Cars, colors, and achingly beautiful -- pottering around…

…the National Gallery of Victroria at Fed Square in Melbourne, Aust., with a couple of fellow contributors to DPReview forums yesterrday.

The take:

I note at the time that the Panny AWB was doing its usual awesome job with mixed and low lighting, but it struggled a little with some of the reds. They were a bit orange. So in PP in PhotoLine, I used the hue editor to adjust the red a little. I have little acquaintance with this tool however the results suggest it can do something very interesting and I must get to know it better.

Concept madness. The EFIJV drawing on major themes of the original EJ Holden (General Motors Australian 6).

The lovely Bolwell Nagari of the 1960s. The company is still extant, poking around in the car field but it makes its money these days from swimming pools, spas, and … (wait for it) … Mac truck bodies!!!

The fastest tank in the world -- then and still! The Maybach Special was built in Melbourne not long after WW II using the in-line 6 cyclinder engine from a WW II German light tank! It was commissioned by car dealer and racing enthusiast, Stan Jones, and built by Charlie Dean (engineering) and Frank Hallam (body and fittings). Racing in Australia and New Zealand, Stan took on and beat top GP machines from Europe. it lasted until the advent of the Maserati 250F. Stan bought one of those. The blue color is wrong -- too light. I will use this pic to extend my acquaintanceship with PhotoLine's hue editor!

All Australian world beater -- the kind of view competitors mostly had of the Repco Brabham as it carried Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme to GP F1 titles. This car, built in England by Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac, is fitted with the Repco V8 SOHC engine (the TOHC came later). The engine was developed in Melbourne by the great Phil Irving (Velocette racing motor bikes, the Vincent HRD, etc., etc., etc.!) working in Repco Engine Developments under, here he is again, Charlie Dean. Repco is still extant. It had a lock on the 3rd party automotive spares and equipment in Australia, often producing better quality parts than the major manufacturers(!), but after Charlie retired from the board, the bean counters and lawyers took over with predictable results. They closed down the development work and Repco lost its gloss for petrol heads, opening the way for competitors to steal its market on price.

For me, this is just achingly beautiful. I don't know why, but it hits something in me.

More achingly beautiful stuff. Amazing what you (not me!) can do with a bunch of chicken feathers, a bit of vine, and a seashell. I should have checked; I bet this comes from the Torres Strait Islanders because people in Papua New Guinea's Western Province, which connects with them, do something similar.

The artist having with ancient and modern forms and humor. Well, nearly modern! What's with the table phone? Where's the mobile? LOL.

DPReview member at work. Say hello to John Byrne.

And to John King.

I was out to have a stress-free fun day, so I took the GX7 with the 12-32 lens banking on the camera's ability to produce excellent IQ with elevated ISO levels to overcome the aperture limitations of the little lens. (I also had the just acquired Tokina 500mm mirror in my back pack, but in the end I didn't get it out except to show it off.)

The outfit did a great job; with the pop-up flash coming in handy for one shot in a dark corner (followed by the security guy quietly telling "sir" that flash was not allowed, so I popped it down again).

One thing didn't work. I had in mind to demonstrate to these two accredited witnesses my newly acquired (i.e. hardly tested) technique of Q&D food photography with a south facing window providing the diffused front light and the off-camera flash perched on a glass triggered by the pop-up. But with the slices of pizz on the plate and the FL600R perched on a glass behind, I got a lesson in how long cheap Alkaline batteries last in the thing. They don't! The flash couldn't get up enough charge to fire! Investigation needed.

But dang, I am getting very fond of the GX7 with the 12-32!

And on the other side of the desk is the repaired G6 waiting, waiting…