Another beach sunrise

We caught the flu travelling overseas a couple of weeks ago and have all been in bed. It is the first time in years we have been so sick with a virus and I had forgotten just how long it takes to recover. The good news is that we are finally all on the mend. I have postponed our mothers day lunch out at our favourite restaurant until next week (as a courtesy to the other diners lol).

The worst part of the flu is being confined to the house with no energy or motivation. This morning the dogs woke pre dawn to be let out, so I decided to jump in the car and drive to the beach to photograph the sunrise. So pleased I did. Not a great sunrise as it was too clear but there is always something uplifting in watching a new day dawn. A wonderful start to the day.

Photos were taken with a graduated neutral density filter which I have just purchased. Great idea except that my camera was on spot metering so exposure was all over the place. Definitely need a clearer head to try out new camera techniques. I can see greater depth to the sky in the shots, which brings it closer to how the scene actually appeared. Will need to experiment more.


First light.

Sunrise

Cormorants with wings catching the warmth of the rising sun

Enjoy your Mother's Day Ladies!

Beach sunrise

Finally managed to get out of bed early enough for another beach sunrise this morning. There was some colour pre dawn which soon disappeared. Still beautiful and worth the effort.

These are some of my photos.

 

 

Have a wonderful week and I hope that you are all safe from the floods.

Gentle reminder

God's gentle reminder that beauty and joy follow sadness and pain, and that even in times of difficulty happiness may be waiting to shine.

Yesterday was a day of overcast skies and continuous rain. The skies started to clear just at sunset and this is the beauty I captured. Pure magic!

Mangrove wetlands

Slept in this morning although I had planned to photograph the sunrise. Plans sound good the night before but not so at 4:30am in the morning when the alarm goes off. We did however manage to get some photos later in the day at some local mangrove wetlands.

 And this is the view of the Glasshouse Mountains from a small beach adjoining the wetlands. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

 Have a wonderful week!

Film vs Digital

Much as I love the convenience of digital, when I go back through older slides I am scanning, sometimes I wish I could replicate the colouring and overall look of slide film. My favourites were Kodachrome 64 and 25 (my current camera does not even go down to ISO25!) for the blues of mountains, oceans and rivers and Agfachrome 100 for the browns of deserts. Black and white was always shot with Ilford thanks to a friend who had an unlimited supply of this film. These were the days of conserving film and I remember on trips having to ensure I did not shoot more photos per day than my allocated daily quota.

Here is one photo recently scanned and scrapped:

I love the light in this photo of the market place in Manakha, Yemen. I was doing what I usually do when travelling. That is finding a vantage point, where I can sit with a camera and long lens and view people without being too obvious. On this occasion, I was sitting on the side of the road running just above the market place. Now if I had had a digital camera back then, I would have taken hundreds of photos instead of the full 36 film on that day.

Here is another scanned slide, this one from India.

Now onto digital.


On photography days now, it is not unusual for me to shoot hundreds of photos. My photography aim for this year is to focus more on lining up and composing photos, rather than shooting away with the hope that one is "acceptable". This seems to be working as I am rarely cropping photos now but with 600 plus "keepers" in my lightroom database for January alone, there is still some work to be done... ;-)

Some recent pages from recent photos.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

A New Year ....

Last year was tumultuous. I started out with optimism but quickly moved into "back to basic coping strategies" as problems exploded. Two months later and I was treading water. Life was starting to become "manageable". A few bumps but nothing life threatening. Then came the worst day of my life. No words, just tears and back to treading water. On the good days that is.

Then came light from an unexpected corner. Darkness receded to the power of light.

This is how we ended the year. Too many changes, too many ups and downs. We start 2012 higher than a year ago, now that is an achievement!


I wanted to welcome in the New Year with "Light" so headed to the beach to catch the first sunrise of the new year. Sand, water, light - a wonderful combination.  Leaving home at 3:30am, I was back before 7am. Here are some of my photos.

Pre dawn with first light:

First light:

 Then full light:

What can be more beautiful than the first rays of sunshine showing you the possibilities of a new day?

I wish you all a wonderful 2012!

Macro Love

Easy to while away the time, photography flowers and insects on macro. Photos taken yesterday in the back garden.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Beach Sunrise

Photos taken yesterday morning watching the sunrise at Bribie Island.

Beautiful shades of peach and grey/blue.

Playing with Textures

Jerry of  Shadowhouse Creations provided 2 raised effect textures on his blog and I could not resist playing with them. I love adding texture to photos! This is the result. The photo was taken many years ago when travelling in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. I remember stopping late afternoon for a meal in a local inn. This is the first time that a foreigner had ever stopped to eat there. We had a plate of mutton and rice. It was good! The tea was served, as is typical in this area,  green with cardomon and cinnamon. This area is the most beautiful on earth. Three mountain ranges collide to provide scenery that takes your breath away.

Click on photo for texture detail and credits.
To achieve this effect I used the first texture with following layers:

1. Lightened texture and placed as Overlay 100%.
2. Original texture Colour Burn 31%
3. Original Photo

Jerry has a great collection of free textures available. They are definitely worth checking out.

Years at the Spring..

Well it was until this week as we now have a foretaste of the heat of Summer. The girls and I took avantage of the earlier milder spring weather to really put some effort into our long neglected garden. Nothing like garden therapy to lift your spirits. We now have 3/4 of the back yard gardens complete and even Harry is enjoying exploring now that the jungle of weeds has been cleared. My vegetable garden for Summer is starting. Coriander which had been flowering for weeks, has been cleared and I have planted cucumber, egg plant, beans, squash, chillies, tomatoes, kale and herbs. I'll see how they go before adding some more.

There are no distinct seasons here and you have to look very closely to find the presence of Spring. It is there just hidden....


Mulberries are the first fruit to ripen. There is always enough on the tree for the birds and ourselves. The Koel birds are late this year in their migration. At this time of the year we usually have a pair take up residence in this tree.

 I love the soft green of new leaves. We have pruned trees heavily for the first time in years so watching new leaves emerge from hard old wood is wonderful.

Our garden is full of the perfume of citrus. Intoxicating!

This is the first year I have tried growing sweet peas. They have thrived growing with the coriander.

 Here are a couple of layouts from the photos:

Have a wonderful weekend.

Cheetah

We had to put down our darling Kelpie yesterday. So terribly sad.

Cheetah was 14 and had suffered from Cushings disease for 4 years. In the last year, artritis also set in and she required medication for the pain. Over the last week, she started to refuse all medication no matter how I tried to disguise them in delicious home cooked meals. I think she was telling us that this was enough. We took her to the vet last Friday and then again on Sunday where she was given an injection for the pain. This gave her 2 days to enjoy life relatively pain free just as she used to. Chasing Harry a little, barking at the Brush Turkeys and enjoying a sniff around the garden.

Here is one of our last photos. She is missed terribly.