{ Giveaway } No more bad photos - Sony Cyber-Shot HX20

It's been six months since we returned from our 10 week , 12000km road trip, to Western Australia .

We were blown away by the spectacular beauty of Western Australia. Moments we just couldn't possibly capture on film as stunningly as we hoped to.

Though , I took thousands of photos , lucky for you - I posted only a few hundred here on my blog, as time and as many as, a good husband wifi connection would allow.

I know for as many good shots I captured , unfortunately many more were disappointing - the dreaded bad travel photo . Yes, we enjoyed soaking in the magical moments but creating lasting memories is why I take photos.

One of my favourite destinations , undoubtedly, was the Shark Bay, World Heritage Area. I shared the best and some worse images with you in 2011 October .

It's not hard to see why it is a popular escape for tourists worldwide, located midway up West Australian Coastline , miles from anywhere.

At the heart of Shark Bay , World Heritage Area, is magical Monkey Mia , with crystal clear waters, pristine white shell beaches and daily visitations by mystical Dolphins .

It was the furthermost point north we traveled due to time constraints and the highlight of our 10wk trip.

A trip of a lifetime to witness the magical  Bottle-nose dolphins up close, under flawless blue skies, and stunning beauty everywhere you looked.

No-one is allowed to touch the dolphins, it is forbidden, even for the rangers (Department of Environment and Conservation) and volunteer workers. Nor is anyone permitted to swim with or interact with them, outside of the feeding times.

Each morning , the shoreline was fringed by dozens or maybe a hundred ,hopeful people .
Each hoping to be one of the few, chosen at whim,  for a unique dolphin interaction.

Year round , free of charge , the chosen ones are picked to hand feed one of maybe three -four wild dolphins who come into the shore for tasty snack.

Each dolphin's allowance being 4 small fish.

Slim pickings, on all counts.

It was discovered that feeding the dolphins anymore caused them to stay too long in shallows and the dolphin calves were all dying.

Dolphins are mammals who need to be in deep water to allow calves to feed properly and regularly.

Their calves got weak , sick and died waiting for the mothers to return.
So they changed the feeding regime based on the animal behaviour research conducted at Monkey Mia.

We patiently waited for the dolphins to cruise on in.
They took their time some days and frolicked with their calves, siblings or other dolphins in their pod.

My twin boys played in the shallows . I had my zoom lens on , watching, as small waves lapped the shore. I snapped away at the dolphin playing in the distant and closer waters with my zoom lens.

The volunteers entered the water and seconds later the dolphins swam in, as if on cue.
What happened next ?

Of course hands went up everywhere, a sea of waving and bouncing people  !

Even after the Ranger, with the mike, told the 4 working volunteers , holding fish buckets in knee deep waters to
ignore  -
the waving hands and eager ones.

Then the unexpected ....

My boys, Sam and Joel, on the far end - though at the front of the crowd, oblivious to all the hype ,
were chosen first up ...

Hurriedly, they stepped forward, excited without a care ... whether or not I was ready !

A rare opportunity escaped me , to capture my boys encountering the dolphins because I couldn't change the DSLR zoom lens quick enough.

My Dreaded Bad Travel Photo  OCT 2nd , 2011 - hurried and headless !

Regrettably , I chopped the tops of my boys heads off ! The colours are not as vibrant as I'd like and there is a slight blur.

As I was fumbling around trying to swap lens - I almost missed it all , save for a few bad photos.
Save , is the wrong word - I couldn't fix this, at all.

Ok , so why am I writing about the dreaded bad travel photo?

Sony launched the No more bad photos campaign - giving people a second chance to capture those missed moments, re-live the adventure and missed opportunities.

One day I would like to recapture our dolphin encounter with my boys heads intact. It was hard to chose which was my worse bad travel photo but this one I'll never forget.

With so many outstanding features - what I like most is the Superior Auto Intelligent feature - auto settings at the press of a button . It recognizes 36 different shooting scenes and automatically optimizes the shooting mode for any unique photo - it could have given me better shots many times over !

 

I'd also make the most of my second chance with the 20x Optical Zoom - which meant I would be ready to take the shot instead of fumbling for a different lens. The Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization would have eliminated any blur too.

The sweep panoroma would be perfect to capture the unsurpassed spectacular view of entire bay too.

I been road testing the new Sony Cyber-shot HX20 and I'm so impressed with the superior image quality. I freely admit I am no expert at all, but so far my quick point and shoot snap-shots are clearer and steadier - especially with moving targets like 5 year old twin boys.

This, pocket rocket , camera is really easy to use, ready to capture any special moment at the press of  a button. It even has a GPS feature to record locations , never forget where and when you took any shot again.

My Little Drummer Boys is so excited to be giving away ONE Sony Cyber-Shot HX20 Digital Camera To One VERY Lucky Reader to celebrate the launch of Sony Cyber-shot HX20

To enter the No more bad travel photo giveaway ...

Tell me in 50 words or less why you want to re - capture one of your bad travel photos again  - unfortunately I can't wave a magic wand to make the opportunity happen - only supply the brilliant  Sony Cyber-shot HX20 camera !

Be quick
Giveaway Closes 11:59  (AEST) on 17^th June, 2012  
Australia residents only 
Please leave details in the Entry form below. 

Edited to add - I wanted to clarify that you can enter more than one comment below , both as a general comment on this post or as your entry comment in 50 words or less .
Only one competition entry per day , no limit to a general comments !! 






PS - If you have ever wished you could re-live a holiday, adventure or event all over  again because you didn't get a great photo of it the first time? ...still 3-4 days (as at 13th June) to enter the Sony Cyber Shot HX 20 Facebook competition by uploading your own photo (I'm just letting you know - this competition is not related to my blog giveaway at all)

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