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A tough stance on immigration has become a key policy platform for the Abbot government which has suffered low popularity and poor polling. Unlike Sydney which appears to more concerned with individual wealth and property prices inner city Melbourne was adorned with pro immigration posters. the debate looks set to continue with the Australian human rights commissioner under fire and the Nauruan government now accused of crony capitalism in relation to phosphate exports.
Camera: Fuji GA645Zi
Lens:Super-EBC Fujinon Zoom Lens 1:4.5-6.9 f=55-90mm
Shot on Shanghai GP3 100 220 at EI 100, developed in 510-Pyro (1+300) for 90 minutes. Agitation: 1 inversion every 15 min
Aren't the snowdrops early this year? You don't normally see them until February, but they've been present since the very beginning of January this time around, doubtlessly a consequence of that balmy December we had. The Fujifilm GA645Zi is an odd camera, a kind of consumer point-and-shoot writ large. It is, of course, medium-format and uses the 6X4½cm aspect ratio. It says "Professional" on the top plate, but incorporates such features as autofocus, auto-exposure, automated film loading and film advance. All these were granny-proofing measures introduced in consumer point-and-shoots to preserve their purchasers from the horrors of focusing and the perplexities of winding on. It has a four-position zoom lens, the zoom being mostly at the wide-angle end of the range. I thought it would make an excellent all-rounder ...just the job for chucking on the back seat of the car or taking on holidays and, at sixteen frames per roll, precisely twice as economical at the eight frames 6X9cm GW. Early impressions are favourable. It is certainly very easy to use and image quality looks excellent.
I was unprepared for the beauty of Valletta. I had expected an attractive but rather provincial middle-ranking Mediterranean city. Marvellous vistas opened before the eye and the city's riches (perhaps not to the taste of the many modern-minded people who nurture an animus against Catholicism) rival those of Venice ...in my totally uninformed opinion. Unfortunately I was indisposed, having once more contracted a streaming cold, plus a chest and bladder infection in a bacteriological environment against which my northern immune system was defenceless. We had been obliged to vacate the hotel room by 11am. I delayed as long as possible, having barely slept, and tried to doze on the bed. Forced to vacate, I trudged miserably around the streets until 3pm. The hotel had laid on a bus to take us, and a few others, to the airport. It was due at 5:45pm. We were allowed to use the hotel facilities until then. I sat with a glass of the local lager in front of me for nearly three hours. At the airport there were the usual horrors of "baggage drop" (I would prefer they said "luggage"), security and sitting in the departure lounge. I hadn't eaten since lunchtime. My stomach growled and rattled. All I could find to eat was a packet of Bombay Mix from the W H Smith. The flight was delayed. Once aboard my limbs ached abominably and I writhed in my zero-legroom seat in an effort to alleviate the discomfort. I felt sure I would pass out before reaching our destination. Luckily I managed to grab a few minutes' sleep while the aeroplane was taxiing, which revived me a little. At Gatwick we had paid extra to have the car brought to us. Even this didn't go smoothly. The motorway north from Gatwick to the M25 was closed for overnight roadworks and I had to follow a diversion around East Grinstead. We got home at 3am, by which time I'd barely slept for 48 hours. The cold cleared up but the cough persisted, returning, with interest, about a week later. I spent the next four days in bed. I hate bothering doctors with colds and coughs, but finally caved in and was given a course of Co-amoxiclav. Nearly a month later I can say that I've just about returned to normal health.
Love this camera, thought I'd take pictures of it before it transfers hands. Our local developer closed shop this year and it's too diffucult for me to mail films. Only 800 shutter count. Sold recently.
Bought me another medium format camera for some sentimental reasons - the Fuji GA645 zi. The pictures now coming are from the second film roll.
Deeply interesting though they may be to one's self, I know there's nothing worse than other people's holiday snaps. Perhaps you'll indulge me on this one occasion. We see here a group of windmills on the Greek island of Mykonos. They are the feature for which the place is chiefly noted. For eyes accustomed to the charming vernacular of Wiltshire or Essex, the thatch seems a trifle primitive. It was greatly esteemed as a nesting site by the local sparrows. Long disused and retained, I suppose, in the interests of the tourist trade, the rotational devices (I am ignorant of the correct term) have no "sails" to obstruct the passage of wind. Pigeons and feral cats browsed at the heels of our party.
Photographing in one of the villages nearby the historical site we had been shooting. The light was good, so it's hard not to lift the camera, but when you're photographing over a cultural barrier, and in the case of an elderly woman in a remote impoverished peasant farming village, across a gulf in economics too, you have to be careful in how you represent people you photograph. Such a photo should crafted to give the subject dignity, but with this woman it was hard to find what I was looking for. She was ok with being photographed, but very passive to it all. Aside from a couple of compositional flaws (the distracting wheel beside her head), that sense of passivity and even pity, rather than dignity, is what would prevent me from using this image in any future edit. Your thoughts ?
Yangyuan County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, Fuji GA645zi