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Tue, May 2, 2006
Nature's Darf Vader
Exceptionally attractive, our local cicada looks a little like Darf Vader from Star Wars.
For a closer 340x510 version, click here.
Two days ago, I turned 41. I'm now officially what I consider to be over the half-way mark. It's not a bad thing and it's not a good thing. On average, I may still have forty years left with which to accomplish more goals, learn more languages and learn to enjoy my life and my family more.
Growing up in the countryside of Gympie Australia, I was always aware of the cicadas clicking away in the trees, leaving shells behind clinging to the trees when they morph, but I never actually saw a live cicada. A few weeks ago when the cicadas in our neighbourhood became active, buzzing all day long, I decided to see if I could actually find one. Finally, after being on this earth for 41 years, I saw my first live cicada. Once I knew what they looked like, I was then able to quite easily see them in the trees within a few minutes of hearing their buzz.
I've now taken many photographs of the local cicadas (there are more than 2000 species worldwide and they have an interesting life cycle) but up until yesterday, the photos were less than great. Yesterday, I joyfully managed to get a couple of really nice photos. This is one of them. I hope you like it.
(By the way, all of my nature photographs are shot using manual focus. It's the only way to get total control of what's in and out of focus.)
You can read more about cicadas here.
Copyright 2006 Gregory Charles Rivers 河國榮. All rights reserved.
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我都好佩服你為甚麼可以影到那麼多昆蟲及雀鳥的靚相，因為通常牠們都是突然間出現，當你拿到相機，裝好鏡頭又要用甚麼 manual focus 時，到頭來牠們分分鐘都飛走啦！（因我試過有這情況發生。）所以對我這些懶人來說，影突發性的東西，都是用 PowerShot S80 這類機快及方便得多。
Posted by: sapphire | Wed, May 3, 2006, 12:53 | Respond to this comment
看你的生活過得多寫意, 41歲男人, 目標能夠一個個完成, 然後再享受人生, 我真的好羨慕你, 我呢.. 除了年紀大過你, 甚麼也不是, 我的所謂"目標"現仍需努力, 好多香港人都因為有了這個目標搞到透不過氣, 真是有又煩, 冇又煩, 我想香港人的生活就是這樣吧?! 國榮, 你有興趣猜一猜我的目標是甚麼嗎? 我給你多一個提示吧! 97 時候董生叫人上車囉!
Posted by: 蝦米 | Wed, May 3, 2006, 16:44 | Respond to this comment
Hey Greg! Hope u've had a nice b-day with your family and friends. It's nice to see you with your cameras again. At least it shows that you have more time for yourself now as opposed to the previous month when you've only got time for your back garden.
蝦米: I certainly agree that Greg knows how to enjoy life, but it's not hard for us too. The things Greg looks for in life (e.g. learning new languages, go out in the wild and learn more about the nature, picking up more acting skills) are very different compared to what the Hong Kong people (us) look for. Greg does that because he is interested, he knows what is he going to use it for. For us, it's so simple what we do them for and the major problem is that we are pushing very hard on the next generations. They are starting to lose the innoncence that they should have before. We are just too dragged into the materialistic world and we need to move backward a bit and look a the wider picture and enjoy life at a different angle. (Btw.... pls don't be offended, that's what I personally think only. It's not what I am telling people to do) :-)
Posted by: Vince | Wed, May 3, 2006, 20:53 | Respond to this comment
Hi Greg,
My family and i have always notice your performances in all the series and notice that there has been great improvements in your portayal of the characters throughout the years!! and its always great to see a fellow Aussie on tv!! he he he...just out of curiousity where abouts in Aus are u from?
KEEP UP THE GOOD JOB!!
Posted by: J~~Star | Wed, May 3, 2006, 23:19 | Respond to this comment
A belated Happy Birthday to you Greg! I have to say your stunning photographs of animal/insect really do touch my heart! Keep up the good job :)
Posted by: Supporter from S.Africa | Thu, May 4, 2006, 07:49 | Respond to this comment
Happy Birthday!
Posted by: Anthony Y. | Thu, May 4, 2006, 08:58 | Respond to this comment
Happy belated birthday!
Yes, thanks for your constant reminder to us to enjoy life more. In this hustling, bustling society we all so often forget that there is more to life than just the work that your boss gives you.:)
Posted by: MY | Thu, May 4, 2006, 10:23 | Respond to this comment
Vince: 好多謝你的一番說話, 我亦好希望能按自已興趣去選擇生活, 我好喜歡小動物, 如果可以像國榮一樣住在村屋裡, 生活簡單一點我已經好滿足了, 可是我不能這麼自私呀! 我也不年青了, 而我的爸爸媽媽更老, 更需要人陪伴照顧, 況且我曾經浪費了很多時間在我的興趣裡, 忽略了他們, 以前真的沒有想到這點, 可能人大了吧!
Posted by: 蝦米 | Thu, May 4, 2006, 13:57 | Respond to this comment
Hi Greg,
Your nature photographs are very nice. I like the frogs and cicada.
I googled tsxi and gas in HK and found your website. Happy belated birthday. Stay healthy and young no matter the number of your age.
yk from Hong Kong
Posted by: yk | Thu, May 4, 2006, 18:35 | Respond to this comment
哈哈好得意!我欣賞你 哈哈
Posted by: 獅子 | Fri, May 5, 2006, 18:37 | Respond to this comment
...wow...Greg, you're a Taurus too. Cool. Happy belated birthday.
Posted by: stephen | Sat, May 6, 2006, 03:47 | Respond to this comment
Perhaps for some people enjoying life means dream house, luxury car and yacht etc. In my personal opinion, it doesn’t have to be so expensive to enjoy life. Sometimes even an inexpensive way can serve the same purpose. Just pay more attention to the amazing things that surround us everyday and getting us closer to the beautiful gift from Mother Nature. All these activities are enjoyment too. How we look at our world can determine how long we’ll be in it.
Shooting wildlife photos could be a good chance for us to get closer to the nature. Mr. Ho will agree with me, eh? So, we’re planning a short trip to Hoodoos this weekend and keeping my fingers crossed for some nice shots.
BTW, I’d like to share one of my favorite quotes here. "If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living”… by J. H. Poincaré.
PS: “老三”說：他以前時常自己一個人去旺角逛雀仔街買雀糧，然後去”檀島”歎咖啡蛋撻，都覺得這是一種生活享受，相信你應該從未試過這些廉價享受吧! :-)
Posted by: sapphire | Sat, May 6, 2006, 10:54 | Respond to this comment
Greg (or anyone else),
I am not an expensive camera user and do not take a lot of photos. I've recently run into some problems. I'm not sure if it's just me or the camera. In the past, for film cameras I have used Kodak, Hanimex and Canon Compact 35mm cameras. I've never run into blurry photos. Recently for work I've had to use different cameras such as HP or Fujifilm compact digital cameras. I've noticed that half of the photos I take are blurry! This happens even if I use the auto-focus option (by pushing half way down on shutter release). Is it because I have extremely shaky hands? I am quite ignorant in this field so forgive me if I sound stupid.
Any suggestions are appreciate. Thank you in advanced.
Posted by: MY | Mon, May 8, 2006, 10:50 | Respond to this comment
My, it's possible that the cameras are not sensitive enough to capture photos in non-ideal circumstances. If the shutter speed is slow, blurriness is a distinct possibility. It's also possible (although unlikely) that you're jerking the camera when you take the photo. I've seen many people lift their finger off the shutter button too quickly after taking the photo. That upward jerk is often enough to cause blurriness. Press down on the shutter button gently, and leave your finger pressed down on the button for a fraction of a second after taking the photo to avoid any unwanted jerks.
Today, if affordable, people should buy cameras with vibration reduction built into the camera. Vibration reduction (or what Canon calls Image Stabilisation) is very effective, and becoming more and more common in today's point-and-shoot cameras.
Posted by: 河國榮 | Wed, March 26, 2008, 01:53 | Respond to this comment
MY, you can check out from Mr. Ho’s previous posting “ Canon EOS 350D comments” in January. He gave us some helpful tips before on how to prevent camera from shaking, which blurs photos. Hope this helps.
Btw, Mr Ho, I have some latest updates on Hoodoos. Be my guest.
Posted by: sapphire | Wed, May 10, 2006, 07:25 | Respond to this comment
Hi Ho Kwong Wing, I wrote about your blog and how I see you when i was a little girl on my website www.tinykylie.com at 9May06. Just to tell you that I grab some photos of yourself and put it on my blog. you are so impressive to able to write/type Chinese but not only doing Cantonese conversation.
Btw I used PC to browse your site before, and now using Mac and this is MUCH nicer :-)
Posted by: Kylie | Wed, May 10, 2006, 15:21 | Respond to this comment
Kylie, yep. The site looks so much better on a Mac. Actually, Windows is not the problem. Explorer is the problem. Even today, Explorer still fails to render my site and its CSS correctly. Anybody using Explorer is missing out on today's Internet standards, and they should really try FireFox, Safari or Opera; all free and all much much better than Explorer!
Posted by: 河國榮 | Wed, March 26, 2008, 01:56 | Respond to this comment
Happy Birthday, Greg - my birthday is on May 2, so we're both Taurus!
And as always, I love your photos!
Posted by: Jomay | Thu, May 11, 2006, 07:30 | Respond to this comment
點解有訪問出街都唔預早通知一聲呀？好彩我"醒目"。那個 QTVR tour 拍得好精彩。順便一提，你今次一身打扮都好"型" wo！其實那個算唔算係QTVR？因為它好像無360度旋轉。
http://education.atnext.com
Posted by: your super fan | Sat, May 13, 2006, 15:47 | Respond to this comment
Hello Mr. Rivers
I am happy that I am able to talk to you here, on your own personal blog.
Let me start of by saying that I admire your courage and your work.
I have read many articles you have posted here. I find them to be very interesting and especially well written with the odd homour here and there.
Its not everyday do you see someone read and learn another culture totally unknown to them.
This is the first of many comments to come. I hope you had a good birthday.
Posted by: Medion | Tue, May 16, 2006, 09:42 | Respond to this comment
Thanks for a marvelous blog. I'd always wondered about that Cantonese-speaking Australian actor (from your accent while speaking English) in TVB productions, and never realized you'd ginned up a blog. It's always cool to hear you speak Cantonese in TVB productions. I personally think your acting skills are the equal of any of the TVB character actors, whose performances I prefer to those of the revolving door leads. All the best for the coming year...
Posted by: Zhang Fei | Tue, May 23, 2006, 13:20 | Respond to this comment
Hi Mr. HO, hehee I am new to your blog and would like to know how did you learn cantonese becasue your cantonese is just AWESOME!! I tot people said cantonese is one of the hardest language to be learnt in the world. Anyway, it is fun having you on tv. :)
Posted by: Wilson | Wed, May 24, 2006, 00:04 | Respond to this comment
Sapphire,
you're right. getting photos of birds and insects can be difficult because they appear and disappear very quickly. most of the time these days, I carry my camera wherever I go, just in case I come across something worth photographing.
manual focus is necessary most of the time. unfortunately, the focus ring on my lens is a little (very minutely) loose and it can be difficult to get the exact focus. additionally, the view finder on the 350D is a typical digital view finder with less light than a full frame camera. this makes focussing a more difficult too.
蝦米,
Mr Tung wouldn't advise people to leave Hong Kong so I can't assume that you're working to emigrate. you're either working to gain wealth and success in China or you're still trying to build a home and retirement environment for yourself here in Hong Kong. I wish you well. it's not easy.
btw, I'm nowhere near completing my goals and I'm nowhere near as comfortable and wealthy as people assume. in many ways, I'm just like any other ordinary Hong Kong person. but if we don't have goals and challenges, then we have nothing to look forward to. right?
Vince,
there is indeed too much materialism today and its costing a lot of people the value of their lives. nothing but work, work, work. for some, there is no choice because it's so hard to make a living. for others, they're just trying to keep up with the Jones who incidentally are trying to keep up with surreal magazine representations of people having fun. it's all a sham but most people fall for it.
hi Star.
thank you for the encouragement. I appreciate it.
I've lived in Gympie QLD, the Blue Mountains and Sydney NSW. the Blue Mountains is a beautiful place. Gympie's great too, a small town with its own personality.
Sapphire,
where/what is Hoodoos? hope you had a great time.
I would have to agree with your brother. the simple things can be extremely enjoyable.
MY,
the digital cameras has smaller apertures and sensors so there's less light to work with. hence, the shutter will be slower and hand shake will occur more often. I face similar problems with my EOS 350D.
I'd suggest that you check the ASA film speed options on your camera. it might be set to 100. try using 200 or 400 to increase the shutter speed and see if it makes a difference.
and; as you probably already know; when you press down (the second half) on the shutter button, press slowly and gradually to reduce shake.
Super fan,
yep. there's an interview online. I have yet to announce it. it's not a bad interview but the sound recording was sub-par. part of the problem was that we were recording outside the restaurant where there was a lot of traffic noise. I consequently spoke louder. unfortunately, that introduced one of my Cantonese 'bugs'; when I speak louder, I raise the pitch of my voice and I sound 100% gwai lou!!! oh well, next time, I'll try to record inside or get a better microphone ;-)
thank you Medion and Zhang Fei. your words are appreciated.
Wilson,
apparently, the most difficult language in the world is Icelandic. Cantonese is nonetheless very difficult to learn. if you read my interview over at Interview now online at Adam Sheik's Cantonese site, you'll understand more of how I learnt the language.
regards everyone,
Ho Kwok Wing
Posted by: 河國榮 | Thu, May 25, 2006, 17:34 | Respond to this comment
greg,
being able to enjoy the the beauty of life and your many hobbies such a fast paced & money driven place like hk, to me is a real achievement.
Posted by: Fifi | Sun, June 4, 2006, 00:37 | Respond to this comment