Went to Rottnest for the weekend, what an amazing place to photograph. Caught the ferry across after work on Friday, only wished I had caught the early ferry as there was a great sunset on Friday evening which I missed as it was dark as I got to Rottnest. Went there with a bunch of mates for the weekend, for a bit of a getaway. Still managed to get a few shots in while I was over there.

A bike is a must when you go over there, we all hired bikes on Saturday and went around the island. Scoped out some nice location for next time. I think a photo trip over there for a few days would be a go. There lots of locations to shot plus you would get fit from all the riding J . My legs where killing me on Sunday :) from it all. I think about this time in the year is the best time to go to get shots while over there as you pretty much have the whole island to yourself and accommodation was fairly cheap plus the weather isn’t to bad .

This was a shot I took on Saturday evening at sunset. Was having a few drinks on the balcony with my friends when I started to see a bit of colour in the sky. (wasn’t expecting much as there wasn’t much clouds So I grabbed my gear and my bike and went down to the end of Longreach Bay not the easiest thing to do ride a bike with camera gear and a tripod after a couple of beers , but managed to make it in one piece. (I had scoped this location out several times before as my friend has a mooring right there and normally takes his boat over ever summer). I quickly set my tripod up and started taking a few shots before I missed the entire colour, but after a few shots I realised I had my app still set to F3 from taking photo of quokkas during the day . Will have to remember not to rush so much next time lol. I reset my camera settings and took a few more shots before the sun went down.

This was an 9 images stitch , it’s the first one I stitched together so far but I have got a lot more from that afternoon I’m still going through .

In other news I’m off to Sydney this Thursday, looking forward to getting some shots in while over there :). I’ll try and upload one more post before I go :)

Came back from Turkey last week but I couldn't update because I had to leave again this weekend. Now I'm ready to put up lots of pics. Changed the theme too.

Lot of changes in my life lately. I'm beginning to understand what I'm made of and with the help of some people I might be able to finish what I've started.

They're delicious and if you don't like them plain (who does?) they provide a fantastic base for pretty much any kind of topping you desire.  I prefer butter, salt, and pepper.  Every once in a while I'll add some real bacon bits.  But that's not why I bring them up.  I want to talk about baked potatoes because I never really knew what a good baked potato was like until about a year ago and because the leftovers will be discussed in the next post.

I remember growing up having potatoes that were wrapped in foil and cooked in the oven.  I always thought that's what a baked potato was.  In fact, I'd been to numerous restaraunts (even more expensive ones) that served potatoes the same way.  Well apparently those kinds of potatoes are technically steamed.  Who knew?  A baked potato is pretty much just thrown in the oven.  Sure, you can do some things (see below) to make them extremely yummy, but the only necessary thing is to put it in the middle of the oven and heat it a while.

Kind of vague, I know, but the great thing about baked potatoes is that you can cook them at any temperature that you are going to be baking other foods at.  The lower the temp., the longer it needs to bake and the higher the temp, the shorter amount of time it needs to be done.  This is especially nice if you have other foods to cook in the oven.  Another great thing about these potatoes is that the skins are crispy and delicious.  I never ate a potato skin from a steamed potato, I just didn't like them.  I eat these all the time.

To prepare the most delicious baked potatoes:

• Wash the potatoes thoroughly.
• Stab with a fork a few times (you don't want the potato to explode in your oven).
• Lightly cover with your choice of oil. (We use canola, but use whatever you have or like best.  We have also found that the pump sprayers are wonderful for applying the oil as you get an even spread without wasting a bunch of oil or using too much.)
• Sprinkle to taste with Kosher salt (or any larger grain).
• Bake.  (We usually bake around 400 degrees for 35 minutes for a medium size potato.  If you want something more specific (not that I think it matters) there are numerous resources online that will give you the temp. and time for the size and number of potatoes you have.)

I know it's a basic food, but when done well, it can be a great food.