something cheerful

[nikkortorokkor]

Something cheerful from NZ. It's not all destruction down here.
all photos made on Fuji Superia 200 with an AGFA Ambi Silette

Elizabeth Park, Masterton


Gape thinning, Wairarapa. The last job before the vintage begins.


"Smoko"
Downunder vernacular for coffee/tea break.


Borthwick's Vineyard.
We've just finished netting the entire property. A lot of muscle goes into stretching the 250 yard-long nets across 6 rows. Even harder when the wind gets up!

MT

[PeterW]

Thanks for the pictures, Michael. We needed something cheering from NZ.

Your Ambi Silette is certainly doing its stuff.

PeterW

[nikonbob]

Michael

That first picture reminds me of a similar train we had in one of our local parks when I was a kid. Now, I'm wondering where it went. Is it me or does that lens give a 3D look to the photos? In any event that Ambi Silette is performing well.

Bob

[photax]

Michael, great pictures The Agfa indeed IS a excellent camera ! The train picture also reminds me of the park railway here, but the Viennese one has still a steam engine. Thanks for the vineyard picture, now I know from where these choice wines are coming from.

MIK

[nikkortorokkor]

Thanks all.

The team is thinning Pinot Noir, by the way, which loves the dry river terraces on which the vineyards are situated.

Thanks Bob for the comment on the 3D effect of the train (A 15" gauge miniature of an English Electric NZR DG class prototype).

The park is Queen Elizabeth Park - I mistyped the original caption. I was originally unimpressed by the image, as it was over-exposed. The difficulty of exposing for the train is that it is usually running through the middle of the day in sunny weather. Great for the kiddies riding it, but not so easy for a photographer trying to manage exposure with a hand held selenium meter. This was, I guessed, the last run of the day, so I had no second chances for bracketing.

Since commercial scanning from print film to digital media usually adds an extra bit of over-exposure, I massaged the image "quick and dirty" with Picasa. Although the highlights are still blown out, the information transmitted to film by the lens is much more evident than it was "as scanned". I think that the train running through the blotch of sunlight in the centre of the frame adds to the 3D feel which Bob has noticed.

Mik, the Masterton Miniature Railway also has a steam engine, "the largest 15" gauge miniature steam engine in the Southern Hemisphere", but I've yet to see it run.

MT

[daveh]

Michael, Gorgeous photos. Life goes on, and it has to, in spite of tragedies like that in Christchurch.

"The Masterton Miniature Railway also has a steam engine, "the largest 15" gauge miniature steam engine in the Southern Hemisphere" "

That's a bit like "at 3'2" he was the tallest dwarf in the world!"

Dave.

[Deleted]

There was a train similar to that at a local park when I was a kid. I absolutely LOVED riding it.

Wayne

[PeterW]

Dave:

That's a bit like "at 3'2" he was the tallest dwarf in the world!"

In the days before supermarkets three grocer's shops in a certain London High Street were in a price war.

One put up a sign "Cheapest groceries in London".

The second put up a sign "Cheapest groceries in England".

The owner of the third shop smiled and put up a sign "Cheapest groceries in this street".

PeterW