tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56367002009-10-15T03:11:03.935+11:00This is the journal of an accidental absurdartist, amateur photographer, amateur astronomer, not a bad cook (again, amateur), husband, father, professional nurse and a real life pseudo-intellectual vegetable...Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.comBlogger303125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-35407674998913689182007-04-08T06:04:00.000+10:002007-04-08T06:22:37.861+10:00

Well, I have been very remiss at updating this poor old blog haven't I? My apologies to anyone who have been visiting still to see if there was anything happening.Truth be told, life has been happening, as ususal, as it happens to all of us lucky enough to still be around (those who aren't probably wouldn't be reading this, but I keep an open mind to all potential realities)ANYHOW - I have been

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1169469643957778662007-01-22T23:15:00.000+11:002007-01-24T22:06:01.906+11:00

Tonight was the first clear night to be had for quite a while and the smoke haze from all the bushfires was not as evident, probably due to the last couple of days of steady (but hardly enough) rain. I have also finished a stint of nightshift, so was mercifully free for the evening.After an unsuccessful attempt to see this comet from "Skyhigh" at Mt Dandenong last week, we decided to try Ridge

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1163334293035179072006-11-12T23:20:00.000+11:002007-02-04T11:54:01.683+11:00

Here's my first effort (below) at afridge.com, a clever concept created by Joseph Pearson a damn fine fellow...Darn, I had to delete the link window as it opened up on a "parked" page. Joseph must be busy. I forgot to save my poem anywhere else too, but I'm sure it was damn good (ehem...)

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1157614761386164522006-08-30T08:00:00.000+10:002006-09-07T17:47:51.090+10:00

Mungo Time on VimeoI woke before dawn and packed the car, making sure I remembered to grab all of my Polaroid film out of the bar fridge, as I nearly left it behind at Wentworth the previous morning. Driving out towards the "Walls of China" I was careful to travel slowly enough to stop for any wildlife crossing the road and sure enough there were a few Kangaroos out and about. One big old red

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1157351695162943452006-08-29T20:00:00.000+10:002006-09-07T17:43:06.683+10:00

The Walls of China are a feature of the Mungo Lake lunette. Over thousands of years, wind and water have carved spectacular formations comprised of sand and clay. Rain washes away the soft sands and muds of the lunette, creating the rilled ridges and residuals that characterise the Walls of China. The dislodged sand is then picked up by the wind and heaped into huge mobile dunes along the back of

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1157358159530433612006-08-28T18:03:00.000+10:002006-09-04T19:48:38.136+10:00

Road trips. It's a funny thing...making the road trip up the Calder Hwy to Mildura brought back so many memories of my childhood. The place names that go past as the car makes its way north so familiar. The connection is strong. My father was an auditor with a major Australian bank back when country towns still had branches. On school holidays he would request country audits so he could take the

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1156465664496237742006-08-25T10:16:00.000+10:002006-08-25T10:35:11.603+10:00

Hazel Dooney, one of my favourite Australian artists and fellow polaroid & lomo camera user, seen here (at left) with a friend at the opening of her "Venus In Hell" exhibition in Melbourne, has a new blog happening thang here as well as her website hazeldooney.comCheck 'em out!

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1155980386261227292006-08-20T05:26:00.000+10:002006-08-25T05:04:46.063+10:00

Life is very strange. At least I find my life very strange. I have been making plans to go to Mungo National Park soon for a bit of a sabbatical come photo-shoot/sketch trip and refreshing of my creative sensibilities (yes, I know, sounds a bit waffly and arty-farty but I'm hoping for all of the above) Not many people I had talked to seemed to know about it. Of course those who follow science,

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1155881521286129332006-08-18T16:11:00.000+10:002006-09-07T13:59:09.940+10:00

TransitionsOfTransitPlaying around with the latest thang (so I'm led to believe)...video-blogging. Here's a little thing I put together from the lo-res movie capture capabilities my digital camera has. Enjoy...or not. Backing track is a snippet of "Duck Duck Goose" by the late, great Frank Zappa.

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1151757265589749232006-07-01T22:28:00.000+10:002006-07-01T22:34:25.610+10:00

...don't I go to bed when I'm tired? It's stupid really. Is it because I know I have to work tomorrow and want to make the most of what is left of today? Make the most...that's funny. Is sitting in front of the computer straining my eyes really making the most of my day? Don't waste time...don't hesitate to answer emails either, especially if they are from someone nice, someone who means

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1151372216211981542006-06-27T11:32:00.000+10:002006-06-29T19:23:25.730+10:00

Meg - Michelle Goodrich has left us. Many, many people from all over the world knew her through her wonderful site Mandarin Design, more specifically through her blog associated with that site The Meg Blog. She was one of the very first people who contacted me when this blog first started, indeed most of the nifty tricks and layouts here are learnt from Michelle. I cannot adequately express how

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1143026764958651632006-03-22T22:16:00.000+11:002006-03-22T22:26:05.010+11:00

I never really thought of myself as a "birder" but I guess I must be a bit inclined that way. My wife and I often call each other to the window to see some beautiful bird or another and we have been known to walk in the forest with the express view to see a lyrebird or the like and I bought her a bird-watchers journal, we do have reference books for the purpose of identifying birds and we do have

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1136619431620877102006-01-07T18:36:00.000+11:002006-01-07T18:51:48.806+11:00

Above is the top 20 favourite photographs of mine uploaded to flickr in 2005 as chosen by other flickr members. Cheers to Ben, Meg and Amy who noticed I actually came back to write something and thanks to all of you who looked at my images, photoblog, blog, blah, blue, bling, blong, blang, ning, nong nang...OK, I'm on Nightshift, yes again. My tiny tiny mind has gone elsewhere as usual! I hope

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1134951375859467842005-12-19T11:14:00.000+11:002005-12-19T11:43:05.640+11:00

I have tried to post this several times only to find that Blogger has had a problem with mac osx and ecto (the tool I am currently using to blog this entry) when I was on a windows machine I used wBloggar which also experienced quite frequent problems with the API and blogger. I don't blog that often anymore, small wonder...actually I just realised that I haven't made any entries since September,

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1127525576397342292005-09-24T11:32:00.000+10:002005-09-24T11:32:56.396+10:00

It's that ONE DAY in September - Grand Final Day in Australian League Football. Not that my team (Bulldogs) is playing...but hey. It is the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans that are battling it out today. WooHoo. We are heading over to our friends place to watch the match on Telly and have some party pies and beer. I won't be having too much beer because I am on night duty tonight (however

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1125713668572047892005-09-03T12:14:00.000+10:002005-09-03T12:14:28.580+10:00

We had another OD in last night. A socially isolated individual who was really crying for help rather than intentionally trying to top themselves I think. They had even gone to the trouble of packing some bags for the hospital prior to calling the ambulance to tell them they had washed down a few tablets with a generous amount of bourbon. The trouble is, if the balance tips just a little too much

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1124436174610962162005-08-19T17:22:00.000+10:002005-08-19T17:32:59.723+10:00

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1124357433699617412005-08-18T19:29:00.000+10:002005-08-18T19:30:33.716+10:00

I have been so low today. Is it the overcast weather? Is it the toothache? Is it because it's the first day off from a rather busy week in E.D. and still having to deal with sick kids at home? Is it that I'm just a whinging depressive angst filled arsehole? I know not. I have been trying to be cheerful, but I think the winter is finally getting to me...On a lighter note I have been having fun

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1117618628659108092005-06-01T19:35:00.000+10:002005-06-01T19:37:08.666+10:00

Well, even though my wife thinks I'm crazy (let's face it, she's probably right) I have invested in another camera, a Yashica Electro GX which is the last generation camera of the Electro 35 line. I must say, it's pretty nice. Now to finish the film I have already popped into it and started exposing, to see what the optics do with the emulsion, so to speak! Thanks to HypnoKitten for her recent

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1116204903150627582005-05-16T10:55:00.000+10:002005-05-16T10:55:03.150+10:00

Damn!I spoke too soon. I took a couple of test shots that seemed to work OK, but now (no matter what the lighting conditions or f-stop setting) the Yashica shows the "slow" lamp glowing and the shutter release behaves as if it was set at "B" Ugh. Oh well. Worse things happen at sea! I might still be able to repair it...maybe. I emailed the "Yashica-Guy" for advice, he sadly tells me I probably

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1115891661630524942005-05-12T19:53:00.000+10:002005-05-12T19:54:21.630+10:00

After reading a thread at lomo.box about this camera in synchronicity with finding a whole boxful of slides taken by my father with this camera at Mum's place I decided to try and track down what actually happened to Dad's old camera. It turns out that my brother David had it, but threw it out as the shutter didn't work properly. Still interested in indulging my nostalgic obsession I found one on

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1114823331469412282005-04-30T11:06:00.000+10:002005-04-30T11:08:51.470+10:00

...lately, but I have been taking lots of photos. Did I mention that I found Dad's old polaroid camera? It's pretty cool, even though it costs $2.50 a print (that's with SX-70 film) I've also been taking photos with the Empire Junior (see post below) but haven't finished the roll yet. Then there's the Lomo cameras (The LC-A, Supersampler and the Fisheye) each with their own unique attributes...In

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1113616990095215402005-04-16T12:03:00.000+10:002005-04-16T12:03:10.096+10:00

I would like to thank Susan Burnstine from outafocus for being such a nice person and fellow camera afficianado - today the Empire Junior she raffled (and I won) on her site arrived by post! Cool! I even managed to load the 120 film (which susan also generously supplied) without busting it. Now to get some black masking tape for the light leaks she warned me about!Stay tuned for some 120 photos

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1113392305720885032005-04-13T21:37:00.000+10:002005-04-13T21:38:25.720+10:00

I hate to sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet, but I suppose I am...I'm just pleased that FILE Magazine has chosen one of my Lomo Supersampler images as it's "Featured File" for the next day or so...after that it goes into the collection along with the other two images of mine they have chosen in the past...OK I'll put my trumpet away now. Thanks to all of my online friends that have encouraged

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5636700.post-1113041418651822072005-04-09T20:06:00.000+10:002005-04-09T20:21:49.120+10:00

Left: Empire Junior Camera (image by Susan B at outafocus) Well, to cap off a lovely sunny day spent with friends and family I arrived home to find an email from a generous photoblogger named Susan B - who recently had a camera raffle on her site outafocus (has some great photos btw) for some toy cameras. If you wish to find out more on Toy Cameras there is a website devoted to them:

Cameron Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16181641789737170656noreply@blogger.com6