The 2007 Ekka

Ask a local about the significance of August and as likely at least two things will be mentioned. The first is the presence of bitingly cold winds and the second would be “the Ekka”, (or as it is more officially reported, “The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland - RNA”). For the most part this month, the cool wind has been remarkably absent, however the 2007 RNA Show, or Ekka as it is known by most kids, kicked off on Thursday last and will be in full swing until this coming Saturday.

Monday evening saw the brother-in-law’s and our family wandering around sideshow alley, looking at displays, buying sample bags and watching the fireworks, along with thousands of others. A good time was particularly had by our kids, now old enough to appreciate what’s going on around them. Colour imagery was the order of the day however one image, the “oh-so” typical shot of the Ferris Wheel, received a monochrome treatment that will enable me to finally post something to Monochrome Brisbane.

Dedicated to the memory of Anton Donkers 30/3/1930 – 16/08/2007.

Music Lesson

Music Lesson, originally uploaded by Martin~.

Wandering up to Brisbane Square, as I often do most lunch hours, I came across these gentlemen with what appeared to be an end blown flute. Having dabbled with Irish penny whistles and and an old school fife (circa 1970), curiosity got the better of me and I was politely informed that the instrument is a Turkish ney. Kindly consenting to be photographed during their music lesson I learned that the gentleman on the right was responsible for both crafting the instrument and was also providing his pupil (on the left) with instruction on its use. From what I could hear of the sound it reminded me of the lower range of notes my daughter produces on her traditional flute, low, haunting, but beautifully melodic.

At the time I thought this would be a tricky exposure given the dark coat worn by the subject in the foreground and the back lighting from the sky, thus the image was exposed by spot metering the subjects' hands. The original image has been mildly sharpened and converted to monochrome using a third party pseudo channels plug-in compatible with Photoshop Elements.