Squeakaz Squawking's ....

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.

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.

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.

On Jan 2nd we took a visit to Taronga Zoo Sydney. It was a beautiful day weather wise, quite warm actually but still a beautiful day. People say that once you visit one zoo and seen the animals, you have seen them all as they are all the same. I disagree. Each zoo has different offerings and the animals are all unique. There were some really nice views of th city, Opera House and Harbour Bridge from various parts of the zoo. If these wern't there to remind us of where we were, it would have been hard to believe we were still in the city.

New years Eve 2010 was spent with some really great friends. Leigh, Amanda, Megan, Katherine and I all gathered at the Parramatta River to see the fireworks and enjoy the festivities they had on offer. It was a great relaxing evening. The fireworks were at 9pm so after they concluded we headed on back to Leigh and Amanda's place to watch the midnight fireworks in Sydney on TV. This was soo much better than being crushed in the city by crowds like we were the previous year. It was a wonderful way to see in 2011.

Tis the time of year for Christmas parties. I attended my partners Christmas party at Le Montage at Lilyfield, which fronts on to the Iron Cove. I took this panorama which consists of 4 photos. I wasn't sure how it was going to look as I have not taken photos of too many sunsets, as I am not normally awake at that hour. 

Even though my wedding was in March I will never grow tired of looking at my wedding photos. Recently one of my best friends Drue (who was one of my groomsmen) uploaded some photos that were taken using his camera on the day.  Even though the professional shots were good, I think nothing beats the other angle. I think that is the right term to use. (please correct me if i am wrong) I refer to what is happening in this photo. Whilst we are looking towards the professional photographer a photo has been snapped to capture the moment from a different angle. The photo captures exactly the same things as the professional shot such as our smiles, background and the pose but how another person is seeing it.  Thankyou so much to Drue for these photos and being a part of our special day.

I long to be able to take a night shot such as this. My attempts to this time have been unsuccessful, but I am not going to give up. It is quite obvious that the train is the focal point in the photo, but capturing the beautiful city/Harbour Bridge in the background, really makes it. I know this section of track and it is not exactly the best location lighting wise. Gunzel412 has done a great job to use the limited lighting available to capture the colours of the train and the stainless steel body has been brought out with a little assistance from the LED lighting emitting from on board the train and the street lights from the road deck. Only thing I can pick on here (which is no fault of the photographer) is the Harbour Bridge could of had a few more lights on. This would of been the case if the photo was taken earlier in the night before Sydney goes into "power saving mode" overnight.  

The first time I have featured a favourite photo that I did not take. This excellent night shot was taken by Woosang. I like the effect of the steam with the lights behind it. I would love to take night shots like this. Only problem is I have to find the time, as I am generally in bed before its dark because of the shifts I work. It will happen one day so stay tuned!

I was bored one afternoon and thought to myself that I should have a play with my camera and test out some things that I have learnt so far. I took this photo along with a few others, posted them to Flickr and asked everyone to comment on them. Thankyou to everyone for their great comments, I have taken all of them into consideration. It is amazing how something so simple can look so good. I love photography.

I have 2 Favourite's this time around, and instead of doing to separate posts I shall include them in the one. Photo - Please daddy, can I have some more? Click to view photo on Flickr It took me some time to set this shot up because of 2 things. The first being trying to get the puppy to stay focused and still, and the second getting the right lighting. The sun kept going behind the clouds every time I attempted to take the shot. When it finally came back the puppy had moved. In the end I like the result. Mainly the soft background I think sets this photo and well the puppy makes it cute! Photo - Sheldon Click to view photo in Flickr This is a shot I didn't know how it was going to look when I took it. It looks completely different on the computer than it did on the LCD on the camera. At first I thought it would look like a puppy's face with the body hidden behind. then I thought it would look like a puppy laying on the grass. Instead I got w...

Left to Right - Me, Damien, Leigh and Eric Congratulations to one of my best mates Leigh who got married on Sunday 29/08. It could not have been a better day for it. The sun was shining and the day was set. His Bride is one of the most beautiful people I know, and looked absolutely stunning!!  I had 2 things to do that day. First one was to get Leigh to the wedding on time or early. The second was not to forget the rings. I can say that I successfully completed both, even getting Leigh to the wedding early!! After getting ready we headed off to the venue and en route we stopped at Revesby Station to get some photos. The photo above is one of them. We don't actually scrub up that bad :-)

Click the photo to view it in Flickr This photo was taken before I attended lunch with a new found friend Chris. Chris is a rather excellent guy and I enjoy the pleasure of his company. I took this photo hoping to get exactly what I got. A monorail disappearing into the bush. From some angles it looks like it has been photo-shopped to look like that but I assure you it is 100% legit! Colours are good and the focus was in just the right spot for me. this photo really brings out the coming together of the city and the bush.

My Millennium train standing on the platform at Liverpool. I wasn't sure what result I was going to get when I took this photo, But I am please with how it turned out. Its an angle we don't get to see thing from on a day to day basis so a camera is a the perfect thing to capture and experience the different views that can be had.  The yellow of the yellow line, doors and hand rails and the brightness this night photo needs to get the point across. Just the right amount of light as well without a flash. 

Can anyone see a cockatoo? This photo was taken in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney at the Scenic Railway at Katoomba. The birds all flew in a few moments before this as they are normal fed here by the staff of the Scenic Railway. Along with these birds there were a group of Rosella's around for feeding. I like this photo because of the white of the birds really stands out but the dash of yellow on their crest breaks them up just enough for them not to blend into each other.

This is a photo that I am not sure what happened to it, however I do like the effect. I was going for a pan shot but instead got this which has no real focus point but the blur seems to come out in a circle formation from the centre. It seems to play tricks on my eyes every time I look at it so I would recommend looking at it only when sober. Something a little different from a photo that would normally be discarded. 

I had only recently gotten my camera and Got called away with the RFS to head to a large fire burning in Nowra. I took my camera along to experiment with it at night as I was doing the night shift on the fireground. I took this photo when the wind came up and I noticed the trail being left in the air by the embers. I was amazed at how it turned out, seeing that I had no idea about settings or f stop or anything to do with my camera at the time.

(Click photo to view on Flickr) On a beautiful winters day in Picton, warm enough not to need a jumper, I was to meet up with David, Woo, Azzie and Beau for afternoon tea. I arrived a little early to take in the quaint little town and grab a few shots of some trains. The first train I came across was a freighter. Above is the leading loco NR109. This is the first time I have seen this loco in the wild, and yes I know what most of you are thinking "he has to get out more". I was trying for a motion blur shot and I think I got it just a little bit. What do you think?