carnival format, so I headed off to Woodside today for the Woodside SLSC Nippers Surf Carnival. It was a great opportunity to learn what works well and what doesn't work.
Honestly as I headed out the garage and watched my husband head off on his bike, I did wish I was heading out too, BUT the day was fantastic. The weather was great and when I arrived at Woodside there were Three clubs there competing and an army of youngsters ready to race.

The colors are great, each club has distinctive colors and the surf caps have to be worn.

Today was the junior section (up to age 11 or 12 I think), and so it was a good opportunity to see how they handle the surf and I must say...better than me. I grew up at Lakes Entrance, and never really ventured to the surf, and with waves crashing, the kids running into the water and just giving it everything. My lens didn't quite get into the surf and there was so much to take pictures of between the flag event, the races and "Iron Nipper".....

These small kids, were facing big waves and being thrown around in the surf

I took a lot of pictures and my thoughts were (I will put about 200 on the web), so my first port of call when uploading photos (through Adobe Lightroom), onto my hard drive is:-

I was definitely still looking for those cool shots, where it all just works. I couldn't have posed this better, one in white, one in red, and the two in the middle in black.......Against the water and the beach the colors all looked amazing

1. Pass vs Reject
This is the easiest way of initially culling. You give an image a P if it is a keeper and an X if it is a delete. Then you delete the X photos from the hard drive, from everywhere.

2. Rating.
I use the 5 star rating as a 4 star is a YEP, and a 3 star is a keeper but not quite up to website standard but keep it as it is still a good picture as I might go back to it. Anything that is questionable as to quality or clarity is instant delete (I took a lot of photos and so I only want to work on a few, not the full number.......Yes I took around 800.....I know ridiculous.....But that includes a few runs on 8 frames per second where a few are out of focus). After my Pass vs reject I was down to about 620 and there were a lot of photos where kids were blinking or especially in the flags I take a run at 8 frames per second and only put the most exciting ones on the web, the others are just running out may be out of focus.

3. The Hard Part
I think by now I will have around 400-500 that I like, not sure yet as I haven't started culling, just downloaded and I will choose 250.

4. Then I edit the final pics, crop some, adjust white balance and color and tones to make sure they look their best and then finally upload them to the web...Job Done! It takes about 4 hours if I spend time on each picture.

The volunteers need a medal in Nippers, Having to organise lots of children in lots of age groups and make sure they are all safe is a team effort and they all do a great job

I also took some beach scenes and stuff so they will be part of it too, and just mixed in with the rest.

I tried some more arty type pics, I love textures, so added one to a pic to see how it would come up.

Overall I am very happy with the photos, compared to last time, I got a lot more single portrait style pics as I felt more comfortable taking photos there. Taking cycling photos and taking photos of peoples children are different and both present challenges, both are fun and both give me a lot of chances to think about the creative side (shutter speed, depth of field,focus, all the camera settings.....)

I learned today the benefits of shooting in RAW format, as my RAW files were all good, but the last few (where I was running out of memory) were shot in JPG and I had my camera set on Landscape and so they were a bit oversaturated and not as easily corrected. Solution - Shoot in RAW and check all camera settings.

I also learned:-
- Take more water
- take more sunscreen
-Take a piece of plastic or something to make a clean surface to change lenses (I didn't change lenses on the day...too scared...sand vs camera....:( )
I actually just enjoyed watching the kids competing. Nippers is a great environment, everyone is really supportive of the kids and they are so tough, I saw some children who had literally copped a hammering from the waves, and they were ready to race at the next event. Tough kids and tough conditions.

Lined up to hit the waves on their boards, and they all seem to love it.

Ready for February 18th and some goods pics......Will be fun.

Audax Alpine Classic 2012

2012-01-28T19:42:00.002+11:00

The Alpine Classic, seven us from the Wellington Cycling Club all enjoying a weekend in Bright with some long rides. Temperature is expected to be 36C in Bright tomorrow and the temp at Hotham is expected to be 20C, so with all of us doing different rides, it is going to be a great day

The Alpine High Plains on the Drive over Hotham

Well now I am back riding and it is off to Bright for the Alpine Classic, so we packed the car and went off the Alpine Road over Hotham to Bright

Snow Poles mark the road from Hotham - No Snow thank Goodness

First Breakfast together all ready for a big weekend and perhaps a tad hungover!

Seven of us in the house and Ben ate everything.

Kids jumping off the diving board were font watch

Although we had our own "Baywatch" on patrol

Last meal before the Alpine was a carb night! Thanks to BEn for cooking!

Bens Meal vs an average meal

Ben Powering through
his diner

Ben not embarrassed about
his man-sized dinner

Loads of work going on in the shed

Nige working on Rubys Back wheel

Dave is the only sucker doing the 250km ride

Chris uses his mechanic skills

The Shed was looking serious1

Tonight the weather is not looking crash hot??!!

Not sure there were going to be many attacks on Sunday

Hazelwood Pondage 25Th January 2012

2012-01-26T15:00:00.001+11:00

Trundled down to Hazelwood to take pics whilst Nick Jehu and Olivia Verey from the Wellington Cycling Club raced around the course. It was very WINDY....sorry emphasised the wrong word...It was VERY!!! windy!.

Around 40 riders had gathered and it was a handicap, so windy some hills and a handicap, a tough night for me on the side of the road with the camera!...(you know how it is....standing at the top of the hill...shutter finger gets sore!)...oh and I think everyone riding found the going tough too, as there were quite a few that pulled out after two of the three laps, once you were dropped, it became a soul searching ride to get to the end. The back straight was very fast with scratch and second scratch talking speeds into the 50's so get a good wheel and hang on if you can

Full gallery at actionpactpix website (99 Photos going up will finish loading at approx 430pm 260112)
Details of race at Latrobe City Cycling Club Website

I love looking back at the power station and seeeing it rise over the trees.....

This was the scratch bunch who didnt quite catch the sceond scratch for the win, but were going fast nontheless

Gradually all teh nbunches became decimated with ones and two's being the order of the night.

Second Scratch on Lap 2 - Still with one and a bit laps to go

Tunksy at the end of Lap 2 - Doing it tough and riding a very long way on Australia Day!

The scratch bunch on Lap one - Not quite enough in the bunch to fight to the end

Cyrus Monk from Warragul sprinting for the win over Warragul teammates!

Robbie Reid wins fastest time.......

Green Edge Launch

2012-01-16T09:47:00.001+11:00

Some pics from the TDU Presentations and crits are here at actionpactpix

Well after arriving in Adelaide and hiding around under the Pier getting some long exposure shots for the first couple of nights, (which I must admit are fun and a whole new thing for me).....We went a long to the green Edge Launch.....we had been invited by a friend and went thinking it was the general public thing at Rydges Hotel in Adelaide....No No No...it was media and we had to sign and and say who we were representing so since I have written articles for the Gippy Times, that is who we were there for....we had a rather large media contingent at the launch......

It was interesting, lots of journos and photographers. I was suffering from major camera envy with a lot of gear there that I would love to have, but it is not about the camera it is about the person......

The womens team. I didn't use flash here just relied on high ISO (for the camera buffs)...and I had a 15-85mm on so I was under a lot of pressure here....The big time photographers all had two cameras and one had a 70-200mm (ENVY!!!)

Meyer, Gerrans and Goss all big names for he TDU (Oh and Robbie in the corner)

The Video in the Background was put together by Dan Jones and was really good......The guys all sang with Russell Morris in Molly Meldrums studios.....Good Lung capacity doesn't necessarily make a good singer!

Bill (my Father in Law) gets his Christmas Present signed!

Cam Meyer is amazing and will be focussing on the track for London Olympics!

Leigh Howards legs stood out from the bunch!....Now those are Quads.....

Media everywhere (including the Gippy Times!

Shane and Nick were unaware they were getting on TV....That is the funniest bit.......

The New Jersey

Again not aware they were on TV, they just had the best place to see it all!

Turbo Durbo after his victory in the TT was requested to pose with the TT bike quite a lot!

Getting hats signed by every rider (my Green Edge hat is blank as I was too busy getting photos)

And the obligatory shot with the Road Race Champ.....Three Champs all together!

Got some good pics and Shane and Nick even featured on SBSS on the Green Edge Launch and I got my face on twitter too...but here are the highlights of my pics from the day

Just get 'That" Shot!

2012-01-08T23:04:00.002+11:00

Today I had another fantastic Photo Shoot. I am so excited to get the good images and I just love sports, so today was the double whammy when I went to Lakes Entrance (where I grew up), and took pics at the Surf Life Saving Training and it was awesome fun. Just walking across the footbridge which I hadn't walked across for years to get to the beach was my first highlight. You know that feeling of stepping back in time and just reuniting with your past. This was going to be a fun day. I was expecting about 20 kids and a few parents and about an hour of training. Well there were about 80 kids and loads of helpers and trainers and parents and they all had uniforms which look awesome in pics and it was going to be a difficult decision to know what to shoot......

The Surf Life Savers Main Home where they can see the swimmers

I must say I was so impressed with the enthusiasm shown by all of the volunteers who organised theses kids into groups and the safety protocols and help provided to the kids. The kids were all sportsmanlike and helpful to each other as well which was impressive to watch. I think I walked away from my day just so impressed with the amount of fun the kids had, whilst actually training, improving their fitness, getting outside and into the surf water, it was fantastic to see.

Swim between the flags!

Even the kids were all enthusiastic to the end, and even though some were quite young, they just all seemed to love it and were rotated around the activities and never lost interest

The flags were my favorite activity as the kids literally fly through the air to get the flags!

Waiting for instruction

All the instructors were enthusiastic and explained things well, even when doing the same activity over and over for the day, and had to explain to different age groups so had to use different methods at times.

Loved the boards, the ocean, the uniform's, the color, even without any kids, there were so many opportunities to play with photography...

The kids were all worked hard, from activities, from introdcution to surf, to first aid training, to running, to running up sand dunes, it was non-stop for two hours

Instructors even demonstrated the tougher stuff!

All I can say, is if you want a fun day out yourself, whilst involving your kids as well, then enrol them into nippers, they will have a ball. They get to learn First Aid and complete fitness activities whilst having fun with a whole group of other kids in their age group. You will get to interact with other parents and volunteers and you might just end up with a job for the morning, even a simple job of moving your group along from one activity to another. I know not all Nippers clubs would have as many people involved. BUT Lakes Entrance had it all sorted and it looked great fun for everyone involved.....

In the background, I think some instructors celebrated with a hallelujah!

Like I said lots of opportunities for pics

For More info about Lakes Entrance Nippers Club
Look at their website at Lakes Entrance Surf Life Saving Club Website

Winding down a session with a jog on the beach ...in sand now that is tough!

Den of Nargun - Very Low Light Shoot

2012-01-04T19:29:00.002+11:00

My New Years resolution has been to move outside comfort zone in Photography:-
So far I have:-
1. Tried a hear of water droplet projects (two hot days spent in air conditioned comfort!)
2. Today went to the Den of Nargun solely for photography and it was great!

Basically a friend Brent, and his mate and I all went up the Dargo road talking about cycling and ended up at Den of Nargun looking like major tourists with cameras in hand!! Now I just wanted to get some nice pics, Brent was testing out his macro lens and his friend Sheldon studies Botany and so took a major interest in just about any plant and weed that crossed our path. So we walked for about 3 hours stopping and photographing along the way.

My main test was to try and manage the dark surroundings, I was shooting in RAW but found on my 15-85mm lens, the lowest aperture of 4 was pushed along with slowish shutter speeds and I even at one time bumped up ISO to 500 (and forgot to change it back).

This is the Den of Nargun, Quite Beautiful really

Luckily I had all my camera gear in my backpack as it was a very rocky walk and very unsteady so for the safety of my camera I used the bag. This Den of Nargun shot was taken at 1/100 at f3.5 at ISO250 then I bumped up xposure in Lightroom by 1 fstop. You can also see the sky was grey aka as a whiteout so I left very little sky in the image!

I wanted to get more than the usual bochure style images. There were lots of stalactite type formations on the walls and lots of cobwebs

This was sticks and rocks although looks like more of an x-file!

I actually put a sepia type finish on this one as it made it look creepier and the white berries at the front look like little lights or something...........creepy.........

This was a really good pathway. It was either flat path, steps, or clamber over rocks!

See the path - EXACTLY - I COULDN'T SEE IT EITHER...Just clumsily climb over rocks. The Sign that reads "Den of Nargun 15 minutes" is obviously written for mountain goats or contortionists.....well not me anyways!

More paths with lots of greenery and plants and botanists stop more often than my dog on a walk (but for different reasons!)

Another reasonably good pathway

I got the plant bug and tried some MACRO, buit my 15-85 is not a MACRO specific lens, but can come up with the goods when it has too

My favorite image of the day. I was rapt as the eyes were in focus and not just the wings

Look everywhere as there is interesting colors and textures everywhere!

I tried the very slow shutter speed with no tripod and this effort was ok, SS was 1/10th

Seriously some of the "path" was a case of looking and walking toward the sound of water running, there were rockas and little of anything that formed a path of any form

I am excited as I am taking pics at Lakes Entrance over the weekend and then off to Adelaide for more cycling at the Tour Downunder.......will be fantastic.

Macro water droplets.

2012-01-03T16:25:00.001+11:00

OK, the brief looked relatively easy and there was interesting information to assist with the set up of this project. Fundamentally the brief was on Red Bubble, and was about getting a piece of glass making some water droplets and photographing the results.

So Off I went and bought some Rain X at Supercheap, some colored pencils at the cheap shop and I got a piece of glass from a photo frame at home and started playing around with a set up. Flash was too had as I had to soften it down a bit, so I tried natural light which meant bumping up ISO to 500 and that was another issue.

So you set up the piece of glass, mine was around 35cm off the floor and I cleaned the glass with rain X and I used Glycerin to make the bubbles as water was still really "blobby" even with the rain X

I used a Canon 7D with 70-200, but then changed to 15-85 and to be honest it was not much different as neither lens does Macro really well and I think that was my major shortcoming, no Macro Lens

Add This was using the 70-200 and I focused on the pencil reflections in the droplets, 1/60th at f5.6.

I found it difficult to get the edge of the water bubbles and the reflection in the bubbles both in focus at any time. The above image at 1/60th even with IS turned on still wasn't brilliant. Not if you looked at the test image on Red Bubble which is awesome, it is sharp and clear and amazing.

Same details but this is out of camera with no contrast adjustments or tonal adjustments which I made in the first image.

Complete with stray hair this is using flash with some muslin over it. Interesting effect worth pursuing but not what I was trying for!

This time I used the 15-85 and 1/125 at f6.3. The light didn't really allow much more flexibility with settings.

OK, so all photography is about learning, so what have I learned? That a Macro lens would be nice, as my lenses don't seem to want to go in any closer and I have cropped all of these images.

I have also learned that ISO500 is noisy in this example when you are stretched for light anyway.

My final learning is that nothing is as simple as it looks!

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Getting some Street Cred

2011-12-30T12:08:00.000+11:00

I jumped on a train yesterday and headed to the big smoke........met up with a friend there and we had a huge day planned.........

NOT THE BOXING DAY SALES
NOT LOTS OF LATTES IN ALL THE FUNKY CAFES (I might have had a couple!!!)...

We were doing street photography........in the city.......Oh and when I took my camera out of my bag I realised it had no Effing Memory card in it as it was still in the card reader attached to the computer...So First stop was TEDS!

My friend Ellen has been doing Street Photography for a while and knows the tricks and the haunts and what to look for, it is not just about taking photos of unsuspecting people. Good Street Photography looks at light and patterns and shadows and the unexpected and color and all of the basic composition of normal photography, so you have to think about what might be interesting.

Basically we hung out a Hosier Lane, Flinders Street and Fed Square! and Bourke Street Mall and just walked around and tried to look inconspicuous a lot

Here are my faves from the day:-

Loved the blue tee against the blue subject of the artwork. Blue and Orange basically complementary colors and all that jazz

Look for pattern four people all sitting almost the same "safe distance" apart.

It is the story of the graffiti artist a lone paint can sits there now all used up

I just liked the cans and how they added to the graffiti story!

You need to use all angles and all the people in the photo as you can see the actual performer is not the main subject

This is an example of pattern as the two guys in the photo have the same arm action

I was determined to get a picture of these horses.....

I liked the look and the stairs and the whole "story"

Just a chillin look and the light was kind of neat on a white shirt

I will be putting some of these images up on Red Bubble and you can see some of Elle's street cred pics hereon her Street Collections on Red Bubble.

So I saw some bargains in Melbourne but came home with a lot of pictures instead. Look I took a lot of pics and there are a few half decent ones, but for now I thought I would just explain what I was looking for, composition and practice.......It was a lot of fun and I will be back to do it again someday.....SOON

DISCOUNTS FOR CHRISTMAS !!!!!

2011-12-14T13:20:00.000+11:00

If you are reading this then you are considering giving someone the gift of a photo for Christmas.....

Until December 24th (Only 10 days away)

.......You can download FOUR ......That is "4".........full size digital files from the Tour of Bright or the Stratford to Dargo or any other cycling gallery, to your computer for $15-00.

This means that you can save up to $17-00 from the full price! (Note that not all images are available in a full 10MB download, but most are!

So you went to Bright, you paid $120-00 to enter, you bought accommodation, you finally bought those fancy time trial wheels that you wife may still not know about, and for just $15-00 you can have 4 images from the race being:-

- A Tawonga image
- A Time Trial Image
- A Hotham image

You then get one extra image and this may be one of your best mate and so you can get it printed for him and give it as a great Christmas Present.

Just $15-00 and you will be immortalised on your computer screen saver all year around and this may be motivation to ride faster next year.

Please also contact me on judithdove@bigpond.com should you wish to have any photos edited and try a new look for your photo for the screen saver.

TO AVAIL OF THIS OFFER GO TO "ADD TO CART" THEN CHOOSE PACKAGES AND CYCLING CHRISTMAS PACKAGE

Time Trial pics - there was something on the ground!

2011-12-12T08:19:00.001+11:00

The Time Trial was the event where I was determined to get some good scenic shots, so I left Bright with plenty of time to spare and drove the course and I not only found a camera all set up to take pics along the way. It was Stephen Harman from "captured" you can see his TOB pics at Captured

I thought it was the best place I had seen, with minimal distractions along the way so I planted myself in a gutter and began a long afternoon of taking pics.......nearly four hours of sitting in a gutter getting sunburned....but I loved every minute of it.

I was really happy with my pics of the ITT and they can be seen at actionpact pix Tour of Bright

I am finalising Hotham and Presentations today and tomorrow, but I love the scenery in the ITT pics.

I have attached a few pics here, a series I call "Oh no, I can't believe I did that!!!"....I admit I have spent too much time staring at a computer screen this week!

I can't believe I just dropped that Gel I was
going to have that on the way back

What did you drop mate? A GEL!!
On a time trial

I didn't think people ate Gels on Time Trials this
short?

What is that on the ground...OMG I think it is a Gel!

Hey you are right it is a Gel and a great flavour too!

I think that is a new Gel flavour - Must see if Cycling Tips have done a review of that one!

Who has got time to eat Gels on Time Trials, but that looks pretty nice!

YUK I have eaten those and they are terrible!

Can't believe that all of these "Non-Alpine"
people concern themselves with the ground
"Check out the scenery"

And get a good picture of me too....This is my better side

Gels, Scenery, blah blah, what about Heart Rate?

That looks like a nice camera you have there!

I wondered whether a beard mean't bad aero?

Just because it is not 6am - we can still ride fast! Sorry for yawning!

"What the hell is that guy wearing"

Disclaimer - The whole series above is totally made up and there was no Gel on the road......The final picture has one of the Wellington Cycling Club riders wearing what he thought might be good time trial gear in the Alpine region "Forgetting that is was about 26 degrees"...........and yes we know him and he copped it about "that outfit" all weekend!

Wade Crt Crit Champs TODAY

2011-12-11T19:35:00.000+11:00

While I am waiting for my final ITT gallery from Bright to load, I thought I would quickly write a note about todays race at Wade Crt. After a break from Wade Court, it was great to have the final crit of the year although rain looked like it might be on the horizon, we had around 17 riders which was lower than expected, but still made for some good racing.

Topics of the day were (not necessarily in this order....)

1. Could Dave Arnup make it a clean sweep in championship races this year
2. Can somebody tell Matesy that it is now December
3. Were Ready and Dave M really sprinting or organising a property deal?
4. What happened to John BOdey, one minute he is streeting away and a lap later is 10 lengths behind?
5. What is with the blue tape on Nick Jehu's legs?
6. but after the racing importantly that Kristy Glover has been offered a place a team in Melbourne, with a 6th place in womens A grade racing today at St Kilda and will be now racing for the Holden Womens team......

Then it was onto a BBQ at the old presidents house where presentations were held for the years champions racing:-

1. Dave Arnup did win Champion Overall trophy in A grade but A grade race didnt finish due to a fall.
2. Thanks to Paul Dashwood for reminding Ready that the B grade championship trophy had not been presented (PS Congratulations Paul)
3. Where was catrwoman?
4. Who won the iPad?

Today's Pics will be Located here (click to see them)

Could Dave make it a clean sweep?

Rob was smiling before he unfortunately crashed out.......he is ok though

The B grade bunch

Deans face shows what he thinks of Alecs facial hair!!

Another rider who today found that sitting on the back of the bunch was not the best place to be!!!

Is Grant snoozing whilst he is riding?

What is with the tape? It does match his bike though

A sprint or a property deal?

Sprinting for 3rd in C grade...Grant is now wide awake!

5. Photos of the BBQ to come later...........

Tour of Bright update....relating to all the photos I took

2011-12-07T17:28:00.000+11:00

I took a LOT of photos over the weekend to process when I got home from the Tour of Bright. In summary, the Boynton sprint pics will take a coupe of days due to lots of editing the sprint was set up in the shade and so hard to photograph (and I was trying to watch the sprints too......can't do both successfully.......)......Learning all of the time!

Marisa and I had a great spot on Tawonga and I got some great pics there and so they will be first loaded. I also got some awesome pictures of the time trial and they are all ready to load too.

I am still processing Hotham at the moment. Presentations to be done.

The pics look great and I can't wait for everyone to see them, but my upload speed here in Rural Victoria is poor and so uploading is taking some time.

I AM going to open the first gallery as soon as it is ready (The first 200 images from the Tawonga Gap Stage 1), they look good.

Gallery No 1 - For Tawonga Gap
Price List for actionpactpix

Remember that facebook downloads are FREE
Just another reminder:- Don't forget to LIKE actionpactpix on Facebook and receive all the updates.

Here are some of my favorite moments of the day and just things I liked like the A grade girls who rode past me in a very hot tempo compared to some of the other riders who were just happy to see the top. Love the Drapac Porsche kit and it was a great day out on the course..........Well Done on your rides everyone!

This poor rider rode the last part of Tawonga Gap
with a flat back tyre

"The SadTyre"

Robbie McEwen eat your heart out!

Local riders just cruised up the climb showing their "brawn"

For most of the field - check out these guys as in 20-30 years this will be you!

This Dog was happy to sit and watch the sprints, he did seem to get more excited for the close finishes

My chosen vantage point for the finish. It was a great place to sit!

These three girls were inseperable all weekend!

The Drapac porsche kit is now quite schmick

Tour Of Bright - From racer to photographer

2011-12-05T18:36:00.000+11:00

The TOB was finally here and everyone racing was humming and excited about it as it is (in my opinion) the best race in the Victorian calendar particularly for hill climbers and people who love to get away for a weekend and enjoy the ride, the scenery and try to achieve all of their personal goals. I had been excited about it but due to a crash had to withdraw and as I have been doing more photography this year anyway threw my camera in the car along with every ones Zipp Wheels, TT helmets and skinsuits and a slab of post race refreshments.

With some trepidation we arrived in Bright, I love this race and knew I would miss racing, but you know what? I was too busy to miss anything and had a ball. It was great to chat to so many riders that we only see from time to time as we live inn Sale, so to catch up with many Melbourne and interstate Friends, and to share in their achievements, and see their enthusiasm and make some new friends was just fantastic.

The first highlight was the "race numbers" I cant believe how many people twittered and facebooked how excited they were to have theses fancy schmancy new race numbers. I even wished I hadn't withdrawn and just got a DNS (so I could get a number with my name on it...but that is just silly and an expensive way to get a BLINGY number). Registration was a breeze, The Alpine Cycling Club need everyone to sit back and think about the logistics of placing NINE grades of riders on the roads and keep everyone happy.....Everything I heard was only complementing the awesome job that this small club does to keep this race running so smoothly......

The show bags were awesome:-

The show bags received by everyone contained lots of treats and those special numbers, every grade had a unique colour all in Rapha retro colors!

Stage One was the race to the top of Tawonga, Marisa Farrell and I both started out at the Boynton sprint and then moved to 200m from the finish I must admit everyone was looking forward to the end as we yelled out "Only 200m to Go".Marisa and I had a ball and kept a lot of people amused, especially each other as it is a long day in one place. Marisa is seen at the SKCC crits and sometimes CCCC crits with her camera.

Looking forward to that finish line

It was still hurting a bit though, uphill is uphill after all

Stage Two I found a picturesque place to take pics along the TT route. I was looking for a nice background and found someone else had the same idea as me, so I also got to learn some new stuff about photography too.

Time trials don't leave much time to enjoy the scenery

It is just head down, and look straight ahead

Stage Three was a disappointment for me. I had planned a place to sit and take pics from right here:-

It might have finished on a much flatter course, but still looked like hard work

The race finished about 6km short of my planned spot so Marisa and I had to sit in a new spot and with the day being sunny and shadowy, I wasn't happy with my spot, but it was a fun day out on the course and I could see how excited everyone was to finish the Tour. As fart as the early finish, I think there was a resounding sigh of relief from the NON-pure hill climbers, but the pure hill climbers may have been a bit disappointed. I know getting back to that slab of after race refreshments early meant that Sunday was going to be a LOOOONNNGGGGG day for everyone from the Wellington Club, although it was great to be in Bright with great memories, good times and a plan to do it all again next year (and yes I will be behind the camera again .....and LOVING IT!)

What I do know is that at 10:00am on Sunday morning weather zone states that at Mt Hotham Wind Speed was 41kph with gusts at 54kph and temp was -1.3 "feels like" -9.2. Today we passed over Mt Hotham about 10am and it was very windy and freezing and today's numbers were wind speed of 26kph, gusts of 31 and temp of -0.8 feeling like -6.7 and I will vouch that it was Bloody freezing and Bloody windy today, here are the pics I took from inside the warm car:-

This was the view I had planned to photograph

But the clouds and visibility were terrible and it was also rainy

This is a sight that repeating TOB riders would remember was always fantastic to see

FINALLY ALL PICS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO SEE AT ACTIONPACTPIX ON SATURDAY AS i HAVE HEAPS OF PHOTOS. GET THE LATEST INFO BY LIKING ACTIONPACTPIX ON FACEBOOK. Keep posted on the updates for the pics, by following actionpactpix on facebook or following me on twitter (See Toolbar at the bottom of the page to do either!!!!

161111 - Hazelwod Pondage Race - Face pulling competition!

2011-11-18T11:34:00.001+11:00

Well my lens got its third outing this week off to Hazelwood Pondage with me and Shane (who was racing). Latrobe City Club are a really friendly club and they had 4 grades of racing on a Wednesday night and it was really exciting. The best part was that it is laps of a 12km circuit so A & B did 4 laps and C & D did 3 and I could move around the course easily, in the opposite direction to the riders and that made it easy for me to find good vantage points.

Hazelwood Pondage is smack bang part of Hazelwood Power Station and there are a lot of exciting bits and pieces around which you can use as backgrounds. There is also a lot of farming area as well. Fortunately the sun was in a reasonable place, but it was quite bright and so I reallyhad to think about my location for that reason. I wanted some good locations but what I got was a Face Pulling Competition...........seriously it was good to see riders workig so hard at the finish......

I guess the pictures show an overall enjoyment of racing, some great places to be to take pics and some good solid racing....and spitsy!. Oh by the way I have put 100 pics on my website "Hazelwood Pondage Gallery!" (I think I got pics of everyone, but I am a bit biased toward A grade for obvious reasons!)

Hazelwood really has some fantastic vantage points so I want to get back there and try some new angles and get more familiar with my new lens..........

Weather was great and the
hills were tough....

This road was going to provide
a great shot somehow

This was my favorite shot of the night

Poor Glen is between a sprinters battle!

Tunksy talks and we all listen
----Don't we???

Happy before the race

and during the race

But after the race the
tickets were spent

Oh I am being photographed

Better put race face on!!

This could be a caption comp

Tongue out sprinting to win

Finished - Thank goodness

Tongue out sprinting

More tongues out?
Is this a face pulling comp?

Just a relieved look

Tongues out was the order of the night

Spitsy started the trned on the
first lap!

2011 Stratford to Dargo

2011-11-06T21:17:00.000+11:00

Arriving at the start of the Stratford to Dargo is a daunting moment. For those who had raced before, the knowledge of what lies ahead certainly did not make the task any easier. This race attracts those who LOVE a challenge and pushing their own fitness to a new level. From its inception three years ago as an open event, race organisers Mike Renehan and Grant Smith along with all involved in the Wellington Cycling Club have certainly found the journey from Stratford to Dargo providing new challenges each year and this year was a great race and each year it just gets BETTER!

This time of year sees the Cyclesport Victoria Calendar full of a smorgasbord of adventure and challenge, but this is one to put on the list of races to complete (and still many never make it to the top), the journey from quiet country town Stratford to the High Country town of Dargo.

A Grade Podium, 3 Trent Morey, 1. Jason Spencer and 2 Rowan Dever

The race left in four waves, Men's A and B grades, Masters 2,3 and 4, Men's C Grade and finally the Masters 5+ and all women.

Dargo, a pretty country town is taken over by pedal power!

Reports were that the pace was on from the end of the controlled section and it was going to be a tough day in the saddle. The tough and constant undulations of Stockdale Road and Beverleys Road, did not stop constant attacks in the bunches and by the feed station at the 60km mark, the 4 bunches resembled on long string of smaller groups and individuals

Most had nothing left when they crossed the line

Wellington Club had a band of helpers on intersections, at the start and along the route in various places and vehicles and all advised that the race seemed to be very serious this year in all grades, even though the real race begins at Dargo!

A band of Wellington members were involved

The A & B grade bunch had split into two groups early and by the 25km mark the front 5 riders had a 4-5 minute gap on the chasing bunch and this gap grew to 7 minutes closer to Dargo, but the final climb was to come and this is where fitness in the legs and body become secondary to strength of mind and spirit.

Winner of MMAS5 Tony Chandler before the race

Jason Spencer who was the overall winner was in the chasing bunch for most of the race, but somewhere moved from a chaser to a leader finding the right balance of mind and body in his race to tackle the climb and win. If you are reading this and have never completed this race, then put it on your calendar for next year as it will challenge everything you have. You need to have fitness and all those that have ridden it challenge you to get on your bike and finish the race!

Mens A and B grades lined up at the start

You will need to have a helper to give you drinks at the drink station at the 60km mark. There is a neutral feed station at the 90 km mark, where you can get final water before the final ascent. You also need the right gears for the ride. Popular choice is a 32 on the back with standard front chainring but a compact on the front might mean a 28 or 29 on the back will be enough. Seriously it is a small gear but your legs will love you for it!

Even the number of girls was impressive this year and at the start they are all smiling!

Full results will be available from the Cyclesport website during the week and finish line photos and some other randoms will be at http://www.actionpactpix.com/ by Wednesday this week.

At the feed station, some of the faces were looking race weary

There are also a lot of reports from various groups and teams about this ride and individual blog accounts. A good place to start is Google search and also #R2S via Twitter.

Some were feeling the heat as the warm weather meant fluids intake was vital

If you are still not convinced it is a tough ride you can just ask the 30-40% of riders that don't get to the top each year. The attrition rate is due to the tough ride to Dargo, Mecahnical issues and just being undergeared, underfed, underwatered, under prepared or underdone for such a challenge

A Grade Women's winner Miranda Griffiths

Congratulations to all who completed the challenge. At actionpactpix, you can download the pic of yourself crossing the finish line for FREE after Wednesday when they are ready for view.

Mens B Grade podium 3 D Strauss, 1 N Bien and 2 F Sully

Criterium racing and NEW LENS

2011-10-30T19:48:00.000+11:00

Today was a huge day for me, I got to take my new 70-200mm out for a test run and as much as people say size doesn't matter......I can tell you it DOES!.....Especially with the added bonus of that old F word....well F STOP (Aka aperture)......oh lets move along.

WCC had the first crit for the season and the weather held off and so it was a perfect day. Numbers not as high as the club might have liked. BUT great to see Rob Murray have a killer win in C grade, returning rider Mick O'Connor have a convincing win in A grade and Dean Macintosh take it on the line in B grade.

This was my first practice with the lens before it gets its big test next weekend at the Stratford to Dargo race on the Saturday. Should be awesome day for those racing although a tough day on the bike........

Back to the LENS! (This is my actionpactpix blog after all).

New things I learned:-

1. You have to stand further back from the place you want to get the pics
2. You don't have a wide lens on the camera so forget the big wide finish, and
3. This lens is awesome as you can get the sneaky (nobody saw me take it) shot!

Here are a few pics with notes on why they were significant today. All pics will be available at actionpactpix by Monday lunchtime at www.actionpactpix.com and excuse the rushed post processing on these but I was so excited to show off my work from my new lens today. So I am still just loading them onto the website but they take a while to load. Again I expect there to be around 100 pics which means everyone is in quite a few.

Lots of control over depth of field

Easy to zoom in and get the details

Again can zoom in and get the details

Even dogs aren't safe

The L series lens is quite sharp

There was a good line with this, but basically I walked past this snail and pointed camera downward

Good for action sprints

Must remember to stand further away

Again depth of field is great so I tried something different

Nice and clear

The Presidents Cup 22nd October 2011

2011-10-23T22:36:00.004+11:00

Well as we know it, Stuart Derham (Stewie), is a strong rider who takes off and does all kinds of long distance crazy rides at times, however he can't win a Presidents Cup unless he has riders from his club there to support him! Wellington had been threatened by Mr Derham and so arrived in force (16 At last count) to protect their NEWLY elected president Kevin Read from humiliation in the battle of the clubs!

Now maybe WCC riders thought that Ready would need all the help he could get (which is similar to the BRCC mindset, Stewie could take on those WCC riders on his own and still win!!!).....well with a battle of 16 to 3 it was going to be a ~~walkove~~r, ~~Collingwood Grand Final~~, ~~massacre~~, FUN DAY OUT ON THE BIKE!!!

Highlights included
- Kristy taking a wrong turn and heading off into the wild yonder on the ITT
- Grant becoming the sacrificial lamb for three very competitive WCC riders in the TTT
- Kevin Read experiencing a WIN (President's WIN)
- Dave Murray being responsible for a wrong turn in the TTT (rumour has it he was involved in the Kristy incident too....rumour I said!
- Ready saved in finishing last in the ITT by Kristy
- A BRCC winning the B grade road race
- BRCC supplying enough riders for a TT team
- Stewie taking the loss graciously
- Olivia's fantastic ride in the road race and winning her sprint

Full pics are available from actionpactpix. This is a teaser of some of the pics...the more emotion-charged pics from the day!

Results will be available from both club websites later in the week and I am sure WCC might have a bit of bragging to do as I am sure BRCC would have done had the shoe been on the other foot!

Some were along for a FUN day

Come on Olivia...Alkl the way to the Line! (Good Practice for the road race!)

One in each bunch was doing it TOUGH! (Guess who?)

One in this bunch looks like he has had the ride of his life...What an Effort!

John was doing it tougher than Ben and Dean!

Kristy powered along and it was hurting!

Stewie mustered his troops and the message was WIN!

WHO thinks they can beat WCC? Kidding themselves aren't they!!!

Still need to put in a good effort - GAME FACE ON!

No pressure on the previous president

I think I told Kristy to turn Left back there?
She'll turn up...eventually!

This is a Win for WCC (and a WIN for ME..
.I don't get many of those!)

Next Year "We'll be BACK"

One for Bairnsdale!!!!!,,,,,Where are you
Wellington Riders NOW???

GAME ON for next year.........A warning to all!

Ride4epilepsy

2011-09-26T12:58:00.194+10:00

Sunday, I had the pleasure of cruising along to the Ride4epilepsy which was being held at Sandown Park, and I had a gig as a photographer for the event which was great and meant I got to try out lots of things (some worked and some didn't). Overall I am very happy with a lot of pictures and it was an exciting day.

Move over V8's it was time for the real machines!

Just a quick history though on why am I there taking pictures at this event. It meant more than just improving my photography, like for most riders, it was more than just a day on the bike. Two years ago I was diagnosed with a seizure problem, following a bad bike accident some 6 years prior to that and I was started on anti-epileptic medication. Unfortunately it cost me my career as an ambulance paramedic and for a while I thought it had cost me "my world", but like most of us who find that their goalposts have shifted in life, I have now moved on to a new career and am really enjoying my photography and loving my new job teaching first aid. When I read about this ride I knew I had to be involved but I had just had another crash on my bike and was recovering from a fractured kneecap and other injuries and hadn't been on the bike for around 7 weeks, so photos was a good option. Then to cut a long story short 2 friends who had children with a lot of medical issues which included epileptic seizures were talking about riding and raising funds and I knew I had to be involved. I contacted the Epilepsy foundation and was signed on as a volunteer to take pictures, putting together a package of prices for anyone who may want to order some prints.

Some riders took it as a chance to get their teams together and train while raising money

Some were there for "different" reasons, and the aero was the word for this guy!

Pictures will be available on Wednesday 28th September at http://www.actionpactpix.com/

THE ALL IMPORTANT PRICE LIST

6X4 $5-50
5X7 $6-60
8x10 $8-80
8X12 $11-00

(Add postage of $8-00, orders over $10-00 from this section get 1/2 price postage)

OR PACKAGES
Basic Package is 1 x 6x4 plus 2 x 5x7 for only $7-00 plus $8-00 postage
Team Package is 1 x 8x12 plus 6 x 5x7 and 4 x 6x4 for $42-00 plus $8-00 postage

If you buy a package and add more than $10-00 worth of single prints you get 1/2 price postage (shown as a $4-00 discount on your order)

DIGITAL FILES
Facebook sampler (with actionpactpix watermark) is FREE
High Res JPEG file is $15-00 (Pixels 2587 x 3864) - Unlimited Downloads
Customer JPEG file 5Mpx is $8-00 - (Pixels 1829x2732 / Approx print 8x10) - Access for one month

(note some files are small and may not be available in some sizes and downloads)

If you buy more than $10-00 worth of digital downloads you also get a $4-00 discount
Questions to judithdove@bigpond.com

The event was extremely well co-ordinated and Emma Moore from the Epilepsy foundation along with a whole band of helpers had done an awesome job. Along with John Trevorrow from cycling events downunder, it seemed that everything was thought of for a slick operation, the only thing that was missing were more riders but next year I am sure a lot of people will see some great benefits of participating in something like this:-

- Sure there is an entry fee, but you can then train (and quality train for SIX HOURS!!!), without seeing a car! and your money goes to a good cause
- With summer on its way and some good racing around the corner, what a way to spend a Sunday!
- If you are contemplating a big BV ride, like "Around the Bay", or the Great Victorian Bike Ride, you can see where your fitness lies as of NOW.
- The circuit was perfect for those putting in a monster effort, and those families with young children who also appreciated a closed circuit for young riders.

- The photos will certainly show a wide variety of participants, families, racing cyclists on very blingy bikes and those who just wanted to dust off an old banger out of the shed.

It was a very pleasant Sunday ride for many

a good serious training hit-out for others

or a cruise with the family

In addition, you were timed every lap and could then look up your results when you got home that night to see how you went, your fastest lap and number of laps completed.

There was fantastic timing equipment,
timing every lap

You could see your cumulative
total over the day and
"beat your friends"

There was coffee and food and a chance to try out some sports drinks and you could meet a celebrity commentator like Scott McGrory, Michael Roberts and Gary Neiwand who all had some great things to talk about with their riding (and football), and for the Collingwood diehards, Joffa was there to talk Magpies.

Two that stood out in my mind from the event were:-

- The number of riders discussing how great it was to be able to train or ride on open roads for 6 hours and not see a car, and

- The inspiring stories from those families touched by Epilepsy and how they manage from day to day. Marion Clignet a 6 time world champion cyclist was there to share her story on how a diagnosis of epilepsy changed her life and she rode like the champion she is for the 6 hours.

Marion Clignet was very inspiring and has a book called Tenacious which demonstrates how we choose to live our life!

Without doubt the most inspirational ride of the day was from Teamkelly, Linc Kelly with children suffering from epilepsy had made it his goal to ride non-stop for six hours and even had other team mates bring him food and water. He just kept going and ended up with a total of 67 laps and being the rider who managed the longest distance, along with his team who

Team Kelly (Linc is 4th from left).

Everybody just felt like this guy after 6 hours (or whatever you rode), in the saddle.

Discuss the big game this coming Saturday

Motorbike support vehicle was on the course all day (a nice big Harley Davidson)

Bairnsdale Running Festival

2011-09-20T16:10:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to the winner of the event

What a magnificent day to go to Bairnsdale. Last minute decision to head off to Bairnsdale on Sunday to take some pics at the Bairnsdale Running Festival. For the serious and trained (or those that realised on the day ....not quite trained enough!!), there was a 21km half Marathon, there was a 10.8km for those who also wanted a challenge, and for anyone who wanted a shorter run, walk with friends and just a great day out there was the scenic 6km run./walk.

The event:- You can actually get all the info about the event at the website:-Bairnsdale Running Festival and although it is called a running festival, with the gorgeous weather and the great courses (great scenery around the local area), a 6km walk would have been an ideal way to spend a Sunday morning and raise some funds for the East Gippsland Sport Foundation and Bairnsdale Regional Health Service.

All pics from today are loaded and available for viewing, purchase, or you can even download a FREE facebook quality pic by 1. Adding the pic to Cart, then choosing the Digital Download Option.

Photos available at actionpactpix website

All photos have been divided into finish times according to the big yellow clock at the finish so you need to work out what time you crossed the line to find your pic. There were a couple of people tucked in behind others, so I tried to include those people in the background of another picture so you could at least find your own pic. I must confess that I did leave the finish line for a few minutes and may have missed a person later in the morning.

Hopefully next year the event will run again and those that completed each of the shorter events might even set their target at going one better next year! I was inspired to enter next year, if it goes ahead and take in the great scenery and get my best "run face" on as well.

Keep scrolling down to see a few more pictures on the day, but if you want to see the whole bunch, then click on the actionpactpix - Bairnsdale Running Festival link, and find your face or the faces of your friends and let them know that they can see their pic....Congratulations to all who ran on the day and met their own goals and challenges, as it is always an exciting and nervous time just rocking up to a "FUN" run or half marathon....Who did put the word FUN into that?

Great to see the looks on the faces of those who achieved something special today and that is the best part about standing at the finish line for nearly two hours :)

If you have the bug and need more, try one of these websites, and remember although they cater for the serious, the newcomer is always welcome:-

Traralgon Harriers - Lots of info on upcoming events you may like to challenge yourself with
Riviera Triathlon Club - Enter on your own or find a bike rider and a swimmer and get a team together!
Latrobe Valley Triathlon Club - For those in the the Latrobe Valley.
.....the list goes on of all the clubs you can become part of.......but that is a place to start......

Scroll down to see more pics from the Day

Some found they were happy to get to the finish line

Age was certainly no barrier on the day

It was a perfect day to just STEP IT OUT!

Free Massages were available to all participants

Or you could just get a free health check courtesy of Nurses from BRHS who volunteered their time

Good idea for a group get together, like this group of Traralgon Harriers, indulging in their passion for running LONG distance!

Getting a group of workmates together to participate gave everyone the option of HOW FAR to go?

WCC holds racing at Maffra

2011-09-17T22:58:00.000+10:00

Again I tagged along to support Shane at today's race (he likes to think I am his soigneur, but I just chat to people and take some pics whilst he gets himself ready to race!).

Riders went through the picturesque township of Boisdale

Bruce Derham ran the race capably assisted by Kristy Glover in charge of signs. Althugh only ten riders were brave enough to face the undulations around Newry and Boisdale, it was a fun ride for a while, then it got serious! The handicapping was interesting, limit bunch of John Verey and Grant Smith left, then 13 minutes later Kristy Glover, Paul Dashwood, Dean Mackintosh and Olivia Verey leaving a further 7 minutes beforeer 7 minutes saw the Scratch bunch of Shane Dove, Mike Renehan and a Jehu sandwich started. John Verey passed the waiting scratch bunch after his first lap before they even took off and for around 4kms they didn't catch him! Obviously John thought Grant would benefit from ITT training and took off, making the most of a race on HIS BIRTHDAY.......(he chose the LG group suit for his birthday too)_.

Grant managed to hold the limit bunch off for a while on his own

Around the course, the middle bunch rode like a TTT in perfect formation and the scratch bunch were not taking things overly serious. Then it began to unravel at around the 30km mark of the 47km event, when things got serious!

Perfect TTT formation

Dean and Olivia soon became casualties of the middle bunch and Nick became a casualty of the scratch bunch. Dean and Grant decided that they really wanted to watch the finish and reneged on the final lap, which made things difficult for Bruce who was not sure how to document Deans early withdrawal from the event? He decided DNF probably the most succinct!.

Enjoying the perfect weather conditions

John Verey continues to have the fastest Limit ride recorded for some time taking line honours and then we had a cup of tea and biscuits before we saw Paul Dashwood leaving Kristy Glover behind on the final climb and muscle to the line for second, Kristy in third. The bunch sprint was a no-brainer, Chris took ANOTHER sprint victory for fastest time.

Negotiating a good handicap with club handicapper (not sure if you can see John putting his wallet back in his pocket)....he did have a sensational birthday ride...Well Done!

A birthday win for John Verey!

There was a time during the race where Nick was leading Chris (but he paid for this move later!)

It was fantastic to see Olivia Verey keeping up with the Scratch bunch for the final 15km (or thereabouts, even over some tough undulations,), this girl is improving in leaps and bounds, with some help now from Nick Jehu, the Jehu stable is getting stronger and stronger. Quote of the day was from Dean Mackintosh asking Kevin Read what happened to him? when in fact the question could have been asked the other way around. The results were a Jehu sandwich with fastest time to Chris and Lantern Rouge to Nick......huh?

Nick didn't have his best outing on the bike!

But still manages to celebrate.....

All pics from today can be seen here:- Actionpactpix website
Again there are 50 pics (over two pages in the gallery), and they will be uploaded overnight in the wee hours as they take a long time.
More information about the upcoming races can be found at Wellington Cycling Club

Heyfield Race 10th September 2011

2011-09-10T23:36:00.003+10:00

Shane and I bundled off to Heyfield to the Timberline store for graded racing today and it was exciting to see a group of LCCC riders who had made the trek to Heyfield to make the A grade a different race (where were most of the WCC A graders? Must be all Collingwood supporters!!....or perhaps Hawthorn supporters afraid to face the public!). Shane on hearing how Big Jim served it up to everyone by riding his ITT bike (his weapon of choice!) in the Audax Licola ride last weekend begins to get a little nervous about the A grade field and murmurs something about riding B grade (although with club handicapper helping to take entries...no chance!}.Chris Joustra was also showing off a footy medal .....I never got the full details of what that was about.....I think it was his secret weapon for today's race!

Race Organiser, Ben Dowsett arrived at his obligatory 5 minutes before the race start, but luckily through a twist of fate had organised Grant Smith to run the race (somehow I know Kevin Read was involved in the Dowsett "transaction"...not sure how much cash changed hands??)

The back roads of Hefield, just beautiful (just a little bit windy and cold today though).

So with a few A graders, not many B graders and then everyone else in C grade the races commenced. I promptly drove 15km into the course and finally saw the A graders ride past all together other than Thommo who got caught out having raced this morning at Warragul as well (and apparently planning a race tomorrow morning.......that is how you get RACE FIT, and Glenn Schoer who was just hanging off the back of the bunch). Sam Beveridge was reported to have done a lot of work and attacked the bunch a lot, but from all accounts it seemed that A graders just kept attacking hard the whole race. Mike Renehan, Chris Joustra both did their share of work in very windy and testing conditions

LCCC riders Chris Joustra and Sam Beveridge ready to lead the attack

B and C grade rode past as one group and unfortunately numbers meant that it was easier to start them together but they are two different races and this then presents issues (that is not really the point of my blog entry here so enough said)........Nick Jehu was at the front towing the group past and it looked like Thommo had found a new position sitting on the back . Tunksy and Ready were off the back and from all accounts not really enjoying the blustery weather.

Mike Renehan rode really well showing his great form

On the second lap, I got to the top of the hill AND I was surprised to see Ben Dowsett had made a break and was powering up the climb with the rest of 'A' bunch still intact as one group trailing behind. I decided to follow A grade and get to the finish to see if Shane had managed to stay with the bunch till the end!. The A grade bunch were doing it hard up the climb and most riders looked like they were getting that lactic feeling!

John Taylor and Paul King looking like they are having heaps of fun.......????

Following the riders I could see Ben was flagging and the bunch soon caught him. I hear that Brett VanBerkel, Mike Renehan and one other rider then made a break but were chased down by Sam Beveridge who towed a group of LCCC riders with him and before the finish Chris Joustra rode away from the front of the bunch and managed to stay away (thanks to magical powers of a footy??medallion?? - my theory only), riding to victory ahead of Sam Beveridge who only just out sprinted Shane to the finish.

Chris checks on whether he has the bunch in tow....and for now HE DOES!

Now the B grade story has a twist, apparently Simon Whitford had a mechanical (dropped his chain I think), and the others waited for him up the road by riding slowly and he didn't catch them, he just sped past them and broke away......although this was not the race winning move......I then hear that Nick Jehu made his big move with the tailwind, to finally have Olivia towing Simon back to his wheel, and to cut a long story short Simon broke away to win by a good margin to Jehu and finally Olivia in third place.......

Simon yells out "That's one for the "FAT BOY" and pumps the air as he arrives at the finish line....Pretty Funny!

In C grade, Ready didn't finish the second lap (told me he has done too much time on the windtrainer!...I think he was exhausted from arranging a race organiser for today!), and Tunksy enjoyed a scenic ride with Thommo, but John Taylor and Paul King both had a mean ride with the winner decided in the final sprint to the line (and they win best face pulling competition!).

So Tunksy was it a race for one lap and a catch up with Thommo for the other?

Great job by Grant to organise the race....Ben is extremely grateful!!! All others for helping, John Verey for signs and actionpactpix for photos and crappy reporting!

If you want to see more pictures, look at actionpactpix site. There are 50 photos being downloaded there and I think I have captured everyone at the race!

WCC next race is Saturday afternoon at 2pm at Maffra Cemetery, should be great fun as it is a fantastic course and with the warm weather coming, it is a great time to get your racing gear out and racing face back on and ready to gear up your fitness!

Awesome effort by race organiser Grant Smith

Simon can't believe the word is out on his race tactics!

Chris Joustra wins A grade!

Composite Imaging

2011-09-07T17:15:00.001+10:00

One of those wonderful things that you can do on Photoshop and with a lot of work in some cases, is make a composite image from a range of images, textures and brushes. I have had an idea for a composite image for quite some time and it is only now that it is starting to come together.

At TAFE we had to complete a project last year which I did this one. It was 8 images and a clock image which I didn't take, but got from the net. The whole project was done by following a tutorial of sorts from the net.

The images were
- Sky on a cloudy day
-Coffee Table (the rustic table)
-Biochemistry Textbook (now lined with grass)

-Grass

-Dirt Road (The one that goes to the Tip in Sale)

-Shane in a suit in the hallway at home with borrowed hat and glasses I bought from $2 shop

So big key to the success of a composite image is:-

Get the idea....use books and headlines in magazines, anything to make you think outside the circle and then you have to decide what images you need to have and you have to have images that are of a similar white balance. For example if you have images that look like they were shot under tungsten light which we know can produce a yellow cast, and then mix them with images under bright studio light or fluoro light which may have a more blue cast, then they are mismatched.

STEP 1. Sketch your design and plan and begin to get some ideas in your mind on how to tackle the job.

STEP 2 - Do some background research.

My current project has an umbrella, a girl and water running, I am learning new stuff everyday.

I had to start with a background, which I got from "Deviant Art". I am not keen on using stock images as I prefer to take my own, but for the project and for the practice I really liked this dirty wall and the checkered floor which were exactly what I had in mind. The wall needed to be dirtier though and I wanted a floor covered in water so back to the web and I used the following images, a texture and some water over the basic background to build my background.

Meanwhile I had been busy in Photoshop removing a photo of Olivia from a busy background as I wanted to put a person into the scene to begin my whole creation.

This was the water, added it as a layer and changed the blending mode and hue to make it transparent and to get rid of the bright blue.

This texture also did the job as it was busy but not too busy.

Had to add a bit more water so used part of this waterfall and part of the drippy scene to get the water spilling from the picture and dripping onto the ground.

This was my first attempt, I had a beach scene which I took in Merimbula and began with lots of water and added seagull and still had some finer cutting out to do around Olivia, but I printed out a copy and it really didn't gel that well, so I went back to Google Images and searched for an umbrella pic which would suit the mood of this shot.

This was the final product after I changed the image in the frame and then subsequently changed the birds and added some glitter and a bit of magic, added shadows to Olivia and a second texture changed to a Color Overlay Mode at around 17% opacity...(seriously I could bang on about the whole thing, but as most of it was trial and error I am glad to get it finished) I got rid of the seagull and added a pigeon too as it suited the artwork more, and I found a great white bird which fitted really well.

It will be totally trial and error. I used AdobeTV You Tube clips, particularly the Russell Brown show (Google them) and they are great, BUT as usual, when you see something done on the internet in a tutorial it looks really EASY........but in reality NOTHING works that well...seriously I had to do a painstaking eraser around Olivia and especially the boots, the hair and fingers to get rid of the old background......The Tights were also tough as I kept putting holes in her legs if I tried the Background Eraser (so gave up on that one).....

Anyway it is done now...Very happy...Time to move on to a new project.......

Bike Club Photographer

2011-08-27T23:16:00.004+10:00

I went along to the race again this week as the new publicity officer (I dont think the club publicity officer knows that I have taken over completely, but given that I was assistant and he has recently said that he is very busy at work, I dont think he will mind.....in fact welcome it with open arms...)

Winners are Grinners

I just couldnt resist this one on the BLOG!

I will just put in a disclaimer here, that the article I wrote for the local paper last week was sent with 4 photos of which they had to choose as many as they wanted to publish.....NOT ALL THE PHOTOS HAD SHANE IN THEM and truthfully only ONE DID and it was the one they published........This is not some kind of Shane Dove publicist gig here!

Taking pics at bike races is challenging because:-

- As much as you want to do the arty farty stuff, people really just want to see a picture of themselves
- Pictures of cows are irrelevant even though I happen to find them funny and interesting!
- People want to look fast (but not be pulling those silly faces you pull when you are hurting - Smile through the pain people!!!)
- Where to stand as a nice backdrop looks good BUT by the time you cut out most of it to centre on the rider, it is a waste of time hunting around for it anyway.

I find them funny and cute (and POSERS!)

So I have a load of pics available here on my website. There are around 50 pics on two pages!. I took around 230 photos, but aside from a lot of similar copies and some blurry ones I just put on a group where I think I have a few of everyone that raced today (because people really like to see pictures of themselves...seriously they do....or is it just me?)

Kristy with her "race face" on!

Well done to John Verey for the big win in the Limit Bunch and John Bodey for second place and then Olivia for third (That magic handlebar tape is still working). Kristy Glover rode really strongly to finish fourth after I saw her doing a power of work on the road and it was fantastic to see Alec and Grant working together towards the end. Fastest time of the day (just quickly) was Shane Dove, who rode ok...not sure what to say now as I am nervous about pumping up his tyres....Another strong ride was from Nick Jehu who has found his Achilles heel is the longer hills and great to see Chris Ray on an outing with the club exploring the ROAD.

I am sure the times will be up on the club website in the next few days.

Chris Jehu ready to go!

Overall a good race and great to see so many have kept their fitness over the cold and darker winter months and now unleashing the power ready for a great up and coming season. :)

Paul Dashwood broke away from his bunch and pushed on riding almost the whole race alone!

Nearly forgot to mention Allan Rankin who did a power of work in running the handicap today. WELL DONE!

Editing Photos - A whole new world

2011-08-25T16:52:00.001+10:00

Well I have had a bit of time to pay with Lightroom 3 and now even import pics into Photoshop and make further adjustments and then I have managed to play with my new toy the Topaz Adjust 4 filter available here at Topaz Labs.
The Topaz adjust is a FILTER which is used in conjunction with other adjustments in Photoshop, you can mask and also adjust the opacity.

Like this photo here

Taken at the Sale Botanical Gardens earlier in the year, it is an ok pic, but lacks the right lighting and perhaps is quite flat color wise.

I firstly put the photo into Lightroom and adjusted the exposure and the color saturation a little and added a gradient to darken the sky and make it look at bit more dramatic.

At this point I was reasonably happy as I had lifted the pic a bit and made it brighter and less flat. BUT I thought for fun I would see what Topaz could do but putting it into Photoshop and adding the filter

The best part is that I could add a mask and adjust sections of the pic as required to make it seem more realistic, but it certainly "pops" out at you more now.

As far as realism goes, you can make it look more or less realistic, but the aim is to brighten it and lose the "flatness" of the original and uninspiring image.

Just a fun way to learn. I have been getting into Scott Kelby's book on Lightroom and it has a lot of great options.........Just have to keep practising. :)

Tour of Wellington - Stage 3 (Final Stage)

2011-08-21T17:57:00.002+10:00

Wellington Cycling Club turned on the weather for the final stage of the Tour of Wellington. A three stage event over three weeks, this tour follows the very successful Tour de Riviera hosted by the Bairnsdale Club and both Tours with the Paynesville crit thrown in the middle manage to provide some excellent rivalry between the two clubs over the quiet winter months. Being on the sidelines I managed to capture some pics of the day and have posted them at actionpactpix website.

If you want to download a small facebook size file you can do that for FREE.
1. Add image to Cart
2. Choose Digital file at top of next screen
3 Select Facebook Sampler which will come with a Watermark.
4. If you have any hassles, contact me at judithdove@bigpond.com

Some samples of the images I took are here:-

I have to get some scenery too, it was a beautiful day here in Stratford

A Grade - Shane tells me he did a lot of work too, but my pics tell me a different story????

Olivia had the magic "Cadel" tape on her bars, which helped in the first sprint!

Just like in B Grade the C grade sprint was very close. Mike gets into "judging" position

Stewie, serves it up to Shane in another sprint

Paul Dashwood happy to finish in B grade, no win on the day, but he managed to score the overall for B Grade for the Tour.

Ben Dowsett, takes overall Tour honours in A Grade

Damien Crozier takes the overall in C Grade, a the lovely Wa-DeLock winery.

Overall it was a successful tour with a power of work being done by Grant Smith and Mike Renehan to make the numbers add up and keep everyone happy and next year the rivalry will continue over the usually drab winter months where instead of just hiding inside with the SBS coverage of cycling, everyone gets out on the road to experience the Tours in the Local Areas. :)

I won some awards

2011-08-19T21:56:00.001+10:00

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to entering the Better Photography Magazine - Photograph of the year, which I entered last year and won two bronze awards and this year I am happy to say that I have managed to score some good results too.....You actually get a result out of a score of 100 and I nearly scored a Silver with the following image too, but missed out by 1 mark. I guess for me this year is about getting some time to take more pictures and develop my photography. Anyway very excited and just wanted to share this here. I managed 3 Bronze awards and a Silver (I am very happy about the silver as it is a step closer to GOLD )....Next year I plan to move one step closer again.......

IT is practice practice practice,

2011-08-01T10:51:00.000+10:00

Photography is about practice, prctice, practice, trying new shutter speeds and lens lengths and different positions and angles, with and without tripod and just getting a fine flow organised.

THEN

When you get home and look at your work, you also need an efficient workflow. Some people say dont over delete and others say be ruthless in your deleting.......I am a bit of both.......I delete a stack but even if a pic that screams out "DELETE" holds my attention for that second too long, I keep it. There is a great post on deleting ruthlessly "DELETE RUTHLESSLY"

I raced my bike yesterday at the Paynesville Crit and then when the real heroes of the day came out to ride, I took out the Camera and practiced and came up with some images like these:-

THE ACCIDENTAL PORTRAIT

This was a classc where you are shooting madly and when comes the time to look at the images closer, you see that someone has actually spotted you taking pics and looks straight at the camera. This works well in some cases, in this case as the other guys are so focussed on what they are doing, it is like a moment in time..........but it as just a real "Captured Moment" not planned at all

THE RETAINED "DELETE"

This is what I meant, I had initially put this in the "dammit, it is out of focus" pile, BUT something kind of kept me looking at it, so I played with the colors and levels in LR and contrast and with the amount of Orange and Black, it just seemed to work so it is now a fave of mine..

USING COLOR AND A COMMON ELEMENT IN COMPOSITION

I desaturated this shot, and with the details in the wheels, a common thread grouped the elements together and it seemed to work a bit. Yes I admit totally unplanned.......just shoot lots as they are going very fast

ACTION NEEDS MOVEMENT

A good action shot needs movement which screams out, theses guys are going fast.

MOVEMENT AND MOOD

There is not enough detail in this to make out much as I upped the contrast a lot, there is a dynamic feel in this shot, Maybe it has some mood and seriousness to the racing. Needs some tighter cropping to really work though I feel.

USE YOUR BACKGROUNDS

I did spend some time trying to use the lovely backdrop with the riders, although the large peleton completely dominated the shot and so I could only use a few riders as they came along to get a real background/rider feel........I did some shots with the blurry backdrop and panned the riders and some with the backdrop in focus and blurred riders and it is all practice.

Overall it was a fun day and you can see the images here at ACTIONPACTPIX, Images are available for order. Pictures can be ordered in digital form or paper form......The facebook sized digital pics are FREE (they come with a watermark...unlike all other downloads..........)

A photography outing

2011-07-17T20:30:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, I raced my bike at Meerlieu which is a small town....(NO NOT A TOWN ..there is no Bunnings!!!)....it is a farming AREA between Sale and Bairnsdale, anyway the important thing is on the way home I saw so many photo opportunities I had to go back today and get some shots and have a play with them in PS and LR (ie Photoshop and Lightroom to those who prefer to point and shoot!!)...

I just thought I would share some of my faves from today...mind you the sunset was so much more dramatic yesterday evening, but who didn't have a camera with them (after all I had a bike...two bikes as it was a time trial and a road race, and there was a lot of other things to pack, so tripod, lenses and filters and stuff wasn't high on the list!).

Today I headed out with camera (including charged batteries and memory cards) and tripod and lenses and polarising filter! Plan for the day was to get something that looked interesting!

Colors on the road, I just had to stop as it looks amazing

My first stop just before Chinns bridge, the sky looked great and there were a lot of colors around....

Two cheeky cockatoos peeking out at me!

When taking pictures, you drive and see animals and stop the car and they run like @#*& to get away. Seriously it is frustrating, so I was waiting in my car quietly. It was the car camouflaged into the background of the road....Yes the BRIGHT RED CAR! They were watching me carefully.

This was the best fun in Lightroom and Photoshop, just playing with levels and colors and stuff

This cow came back to have another look as he also ran away @#*& (which translates to FAST by the way)
This was just beautiful and I love the pink noses on these cows.......

Letterboxes on the way home and I had to risk getting run over to get this shot

So I had to try it in color too........The reflections looked great

I tried this in Lightroom and YES I can see I have to work on the Lens distortion correction a bit, but it will get there.

Basically I have just done a few quick adjustments to these shots to get a general feel of what I took today. It was a fun afternoon out (well about 2 hours) and I did get plenty more and as soon as I have some good shots I will be putting them on my actionpactpix site and redbubble. But at the moment they are work in progress.

I am planning an exhibition later in the year and there is more info to come on that and I am gradually building some images.

They are not finished images, just quickly loaded from camera to hard drive and played with just a bit.......for some fun!

Cycling Racing - Tour De River Stage 1

2011-07-02T22:27:00.001+10:00

Took some pics today at the Bairnsdale and Riviera Cycling Club - Stage 1 (aka week one) of the Tour De River (also coinciding with the TDF which starts TONIGHT!!!!!!).....

Weather was perfect for today's stage and the wind was good to everyone on the open flat roads

The Tour DeRiver is a 4 week Tour which is a great way to get some racing in over winter. Next week is at Lindenow with more info available from Bairnsdale and Riviera club website

I took a few pics today at the Sprint point both Sprint No. 1 and Sprint No. 2 and unfortunately missed the final sprint for the win, but all results are available from the BRCC website.

A grade - The second half of A grade sprinting.

The race was well organised by the BRCC club and Katrina East showed her race director skills along with her father John.

More pics are on my website actionpactpix You can get a free copy of any file by:-

Click on "add to cart"
Click on "digital files"
Facebook sampler is free. These are only small files and ok for screen usage etc.......You can email me should you have any further enquiries about the pics. judithdove@bigpond.com

WCC president!

WCC riders in B grade

There are 44 images from today.

This is a brief summary of the Tour (as borrowed from the BRCCwebsite.....)

Stages
This Tour consists of 5 stages over four days (stages 3 and 4 are on the same day) and is hosted solely by the Bairnsdale and Riviera Cycle Club.
Maps and course profiles will be added soon.

Stage 1 July 2nd at 2pmRoad Race of 51km starting at Bairnsdale Airport
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4590685
Stage 2 July 9th at 2pmRoad Race of 52km starting at Lindenow Hall
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4590740
Stages 3 and 4 July 16th at 2pmITT of 14km followed closely by a Road Race of 42km. ITT starts at Meerlieu School
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4590661
Stage 5 July 23rd at 2pm (meet at Crave Café Nicholson Street Bairnsdale)Road Race of 50km in the Wy Yung hills area
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4590790Each stage will have 2x KOM’sand 2x Sprints

I will also vouch for the food and "Hot Chocolates from "Crave Cafe" in Bairnsdale...Absolutely delicious and worth spending a few weekends racing the bike in the colder months for a nice hot drink and some yummy food at the finish.............

Very excited about photography

2011-06-21T21:04:00.000+10:00

I am in a new phas of photography and planning to become very organised in managing images (which as anyone who is just starting can tell you.....there is a minefield of ways to manage your images). You just dont' want a dog's breakfast of files and folders and some on one hard drive and some on the lap top and some "lost" missing...You need to be organised..........

I bought Lightroom 3 and a Book by Scott Kelby called Lightroomn 3 book for digital photographers. The first thing I need to say is that the book and the whole package are both amazing. The book really gives some fantastic advice on how to get the most out of downloading and copying and backing up images and what is important to do.

I am abou to buy a new Portable Hard drive purely for back up. The book also talks about how good Lightroom 3 is for transferring images to say other programs, Flickr and there are You Tude videos I have watched which also talk about exporting to Facebook and Picasa and the like which makes the whole thing so much easier to manage images. Instead of having large set and a blog/facebook set of smaller images.
Good idea to get an organised workflow.

I also want to buy the following:-
70-200mm Lens
Grey Card
Lights
Light Meter
Fold Up Reflector
A few filters
The list goes on..............

Drought from photography

2011-06-08T20:50:00.000+10:00

Well, just an update to celebrate my return to photography...(YAY...lots of screaming and clapping and drumrolls and everything........!!!). Anyway I now have to time get the camera out and get back into it.

I tried to get inspired on May 18th with a visiti to the Swing Bridge at some ridiculous time of the morning and I took theses pics, but it was almost too foggy, I did get some at the Port of Sale too but the fog was a bit overpowering

Olde Swing Bridge at the Port of Sale

It was an interesting time to be taking pics, and a word of warning, be very careful as the South Gippy higway is busy at that time of day. I had planned on getting a few more, but with such thick fog and limited vision, I thought the Old Swing Bridge was the safest option (and interesting anyway, with lots of textures too.

The old Bricks, which I am sure will provide more interest when I get my photographer head back in place.

The Port of Sale is one of my favorite places to photograph.

Cycling - Stratford to Dargo the easy way

2011-03-21T23:02:00.000+11:00

Usually on the bike, except due to being run down last weekend, I ended up being behind the camera. Lesson number one - Make sure your camera battery is fully charged (or at least you have your spare with you)...FAIL. I had to be careful to have enough left for presentations.

The race is a gruelling 110km from Stratford to Dargo and beyond in some absolutely gorhgeous countryside and seriously you could stop a zillion times and get some amazing shots as the scenery is beautiful.

I wasnt sure whether to write about the photography or the ride, the ride is tough and then you get past Dargo and it becomes Hell, or so I am told, you must have granny gearing, it is not unusual to see riders with a 28 on the back and a compact 34 on the front, seriously this saves a lot of people in the last 12 km.

All the pics can be found at actionpactpix site

For a review on the annual Stratford to Dargo held in November each year refer to Cycling Tips

The views are fantastic

The riders started in Stratford and I didnt take so many "along the road pics this time as I wanted to just capture a few key parts (due to limited battery life). the scenery and the ambience of such a beautiful ride.

Phil Brown at the start. A bit nervous knowing what lies ahead

Mike Renehan obviously smiling, this ride is practically in his backyard and forms his main training routes, so he smiles knowing the territory (or nerves).

On Sunday there were three grades, but it was a great ride for those that raced. Fundamentally determinastion is a key ingredient to riding past Dargo.

The three LCCC riders, altogether (and the reason I dont take many pics from car windows)

Dean Macintosh leading Mike Renehan along the road to "banana hill"

This is a compulsory walk, so I tried to capture this

The gaps in the bridge are quite big and riding is TOO DANGEROUS

The road was full of excited bystanders....

Loving "Lightroom" and presets, some I have created and some from the many freebies I have sourced

Mike Renehan smiling as he walked the final hill. It is a killer and he was not the only one who walked.

Kristy rode up the hill and I think I finally took a pic which captures how steep this hill actually is. The final 12 km is full of surprises like this, there are gradients in excess of 16% and some nasty twists and turns

Someone turns up with a motorbike and you have to play with the camera seriously dont you.

After such a great effort - a reward is required.

I was happy to take some pics as it is just perfect scenery, one day I am going to take pictures only and not be worried about bike riders, there are usually lots of other great things about this road, the motorbikes and the old homes and the Dargo township, all just great things to take photos of.

I must confess I watched a fantastic tutorial on Lightroom this week, it is for ightroom 3, but I found I learned a lot and I have Lightroom 2. It goes for about 35 minutes so I got my lunch ready and sat at my computer and watched it (it was better than Dr Phil),and I took notes, I am going to watch it again too, as it was great. Terry Whites Adobe You Tube Videos

I also have downloaded a plug in for my lightroom, to export pictures directly to facebook which is also great and a plug in to put watermarks on pictures.

I think the thing I got from the Terry White you tube clip was some more ways of getting a good workflow going. Moving pictures from Lightroom into Photoshop and back and once you start to master these skills, you are saving time which can be used to do more editing (or watching Dr Phil...that episode you missed).

Wedding - A taste of the wedding photographer

2011-02-07T14:44:00.021+11:00

I went to a fabulous wedding on Saturday. We knew the people getting married very well and Shane is credited as having the idea to get Emma and Andrew together. (Love by Dove)...but they were truly in love...anyway it was an awesome day although the weather was very testing as it rained all day, but the wedding was a t a winery called Toms Cap winery near Traralgon and it is an amazing venue for a wedding, there is a chapel and a function centre and it was just beautiful.

I wasn't official photographer, but I used the day as a learning curve to get some experience in the do's and dont's of wedding photography. I built a big list of things not to do (I think I did all of them). Basically I stayed away from the photographer as I didnt want to get in her way as one thing I have read is that one photographer (or team) is best as then the wedding party are always looking at the right camera! I did learn that you need to get closer, as my lens was straining in the given light with an aperture of 5.6 at times and my flash from way back. But a couple of the things I learned include:-

- Know the venue (I didn't)
- Get close to the action (I didnt't)
- Be assertive with the couple (I didnt get to do this, but I saw the photographer ask them to stand a particular way, so I was learning from the experienced)
- Be ready for that "moment", a grin, a laugh, something cute, something different. (I often wasnt as I was trying to just enjoy the wedding too....and I kept forgetting that I had my camera on manual focus and I have to learn more about focus spots on auto as some of my pics were blurry as the camera focussed on the wrong bit)
- Use manual focus or know how to override your autofocus, I underestimated the depth of field problems using autofocus with the poor lighting and I was too far away with my flash for the service.

I also learned that you have to be "on" all day...just ready for a picture, to give a direction etc...even when I was just trying to have some fun. I must admit I learned heaps and heaps and might do some more research on wedding photographers and give it a go when I think I am ready. There is a lot to learn and I have made a lot of notes!....OH when people say to read your camera manual and when in doubt read it again....Guess what I am doing this week??? Oh and PRACTICE PRACTICE...try different lighting and different times of day. This is not a guide on how to do a wedding, more of a guide on how not to.....

I have gone through my pics now and have found some good shots and so I have included a couple here, it was a lovely wedding and I feel very thankful to be on the list if guests

I tried to look for details so noseying around.....

A nervous groom being reassured by the celebrant

The groom and groomsmen, brothers, all looking very alike

The bride and her father..I guess this is a staple wedding image.

I was trying to find the right moments in the ceremony to take pics, I took a lot

More of a solemn moment, this was challenging, and I played with some finishes for the photos as I had a lot of pics, so to make them look a bit original instead of a heap of the same, I changed a few into BW and antique finishes

I tried to look at everyone and get in the heads of all of those in the wedding party

Not a great picture, but the weather check and the face of the groomsman said a lot

The Bride and Groom signing, with the witness (the brides brother)

This is Toms Cap winery function room (they have two), it is just a perfect size

The wedding cake had a lovely message too, so in my noseying around, I took a few of the cake from different angles

The white umbrellas were the wedding party getting pics taken with the photographer....too cute, this little line of umbrellas in the vineyard

Toms Gap Vineyard, the view across the back of the reception room to the bar area. (I guess it is a wine tasting area)

Bride and Groom

Bride and Groom cutting the cake which was delicious too by the way....it was two flavoured mudcakes..yum

Wellington Cycling Club

2011-01-30T18:36:00.005+11:00

OK, it is the first race of 2011 for Wellington Cycling Club and I decided not to race (too tired/lazy/full of excuses as a cyclist)....anyway I took a few snaps between manning a crner and makeing sure that nobody got run over by a truck and they are available for viewing or even purchase, by going to http://www.actionpactpix.com/ or contact me on judithdove@bigpond.com .

Results for the Day - A grade - Chris Jehu, B grae -Gary Jago and C grade -John Verey

Anyway I played with a few shots and here are a couple that I have on the website.

If you are on facebook I have some loaded and tagged which are smaller files.

Catching onto the back of a bunch

Legh Ryan leads grade around the corner

A & C graders wait for their start

Dean and Kane in A grade

Ready leads Phil around a corner in C grade

The obligatory Dean pain faced pic

B grade - whos working?

Mike looks like it is a walk in the park.....and he does some fantastic sprinting

A row of shadows as Mike leads Kristy into the corner

Chris and Kristy - teamwork!

Olivia worked well at the start of the race and then Gary tried to lead her to the sprints

Matesy is focussed

Heading off into the wild blue yonder (this is my artsy pic)

Have you been to Sale Botanic Gardens

2011-01-08T18:02:00.001+11:00

Actionpactpix had a project this week and it involved taking photos of Sale Botanic Gardens. Have you walked around the Lake in Sale? Have you ever taken much notice of the surrounds, I mean REALLY noticed? The gardens have had a major revamp in recent years culminating last year when they celebrated their 150th birthday and there are some fascinating trees and sculptures there.

Aside from the fact that the Botanic Gardens in Sale are the only Botanic Gardens east of Melbourne, there really is some interesting stuff there.

Like the Sensory Garden where you can touch and smell the plants and see things that you eat like corn and strawberries. It is a lovely area and great for the kids. There is an adventure playground, an elm grove where the Jolly Swagman carving sits, made by chainsaw and there are some fantastic garden beds made up of sustainable plants along the Lake. Don't forget the fauna park, where you can easily spot a wallaby or a peacock (in fact there are some young chicks there at the moment). Yesterday I watched a young girl giggling and excited to see the KANGOO!

Then there is the eco-adventure playground on the way over to Lake Guyatt, and just so many trees and shrubs, the new Sound Shell where Carols by Candlelight was performed.

A botanical garden sounds a bit boring, but a walk around these gardens is worth it and go a bit further and walk right around Lake Guthridge too and do the fitness stations along the way. It is a cheap and fun afternoon for the family.

Ann and Peter Synan have written a book about the gardens which was written for the 150th anniversary and it is a very interesting read, there are a lot of historical photographs and copies of documents and basically you travel through the development of the Lake Guthridge and parkland precinct from the ugly swampland it was, through the periods of indecision and bureaucracy to the absolutely "blooming" asset to the Sale community it is today. The book is called "Summer Walk" and is available from Collins bookshop in Sale or the Wellington Shire office in Foster Street Sale. I think the book is about $40-00 (I should have checked) and is easy to read and I read parts of it to gather information, but found the whole book quite fascinating.

When you go, take lunch, or dinner, eat in the Summer House, the big open building where you can find barbecues on entering the park. BUT don't forget the sunscreen and the Aeroguard, the elm grove is a haven for mozzies on these warm days.

A handful of pics:-
(note pics available at http://www.actionpactpix.com/galleries/sale-botanical-garden

One of the birds that likes to call the park his own - Very loud and high in the tree yesterday

Heaps of colorful plants like this one - I am not a botanist by the way

The view across one of the sustainable and colorful plant beds toward the park

Adventure playground for the kids

More color

The interesting fence and brick pillars. The Eucalypt sculpture was designed by Annemeike Mein a world reknown textile artist from Sale. You can see the Summer House in the background

Boardwalk across Lake Guyatt where you can spot native birds (they love to walk on the boardwalk)

Popular track for walkers,, joggers and cyclists - The Summer Walk (hence the title of the book, and some more of those great garden beds)

500 photos in Merimbula - How to process?

2010-12-28T17:56:00.039+11:00

Three wise seagulls on the beach

We went to Merimbula for a break just before Christmas and I took my camera (of course) and spent one evening strolling around some old jetties and there was a ton of photos I took. Basically three dedicated times where I went out to take pictures and I ended up with 500 photos....The question is how do you process volumes of pictures and get the most out of them.

The Answer is Lightroom........Adobe Lightroom to be exact

I am learning so much about Lightroom (it is my new best friend - it is like a min-photoshop and lets you do a lot of basic work on a photo much quicker than photoshop and without so many bells and whistles)

OK my system for processing a lot of pictures is:-

1. Load them onto my harddrive into relevant folder

2. Rename them all and make sure they have some basic tags on them (I do this in bulk edits)
3. Then there are some you want to tweak and some you want to have whole Photoshop experience with (I seriously need to get out more)....How do you do this....

4. I Import them all into Lightroom (this can be done in Bridge) and give them all a rating of 1-5 depending on what I want to do with them and I can even add a flag too so I have two systems ready to go

5 My rating system is 1 (possible delete), 2. average (like a family snapshot), 3 means could be ok with some work (basically you know you havent got unlimited time so theses are like the "on the bench set"), 4 - IMages I really like. (I save 5 for later)...You can also add a flag using 6,7,8,9 (but I havent used that much yet.

6. I then filter them and look at the 4 star ratings and give a 5 to the best of those and they are the images I am going to work on first. I work on them in Lightroom, but can take them into Photoshop for more detailed tweaking, especially with faces and things.......Having a system is awesome instead of floundering in a zillion pictures, get organised and use star ratings to filter the pictures without deleting any.

- I ended up with about 90 "4 star" and 17 "5 star"images at the end of this process

IT is also important to have all of your RAW images (archive or unprrocessed) in a file and then a separate file to store the images you tweak, so you still have the original (as shot) image. So in this example I have a file called Merimbula and subfiles - Lightroom done and - LIghtroom smaller. The smaller ones are to put on my blog and facebook or whatever. It is easy to export from Lightroom into the folders

Even just some old pieces of wood (an old ramp maybe) are interesting on the beach

I have only worked on a few but only in lightroom. I need to make sure that the pictures I put on http://www.actionpactpix.com/ are of a really high quality so when people buy them, they are getting a really good image. I am also using some surf pictures for a new composite image I started the other day. Too many things to do.........Dont think I will be using 500 images, I take a lot of photos and experiment with camera settings and aperture and shutter speed which is a great way to learn....it is helping me.......

There are so many bits of old shellfish, not sure what these are, but they are all empty

Anyway a couple of pictures I dd some basic editing on are included in this post. I just did some cropping and changed tones and stuff.......it is a lot of fun!

The water was very calm and the reflections look fantastic

My First (well second competition)

2010-12-26T08:32:00.000+11:00

A couple of months ago I entered two images in the Traralgon Art Show with no success, however I have finally bitten the bullet and entered two images in a huge Photographic Competition the Canon Creative Asia Awards which specialise in portrait and wedding photography.

How does it Work:-
Your image is judged by five judges and you are given a score out of 100 and images receiving gold silver and brionze scores considered to be high quality images worthy of recognition in the competition.

Gold being 90-100
Silver awards 80-90, and
Bronze awards given for images scoring 70-79.

This is a huge international compeition and so I was doing it for the judges feedback and not expecting anything, but I scored a Bronze with both of my images and received some very good feedback and so will approach competitions with a whole new mindset now and level of excellence.

Judges Feedback on this image

As part of the judging process our judges have offered some suggestions on potential ways of improving your image.

Good Image - The judges agree that this is a well executed image. Nice use of exposure, composition and focus. Strong Technique has been displayed.
Lighting - Often the difference between a good photo and a great one is the light. This is a big subject and covers many issues, but the judge is indicating that better use of light may improve this image. Is the subject over lit? Is the light too contrasty or too flat for your subject? Is the light helping or hindering the subject.
Technical Quality - Technical quality in a competition is expected by the judges. When viewing your entry, they may have seen some issues in terms of colour, contrast, brightness or even unwanted spots or marks that have let your entry down. Presentation of your work and correct post-production is so important for a successful competition entry.
Composition - Composition is a big subject and very personal. The judge believes this image could be improved with stronger composition, which can be as simple as where your subject is placed within the frame, to more complex interactions of various elements within the composition. Have a look at your image again and see how a different camera angle, framing or subject arrangement could make the image stronger.

Judges Feedback on this image

As part of the judging process our judges have offered some suggestions on potential ways of improving your image.

Lighting - Often the difference between a good photo and a great one is the light. This is a big subject and covers many issues, but the judge is indicating that better use of light may improve this image. Is the subject over lit? Is the light too contrasty or too flat for your subject? Is the light helping or hindering the subject.
Composition - Composition is a big subject and very personal. The judge believes this image could be improved with stronger composition, which can be as simple as where your subject is placed within the frame, to more complex interactions of various elements within the composition. Have a look at your image again and see how a different camera angle, framing or subject arrangement could make the image stronger.
Post Processing - Another highly subjective subject. It is not how much or little you process that matter, but how effective it is. Does it enrich the message and storytelling? Or does it detracts? Be ware of halos dodging & burning, artifacts from over sharpening. Try to maintain details in the highlights and shadows. Successful post processing just glues the eyes the image. Some liken post processing to cooking. When it is done right it is just heavenly.
Technical Quality - Technical quality in a competition is expected by the judges. When viewing your entry, they may have seen some issues in terms of colour, contrast, brightness or even unwanted spots or marks that have let your entry down. Presentation of your work and correct post-production is so important for a successful competition entry.

The best part is having this feedback to help with looking at images in the future and even better was that I entered these in a bit of a hurry as the closing date was not long after I took the shots so I am doubly happy as I hadnt had a chance to egt them critiqued by anyone and so I know there could have been some tweaking done to improve them just by getting a second opinion on them.

Special Thanks to Olivia for being my model and Tanya who assisted with styling as it was a total combined effort and lots of fun on the day....lots of pictures and an enjoyable photo shoot.

Now I have two Bronze certificates to place with my photography portfolio which is slowly being built, image by image.....It is very exciting and I am glad I decided to enter the images. The winning images wont be available to be seen until January so I can't wait to look at them and see the top images in every category, I know they will be awesome.

Wellington Cycling Club - Presentations

2010-12-16T17:53:00.000+11:00

I write this on my photography blog, but I took pictures of the WCC Chrissy Teams Time Trial last night as well as the presentations that followed. The pics are all just pics, with no fancy effects or anything, just pics. The club had a great night (I say that as it was at my house), and the annual awards were presented
A Grade - Dave Arnup was the main winner
B Grade - Mike Renehan (we ask why he is riding B grade ....note he is the handicapper and next year plans on claiming his retirement bonus...translated that means he can ride B grade even though he will be riding/training a lot in retirement so watch out Mr Arnup)....
C Grade - Kevin Read - You can buy some of the rare limited edition K Read teams time trial medallions on ebay - Check them out - Kevin Read MEdallions on Ebay

So the pics from last night will be on the website http://www.actionpactpix.com/ from later on today (I have just started loading them) you want to check them out.

The happy Grade Aggregate winners

The very happy (must be something he ate) Mike Renehan Perpetual Award winner

"Come on Kristy"

The gratuitousscenic shot (it is a photography blog)

Chris promised to wear Ready close to his heart - maybe he will bid on Ebay?

It was a successful night, great weather and lots of drinking (rehydrating and carbo-loading).........Looking forward to another great year with the club, lots of exciting races coming up next year.

For now the pics are on the web...give them some time as they are loading and take a while.......

Motivational Posters

2010-12-14T10:33:00.001+11:00

A new product now on offer from actionpactpix are motivational posters and prints which can be made from any image and the words designed to suit your own requirements.

Normal print charges apply, or you can even buy the digital file and then arrange to have your own products created with the print, A T-shirt,mousemat, coffee cup, keychain, whatever motivates you. Aside from a great present, these prints make great motivators, a picture of you heading toward a goal, or a picture of your goal and words that will give you the extra motivation to reach it.

You can use your own caption!

This is a sample of the type of poster you can create yourself, maybe you know someone who motivates you. It is up to you.

Personal posters, children and even corporate posters (maybe your team did really well in a sports final).....just let me know and we can get the ball rolling!..............