I used to think that Photoshop is a dirty word mainly because I believed that photographs should be representative of reality as much as possible with little alternation. I’m also wary of photographers who seem to be cavalier about their shooting technique only because they could fudge it in Photoshop later. Besides, what photographer would rather sit in front of a computer editing a photo when that time could be used shooting more photographs.

I’ve changed my stance however when I realised that a good photo could be improved greatly by a little editing in Photoshop. Besides, sometimes weather conditions just does not cooperate or there are times when a good photo could be ruined by wrong settings.

So after much to and fro-ing, I finally picked up some books on Photoshop and tried my hand on some photo editing. The first photo is the original picture while the one in the middle is the edited one. My favourite though is the last one, which reminds me of the A-ha’s Take on Me video way back when.

Sometime last December, hubby received an email from someone who saw my Melbourne Alley photos in my old photo blog asking how she could contact me. I got in touch with the sender and she said that she is the photo editor of an architecture and urban design magazine in the US called Metropolis Magazine. She requested I submit bigger sizes of the photos she saw on my blog and said that they would be interested in using some of my images.

I was a bit skeptical at first but everything seems to check out so I sent her the images plus some new ones that I’ve reshot because I couldn’t find the originals of the other photos in the blog (D’oh, I should really think about archiving my photos!) I didn’t hear from her again until mid-January when I received an agreement document she wanted me to sign, giving them permission to use the images. I filled out the form and sent it back. A month and a half after and hadn’t heard a peep from her. Hmm… I guess they were just pulling my leg when they said I would get paid for the images. Regular visits to their website also didn’t yield much since they were still featuring the January issue up until early March. My images were supposed to be used in an article in the February issue.

During a lull at work, I checked their website last week and the featured magazine has changed to the February one. I quickly scanned the articles shown in the website and found the one I’ve been looking for. It was an article about alleyways around the world coming to life and becoming part of the urban landscape. The photo was attributed to me but had my internet handle as my surname. I quickly fired off an email to the photo editor asking for a correction and also enquiring on the whereabouts of the commission.

Surprisingly, I got an email back. The photo editor said that as the printed version has already ran, they could no longer correct it. She did change my surname on the website though. She also said that she never got the release form back and that they’d need it to forward my details to accounting. I thought that odd but resent the document anyway. She acknowledged receipt of the document this time but as of today, there’s no further word on the matter. I expect it’ll be a long time before I hear anything, if ever.

Oh well, at least I got to see my photos used somewhere and I’ve at least been credited. It’s not a spectacular result but it’s a start.

Woke up to a pleasant cool morning today when we got a text message from Connex stating that “due to vandalism, trains between Laverton and Newport may be delayed up to 15 minutes. Buses are running between Laverton-Westona-Altona-Newport.” What sort of vandalism would affect so many stations? Nothing came to mind and we had hoped for the problem to be fixed by the time we get to the station.

We got ready as usual and went on our merry way to the station. As we walked to the station we got a glimpse of the first sign of trouble. There was a massive crowd of people in our platform - an indicator that the previous service either didn’t run at all or was by then terribly late. Then as we were entering the station, we saw a number of people milling about, asking Connex staff about where the trains are and there was a horde of people hurrying out of the station with frustrated looks on their faces. In short, chaos all around.

Hubby and I looked at each other then decided that we’d just drive to work today. Connex isn’t really known for providing great service at the best of times, let alone at a time when they’d have to organise buses for transfers.

So what really happened? As it turned out, thieves got to the electrical cabling yet again. I’ve written about a similar incident over a year ago and it seems like it’s still going on. Connex really need to re-think their security measures.

The government finally said sorry to the stolen generations of aborigines today. About time too, as it was long overdue.

I’ve been reading some photography books borrowed from the library and as always, most advocate practice and learning more about the camera. Sad to say though that I’m still not out of the Auto mode but I’m trying my hand on composition and some portraits. Here are my favourite shots from last week.

	Gabriel in front of the glass water wall in front of the National Gallery of Victoria in St. Kilda. We originally wanted to see the Modern Britain exhibition for which we have free tickets for but was told that the gallery would be closing in 45 minutes and that there won’t be enough time to view the entire exhibit.
	I’ve been lurking around Flickr.com and was intrigued by some self-portraits featured there. Here’s my first try on the old photographing the mirror trick. I almost deleted this photo because it wasn’t sharp enough but it quickly become my favourite among the lot later.
	Gabriel posing in front of the tallest building in Melbourne - Eureka Tower. We were initially attracted by the giant golden bugs decorating the building but what I like most about this photo is that gorgeous blue sky.

They say that traveling opens up a person to new things and experiences and consequently helps in giving that person a different world view. This in turn makes the person grow, in more ways than one. Following are some thoughts on things that I’ve experienced and learned from on our trip to Tasmania. If nothing else, this entry is something like a note to myself to remember our trip by.

• It is cheaper to fly to Tasmania then hire a car there in the short term than to ride the ferry from Melbourne and bring our car. A co-worker who has been to Tasmania several times has said that it only makes sense to bring the car on the ferry if we’re going to stay in Tasmania for a fortnight or more.
• There is no easy way of going around in Tasmania other than by driving. Also, be prepared to drive on winding roads. Even major highways are curvy so the driver has to pay attention most of the time.
• There is a lot of road kill, I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that there’s something that used to be a living thing splat in the middle of the road every few hundred metres.
• Most of the wildlife around Tasmania are nocturnal. Consequently, we avoided driving around after dusk to avoid contributing to more road kills and possibly car-related accidents.
• Tasmania is quite scenic and tranquil, perfect for relaxing. However, since we were after the magnificent natural views, we had to bush walk. The shortest walk we did was the 20 minute Enchanted Walk at Cradle Mountain and three walks of two hours each elsewhere. Now, that may be nothing for some people who regularly hike but for two couch potatoes who spend their whole day seating, it was quite tiring for us.
• We only spent four whole days in Tasmania, visiting several towns and driving a minimum of two hours each way to our destination. It’s a wonder we actually got to visit most of the items in our itinerary.
• We had our first encounter with an alpaca in the town of Sheffield - a town we only reached because we missed a turn at the highway. No complaints though as we love this little town of murals.
• It was also in the town of Sheffield that we first saw the word spider on the menu of the local restaurant. We had no idea what it was and were intrigued. Unfortunately, the service was slow and we decided to eat elsewhere so we didn’t have the opportunity to order the mysterious menu item. We later found out through a free Coles brochure that a spider is actually what we’d call an ice cream float, that is, a scoop of ice cream on top of a glass of fizzy drinks, typically soft drinks.
• The highlight of our trip for me is our visit to Cradle Mountain while hubby loved the Cataract Gorge at first sight. Also, we both enjoyed browsing and shopping at Salamanca Market in Hobart.
• It was our first time to stay at a bed and breakfast (when we were in Swansea) and I have to admit that I was quite apprehensive when I booked the room. Hubby loves his creature comforts even while traveling and we learned the hard way that a nice, clean bed is worth a lot after a long tiring day. I’m glad to report that our first B&B stay was great - gracious host, clean bed, tidy room and a hot, filling breakfast almost made us feel right at home. The only thing that we were concerned about was our noise level while watching tv before bedtime. We ended up turning in early for fear that we might be disturbing the peace for the other guests. It was just as well since we needed our beauty sleep just then. Dunno how we’d fare though if we had to stay for more than one night.
• Since we only stayed for a few days, we didn’t get to see the other amazing places in Tasmania. Some future destinations on the island that would be on our list are Strahan, Port Arthur, Russell Falls, Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park and perhaps even do the Tasman Island cruise featured in GetAway.

Overall, we had a fantastic time and would probably visit again given the opportunity.

Due to personal reasons, we have both decided to make Palabok private for the time being. Right now, it is only open for viewing by family members and close friends. So, if you are reading this and find that you can’t access this in the future, I do apologise.

We might open it up again in the future but for now, we wish to keep it private.