The Ralphster

Ralphie at the Port Macquarie Ironman

Introducing Ralphie!!!

I'd like to introduce you to our loving and much loved new family member, Ralphie:

Ralphie sitting in my lap

Ralphie is a schnoodle (that's a poodle/schnauzer cross) who has a wonderful temperment and loves nothing more than being cuddled. Here is Ralphie in his favourite position, resting on my legs:

Ralphie lounging on my legs

We think he's the best dog ever...but of course, we're biased!

My New Camera!!!

Hello everyone...it's been a while. I hope everyone is doing well. I just got a new camera...very excited! My new FujiFilm X-T2 is amazing! Here is a picture of it:

My new X-T2!

And, here is the first RAW picture taken with the camera. The foreground was extremely dark. A little adjustment in Photoshop allowed me to bring up the shadows. There is an amazing amount of information in these files...the dynamic range is superb!

Bathurst Courthouse in Spring

Rylee's Birthday Weekend, 2011

Well it's been a while, in fact this is my first real post after creating this blog.  Life gets busy, time slips away, kids grow up.  My niece Isabella had her first birthday the other day, it's mind boggling that she's one already.  As for us, the winter holidays are over and the kids are back at school.  Our last weekend before school restarted was full of fun and adventure.   It was also Rylee's birthday - Happy Birthday Bella!!!

We ended up spending Rylee's b-day at Orange looking for snow.  Well, it didn't snow but we did find some ice at the top of Mount Canobolas.

The next few shots were all taken at the top of the mountain.  I love the one with Lorena walking in the mist!!!

Rylee, Giordano and Lorena in front of a frozen tree:

 Reni exploring the icy field:

Frozen eucalypts:

I know that the last one isn't the best composition but it was freezing out there and drizzling (hence the ice) so I just wanted to get back in the car (no time for composition).  Besides, composition is my weekness to begin with.  I'm learning, but very slowly.

That night Lorena, Giordano and I took Rylee out to dinner.  The food was absolutely atrocious (I had something they called gnocchi, which was actually some mush rolled up into gnocchi-like shapes and Lorena had pasta that tasted like cardboard - even a 5 year old could tell it was tasteless!!!) but at least the ambiance was nice.

Lorena with the fire behind her:

Giordano with the lights of Bathurst behind him:

It was actually much darker than it appears in there.  My D7000 and new 35mm f1.8DX lens did an excellent job in the low light.


The next weekend we were off to Cowra for Rylee's first soccer game in a few weeks.  The kids and I went off and played at the playground while Ryles ran around the soccer field.

After Rylee's game (which they won 3-0), we made our way to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra.  The kids had fun running around the place while daddy snapped away.

Here's an overview of the gardens:

 Cheeky smiles!!!

 A family shot near the pagoda:

All-in-all it was a fun weekend.  Stay tuned for the next installment.  Maybe it'll be a back-to-school special!!!

A big hello from Claudio, Rylee, Giordano and Lorena Dionigi and welcome to our blog.  This is our first time blogging so please forgive any lapses in etiquette or form.  The purpose of this blog is to share our stories, images and travels with family and friends.  This is also a chance for me (Claudio) to showcase some of my photography.

Please be aware that the copyright for all of the photographs on this site belongs to me (Claudio Dionigi).  However, please feel free to copy the photos for personal, educational or non-commercial use if you like. If you do copy any images, it would be nice if you let me know about it, just as a courtesy.  For commercial use, please email me for permission.  It's not like I want to make money from my photos, I just want to know where they are being used and what for.  I would also be upset to find out that someone else was making money from my pics without my prior knowledge.