Photocrafty

Over the last couple of weeks I have had to make the decision to delay my move to South Korea. It's a bit unfortunate as I'm incredibly impatient when it comes to things like this. If I make a decision to do something I like to do it as soon as possible. However, postponing Korea is the sensible decision in the long run. It means I can spend a good amount of time in Australia for my friend's wedding without the pressures of having to return for work commitments and, of course, I can save up a good amount of money. My plan now is to try and find a job in a Korean Hagwon starting around April 2015 and I have been advised by a few recruiters to start looking for these jobs in January.

So while Korea is on the back-burner for a few months it does mean I can start nailing down my plans for Australia. Having done some research online it appears it will work out cheaper to buy my flights as early as possible so I would like to get these bought in the next couple of weeks. I have been contemplating stopping off for a few nights somewhere to break up the 24 hour flight to Oz. I considered the following options - New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, Amman, Dubai, Beijing, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpa.

NY, LA, Amman and Dubai were immediately ruled out due to the flight prices almost doubling with a stop in either of those locations. Beijing was ruled out for visa reasons and Moscow, despite being a interesting and cheap option, was also ruled out due to their uneasy political situation at the moment. This leaves Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpa and I think I am leaning towards Kuala Lumpa - it just seems more appealing for a brief stop over location. The stop over will add a few extra hundred pounds to my flight but it'll be worth it to see one of the most developing cities in the world. Plus, the average cost of a hostel bed in Kuala Lumpa appears to be under a fiver! Not bad!

Meanwhile I bought myself the book "Photocrafty" by Sue Venables - "75 creative camera projects for you and your digital SLR". It seems a pretty good book to improve my photography skills and looks like it might guide me into thinking a little outside the box when I'm capturing my images. One of the first "projects" is all about the rule of thirds. This is a simple photography technique to make most pictures just slightly more interesting. Basically, just place the object of the image slightly off centre. I had a go...

There's only a subtle difference, but I think the above image is better composed than the one below.

An example of the rule of thirds in Barcelona.

And another on the Rineck farm.