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Formerly Known as Simon's avatar

I'm always up at this time. Warmer days means i'm focused on exercising the dogs, but winter with the sub zero temps i go by myself to save the little furry feet from any damage. I also relish in these types of conditions of wandering the streets in the dark with just your thoughts (when i'm with the dogs i'm talking to them rather than self contemplation). I've been able to avoid the coffee addiction and i swear off the sweets, but the smells coming from the little french run bakery/cafe around the corner waft from a street away on approach and make me second guess my gastronomic decisions.

As a hobby photographer i find when stuck with my old phone camera (instead of the good one), that if i adjust the light setting down it gives a better representation of that mood your eyes are feasting on. I just posted some of my phone shots i actually took off my phone (there's thousands sitting on there, doing nothing but taking up lots of byte space)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DK_jRUjRCr2/

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John Birmingham's avatar

Nice shots mate. And now I will have to ask an AI how to adjust my light setting down.

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Formerly Known as Simon's avatar

ha. On my old rust bucket phone there is a little slider under the the focus circle. But with normal human sausages for fingers you end up repositioning the focus point more often than not. No idea what the apple products do.

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Elana Mitchell's avatar

Those shots are gorgeous! That's a magnificent Shoulder Cat(tm) as well 😻

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Formerly Known as Simon's avatar

at the moment he alternates between sitting in the sun on my shoulder or trying to crawl inside my jumper

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Elana Mitchell's avatar

Excuse me sir, why are you not making your jumper immediately available for the comfort of your feline overlord, as you do your shoulder?

Switching between being a Shoulder Cat(tm) and a Jumper Cat(tm) or another other Cat(tm) configuration is covered in the terms and conditions of the Cat Butler contract you signed in triplicate in blood when your feline overlord adopted you 😾

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Formerly Known as Simon's avatar

ha. Morpheus is definitely not short on getting what he wants . . . except for going outside (point of non-negotiation).

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Dave W's avatar

I love the idea of walking to my local boulangerie, being greeted with my regular baguette and espresso, and exchange witty banter with the baker and the insomniac retired economist who just goes there to play backgammon...

Okay. There's a lot going on here that I probably should think about one day...

The truth is I'm likely to hangrily grunt and forget to pay.

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Leo's avatar

I lived around the corner from this place a few years ago - NEVER saw it at that time of the morning though. Returning to Brisbane from 20 years in Melbourne I’d forgotten how many people up there get out of the house so early in the morning. But in late June in Melbourne I don’t have to be up so early to experience that feeling of the cold and dark you beautifully describe.

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Michael Barnes's avatar

This is a wonderful post and favourite thing to do. It's like it's a deal i make with the universe, If you provide an open cafe on a cusp of morning while I am walking then I will buy a coffee and perhaps a pastry, and after reading your piece I am going to regard it as communion.

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Rob's avatar

I loved Brisbane and the Gold Coast for the early morning starts. It was sometimes 18 degrees at 6 am and just right for a walk to the train station or a saunter along the beach. But when I lived there it was before coffee became a thing, it was kind of a thing in some parts of Auckland, but hadn't made it to the burbs of Brissie or the ubiquitous burnt hot cappuccino at a Kmart cafe which made you yearn for something a little more pretentious and cool.

PS for your cafe at dawn photo/video , try using your Iphones LOG setting , then convert it to rec 709 using an appropriate LUT. It will capture the dim light of the cafe and dark out side and even them up a bit, and will capture the entire color contrast spectrum instead of just going from light to dark in 10 easy steps.

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Drew Sanderson's avatar

Had to Google it, but that looks like it's opposite where Reverse Garbage once was.

Also the Google Street view has an Ibis wandering into it (or the shop next door.

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