"Antvision"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I'm not sure if I've earned the moniker of 'Photographer' yet, but I certainly feel like I'm a seasoned photographer; forget the fact that I've barely had the camera for a quarter of a year. ;) Anyway, as a photo-guy, I've become acutely aware of camera angles in any movie or TV show I watch; and, having realised how difficult good camera angles are to find, am always on the watch to find new, interesting ones. Here is one I only recently discovered - put it down to mental slowness - that is, the view that an ant would have, scurrying along all of one millimetre off the ground. All you Ruseys will recognise this as the road leading up to Cameron block.

"Lecture Theatre"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I turn around, and there is the M. A. Canty Lecture Theatre staring us in the face. A mixture of thoughts dances around in my head: "I miss the grass hill that used to be there", "I miss Mr. Canty", "wow, James Ruse is rich!". The last thought that runs through before it falls out of my ears is "I don't want to forget what this place looks like".
The camera goes *click*.

"Curry Chicken"
Multiple Images [ Large Rainbow Version ]
I fancy myself as a bit of a cook. Okay, so, I'm still horrible at the moment; but I'm dedicated to getting better. Here is one of my favourite dishes - very, very simple - called (you guessed it) Curry Chicken (reminds me of Ashwin's ICQ nick... whoops, there goes my mind, wandering again!). Here it is from inception to consumption.
Mmmm, chicken.

"Monitors"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
For some reason, when it comes to seeing things on a screen - be they movies, games, people, anything - people always want it bigger. Not that I'm pretending to not be a part of this trend - as you can see by this photo, here is an enormous monitor, bought by my monitor for his 'new' Macintosh. It's nineteen inches from corner to corner, and makes my ordinary monitor look pitiful. Uhh... that's all.

"More Curry Puffs"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
By now you'll be getting to wind of the trend that I like food. (Maybe I'll become a chef or something someday; who knows.) At any rate, if anyone would like to see, this is what the curry puffs look like straight out of the oven. Mmmm, I can smell the fragrance now... ;)

"Birthday Keyring"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I have already told you how cool my siblings are: here is yet more evidence for the affirmative. My sister is a dentist, and so can lay her hands on certain materials that no-one else can (and certain devices - for example, the engraver). One of those materials is that which certain tooth moulds are made from. Dentistry students have zero spare time - let me repeat that, zero spare time - and so for her to have made this keyring, in the shape of an 'E' (for Ed) for my seventeenth birthday, is immeasurably cool. Thanks, Ky!

"Moon Cake"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
"Yeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!!" That is the cry of all the Malaysians in our grade. Our ranks are considerable - Jono, Alicia, Cat, and Lai are the first names that spring to mind - and we are most definitely a loud minority. We all share a lot of things - the language, the festivities, the sense of humour, the acclimatisation to insane amounts of humidity - but, perhaps most importantly, we share food. Here is just one example - it's what we call a moon cake. A very nice little dish that happens to be quite dear - seven dollars for that small square you see in the photo. My brother and I spent the better part of five minutes trying to figure out how to cut it into seven - producing pieces worth a dollar each -
and that is the product of our labours. Mmmm, moon cake...

"Yum Yum Yumcha"
[ Large Rainbow Version ] Multiple Images
The name for this photo is gratefully borrowed from one of Becky's sterling performances in Drama. In truth, this little composition is of one of my favourite pastimes (is it with a double 't'? Pasttimes? Err.... never mind!)... eating Yumcha-style (yumcha is actually two words - 'yum' 'cha' - and it simply means drink tea, for those who don't know).
Makes me hungry just looking at it...

"6AM"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
There's something strange about getting up early. To do something. The quietness, the light level; the crispness and stillness of the air; they all lend themselves to the mystique of the early morning hours. I decided to pull the camera out and take a snap of the sky as the sun rose over a thick cloud cover.

"Long Bus"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Some more visual trickery. This shot was taken from the front seat of my brother's Corolla, somewhere on the border between Baulkham Hills and Castle Hill. As a bus passed by, we stopped at the intersection... and I pressed the button to begin a long exposure shot.
And this very long bus is the result.

"Meat City"
Multiple Images [ Large Rainbow Version ]
I didn't realise it before, but I really do have a lot of food pictures in this gallery. No matter, I am spurred on by my ; I'll push on! Here is a set of photos from a shopfront in Parramatta - a Chinese butcher. The 'thing' hanging in the middle is a pig, roasted from top to bottom - and at the right is a slice (errr, chunk) of the pork. Mmmm, crunchy.

"Terminals"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I have my own unique set of complaints about how the school computer network is run. In many ways, I think I could run it better and smarter; but my opinion does not in the least way move the fact that James Ruse has a very formidable bunch of PCs at its disposal (no Macs, though - they'd be handy for graphics). Next time you login, realise how much was paid to get all those computers available for us... quite a lot! (Interesting to note on this photo is that sections of the computer screens are sometimes darker than the other, and noticeably so - that is the electron gun in the back of the monitor painting sections of the screen. It usually goes too fast for the eyes to see; but the camera is fast enough.)

"A Rainbow Out The Window"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Photography at the moment for me is a mixture of different aims. It's because of my position as a relatively new photographer - I'm constantly heading towards several different goals at the same time. The greatest of these are: the improvement of my skills, the telling of the story of my life (and others' with it), the visual preservation of things which I think are cool, and to serve my not-very-good memory (there are lots of things I want to remember and want my kids to see in the future). This photo falls into the 'things which I think are cool' category... observe the angle, the mix of colours. Well, there's a free insight into my camera-antics.

"Airborne"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Do I need to say much about this?...                                               
Library.
Senior study room.
Free period.
"I believe I can fly..."

"Dandelion"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Whenever I walk home (which is pleasantly often), I have the good fortune of passing many interesting types of flora on the way. This is one of my favourites - a Dandelion! I'm sure you'll recognise it when you open up the photo - which has more detail than can be seen by the naked eye - it's that yellow flower that turns into a strange bulb of seeds which you can blow and they'll scatter beautifully on the wind. I captured this one on my latest walk home before (of course) I blew its seeds into the sky.

"Unknown Purple Flower"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I'm really into discovering new things - I would have loved to have worked alongside Charles Darwin on the HMAS Beagle, visiting the Galapagos Islands and discovering all those new animals that human eyes had never seen before. So when I found this purple flower in my backyard which I don't remember ever seeing before, you can understand why I quickly fetched the camera and took a snap.

"Cherry Blossom"
Multiple Images [ Large Rainbow Version ]
My home-road in North Rocks used to be completely filled up with these trees - cherry blossoms. Every house on both sides of the road had a couple, and I can tell it looked magnificent when they all bloomed within a few hours of each other - the entire road would be filled with the little flowers, littering the roads and the air. Now the ranks are somewhat diminished, but we've made sure to keep ours - every year, it's a treat.

"Flower Blades"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
Life amazes me. You can explain as much as you want, but for me, there is always a sort of magic in having something that looks somewhat like a vegetable, turn into something somewhat like a fish, which turns into a human being. Even plants... these humble green blades will soon turn into brilliant flowers, whose real beauty isn't even visible to us since it's in the ultraviolet range. Pretty cool.

"Mr. Cockatoo"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
There's a park nearby my house where there are a lot of trees. I always seem to hear that native flora and fauna populations are a good thing - in that case, the cockatoos and kookaburras must be a very good thing. As you can see, I got quite close to this dude. Nice crest!

"Tetrahedron"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The last bird you saw was the bravest one - he stayed the longest when I edged closer to him. But later, a bunch returned - and they were oddly arranged on the branches in the shape of an equilateral triangular pyramid. Strange, noteworthy, I thought...

"Sunset Over Stirling Avenue"
Multiple Images [ Large Rainbow Version ]
This is a view of a September sunset out over my backyard. Looks nice, doesn't it? Pity about all those trees in the way - but I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to take photos without any distractions at the ISCF Houseparty in December.

"Twilight Winds"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
The very first photo I took with my tripod. I woke up early to capture the sunrise, but as it happens, the air was too hazy and so when the Sun did come up, it was shrouded and unclear - nothing I couldn't render easily on a computer. This, however, was taken about ten minutes before the visible part of the Sun had actually appeared (the invisible corona of the Sun is about triple the size of the visible part - it had already risen). It's a long exposure shot (the shutter is kept open for up to two seconds rather than the standard 0.0003 seconds) so that it could capture more light in the dark conditions. Though the camera was still, the wind was vicious that day, and so the trees were blowing about - which is why they appear blurred in this photo. (You'll notice that one of the trees and the house in the background are still quite clear.)

"Most Impressive"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
You've undoubtably - yes, undoubtably - born (borne?) witness to Anupam's wonderful Chairperson badge (see the Sixth Gallery). Here it is, in parade uniform array, standing with its brethren badges (Class Captain, SRC Vice President, & Prefect).

"Chippy Chip Chip Chips"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
There's a very... interesting advertisement that ran on TV a week or two ago - an advertisement for some potato chips. In it, there's a nice fellow from decades ago who buys chips and dances... I won't describe it any more, since any description I provide would never do justice to its source. I just hope you've seen the ad and can visualise it... it always gets a laugh from me. Anyway, it turns out that we bought some (they're very nice).

"Anupam's Car"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
For you uneducated ones, I'll tell you now: Anupam is a very talented artist (he'd never allow me to say that in real life - he's very modest, too). Here is a picture of a car he drew in his diary... oh, and just wait till you see the battleship!

"Fractal Branches"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I'm fascinated by learning - I think I inherited it by osmosis from my brother. One of my favourite sciences is maths. I think it generally has a bad reputation, but it's undeniably that maths becomes quite interesting when it becomes lifelike. What do I mean? Well, fir example: if you use complex numbers (4U maths people will learn about it in Term 4) and interated function systems (ordinary functions, except when you get the answer, you stick it back into the function and observe the pattern)... you can "graph" things that look remarkably like - among other things - trees. I'll try and make one for you later - but this particular image perfectly illustrates the pattern.

"Contraband"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
We have our priorities straight. As soon as the last maths exam was over, we 'acquired' a copy of the exam and pored over it for questions which we wanted to know if we answered correctly or not. Ramesh, as always, was the one leading the charge. Don't know why I named this photo 'Contraband'? Look it up. ;)

"Finito"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
A few words from the supervising teacher on the English exam and then it was all over - yearly exams finished, finally a release from the spectre of study. Well, at least for a few weeks...

"Windowchain"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
One of my self-taught photography maxims is that very good photos can come from the most unexpected places. The result is that I take photos of almost everything conceivable, and lots of them too (there's another self-taught maxim behind that too, but that's for another day). And so here is a photo of a windowchain in the Senior Study - for some reason, I thought it looked kinda cool. So here it is. ;)

"Blue Sun"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
You don't need me to tell you that our Sun is yellow. So I'm at a loss to explain why, on this particular day, when I took a photo - the Sun appeared blue. Very strange... I have no idea what happened. Anyway, that roof that you see there is my home's.

"Hairband Chak"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I'm not usually one to question socially strange things when I see them, I tend to let sleeping dogs lie. But really... should I be questioning the sanity of my friends when they come to me like this and ask for a photo?

"Hey Mr. Postman"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I've often considered becoming a postman. I'd love to just ride around all day on my bike and give people much-wanted letters (and... err... less-wanted bills). This is the site that greets my postman... the number nineteen and a bunch of daisies. Very nice. ;)

"J. C. Hoskin Auditorium"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
In keeping with the trend of taking photos so that I will remember things I forget (uhh, if that made sense!), I thought I'd accompany the photo of the M. A. Canty Lecture Theatre with the J. C. Hoskin Auditorium. It's just a matter of time before we have something like the M. J. Quinlan Technology Wing, or the M. J. Quinlan Gymnasium...
I can see it right now.

"Sepia Study"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
"Back in the good old days..." A photo of me studying in the Library (with the "Alarmed Door" in the background), with a page of decorated maths in front of me. Also, it's coloured sepia... boy, do I really look like that?

"Twin Palms"
[ Large Rainbow Version ] Multiple Images
About five years ago, the palms you see here didn't exist. It's quite amazing how things can grow so large - especially keeping in mind the tallest human isn't much more than two metres tall. Well, it'll be interesting to see the same photo in 2007 and compare it...

"My Big Lemon"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
If you haven't inferred it by now, I'll tell you: I have a big backyard. We've filled it with all sorts of stuff - vegetables, fruits, lavender (my sis) and bananas (we also used to have a pool, but it was too much maintenance and it was growing animals so we got rid of it). Here's a close-up of a lemon from our enormous lemon tree (which is... about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, standing on end).

"The Adventurer Look"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
This shot is the start of a big, big, adventure. A drama excursion it was, to the Opera House - and starting from Carlingford. It was a Wednesday - straight after sport we walked to Heather's house - we took showers, played the Gamecube version of Super Smash Brothers (Melee?), and changed into our smart casual wear. Here we are on the Ruse-side of Kingsdene oval, after having avoided getting run over by Becky in her car. Strike a pose, take the shot.

"Crossing The Kingsdene..."
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
It certainly looks epic. Here are Ashwin, Harry, Patrick and Andrew in line (Patrick with his very stylish jacket over the shoulder), making their way across the sun-mottled oval... heading into the distance...

"...And Beyond"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
I handed the camera to Andrew for this one. It's a reverse shot of the previous photo - with us almost off the oval and heading up to Pennant Hills Road to catch the bus.

"Bus Stop Conversation"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
And who should we meet, but - yes, she's unmistakeable - Dr. Maitra. We had a very nice chat with us at the bus stop as we waited for the bus which was a few minutes late. She even caught the same bus as us! It's a small world.

"Boys On Bus"
[ Large Rainbow Version ]
As the bus headed out along the road to Epping Station, we were all wearing smiles: the evening had just begun, and things were only going to get better. As we joked and laughed, discussed people who looked like people we knew but didn't answer when we called them (Harry and "Shaggy"), watched nice cars go by (Ashwin), and hid from people we knew, everything was telling us that this night
was going to be a lot of fun.