Retrospective June 2026
Halfway to 2027 already?
I know at this point the opening to these posts has basically become “wow the year has gone quick” but come on its the end of June! As the new financial year opens there has been plenty going on in my world and some nice little personal milestones sprinkled in. This month has been a good time for adventures and pictures.
Mid month thought - 54.4 degrees of magic
The June mid month thought has been about my growing relationship and acceptance of the 35mm focal length. As someone who has always leant towards 50mm as a first choice it has been a long road. I really do see the light and also have my holy grail lens in my sights now pulling me forward.
500 Instagram followers
This was a nice little surprise as I feel like I often go through droughts of posting 2 or 3 things in a month and then not posting anything for months on end. It has been something I want to work on more but the progress over the last couple of years has been really good.
Burradoo Park Farm
Burradoo park farm is a 600-acre working regenerative farm just outside of Bowral which is one of our favourite towns in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Farm animals, gardens, pastries and local produce, add in a big loop track that Bronte could run around and you have a great day out. Winter in the southern highlands brought what was expected for the end of June, drizzle and cold. If you’re in the area and looking for a nice day out then I highly recommend it, we will be back for sure.
Sharing the hobby
I bought Bronte this little cheap camera from Kmart towards the end of last year, more as a bit of fun and so she could play with something that wasn’t my M10… Of late she has really enjoyed taking it with her on our days out, We went to the Botanic Gardens and Burradoo park farm and she was busy running around taking pictures. I am absolutely amazed with how you really can just see the gears ticking over in her head as things catch her eye.
Home Cafe
I absolutely love coffee, if you’ve known me longer than 10 minutes you can probably pick up on that. I love the process of making coffee more than anything though so with a surplus of some pretty cool coffee beans in the freezer we had a few friends over to have a morning at our ‘home cafe’. I made up some focaccia’s, bought some croissants, and spent the morning making coffee for everyone.
DJI on the go mic setup
I bought the DJI Mic series mobile receiver which basically gives an easy connection for the super convenient bluetooth collection straight to the phone. I am planning on using this to make some low friction short form videos and just get back into making things and posting. So if you see some low budget vertical rambling from me on your feed, it’s through this.
Captured my interest
DJI Osmo Pocket 4P – I know it hasn’t been properly put everywhere in terms of information, which is a really strange and annoying way of doing things but from some of the footage I have seen from a few creators who have been testing this looks like an absolutely massive step up and even made me think about clearing out the S1 all together… time will well.
Leica SL3-P – Taking a quick look through my Instagram and YouTube feeds it looks like there might have been a launch of a new camera in the SL line maybe? I haven’t watched too much about it other than it seems to be sitting in the goldilocks middle of pappa bear SL3 (60MP) or the baby bear SL3-S (24MP).
Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100 f/2.8 – Now this is a mouthful so take your time. A modern version of a classic lens that is still worth considering as a 100mm macro even 39 years after it came out? That’s a tall order, but I feel like if there was ever a lens that the Wetzler team had held back till it was perfect it was going to be the 100mm macro. Will I buy one? Probably not but I will go and check between the sofa cushions for the $4,400 AUD I would need for it…
Best of June 2026 Gallery
That wraps up June 2026
Looking back at the halfway phase of the year and we have a way to go but a lot of irons in the fire. I am very keen to get stuck into the second half of the year and tick off a few more things as we go.
See you next month,
Tom
