New places, new food and fun pictures

Week 4

 I arrived bright and early for my Digital Photography class on Tuesday. I usually sit at a table by myself but this morning this friendly short young woman from Zambia whom I met last Tuesday waved her hand at me to sit next to her. I was delighted; it was very nice of her. Naturally since we are in this new age of technology we exchanged out fabebook, instagram and numbers. In class we learned more about how to use Photoshop. Our lecturer just told us the most important thing to do is play with the functions in the program and read our camera manual. I always loved photography but now that I am getting a taste for how much work goes into finding the perfect shot, I have a newfound respect for the industry.

This week's keyword is “OLD”, so here’s the picture I thought captured the essense of the word.

Description:  I normally run from Port Lodge to the South Mole Lighthouse every morning. A few days later it finally occurred to me that I might have found the perfect place to capture the sense of something “old”. I took some photos of the lighthouse but I was more intrigued by the iron chains built in the 1890’s. I attempted to focus on the chain and depth of field. 

May I add that my lectuer said that he loved the color of the rust and that I lost a bit of depth of field but overall very good. I was relieved and thrilled with the good news. By the way he critiques everyone’s photo one by one, in front of everyone.

Here is a close up of this dirty old chain!

Here are a few pictures I took for practice during the week.

A few photos I added a few fun tweaks to. 

During my break in between classes I decided to go for a walk because I had to pick up a phone card and buy a birthday card for my big brother. Thankfully, it only cost $2.33 to send a card. It’s rare that I find anything “cheap” on this continent. When I got back home I made myself a nice sandwhich, coming back home and preparing meals is certainly teaching me the difference about having the convience of going to school and ordering food. 

However, the bright side is I do my best to eat healthy food because that what happens when you live in a household when your dad loves to cook and you mom is medical field. Occasionally, I like to indulge in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich accompanied by apple juice and a delicious mango.

While I ate I read the news because this was my first quiz for Journalism class. Each week our lecturer chooses ten questions based upon Australian and International News. So in my spare time I plan to get busy reading newspapers and listening to the radio.

The next day in anthropology class, one brave students asked our lecturers if we could have our one hour tutorial outside. It was the most beautiful day of the week and it just didn’t seem fair to be trapped inside a cold room. My lecturer said, “This is not a democracy” but as she riled up the other students we walked across the street to the park. We all sat in a circle and continued our discussion. It was much better than a classroom setting.

On Thursday evening all the students from my school had a luxurious dinner with our Australia advisor from home and his wife. It was the best meal I have had since I arrived down under.

Hiking vs. Walking

On Saturday morning I woke up bright and early at 8:30 to prepare for our hiking trip to this place called the Bibblimum Track. First we took a train to the big city Perth, then we stayed on that train about another 20-30 and got off at Oak Street Station. We buzzed our handy smart rider cards then excited the track. Oh smartrider cards and like metro card except you must swipe to use the bus or train and swipe off. If you don’t swipe off you will b charged the longest length of your trip. And, if you don’t swipe off you will pay a fine of $100. So always remember to swipe off! It’s a little tedious but the fare it is almost the same as the MTA rates. I usually pay $1.35 to swipe on and off for my trips so far. We asked the locals which bus should we catch to get to Kalamunda. This kind Aussie fellow gave me directions but he spoke a little too fast for me. Long story short, we ended up waiting for twenty minutes at the wrong bus stop. The nice bus driver told us that the correct bus stop was just a block away. This time we waited ten minutes for the right bus and thankfully Kalamunda was the last stop. The trail was just short walk up the road however we didn’t really hike, it was more of a walk. Sadly I didn’t see any kangouroes but we are going to try a different trail next time.

Taken in Perth, after our hike. 

I love green.

Lastly, on Sunday I walked to a small shop to buy two newspapers to prepare for my journalism quiz. Then treated myself to a nice mango passion fruit smoothie. This week went by so fast!  

It's officially been a month since I arrived!

Cheers,

Katrina