Random tangent (blog)
Ameel Khan's personal blog. This is a blog about life, technology, photography, typography, the internet, science, feminism, books, film, music, and whatever other random stuff I come across or happen to be interested in today.
A couple of months after I stopped needing to wear it, I had to pull out my puffer jacket to walk the dog this morning. With this current cold snap we’ve taken two steps forward, three steps back on our way to summer in Melbourne. *sigh*
Selfie of a man walking along a residential street. He is wearing a black t-shirt, black puffer jacket, and black cap (with a red trim).
Intermittent rain + laziness = tall grass.
Tall grass + sunny day in spring = comfy dog.
Photo of a red dog lying cushioned on some tall grass in a residential lawn on a sunny day.
So the portrait mode + front-facing camera combo on the Pixel 6 Pro smartphone works quite well.
Especially when you can use the magic eraser to remove two instances of unruly beard hair :)
Selfie of a man looking straight into the camera. The man is in his 40s, and is bald with a full, but trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing glasses and a black henley-style pullover. The background behind him is out of focus, helping his face stand out more in the photo.
The thunderstorm itself might have missed our suburb, but at least we got to see the gorgeous cloud formations on the fringes of that weather system.
(Of course even this distant thunder managed to freak poor Maggie out. She was a trembly dog all afternoon. *sigh*)
Photo of a completely overcast sky above the roofs of some houses. The sky is full of puffy, swirling clouds and looks quite dramatic.
Watching Nadia eat a piece of roast chicken is instantly and infinitely more interesting than playing with a rope toy.
Photo of a red dog on a carpet, with one of its paws on an orange and grey rope toy. The dog has interrupted its play and is looking up intently at someone off-camera.
Nadia and I made the most of the gorgeous, post-lockdown Sunday we had today.
First we had brunch at the Altona North Jolly Miller Café. (I’d been missing Eggs Benedict so much! Not enough to make any at home though.)
Photo taken from the top of a table in a café. On the table is a menu that’s out of focus because it’s so close to the camera. Behind the menu are a water bottle, two glasses, a salt shaker, and a pepper grinder. In the background are other tables and chairs, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a bright blue sky.
And then we went for a relaxing, hour-long walk through the lovely Paisley-Challis wetlands nearby.
Selfie of a man and a woman wearing hats, sunglasses, and light jackets. They are standing in a flat wetland area, with lots of green grass, several bushes, and pools of water. In the background, behind all this greenery, is the sea.
There were several walkers, runners, and cyclists on the track, but the rest of the place was so peaceful.
A wide-angle photograph of a green, brushy wetlands area, with the blue sea in the background. On the extreme left of the image you can see a thin walking trail with a single person on it.
A lovely way to spring into post-lockdown spring in Melbourne.
Whoa. The Pixels 6 Pro’s forward-facing camera really is excellent!
This photo was cropped slightly, but is otherwise completely untouched.
Selfie of a smiling man standing on an outdoor deck on a sunny day, with a residential garden behind him. The man is bald and has a trimmed, salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing glasses and a t-shirt with the original book cover of Phillip K Dick’s book ‘Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep?’ printed on it.
Also, compare these two untouched (again, only cropped) selfies.
The Pixel 6 Pro (right) does a much better job than the Pixel 3XL (left) that I just upgraded from.
Collage of two selfies of the same man in the same location. The man is bald, has a salt-and-pepper beard, and is wearing glasses and a pair of black wireless headphones. He is standing in a residential garden, with the sun behind him. The photo on the left, captioned 'Pixel 3XL', clearly shows the bright environment he’s in, but his face is shadowed and the clouds in the sky aren’t well defined. In the photo on the right, captioned 'Pixel 6 Pro', his face is well lit and you can see some of the details in the clouds.
Oh, and in case it isn’t bleedingly obvious by now, I bought Google’s latest and greatest smartphone: the Pixel 6 Pro :)
I’d almost forgotten how lovely it is to smile at your neighbours!
It did feel a little strange walking Maggie without a face mask this afternoon. But I’m so happy outdoor mask-wearing restrictions have eased across Melbourne just before summer kicks in.
Photo of a medium sized red dog on a leash sniffing around a patch of white flowers next to a chain link fence.
Hope folks in Melbourne are getting to enjoy the gorgeous day were having today!
Selfie of a man walking a dog on a residential street. The man is wearing a t-shirt, face mask, and cap. The dog is sniffing around the nature strip next to a parked car.
Melbourne might be cold and super rainy the next few days, but at least spring is definitively here.
Photo of a red dog on a lead who is sniffing around in a patch of greenery with several flowering plants.
Someone who lives here knows how to make the most of a sunny day in winter.
Photo of the front lawn of a house on a sunny day. In the beautifully manicured lawn is a beautifully manicured tree, next to which there’s a comfortable wooden chair that’s set facing the sun.
Maggie knows how to make the most of sunny days in winter. She is alternating between warming up on a sunny patch of concrete and then cooling down on a sunny patch of dirt.
Photo of a relaxed red dog sitting on a patch of dirt next to a wooden deck. It’s a sunny day. The dog has her eyes closed and her face to the sun.
Sure, why not? Who am I to deny requests from a random sign in an alley in Kensington?
Photo of a sign pasted on the wall of an alley off a main road. The sign has black, all-caps text on a plain white background. That text reads: PLEASE BE AWESOME.
Speaking of that part of the city, the Flemington post office is in such a gorgeous building!
Collage of two photos of the same historic building from the 1880s.
Emerging as the meaning of life, the universe, and everything on her 42nd birthday, I present to you Dr Nadia Niaz!
(Maggie is suitably impressed.)
Photo of a woman with long black hair. The woman is wearing a maroon and black sweater, black jeans, and black boots. With a big grin on her face, she is striking a post in front of the the door to a house. Standing at her feet and looking up to her is a red dog.
There comes a time during every walk in which I make The Final Turn. That turn marks the farthest point from home I’ll be during my walk. Every step or turn after this is a step or turn going home.
Getting the first COVID-19 vaccine this morning felt like that Final Turn.
Close-up selfie of a bald man wearing glasses and a blue surgical mask. One the man’s black puffer jacket is a sticker that reads #JabDone. The man is holding up a small card next to this sticker that reads ‘COVID-19 vaccination hub record’.
When I get the second dose in three weeks I’ll probably feel like I do when I turn onto our street.
Two weeks after that – when I’m finally fully vaccinated – that’s when I’ll feel like I do when I close the gate behind me, turn off my stopwatch, and can officially say I’m home.
It’ll have been a long walk.
Photo of a residential street with tall trees, nature strips, and parked cars. Behind the building in the background of the photo is the rich golden glow of the setting sun.
Lemon tree; very pretty.
Photo of a fruit laden lemon tree in a residential garden.
(For those of you who don’t get that song reference.)
Speaking of trees, it’s a windy week in Melbourne and our neighbour’s tree – the one most responsible for me buying an electric leaf blower - is threatening to dump another load into our back garden. *sigh*
Photo of a tall tree (taller than the double storey house it stands next to) that’s about two-thirds full of leaves, most of which have turned yellow, orange, and read and are threatening to fall.
A couple of weeks ago on this blog I did a photo editing show-and-tell. As I went to publish that post it occurred to me that I might do more of these in the future. So, just in case, I titled that #1. Good thing I did because I’m now back with #2 :)
There are lots of different shot types, but when I’m teaching folks at work about how to take good photos, I usually stick with three: wide, medium, and narrow shots. Then, depending on the story they’re trying to tell, I get them to pick the type of shot that works best.
Here’s an example of me doing that from the photos I took at Midsumma Melbourne Pride March in 2020. I wanted to tell the story of what it felt like to be at Pride. I wanted a single ‘hero’ shot that summed up the whole event.
I initially thought a wide shot would do that best. It didn’t. The story this photo tells, for example, is “here is an outdoor event at which there were lots of rainbow flags”. And, while its cool that you can see the scale of this event, your eyes aren’t drawn to anything — there’s nothing here to focus on.
So then I thought I looked for a good medium shot. Something that showed more detail. That didn’t work either. The story this shot tells is “there were people at a pride event, many of whom were dressed up”. And there’s still nothing to focus on.
So finally I settled on this narrow shot. The story it tells is “here are a couple of queer students connecting at a Pride event”. That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about: people connecting, dressing up, showing up, making a statement about their presence in the world, and celebrating.
At the same Pride event I took lots of photos of dogs. I quickly realised that none of the photos I took from human eye level were any good — the angle was all wrong.
So then I switched to dog level (or close to it) and that worked much better. But that alone wasn’t enough. I need to ensure my shot composition was right too.
So my final step was to crop that photo. This now properly showcased that adorable pooch.
The main thing I teach people at work about photography is the difference between photos that document something and photos that tell a story. Both types have their place — but you have to know which is which, and which one to use when.
For example, here’s a photo of Augustus Gelatery in Yarraville that I took. The story it tells: “this place sells ice cream”. That’s the photo I uploaded to Google Maps to document what this shop looks like.
But that’s not the photo I shared on social media. That photo would need to tell a story. And the story this photo tells is: “ICE CREAM!” — which is what I wanted people to get excited about.
So there you have it: more of what I do to take decent photos.
I’m enjoying going back through my photos to document what I’ve learned and now apply, so hopefully I’ll have more of these posts to do in the future.
Someone in my neighbourhood has the best plans for this gorgeous sunny morning. Whoever they are, I hope they have a lovely day.
Photo of a brightly coloured lawn chair and a raised dog bed lying in the front garden of a house. It’s a bright, sunny morning and the chair is set facing the sun.
So my gluten free lockdown lasagna turned out okay :)
Photo of cheese, well-browned lasagna that’s fresh out of the oven and is cooling on a rack on a kitchen counter.
Working from the office today – with indoor mask restrictions back in place across Melbourne – is going about as expected. #tumbleweeds
Selfie of a man wearing business attire and a face mask. The man is standing in an open plan office with all the desks behind him unoccupied.
(To be fair there are about ten people working on this floor, they’re just mostly on the other side of the building.)
On the plus side I got to wear my all-blue work ensemble, including a blue face mask, so that was nice. That’s, like, the opposite of the regular pandemic blues :)
Mirror selfie of a man standing in a lift. The man is wearing business attire: black leather shows, a navy blue suit, a blue check shirt, a blue sweater, and a blue face mask. He is carrying a brown leather bag.
The walk to the train station early this morning was lovely too.
Selfie of a man in front of a public garden and netball court, both of which are empty. The man is wearing a suit, dress shirt, sweater, scarf, and hat.
And there’s still plenty of fruit left even at lunchtime. (Usually at least all bananas are gone by 10am.)
Photo of two wooden boxes lying on the counter of an office kitchenette. The boxes are filled with fruit: apples, pears, and bananas.
Importantly, I got to welcome my new team member on her first day of work. So that was the obvious highlight of the day.
So win some, lose some with the whole having to wear masks indoors thing. But that’s okay: health and safety first.
Photo of a sign framed and mounted on a portable stand that’s been placed in the middle of a corridor at the entrance to an office. The sign say “Please wear a mask at all times”. Behind that is another stand installation that dispenses hand sanitizer and says “Hand sanitising station”.
This is personal website of Nadia Niaz and Ameel Zia Khan. Here we document our lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia