It almost seems like it is back to normal

It’s true, it does. Melbourne seems almost like it was pre-covid. People are getting out and about again and we are trying to get our lives back.

For me that that has really meant getting out and taking photos again.

Taking photos

Last year I took a lot of time off, and I thought I would miss it, but I didn’t. Perhaps I needed that time to try something else and get through the disappointment that was photography. Perhaps, more the business of it. Now it is more about me just going out and having fun.

One thing I have always needed is something to help push me. Yeah, I’m lazy, and if I don’t have to go out, why would I? YouTube I’m finding is great for that. I love being able to take you with me. You can see where I’m taking photos and I can talk to you about what I’m trying to do.

So I’m sure you can guess I have a couple more videos for you. The first one is about New York and travel photography. The second is a trip I did into the city last weekend. I have also added a bit about the garden at the end of it.

Travel Photography and New York

I’ve been meaning to do this for some time, so I put together a slideshow of some of my photos from New York when I was there back in 2015. I did process some photos for it, but it was mainly going through all the photos I had processed and working out which ones to use.

I love putting sound effects with my videos too. I found one from New York, hopefully you agree that it works with it.

After the slideshow, it only lasts for about 6 minutes, I did a talk on travel photography. Basically what I think of it and why I don’t really like it. I think many of you know I love photographing where I live. I always have.

The second video.

Getting back into the city

This one is about a couple of trips I’ve done in the last week. Banyule council had a lantern festival that I went to and then I went into the city with a friend to do some long exposures around the river.

It was good getting back in there, it has been way too long. I also tried to talk through some of my thoughts on what I was taking, how I was taking them, that sort of thing. I also included a sped-up timelapse of me processing an image. There are lots of processed photos in the video as well.

For those of you that love my garden things, not much has been happening, but if you go to the end of the video, 13.35, you will see me talking about the garden and show you some things there. I’m still trying to work out how to do the garden and the photography. Do I combine the two in one video like this? Or should I do separate videos, I’m not really sure what I should do.

That is about it this week. Take care everyone and I will see you next week.

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30 Comments

  1. (Warning: Left Wing Radical Opinions follow:) The anti-vax thing is part of the hysteria and nightmare our country has endured in the last four years. In my humble opinion there should be mandatory inoculations. Someone’s right to refuse to take a preventative vaccine ends with MY right to NOT get the protection. Ditto in schools…my kids have a right to be safe from threats even when the anti-vaxxers are refusing to protect their own children because of their “rights.”

    That’s enough of that.

    1. Left wing radical opinions are really the only ones I listen too, so go ahead. lol
      Yeah, the anti-vax is here too, but not as much, I think. I could be very wrong. I don’t get the things with kids vaccinations, I had a friend who didn’t get her kids vaccinated because of the risks, but she depended on the rest of us getting their kids done so it would help protect hers. I don’t like that. It will be interesting to see what happens with the people who don’t get vaccinated, like will they be allowed to travel, will they be allowed to attend some events? It is going to be interesting.
      Time will tell.

    2. After I sent my comment it seemed to disappear…so I of course assumed that “they” took it to use for their own evil purposes. 😉
      It occurs to me that in order to travel we need to obtain the special driver license so we can fly. I got sidetracked trying to track down all the information needed, so I just renewed my regular license.

      I am all for everyone having their rights that are due…unless it interferes with MY rights.
      I spent about ten years as secretary to our city’s zoning and planning boards…and I always maintained that my neighbor can do anything he wants … as long as it doesn’t interfere with my own property rights.

    3. I am not really into travelling, so I don’t know about that. Sorry.

      We have a funny thing about rights here, we don’t really have any, well non like the bill of rights. We we are allowed to do can be taken away with an act of parliament, unfortunately. That is a good way to look at your neighbour.

  2. It is so great to see life getting back to pre-covid days! Yeah! I knew it would but never thought it would take a whole year! Did you?

    1. It has been great, so happy to almost be back to normal, we have been lucky. I don’t think I did either, though looks like it could be with us forever now, that is kind of sad.

  3. Great Videos Leanne! I would suggest that they be slightly shorter, like no more than 15 minutes. I love you in hats. Maybe that can be your signature piece. Totally enjoyed them.

    1. I could make them shorter, but then I would miss out on stuff. I watch lots of videos on Youtube that are similar to what I’m trying to do and they are all around 15 to 30 minutes long. I try to keep them under 20, but sometimes they can go over that. Then again, people I follow that do videos that under 15 minutues, so an average of 10, I hate because I feel like I get a quick snippet and I want more. I guess I just have to go with what I want, sorry, so some will be shorter and some will be longer.
      Thank you about the hats, I think I need to start shopping for some too, I love them as well. I feel so much more comfortable on video if I’m wearing one. Thank you Anne.

  4. Love these videos, Leanne, nice variety of photos and composition of the video. Is there a way to slow down the slides though? I haven’t done any video work yet, though yours is encouraging me to give it a try. 🙂 I had the closed captioning on, which is comfortable for me but I’m always afraid I’ll miss valuable info. I have only been to New York City once, not counting coming in and out of the harbor and/or flying into the airports a few times.

    1. Thank you, that is good to hear. I’m trying to make them different each week. I would have to redo the video to do that, but it is good feedback, and I will remember that next time I’m doing one. I’ve only been to New York once too, lol. It is a great city to photograph. Thanks again for the feedback.

    2. Its just that the photos stayed too short a time for me to have a really good look at them. Not really a problem, more of a teaser. I thought of you yesterday we were with a family Easter thing (first time in over a year due to covid.) I took a lot of pics, but I don’t really do well as a people-photographer, they are never facing me or smiling. One daughter has always taken great photos since she was a baby…she’s 55 now, and still very photographic.

    3. Fair enough, it is hard to know how long to keep them up. I’ve been putting some in my new videos, and thought about what you said and kept them there a little longer.
      I’m not a good people photographer either. It is great when you can take photos of people who just shine in front of the camera.

    4. My youngest daughter is like that, very photogenic. She has always been a good model subject.
      Re the slide show. How long they should be displayed depends on the person watching the show. That’s always been a slide-show problem for me.

    5. If you watch my latest video let me know if you think the photos are up long enough. I left them for 5 seconds.
      It is nice when you have a good model. though photographing people is something I gave up a long time ago.

    6. I think the photos that I didn’t have enough time to look at as closely as I wanted to were some cityscapes…zooming in on NYC or wherever. When its a comprehensive photo of a wide-angle place or thing, I need more time than if I’m looking at the inside of a flower, etc.

      Slideshows are relative, back in the day one of my granddaughters absolutely LOVED my slide shows. But on the other hand, I heard my daughterinlaw say to my son: “oh no, your Mom’s got new slides.” lol

    7. Yeah, it is hard to know how long to give them. Thanks for the feedback.

      That is funny about the grandkids, so funny. Thank you for sharing.

    8. Yeah, oh okay, no YouTube doesn’t have that option. I know ones like powerpoint presentations do, but you can’t do those on YouTube.

    9. My granddaughter has a lot of her shows and individual venues on YouTube, I’ll ask her. Her rock band life sort of took a hit over Covid…but she did some one-woman shows here and there.

    10. I think a lot of things took a hit with Covid, which is sad really. Hopefully once everything gets back up and going it will be good again.

    11. I like the slide-show, but it still goes too fast for me to fully enjoy the cityscape photos. I like to be able to pause the images. For example, I spent much longer on the New York City long shot, with the bridge. So the obvious answer for me is to opt for single shots. I am not familiar with NYC, but if it were a shot of Cleveland, for instance, I would need unlimited time to explore the entire photo.
      Which reminds me, some of my return flights were on a north/south runway that passed directly over downtown, and on clear nights that image registered on my mind’s eye. I can “see” it now…

    12. That is interesting. Slideshows can be great, but I get what you mean.

      YOur comments seem to disappear because I have to approve them before they are visible. I have had problems with some people leaving really nasty comments in the past, so I do this so I can just delete them.

    13. ouch, mean or nasty comments can really mess up yer day… I meant about the disappearing comment that it just sort of vanishes in the queue. It’s not my content, and nothing anyone would censor, often these are gone before I ever send them. Just plain gremlin tricks. lol

    14. They really can. Yeah, they disappear until I approve them. I am not always quick doing that, but don’t worry, your comments are still there.

  5. I am glad you are able to get out and about now and can explore once again with your camera. I am curious about how I will feel when we eventually emerge from this way of life. We adapted so quickly to our pandemic way of life that I am curious about whether we will emerge and adapt back just as quickly. Only time will tell.

    1. Thank you Laura, I have to say it is so good, things are almost back to normal here. I know what you mean, we did adapt quickly. I think there will be lots of changes in the future, I can see my husband working from home a lot more than he did before. He is really reluctant to go back to the office now. He is meant to but is resisting.The landscape of our lives will be different, but it will bounce back and if we are any indication, fairly quickly. We haven’t had a case for a few weeks now, well except for those coming from overseas who are in quarantine. I just looked it up and there is only one active case in my state, so that is good news. Zero would be better though. It is going to be interesting.

    2. Wow! One active case is amazing. You have all clearly done a much better job than we have. Numbers are actually going up here again. It makes me fume. I wish everyone would dedicate themselves to doing their part.

      My husband is like yours and has point blank refused to give up working from home until he is fully vaccinated – and he is not even eligible yet. His employer wants everyone back in the office in July but numbers are too bad here in Pennsylvania plus he would have to commute on mass transit which is far too peopley and confined. Luckily he has enough authority to stand his ground and fingers crossed he manages to snag a vaccine appointment quickly when the time comes.

    3. So sadly not the case anymore, 23 now in our state, but all in quarantine. I think it is people coming back from India, which is really sad. I know what you mean, it doesn’t help with all the misinformation out there as well. People who still think it is a hoax. No idea why someone would create the hoax in the first place.

      My husband could probably go back to work, but they are only want them back a couple of days a week and it looks like it is going to be like that going forward. I think one thing that coronavirus did was show how productive a lot of people can be working from home. My daughter just started a new job and it is the same for her, they will only be working 3 days a week in the office from now on. If you can work from home why not, you save all that communting time. We are also saving heaps of money.

    4. I am sorry that things are going downhill for your state again. I think we will all experience these one step forward and one step back events as we try to emerge from the strictest mitigation efforts. I agree with you about the work from home model becoming more acceptable and widespread. My husband’s company is looking at reducing their office space as they recognise it saves money to not require everyone to be in the office.

    5. They aren’t really going downhill, it is more people coming from India, and they are not allowed out of quarantine, so as long as it stays there we will be good. We haven’t had any community transmission for a long time. I can see the same thing happening here with office space too. It is great, and I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but I actually really like having him here all the time.

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