Two trains, one level crossing

Two trains pass each other at a level crossing.

One train goes left-to-right…

Photo of a Metro Melbourne train going down the tracks at a level crossing. The photographer is standing only a short distance away from the tracks. The train is in clear focus, while the rest of the photo is artistically motion blurred.

One train goes right-to-left…

Photo of a motion-blurred, blue coloured train zipping down the tracks at a level crossing. The photographer is standing only a short distance away from the tracks.

Both photos were taken with a Pixel 6 Pro smartphone. The first photo used the ‘action pan’ camera feature, while the second used the ‘long exposure’ feature.

Pixel 6 Pro + trains

The down side of working from home during the pandemic is that I haven’t had the opportunity to walk around the city taking photos with my (still relatively new) Pixel 6 Pro phone camera system. Which is why you mostly get snaps of Maggie either at home or in and around our neighbourhood. So here are a few train photos I’ve taken over the last few weeks.

Here’s a long exposure of a V/Line train arriving at Southern Cross station. That was taken the last time I went into the office before my year-end break.

Photo of a train pulling into a platform across from the photographer. The photo is a long exposure, so the moving train has motion blur and is slightly transparent.

Here’s one of a train zipping along the tracks from Newport to Laverton stations. I’m really enjoying playing with the various motion photo features available in the Pixel 6 Pro camera.

Photo of a Metro Melbourne train running down train tracks behind a line of trees.

And here’s one of a freight train running down that same bit of track at the southern end of Newport. This time I’m making use of the zoom lenses available on this smartphone.

Photo of a freight train running down train tracks behind the tree line at the end of a residential street. The phrase ‘MULTI-FRIEGHTER’ is written on the side of a the khaki coloured boxcar that’s visible through the trees.

I expect to be going into the office at least a couple of days a week from early next year, so I’m looking forward to taking and sharing more photos then.

Keeping an eye out

Keeping an eye on its owner while he’s stepped to Leroy’s Café to grab a coffee.

Photo of a black and tan French bulldog wearing a blue and white polka dot vest. The dog is tied to a pole with a blue leash outside a café. It is leaning to one side so it can peek through the door at its owner, who is inside the café.

Pixel 6 Pro photos in the city

It’s been ages since I’ve ridden a tram. At least I got to see one when I went into the office today.

Photo of a classic tram turning into a street in front of some office building. Everything but the tram is blurred in the photo.

Zippy cyclist is zippy.

Photo of a motion-blurred cyclist exiting a curved bridge onto a paved, inner city riverbank.

Maggie likes popcorn

Maggie would like Nadia to know that she too likes popcorn. Very, very much, in fact.

Photo of a red dog, ears pricked, standing at the foot of a low, outdoor lounge chair. The dog is looking attentively at the person sitting on the chair, whose is mostly off-camera but has their feet visible near the dog’s head.

A few seconds later…[Chariots of Fire soundtrack starts playing]

Pixel 6 Pro long exposure

So the Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphone camera’s long exposure functionality is cool.

Selective long-exposure photo of a train passing through a level crossing. The moving train is the only element of the photo that has a motion blur effect applied to it. Because one of the long-exposure photos taken was from before the train appeared within the frame, the train in the final image appears to be semi-transparent. A white car has stopped in front of the lowered boom gate of the level crossing.

The more I use it, the more I like it.

Selective long-exposure photo of a train passing through a level crossing. Only the moving train has had the long exposure effect applied to it, so it’s the only object in the photo with motion blur.

Post-lockdown hotpot

Yay for post-lockdown catch-ups!

Had a lovely, delicious dinner at Panda Hot Pot with a bunch of friends. The food was good and the company was fantastic. 10/10 would recommend.

There was a line outside the restaurant for our scheduled sitting too. Nature is healing!

Selfie of a man and a woman sitting next to each other inside a large Chinese restaurant. Both are smiling at the camera.

Forever hopeful

Maggie keeps an eye on us while we eat dinner on the off chance that she’ll score a human-food treat when we’re done. She is forever hopeful and always hungry!

Photo of a red dog, sitting alert and ready, a short distance away from a dining table that has a pattered green and white tablecloth.

Three steps back

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).

Portrait mode on the Pixel 6 Pro

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.

Thunderstorm fringe

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.

Springing into (lockdown-free) spring

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.

Impressive Pixel 6 Pro camera performance

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 :)

Smile!

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.