Monday, December 12, 2011

Monday Movie: HDR Skies

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French photographer Tanguy Louvigny created the time-lapse film embedded below of Normandy and Brittany using High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging techniques. As you can see from the screen grab above, the footage – and the countryside – looks absolutely stunning, and Louvigny has generously made the above image, and half-a-dozen others, available for download as wallpapers for your computer desktop.

Films like this sometimes make me wonder if there is any point travelling to see the regions depicted in these homemade films for myself. After all, one would have to sit – in some instances – for hours to observe the same scenes. On the other hand, watching videos like the one here can lead to a growing sense of frustration knowing that life is too short, and no matter how much money you have, you will never have enough time to see all the beautiful places on this small blue planet.

Ultimately, more than anything else, these videos stir the wanderlust in me, and regardless of money or time, I am left counting down the months, weeks and days until my next journey.
For more information regarding how Louvigny creates his films, and the gear he uses, go to his website and Vimeo page.

Thanks to Open Culture for the heads up on this video and Louvigny’s delightful film.

Make sure you view the video at full size to see the footage at its best.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

SASMEE PARK: An Adelaide Hidden Gem

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The South Australian Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (SASMEE) runs a variety of ride-on model steam trains at their SASMEE PARK site at Millswood, Adelaide, South Australia. I used to visit the site as a teenager, and had not been back to the park for over 40 years until I visited again with my niece, her husband, and two children, in August 2010.

As a teenager I loved to examine the beautiful steam-powered model ships, and stunning steam trains, each loving built by skilled engineers and craftsmen whose attention to detail and pride in their work was clearly evident.

First incorporated in 1927, the Society began developing the Millswood site in 1947, and have been adding to and extending the tracks and facilities ever since. The site includes a large boiler house containing various historical exhibits, the oldest of which dates back to the 1880s.
Click map to view full size
Entirely volunteer run, the park is open to the public on the first Sunday and third Saturday of each month - weather permitting - from 2 to 4.30pm.

With an entry price of just $5 for adults and $3 for children, SASMEE PARK is one of my Adelaide 'Hidden Gems'. Once inside the site, children and adults can ride the trains as often as they like for no additional cost. There is also a large pond on site where SASMEE members and members of the public can sail model boats (some steam powered).

As you can imagine, the site is very popular with children of all ages, and because of the range of facilities and activities on offer, SASMEE PARK is the perfect place to hold birthday parties for any number of children.

Unfortunately, on the day I visited with family members, it was overcast and soon started raining, which cut our visit short, which is why in the video below you only see the steam trains, and none of the other facilities – although you can catch glimpses of the site as the video progresses. I will return to the park over the summer to shoot more footage of the whole site and add that to an updated post in due course.

Check the SASMEE website for full details about the park.

Note: Enclosed footwear *must* be worn if you wish to ride on the trains. You cannot wear light, flimsy or open-toed footwear. This includes thongs (flip-flops), sandals and scuffs.
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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Visiting New York City

I was fascinated by an article in a recent edition of the New York Magazine called And Another Fifty Million People Just Got Off of the Plane.

The article spelt out in great detail the efforts that have gone into promoting tourism in New York City over the past ten years. Incredibly, in 2011, New York looks like playing host—for the first time in its history—to 50 million tourists. In 2002, when Mayor Bloomberg took office, that figure just over 35 million. With a turnover of $47 billion a year, tourism it is now New York’s fifth-largest industry.

Also of interest was information about where visitors come from and the ways they spend their time and money. In 2010, American’s accounted for visitor numbers of 39 million, compared with 9.7 million international travellers. However, according to the story, the two groups couldn’t be more different. Apparently, Americans “…stay an average of 2.7 nights and spend an average of $432” while in New York, while international visitors “…stay 7.3 days and spend an average of $1,700.”

It was interesting too, to read that international visitors are more adventurous than domestic visitors. I was particularly pleased to see this in the article:
“Among travelers from the top foreign markets, Australians are the most adventurous. They are the most likely to attend a sporting event, go dancing, shop, buy tickets to a concert or a play—anything, really.”
As an Australian who has visited New York City on two occasions, and who is looking forward to my third visit over the summer of 2012, I can report that apart from the dancing mentioned in the above quote, I have attended sporting events, shopped, been to concerts, Broadway productions and much more. I'm probably one of the few Staten Island Ferry riding tourists that have actually left the St George Terminal and spent a day checking out the island (nowhere near enough of course, but it's a start), whereas most visitors taking the free ferry ride reboard the next available craft for the return trip to Manhattan.

Despite the fact that I have now spent a total of four months ‘living’ in New York, I am far from exhausting the city's possibilities, and since the chances of doing that are next to impossible – even if I lived in New York full-time for ten years – it looks like I will continue to visit for a while yet.

Read the full article here...
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