Monthly Archives: August 2008

Heading Home

Well today I leave Broken Hill, and start heading for home. It will be a few days before I get home yet though. I still have quite a few stops planned on the trip. Menindee lakes being the 1st of them. Thats todays destination.

Broken Hill has been great again, apart from the weather. Its 5:45am here at the moment and the sky is clear, so maybe the weather has broken and it will be blue skies from now on.

Bourke, it isn’t all bad.

Well I am glad I decided to go to Bourke on this trip. I had heard alot of negative comments about it, b ut I found it to be a terrific place. Both days I was there I ended up chatting to old blokes by the Darling River. What a treat! The 1st bloke was Rick Hopton, a retired constable. He is still recovering from stomach cancer and isn’t in the best of health, but he is still out there getting about. The second day I was there, I was waiting to go and meet a mate, reading a book at the old wharf, when an old aboriginal bloke wandered past. I said g’day and then he sat down and we had a chat. Tom Vincent was his name. He was blind in one eye and had a buggered leg from a car accident years earlier. His mate Alan Sullivan showed up and they managed to down a bottle of port in about 15 minutes, all the while telling me stories of their past. They had been mates for 40 or 50 years, depending on who you listened to. They were terrific old blokes.

I left Tom and Alan and headed of to meet my mate Duncan. He had gotten permission for us to take photos of the abandoned meatworks in Bourke. It was a fantastic place to look around and take photos of. Dangerous, creepy and full of surprises. I had a ball. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around. Thanks alot Duncan.

Hannibal Lecter's fridge
Part of the abandoned meat works at Bourke.

A catch up post from the Outback.

Well, I have driven 1800kms, and seen a thing or 2. The videos will have to wait until I either get a stable and fast net connection, or til I get home in a week or so. I have been having a ball. Bourke was everything I expected and more. I left Dubbo nice and early as it was a bit of a drive to get there. I was passing through Narromine when the sun came up.

The sun is chasing the moon.

I wandered around Bourke and saw the old wharf there. I also ran into a character called Rick Hopton. I will put a photo of him up when I have sorted through all the photos.

That afternoon I went out exploring and found this dam/lake.

Mirrored image

That was day 1 in Bourke. Stay tuned for a trip to the meat works, a chat with a couple of indigenous Austrlians, and a night out with my mate Duncan.

Dubbo station time lapse.

This afternoon, I went out a wandering around Dubbo. Not a lot was taking my fancy near sunset, so I went over to the train station to see what was there. As I arrived, there was a freight train sitting idling at the station. I thought that if I could catch it taking off, it would make a good time lapse video. I asked one of the guards how long til it took off, he replied about 15 minutes. Ok, time enough for a look around and then grab the tripod out of the car, some warm clothes and time to set up. I was just walking to the car after a few shots around the station when I heard a loud horn. oh oh. I bolted to the car and grabbed the tripod, ran over to the station and quickly set the tripod up. I had just plugged the remote into the camera when the train starting to leave. this was the result.


Dubbo train station. from Todd Norbury on Vimeo.

I am a bit disappointed with the end result. I didnt get a chance to level the tripod or put it where I wanted it on the station. Ah well. Will keep trying.

Roadtrip 2008, Day 1.

Today is day 1 of the 2008 roadtrip. A trip that will take me to Bourke, Toorale station, Broken Hill, Ivanhoe and Hay, amongst others. Today I was supposed to drive from home to Crookwell, but when I got to Crookwell, I found there was not alot to see or do, despite the signs on the way into town saying otherwise. I found 1 sign a bit disturbing.

huh???

That was enough to convince me to high tail it. I am going to try and video some snippets to put on the interweb for people to have a look at. Todays one is here….


Day 1 of the 2008 Roadtrip. from Todd Norbury on Vimeo.

More next time I get net access.

Im off.

To the fan that reads this page, I am about to head of into outback NSW for a couple of weeks on a photographic road trip. This is the 3rd annual trip I have done, and something I look forward to immensely. Keep an eye out for some photos on my Flickr page and the odd post in here.

Here we go again. 5D rumour Mk 20,281!

It seems with every new week, there comes a new rumour regarding the new Canon 5D. The latest and greatest rumour has the new 5D coming in with the following specs.

– Will be announced Monday, September 8, 2008
– MSRP: $2,399.95 (SSP: $2,199.95), body only
– 16MP FF sensor
– 6 FPS
– Max ISO 25,600 (for what it’s worth…it’s more for marketing)
– Full weather sealing

– VGA-resolution display (from same supplier Sony uses for their new Handycams, except in 4:3 aspect ratio here)
– Pop-up flash
– Anti-dust features
– NO Live View
– NO pro AF from 1D (although all points are cross-type)
– NO video mode whatsoever (silliest rumor I’ve ever heard)
– NO compatibility with EF-S lenses (physically impossible anyway)
– NO electronic crop mode for faster shot rate
– NO HDMI-out
– NO UDMA CF support

There are only 2 things on that list that excite me. Weather seals and 6FPS. 16MP sensor just means larger RAW files. I imagine it will use the latest processing chip that is in the 1D’s and the 40D. No Live View gets a thumbs up from me!
What The Duck

What it does mean is there will be some cheap pre-loved 5D “Classics” hitting the market in the not to distant future.

Im tipping the whole thing is just another persons guess. We’ll see soon enough I suppose.