Squeakaz Squawking's ....

So the last time I updated this blog was almost 6 years ago, so I highly doubt there are any followers left.  This first photo is from my Indian Pacific and Perth trip album. The original photo can bee seen by clicking on the image which will redirect you to my Flickr page. The Perth album the image comes from can be found here

Sunrise Bronte Originally uploaded by Squeakaz Saturdays Sunrise shoot with the FOCUS Flickr Group had us at Bronte Beach. Here is my favourite shot of the day. See my flickr page for other great photos. http://www.flickr.com/squeakaz

Gordon Falls - Leura Originally uploaded by Squeakaz A beautiful, tranquil part of the Blue Mountains. The photo is only a small part of the entire Gordon Falls but none the less still demonstrates what it is like. This shot was taken after I picked up my new camera body from Lithgow after my unfortunate incident at Catherine Hill Bay.

St Stephen's Anglican Church - Black and White Originally uploaded by Squeakaz I am doing a photography course through my local community college and it is taking me places I would not normally shoot at and broadening my knowledge big time! Last night (Monday) We were doing low light shooting and long time exposures. I took particular interest in this topic as this is the style of shooting needed for the seascapes and Landscapes I am getting into. The next few weeks are also along the same topic so I can't wait to see what the instructor has in store for us!

Catherine Hill Bay Sunrise Originally uploaded by Squeakaz This morning was an eventful one at by far the best location I have shot yet. It was all going well until 'SPLASH', bye bye camera. Thankfully the memory card survived but unfortunatly the camera not to good. Hitting a rock on the way down then completely submerging itself (tripod and all) for approx 5-10 secs. The things we do to get that one good shot!

Sunrise at LongReef Originally uploaded by Squeakaz Today's Sunrise shoot with the newly named group   FOCUS - (NSW seascape and Landscape Photography)  was at Long Reef on the Northen Beaches in Sydney. Here is my favourite shot of the day Some beautiful shots taken! See my flickr page for the rest - http://www.flickr.com/squeakaz

Hornby Lighthouse Originally uploaded by Squeakaz I have joined up with a group of wonderful people called the NSW Seascapers. Every weekend they head off to a predetermined location to do photography. Here is one of my shots from last weekend at Hornby Lighthouse Watsons Bay.

Depression. An illness that affects 1000's of people. The only thing that varies is the level of it. Starting from something as small as a little cry or feeling down for a few minutes, right up to wanting to commit self harm. Many things can cause people to become depressed and depending on how deep into depression you go once your there it's hard to come back. Medications can be prescribed to help bring your mood up so to speak but they are only a temporary fix and I believe without help and without helping yourself it's a long road to recovery. When someone you know is down and could be depressed or suffering from depression it could be shown in many different ways. These could include anger, sadness, pushing loved ones away, acting strangely towards others, not sleeping, avoiding social activities etc. This could be seen by those around them as someone just having a bad day. If it is over a longer period of time it may be more than just that. Unfortunately human nature i...

Sunset Panorama Originally uploaded by Squeakaz A beautiful end to a day that turned out to be not so beautiful. After a hot morning and then a wet afternoon mother nature turned on the colours for a beautiful sunset. From what I read on Twitter not everyone was fortunate to see this. So here it is. Enjoy :)

I haven't posted here in a while but I thought I would share something here that I posted to my Facebook. Nobody knows the hand we are going to be dealt in life and quite often it takes something bad to happen before ppl realize what is most important to us. I am one of them. There were times when I made the wrong decision, or whinged about something that was not worth whinging about and even worried about something pointless. Money and possessions seem to play a big part in our lives when they should play just a little one instead. Our friends, family and loved ones should be number one, but quite often this is not the case. Take care of and love each other and never loose sight of what really should be important to us all. -xx-oo- - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trying a little positive note. Here are a few photos that I took. This is my first real attempt at this type of photography. Let me know what you think.

So it has been 16 or 17 days since I have read or posted to twitter or Facebook. All push notifications are off and The accounts are sitting there in idle. Do I miss it? Simply yes. However I won't return to it as I do not want to get hurt again. Is it effecting me socially? Yes. The only things I now know from Twitter is if someone mentions it and I stare blindly at them as they expect me to know what they are talking about. It's has become quite clear what people think of an online persona that I apparently have, and it has also become quite clear that even though I see others that reflect a similar online persona to the one that I apparently have, they are still around. Double standards much? As my previous post explains I have attempted to be social but it appears that if I'm not talking to them through twitter or Facebook, they don't want to know me. Emails ignored, sms's unanswered. Even down to birthday wishes sent but I don't know if they were receiv...

I don't normally post things like this but this seems like my only source of release at the moment. Should I give up being social? Over the last week I invited 3 friends to meet up and have a coffee. None of them replied. I can understand maybe one or even two of them ignoring me but all three. Hmmm. After a crappy week I thought it would be good to meet up and have a chat with a friend but seeing I didn't get that chance, I relied on the things that always cheers me up, my beautiful wife and puppy and the progress on my new home. Thankfully not all was lost. Yesterday I attended a party for a friends birthday. It was good to just chill and have a good time. Happy Birthday Druey :-) Looks like another week ahead on the other side of happy. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This last week has been really crappy for me. I seen and read some things that were well to say the least hurtful and not too nice at all. Today made me feel a little better, when we met our soon to be neighbours. For those who don't know we are currently building a new home. All the info can be found on my building blog http://www.squeakbuilds.blogspot.com We popped by this morning to check out the progress and we were lucky enough to meet our new neighbours. I don't think they will cause us much trouble and they even get along with our puppy. It is a relaxing feeling to be building in a semi rural area and have this sort of thing at our doorstep. So peaceful. Heres a pic of our new neighbours.

Sunday morning at work was one of the best mornings I have had at work in a long time. We took the Waratah train to Springwood for some testing and we were lucky enough to have time for some photographs at various locations along the way. Thanks to D for making it a fantastic morning and thanks to Druey for popping by to say Hi and faking totos (taking photos) of our train :-) We started out of Penrith at around 540am which allowed for some night time photos before we left. Once I got home and checked the photos on the bigger screen, what I thought looked reasonably ok on the cameras LCD screen was no where near good to say the least. So it is official, I really suck at night photography. How am I going to fix this you ask? Well, i am just going to have to practice. I most enjoy photographing trains and thankfully I have a few locations near by where trains are stabled and I can use for practice. So over the coming weeks I hope to improve. Once the sun rose ove...

Its been a while since I have posted a favourite photo. So even though this post is about many photos, it still doesn't make up for it, so I shall see if i can try to post a few more in the future. I struggled to find one photo that I have liked lately as a friend of mine Woosang, has been going crazy with her cameras. Here is one of her recent shots. Picton Station by Woosang The majority of Woosang's shots are posted to her flickr profile . Pop over and have a look. You should also check out her blog Woosang was here  as she often posts to it aswell.

Front of iPad 2 Back of iPad 2 Now I don't claim to be any tech expert but I thought I would share my story and opinion on the iPad2. Not owning the original iPad I only had a small idea of what to expect from playing with them at the apple store and seeing what others were using them for. So I took the plunge. I waited up until 1am on the 25th March to ensure that I had one secured through the online store. I had in the back of my mind that maybe JBHiFi or Dick Smith might have then on Launch day at 5pm. When I awoke on the 25th I rang Dick Smith and they said yes they will have them and will release them at 5pm, the same time as Apple. I was thinking should I or shouldn't I line up? As the day went on I said Yes I will line up. So unlike all those people who lined up for days in front of the apple store in Sydney for the iPad I waited only 2 hours with a Lemon Lime bitters slurpee in my hand from 7-11 and secured one once 5pm came around. I wasn't alone. 2 ...

OSCar - Outer Suburban Carraiges I am currently on day work (which we all know I don't like) but this time at least its something interesting. Well thats what I thought anyway. The first day was interesting only because we spent most of it on train and I haven't spent much time on OSCar's in the past. Everything else that was being taught to us was refreshing my memory which isn't a bad thing but was a little boring. Tomorrow will hopefully be a little more interesting as we should be learning things specific to the OSCar. 

I have finally had enough. I have transferred from comms to Orchard Hills. So I am now getting back on the Big Red Trucks full time. This is a positive step forward for me as I felt that I was becoming stale by staying in the communications Brigade as they were making it very hard for me to get anywhere or develop any skills. My only  reason I can see for them doing this is that they feel threatened by someone considerably younger than them becoming more knowledgeable and qualified then they are. This did not become without a little sadness, as many of my friends know I was (and still am) passionate about my role in the communications brigade, but you can only take so much crap. One really good thing about transferring to Orchard hills is my new house is being built about 2 mins away from the station. So I really will be putting back into my own community. I already know the majority of members there so attending training and social nights so far has bee...

The last Sunday of January was spent at Zig Zag Railway at Clarence. Clarence is located approx 10km's out of Lithgow. This is something I had wanted to do for a few years now and I knew it would help in reliving childhood memories. I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I have taken a few photos which I will upload to Flickr shortly. The steam train ride took us from Clarence station to Top Points Station, where the loco ran around the carriages and then from Top Points station down to Bottom Points station. Bottom Points Station is where the Zig Zag meets up with the main west line for CityRail services to Sydney and Lithgow. After a short stop over there we headed back to Clarence. Once back at Clarence I got a lesson from the loco driver about the safeworking staff and ticket system used on the Zig Zag Railway. The Zig Zag railway is run and preserved by volunteers. It is a great day out. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone