The Biggest Astrofestra In The World

Gracie Fields would have been proud...

I note from the up-and-coming-counter at work that there is to be an Astrofest Astrophotography contest and exhibition in 2016. It's a Western Australian event that will take place at Curtin University ( WA Institute of Technology ) on the 12th of March 2016. Camera Electronic, Shoot Photography Workshops, WPM Group, and Pendoley Enviromental are sponsors.

There are a number of divisions and presentations possible - the little flyer that was on the counter mentions star trails, night-scapes,solar system objects, or deep space images. They say that astro-photos, time lapse videos, and related digital imaging such as 360º virtual reality is welcome. As they are opening the entry to any astronomer or photographer, amateur or professional, who is a resident or visitor to WA...with no age restriction, I guess you could say it is a pretty darned inclusive brief.

An omission, however. No mention of macro shots of stars. Odd, that.

Well, you have until the 5:00PM on the 29th of January, 2016 to get your entries in and the best way will be to pick up an entry form from our front counter and read the technical details that they want for the images. I note they prefer jpeg format between 2 to 5 Mb per file and they set a time limit for the time lapse video of 2 minutes.There are more specifications on the form so make sure you read them carefully. Note that there is a limit of 7 entries per person.

You can use an email to do it, post in DVDs or thumb drives, or use Dropbox to send big files. Of course there are conventions about naming the files and you'll need to make sure they know which files are yours.

Award Categories include:

1. Best Astrophoto Award
2. Best Timelapse Video Award
3. Best New Talent Award
4. People's Choice Award

So far I can 't discover what the prizes and awards are going to be but there is going to be an exhibition of the entries and some of the winners may be published and feature in other presentations. It's all in the entry form.

Their website for this entry is:   www.icrar.org/astrophoto2016

At least your subjects cannot complain that you are making them stay still for too long.

Catch Of The Day Competition

I am writing this under duress. Normally I do not approach the subject of fishing as it is the source of many painful memories*. But the Code Of The Hack Writers is firm on the point; you must tell the story no matter what it costs.

Camera Electronics is sponsoring a grand prize for a picture of the Catch of the Day as adjudged by Red FM. They are a commercial from that apparently has more wireless stations in the Northwest than the USN. And they are running a Catch of the Day competition at the following web address:

http://www.redfm.com.au/index.php/competitions

There is an easy-enter form there and a method of sending them a picture of your piscine success.

The prizes are fishing-related as well -  a number of Shimano lures and the grand prize of a GoPro from us. Do give it a try.

* All right, if you insist. It was during the Canadian salmon run. We were constructing a dam in Alberta that had a diversion channel on a river and a number of salmon ladders built into it. The local Mounties gave the company kids permission to have one afternoon fishing on the ladder ponds with one fish apiece. We all got taken onto the site by our dads and set out alongside the ladder. The other kids had poles, lines, and smooth hooks so that the fish could be unhooked and thrown back if they were unsuitable. Every kid caught about a dozen before they settle of one to take home. I did exactly what they did with exactly the same gear and nothing...NOTHING...bit all afternoon. Not a nibble. They were hauling them out with bent pins on wrapping twine. For me...nothing. I took it as a message from heaven. Ever since then I fish at Kailis' with a credit card.