Hello people, got my first roll of film back from the local hack lab (actually they didn't do too bad a job) of the seaside holiday...as I expected, I only like 4 or 5 of the shots, but what the hell, that's not too bad for me... ;-)>

New Holland HoneyEater *Phylidonyris novaehollandiae* ...these cute little birds flitted about so fast, I was amazed I captured one on film at all!

A related variety of flowering Gum that the Gum-Nut photos came from...Brilliant red blossoms...

The little bird again, gathering nectar from the flowering gum...

*The source and the sea*, as Rohyphnol might call it! All shots taken with my trusty Ricoh KR-10 with a Sigma 35-200mm Zoom Lens (mostly on 200mm). Aperture priority shots, camera on tripod, cable release. Film: Kodak Max 400 colour print film. Hope you enjoyed looking at these ones as much as I did taking them! Oh, and BTW Alpha...(Sorry, I forgot to answer your earlier question) - Yes we do get Winter, but it doesn't snow where we live...it's quite a temperate climate most of the time, it's just we often get 4 seasons in one day (but nothing like ice-storms or anything *really* inclement) :-)>

"Somewhere...beyond the sea....somewhere..." No, seriously, awesome photos! Did you use a polarizing filter to get that saturated color ??

I really like these shots...the redness in the second one with the blurred blue, yellow, and green background is damn lovely...the source and the sea looks so relaxing to me...especially with that ocean color....makes me wanna get out of the downtown area here...

No Polarizing Filter...I was surprised actually, the colours are very rich for what I am/was used to with ASA 400 film, but I think mucking around with the digital for so long has twisted all my perceptions - more than their normally twisted tendencies ;-)> The DOF in the bird and blossom photos is shallow because at 200mm I had to go down to 3.8 to get a decent shutter speed, not so important for the blossoms, but that bird was so damn fast! I like shallow DOF in these kind of shots, helps decrease distraction from the subject!

My favorite is #3 (Pic 2). That red is wonderful framed as it is with the yellow and blue. #5 (pic 4) looks like something from the game 'Myst' , maybe you should play with it using some of Niko's techniques.

My favorite is also #3 (Pic 2) I love the shallow DOF, and such beautiful rich colors. And the last one with the sea and poles also beautiful.

Nice shots, I have to go for pic 3 too, the DOF really adds to the effect of the stamens/petals?? against the buds, awesome colour. You did well to get more than a blur from the honeyeater too!

Yes, the second image (Flowering Gum) is very beautiful... Yes, the plant is recognisable easily, but the pic is a very nice abstraction of vibrant colors...

The colors in nr 2 are incredibly beautyful, my favourite, but the others are good too. You almost made an old woman crazy by nr 3, Cameron. I could not see the bird. But at last, just before I was giving up, I found it. Puh....

As cool and convenient as digital is, I would still go for film when it has to look it's best, and I think these pictures prove it. You can post more of your vacation as far as I'm concerned!