Third! The Calm Before The Storm - Eddie's Gallery

*THE*	*GALLERY*

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U P D A T E
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(August 5th) Ag trials are over and with it come THIRTY-TWO new photos! From park pictorials to school adventures, portraits of Harry and the prefect induction (right down the bottom)... this update is chock-a-block. Enjoy!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-Ed

(July 30th) Here's the details on the update you read about on the front page. There are fourteen photos from The Big Party™. The rest come from various adventures - Mr. Brown's house (an ISCF leaders' meeting), shoes, bananas, boring maths periods, making pizza, getting into the football fever. In summary, plenty of crazy stuff.
Well, not like you need any help getting into the pictures. Have fun!

So. You'd like to see some photos?

You're in the right place. Here, I've put on display the last dozen of my favourite photos for you to look at - as new photos are added, old ones are pushed out. Each image is thumbnailed and described so that you have an idea of what you're looking at before you open the full-size version. If there's a photo that you think I've taken and you would like to see it on this page (so that you can save it for yourself too), all you have to do is ask me, and I'll put it up here as soon as I can (usually once a week or so).

Now, a few words before you jump straight in. As I mentioned earlier and you can see below, I've thumbnailed every picture that I upload to the site. To make them all look pretty and fit in with the colour theme of the site, though, I've applied a special filter to each one - it makes everything look more orange (you can see the effect straight away).
The full version of each photo, however, is in normal colour - all you need to do is click through on the link that says [ Large Rainbow Version ], and you'll see it in sixteen million colours, as well as the bigger picture. Also worth noting, the thumbnails only show a small part of the image - for example, the face of the subject instead of their whole body - it's just a habit I've developed. So, when you see the thumbnails, realise that what you see there is not the whole photo.

One more thing, on that subject. My camera can take pictures at 1600 by 1200 (that's a size measured in pixels - about two and a half times bigger than most people's desktops), but I don't upload them at that size - most of them are 900 pixels wide instead of 1600. I've found that at this size, images still retain most of their detail, while being a manageable size for you to download and me to upload.
If there's any picture you really want the full version of, gimme a whistle (manifold@soon.com) and I'll see what I can do for you.

By the way... since I'm opening up this site a while after I first got my camera, there are some photos that I want to display first before I get to my latest ones. Recent photos will start appearing when I've exhausted my older collection. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy these older gems until then!

Alright then! After that ado about not much, here are the pictures! Most recent up the top and oldest down the bottom.

"Forbidden Face"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I forgot something in the last gallery. This picture was taken on a spur of the moment at The Big Party™ - Harry, leaning over the top of me and Winston. What I only realised until a couple of seconds after the picture had been taken was that Harry's face had been blotted about by a mysterious large source of light. When I showed Harry the photo on the small screen and told him "Harry, you're a star,", Harry chuckled lightly, but it was brief. I yelled out to some other people playing soccer, "Look, this camera automatically screens out Harry's face!", to which a year 12 replied, "I thought all cameras do that". Harry responded with many good insults. All in happy spirits!

"Cool Hall"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
While the Jedis were taking a break, I took the opportunity to get a few shots of the school hall. This one came out particularly nicely. But it lacks one thing... lightsabers. Don't you think this would be a good place to set up the AOTC scene where there are a hundred or so Jedi running around, taking out droid after droid? Okay, so maybe it's impossible...

"Harry STYLE"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I really don't know how, but Harry seems to find his way into a lot of my best photos. He must be photogenic (I'll let you all be the judge of that). Anyway, this shot was taken in the beginning of a drama lesson. We found a cool (I mean Cool™) old hat lying around the drama room, and to complete the look, Harry did a bit of work on his pants. Et voila!

"Hydrant Trouble"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I'm glad I had my camera on hand for this one. I'm not entirely sure about the circumstances which brought this about, but I know that Nguyen was originally responsible, and that the fire hydrant down in front of the lecture theatre just spontaneously began leaking. Someone else tried kicking it again (I think), and then the water leak doubled in intensity, and the water coming out turned brown. Things weren't looking good...

"Bad To Worse"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Then Anupam stepped in to save the day. He rocked up with the usual confident stride that he always seems to have - and in a deep, resonating voice, he said "Step aside, boys." Okay, so he didn't actually say that, but you can imagine that he could have. What followed was a drama. Anupam stuck his hand right up into the hydrant like Hansel did in Zoolander. And then he tweaked something inside, and... fwwooooooshhhhh!!! Water starts spilling out everywhere.
This is the moment when I press the button on the camera. And only a couple of seconds later, Anupam is back on top of things - soaking wet, he deftly maneuvres his hands inside the red metal box,
and the water stops. Triumph!

"A Castle Hill Night"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Very recently, celebrations were in order. My brother was just celebrating his twenty-fifth birthday, and so we went to a classy Chinese restuarant in Castle Hill (an oxymoron? Eh?). Because it was night time, I decided to test the long exposure feature on my camera. I took aim, held the button half way down, and then a car zoomed past, headlights blazing. Hit the button. Took the shot. There it is.

"Mobile Fun Again"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I think I'll make a habit of this. This should look familiar to Winston and John. Here, Ramesh is discovering the joys of Snake on someone's 5110. This was taken on the same day as the fire hydrant incident. Oh, and I can pack in a public notice here: everyone, John's phone is missing! Reward offered* for return of said phone. It's a real nice Nokia model. Sorry for featuring your phone on the last gallery shoot, John! ;)
*Reward may be with-held at discretion of the owner, so sucks to be you

"Gosh, Fire"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Fire drill!! Everyone ambled down to the oval for the fire drill a few days ago. Here are Hasitha and Nguyen in Obviously Genuine Shock™ over the surprise of another fire. Some say the drill was in bad taste, especially so soon after the canteen fire occurred. PS. Nguyen, you can't complain about this one being here - you posed for it! ;)

"My Bananas Again"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I told you he'd do it! Here are those bananas that you saw before, except harvested by my Dad. I was going to eat one, except it looked suspiciously green. Hopefully they'll ripen soon.

"Curry Puffs"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I don't think it's possible to be Asian and not like curry puffs. I mean, come on! They're puffed, and they've got curry in them! 'Nuff said. These are chicken curry ones, about 30 of them in a box, baked right at home. My brother and I tore through them in about one working week.

"Playoff"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Another one of the things we did while at the hall for the free period. Making Jedi photos, taking cool hall shots, and having piano playoffs. This one is between Marshall and Dennis, playing the piece
Eyes On You (the theme song to Final Fantasy VIII).

"Fly Screen Sun"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
"Errr...." is what you may be thinking when you open up this pic. And right you are. I was just playing around and took this picture of the sun through the fly screen of my back door. Okay, so it's kind of useless, but I'm an artist at heart (I used to make sci-fi images), and so I thought this just looks cool.

"Central Park Family"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
My family's had a renewed interest in going to council parks lately (mostly because we've got the camera and can take lots of cool photos with them). This is the whole family (sans me) in front of a bird exhibit.

"Princess Bird"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
And inside that bird exhibit was this bird. It's named the 'Princess Bird'. Took me about twenty minutes to actually get this shot properly - the bird kept moving, and the wire guard in front of the bird didn't help. But they say that living flora and fauna are the acid test for good photographers - so I'm hoping that I'm getting better.

"Partners"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Lovebirds? These two were really funny. They flew about their cage - about five metres squared - eating food, looking at passers-by, and harassing other birds, but they never parted. Not once for the half-an-hour that we watched them for. Funny little things!

"Emu"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
It's half of our national crest. The emu looks cool on coins, but it looks way cooler in real life. Thanks to a bridge over the pen that this emu was contained in, I was able to lean forward and get pretty close to this one - and almost got my eye poked out by a curious beak for the trouble. Now that's commitment!

"Majestic"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
"Wowsers." That's what I was thinking when I saw this peacock face to face. He was right above me on a ledge, looking off into the distance, almost like a king on his raised throne. In Goonie's words, way cool.

"Wallabies"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The sun was low on the horizon and was close to setting when I took this photo. The shadows are really, really neat. Oh, and yeah, there's the wallabies.

"Dancing Bird"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I think this bird is the same species as the Partners. But it was sweet for a different reason; when my sister danced in front of it, it danced right along with us. I have a couple of videos of the phenomenon - but they're kinda big (5mb a piece), so maybe I'll upload them later.

"Stepping Stones"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The Auburn Botanic Gardens were our next port of call. Here you can see my brother watching along some stepping stones in the lake. Notice the oddly-coloured water... I don't know what they put in there, but let me just say: the fish that used to swim there a decade ago ain't swimmin' no more.

"Water Feature"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. There were some really cool water features at the park, including a couple of small waterfalls and this water jet. I managed to catch it when it was shooting, and even managed to get some ducks in the picture.

"Family Watching Family"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
To finish up our park adventures, we checked out a gathering of small kangaroos in an enclosure. Here's a photo of my family watching their family.

"Library Fun"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
It was the best of times. Joy and mirth were spreading out from our stake-out of the comic-book section in the library. Smiles and happy jokes were the trademark of the gathering. Somehow Ramesh even managed to get into both of these photos.
But it was just the calm before the storm...

"Library Fun - DESTROYED"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The title really speaks for itself. One swift move by a particular member of the library staff and it was all over... a few of us reluctantly went outside, and Mr. Deigan ushered out the rest in his typical fashion. It was the worst of times.

"Joel's Palm"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Modern technology is amazing. A number of years ago, a top-quality machine might have a 33Mhz processor, 16mb of RAM, and an office suit - all in a neat ten-kilo package, not including monitor. Now, you can store the very same power in your front shirt pocket.
The wonders never cease.

"New Prefect Guys, One"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Well well, look who the new prefects are! Here are the guys, all posing. The funny thing about all of these photos - my brother took several of the same scene to ensure that at least some of them were good - is that in not a single one out of about thirty shots, was everyone looking in the same direction. This is one of the better ones.

"New Prefect Guys, Two"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Another attempt. Here, we're all looking in the same direction. Anyone who was in the photo will remember us all shouting in unison who we were looking at. (There were quite a few cameras pointed in our direction.) "Aubrey, Aubrey!! Jono's sister, Jono's sister! Big Kev!!" Definitely a moment to remember. (Keeping with the trend, the shouting didn't actually work - we're all still looking in different directions.)

"New Prefect Guys, Three"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Originally, I was only aiming for a photo of Lung and I. But as I saw other prefect guys standing around, I got them into the photo, and then people started coming by themselves, till this big mass of guys accumulated and Kev hit the 'take photo' button.

"Big Congrats"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Now, the school was really starting to pour out of the hall. Kev and I snatched an area of concrete that was relatively peaceful and took this wonderfully clear shot of the two of us savouring the moment.

"Prefect In Motion"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The final prefect shot my brother took was a rather odd one. When you open up the picture you'll see that the background is motion-blurred but Lung is crystal-clear in the centre of the image. This is a very wierd thing to happen with a camera (didn't edit the picture at all). But anyway, it just looks pretty cool.

"Bird Bath"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The very very last park photo that I took. This is a gathering of pigeons around the Really Green Lake™. Nice action shot... only a couple of seconds later, all the birds were gone.