Posts Tagged ‘vacation’

Birding in Zimbabwe

Posted: 17/05/2012 in Africa, Zimbabwe
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My father is dragging himself into the 21st century,

for those of you who don’t know the back story he semi retired after many years working in IT a few years back and set himself up as a handyman come maintenance man with the real intention of earning enough money to pursue his true passion which is bird watching. Having established his little we’ll fix anything business he has at last been able to settle into a management role and get on with what he really wants to do which is guiding.

He has now passed his Zimbabwe learner guides exams (in reality a formality as he’s a very experienced and competent Bushman anyway) he’s now licensed to take paying clients into Zimbabwe’s still excellent national parks and having now led several succesful expeditions he’s looking to establish his brand and start finding some more clients.

This is where the 21st century bit comes in, he’s joined Facebook/google+ and now even WordPress with his shiny new blog www.birdingzimbabwe.com now up and running his business is there for the world to find. He’s able to put together custom itineraries for people seeking the ultimate birding experience across Southern Africa.

Please pay his site a visit and even better get in touch and find out if he could take you on the holiday of a lifetime.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

P.S. he didn’t even ask me to write this gushing post, but following his lead I as a non birder have been incredibly privileged to experience some of the most incredible site that the African continent is able to deliver.  Thanks Dad

 

 

 

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Quotography # 3

Posted: 03/05/2012 in photography, quotography
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this is the last post that I’ll be doing showing my quotography efforts but I do plan to share some stuff from Nick Exposed and Seeing Spots as well as whoever else from the project takes my fancy.

Part one of my own posts can be found here and part two here

The third and final quote I had to work with was “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” which was from Thomas Edison the commonly agreed inventor of the carbon filament light bulb as well as being the man who brought electricity to the masses.

My thought process here initially was to find something like an abandoned shop or discarded book or guitar, but the more I thought about where this quote had come from I realised that I had to do something with light, Edison himself tried hundreds if not thousands of different filament materials before settling on carbonized bamboo threads.

As many of my regular readers will know by now I have recently had access to a decent DSLR thanks to The Falklandislander and decided to try my hand at a little light painting, something that would never have been possible without the efforts of Thomas Edison. 

The technique is really quite simple, take a long exposure shot, in this case 30 seconds and either move the camera or light source around to create the light trails you can see.

You can get very technical with it but I chose to keep it very simple just going for a shaken look.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed my take on these quotes and I can’t wait to see what other people come up with for theirs.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

Quotography # 1

Posted: 03/05/2012 in Mr Bunny Chow, photography, quotography
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So here we go the first of at least three posts about the quotography project I’m taking part in with Nick Exposed and Seeing Spots 

I won’t go into great detail about the project as Nick and Shannon’s posts explain it in much greater detail but general idea is that all participants submitted three quotes and received three in return that they then needed to interpret and depict photographically.

My first quote was “it’s never just an ordinary day” which is the slogan for the Calgary Science School which is a publicly (well if your from Alberta) funded junior school with a different approach to education.

It’s never just an ordinary day

The first shot I took with this quote in mind is rather surreal, taken on a slow exposure of a guy walking across a bridge taken from his ankle height. I liked the way that the light changed as he moved across the shot and that something so simple could become extraordinary when viewed through my lens.

But because I’m indecisive I am also sharing a second more traditional shot just showing a little of natures majesty on a gloomy spring evening.

it’s never just an ordinary day take 2

Hard to believe that scenes like this are available to us even in the heart of a thriving city like London.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little insight into my slightly odd creative thought processes.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 17

Posted: 26/04/2012 in photography, Project 52
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harumph, I’m grumpy and moody and feeling very sorry for myself, once again I have been struck down with that most deadly of diseases Man Flu.

It all began on Friday night after spending two days at home from work looking after my poor sick elder child often referred to in these pages as The Monkey Boy who been kept home with a slightly high temperature and general malaise, he is two so malaise is a concern, I began getting a sore throat and feeling rather sorry for myself, and unlike the last time I had a sore throat I didn’t reach for the whiskey, partly because I’ve not actually got any in the house but more because that ended in tragedy the last time and anyway as the evening wore on I began feeling really really rough.

10pm rolled around and I decided that I was freezing and feeling really crap so was going to bed, checking my temperature on the way to find it was sitting just shy of 40C or 104F I demanded a hot water bottle and withdrew to some very odd dreams.

Saturday and Sunday passed by in a blur of wailing children, no interest in food an aborted dog walk and no noticeable change in my core temperature. Monday morning came and I despatched Mrs BC to do the school run and deal with a puncture whilst I visited my much maligned NHS GP he took one look at my temperature and began testing everything, discovering my hear rate would not drop below 160, my blood pressure was way too low and in general I was in pretty poor order.

Of course I am still awaiting my thumb operation so not wanting to put that at jeopardy he immediately prescribed me industrial strength doses of antibiotics and sent me home to bed.

The antibiotics alongside my ravenous appetite for cold and flu drugs seem to be winning at last with my temperature not back down to normal human levels and my chest and throat still sore but not to the point of having a desire to rip them out of myself.

Today (Thursday) I’ve even managed to stay awake all morning, although I’m fading fast and feel the need for a nap coming on as soon as I’ve finished grumbling at you lot.

so without further ado I’m not going to try to justify the best I could come up with for a Kitchen shot, i.e. nothing to do with the kitchen other than that the dog is chewing and looking mean.

Bunny Chew

My next post to share here on this project is on symmetry which could be fun if I can drag myself away from my sick-bed.

I’m also taking part in a project with Nick Mayo of the excellent NickExposed Blog

I’ll let you read more about the idea from his own post but the general idea is everyone submits three quotes and these are then divided up and you receive someone elses quotes which you need to interpret photographically.

The quotes I submitted were:

  • Quote one: by my father  “Son, if you have to drink gin then for gods sake use a tot measure” (his actual words have been edited for the sake for public decency)
  • Quote two: by Monkey Boy “No Scooby Doo? Take me home Daddy want Scooby Doo”
  • Quote three: by Cecil John Rhodes “So little done, so much to do”

and the quotes I have received back are:

  • 1.”It’s never just an ordinary day.”~ slogan for the Calgary Science School
  • 2.”Every artist was first an amateur.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • 3.“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

Anyway that’s me for now I’m gonna hit the hay.

hope you’re all well

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

Project 52 Week 15

Posted: 05/04/2012 in photography, Project 52
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I’m in a bit of a rush this week being rather pushed for time trying to catch up on loads of work after a weeks holiday on the beautiful island of Malta so forgive my brevity I will try and do a more detailed post with more pictures over the long weekend but for now I wanted to publish this weeks project 52 picture.

I had a choice of two themes this week, the first was fire and the second Easter and if I’m honest I wasn’t overly keen on either of them.

Those of you who know me well will know that I’m the worlds least religous person and despite my love of old churches it’s difficult to get me into one during a service even weddings and funerals make my skin crawl. I have no issue with other peoples religous or non religous views I’d just prefer not to hear about them.

Before I offend my readership further though I’ll talk a little about the picture I chose instead. The shot is of the Rotunda of St Marija Assunta or Dome of the Church of St Mary in Mosta on the island of Malta. It’s a stunning church with it’s own catholic approved miracle having a bomb pierce its dome or rotunda and fall among a congregation of several hundred people failing to detonate or even injure any of them.

The picture itself is not my finest work having been taken through the rather grimy window of a bus moving at speed but I think it still works.

Project 52 Week 15

As I say I will try and publish some more pictures of the trip over the long weekend, next weeks theme is Technology which will no doubt have me posting pictures of either my new to me Canon EOS 650 film camera or brand new out the box but I’ve still not even seen it yet delivered today Android Ice Cream Sandwich equiped HTC One X which the wonderful and beloved Mrs Bunny Chow has on charge waiting for me to get home.

I’m still not sure if abandoning the tried and trusted iOS for Android is the right choice but my geekier side suggests that it will probably suit my own personal needs better, check back for a full report in the coming weeks.

I’ll love and leave you for now with a badly cropped image of the same church

Project 52 Week 15 also ran1

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 14

Posted: 26/03/2012 in photography, Project 52
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Happy Monday people,

I’m forcing myself to be a little more punctual this week as we’re going to be busy for the rest of the week but wanted to get my post done anyway.

As I mentioned last week I was initially very underwhelmed by the low-light performance of my FUJI HS20EXR but I’ve persisted and managed to come up with a couple more night-time shots for you this week that I’m pleased with.

My other news for this segment is that I have acquired a new toy, it’s an old Canon EOS 650 film camera from the late 80’s, It’s going to be a while before I get to share some shots from it with you as I have yet to acquire any lenses and am loath to do so until I can verify that it’s in reasonable working condition. It was a steal on eBay so if there is anyone local (London) who’d be willing to let me try it out with one of their EF mount lenses I’d be very grateful.

anyway back to this week

The shot I chose to share with the Google plus project crowd was this one of some bent fence posts which I was quite pleased with. It’s even in colour

Camera: FinePix HS20EXR
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/3.6
Focal Length: 8 mm
ISO Speed: 800

 Below is a selection of some of the other shots from the week that I’m happy with.

The Dark Tower

God know's what sort of car this tacky hubcap fell off but I think it's safe to assume that it wasn't an RS model Ford as it proposes. Still I found it an interesting distraction as it was propped up in a dilapidated flowerbed.

I’m sure that plenty of you will have seen photo’s I’ve taken of this church before, I’m not sure of its exact history but it’s now an apartment block and full of interesting angles as well as some garden space to walk the dog in. 

Next weeks theme is Easter and or Fire, until then I hope you have a great week and don’t break anything while I’m gone

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 12

Posted: 15/03/2012 in photography, Project 52
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Greetings to you all,

It’s that time again, all be it a little later than is perhaps usual for me to share with you my photo of the week.

This week the suggested theme was Planes, Trains and Automobiles, something that I initially thought I would find easy but then I realised that being the geek that I am I have already photographed all of the interesting cars that are regularly in my area, trains are boring as all hell and despite visits to the airport this week I failed to photograph any planes.

Fear not though as I persevered and have gone back to my roots with a rather dark and grungy picture of a BMW that whilst I certainly don’t lust after I cannot help but admire its cold efficient german industrial lines.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

As is my prerogative I’m going to include a couple of also ran but didn’t quite make it shots for you to contemplate and share your thoughts on. 

as you can see this is a boat so doesn't quite fit the theme, I think it's a pretty boat though so I'm going to add it to the mix.

the antithesis of the cold hard German, the building in the background is The Bank of England, I like the photo but it missed out on the top spot as I don't think that it's technically a very good photo despite the emotive response it generates.

again not technically a great photograph but the guy on the bike was so friendly, he noticed me trying to take his pic when another biker pulled alongside him and blocked my view then when the lights changed he stayed back and hooted so that I could grab the shot before he pulled off. Unfortunately my focus was slightly off in my rush not to inconvenience him.

Next week we’re playing with light so until then. TTFN Mr Bunny Chow

and now for something completely different

Posted: 06/03/2012 in idiots, Oiks
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This is just a quick post as I wanted to let my loyal followers know I have set up a completely separate blog for the residents in my area.

I know the followers of Mr Bunny Chow are from all over the world and that my posts here are sometimes rather flippant, irreverent rants but something that I’ve only vaguely touched on in these pages is and increase in anti social behaviour in my road and the surrounding roads.

This increase can largely be linked to the opening of a YMCA run and funded hope for disadvantaged adults. You can read that as they would like us the local residents to read it or as I a local resident does, in other words “let’s lob a bunch of degenerate scumbags into a building together on a quiet residential street and see what happens”

This building is largely unpoliced and full of adults with drinking/drug and mental problems, its residents are pretty much free to do as they please although they are not supposed to drink outside, this just means that they drink outside other people’s houses instead.

Anyway this is quickly turning into one of my usual rants and I was only trying to tell you that I have set up a blog to help local residents coordinate efforts to remove these degenerate scumbags from the area.

I may link further articles from there to these pages but won’t be doing so in the other direction. The site will not have the same feel as Mr Bunny Chow but is intended to make change as opposed to being somewhere for me to rant.

Please feel free to wander over for a nosey though www.croydonlansdowne.wordpress.com

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

P.S. my project 52 post this week is delayed through laziness (I have the photo’s I’ve just not uploaded them to the computer yet so expect that tomorrow or the day after)

 

 

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