Springing

Spring is springing into action!

I arrived home from the Seat of Knowledge this morning to find these two guys sitting on my fence.

Wattle Bird

Rainbow Bee Eater

There was a bit of a battle for territory going on, but they didn't fight too hard.

Our Grass Tree has grown a new spike too, which is pretty cool.

You can see the fog in the background - taken at 7am today.

My head has been extremely fuzzy all day.  Going to bed at 9.30pm was not a good idea.  Waking up at 3.30am was an even worse idea!

Midnight til 6am suits me fine.

9.30pm til 3.30am does NOT suit me at all!

So Spring may be springing, but I certainly was not springing anywhere today.  It was a rest day for me and I ate chocolate.  Lots of it.

Tomorrow, I hope my brain will be fresh again.  It will be a better day.

Nite all.

Dozing

It's 9.15pm.

I've had three glasses of wine since 5pm and am now sitting on the couch watching my footy team get creamed by the team most hated in the league.

I am dozing.

The wine has done me in!  I am going to bed.

Thought that I would generously share one of my favourite pics for the exhibit before I go.  This will be blown up to a large size.

Nite all.

A Quickie

Is this the biggest dog you've ever seen in your life?  The dog's owner is not a short woman either!

Stopped in for a quick coffee with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet today ... and then got a quick shot of the pier at exactly midday.

 
I wonder if the fog lifted after this?  There was no fog at the other end of town!

We did some printing today, but we have to go back on Saturday to see the girl in charge, so that we can get a good price on the larger prints.

I submitted my entry into the "Wind" brief for the EOS Photo5 competition today.

I felt a bit pressured, with so much going on at the moment, but I really want to enter all five briefs this year so that I qualify automatically next year and NOT have to be under any pressure in 2013.

Anyway, as I the title says, just a quickie tonight.  My pillow beckons.

Nite all.

Making Music

What a full day today has been!

Of course, the Seat of Knowledge was the first stop this morning and it was great to see The Little Gnome back from his trip to Rubyvale, where he spent a little over two weeks with his grandson and family.

We missed him while he was gone!

Afterwards we had a date with some acquaintances to help them with their camera, computer, electronic photo frame and TV/DVD.

That took three hours.  It was a pleasant three hours because they are lovely people, and Adoring Husband did most of the work.  Ok, Adoring Husband did ALL of the work!

They were most appreciative and we got a big bag of fresh veggies from their garden as well as the offer of some plants from their bromeliad garden and a dinner invitation for some time in the future.

These people will be at the exhibit opening night and will be serving nibblies to the patrons as well, to help out, so that's a lovely gesture.

We drove home from there to have a quick lunch and then I pedalled up my street, for the musical instrument photo shoot, at BP's place.

The moment B took the instruments out of their velvet lined cases, I fell in love with them.

They were so shiny and smooth and sleek with beautiful lines and the light danced off them as B moved them around on the black sheet to suit my requirements.

I took 90 photos.  Some of them I aimed and fired, but most I just held the camera up high and at different angles shooting blind.  I really enjoy that kind of photography and I am almost always pleasantly surprised by the shots I get that way.

I have selected five of the best and I think I will use them on a panel for a series of shots.  There is one in particular that I will enlarge.

I have three photos that I am enlarging as features.

So far, all is going to plan.  Fingers crossed, it will continue to do so!

Tomorrow is the opening day for submissions to the EOS Photo5 competition and I still haven't decided on my 'Wind' photo.

I wanted to submit one of my musical instruments photos, because they are 'wind' instruments, but having read the brief again, I don't think it would be acceptable.

So now I have a wee dilemma and I'm not sure what to do.  I do my best work under pressure!

This is the photo that I have rejected for the brief ...

I have four other wind shots set aside, that are possibilities.  Need to ponder for a little while.

Got another busy day ahead tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Good Business

So yesterday afternoon, I got a phone call from an acquaintance who lives next door to a friend of mine.

She was very unhappy with the shots taken by the photographer that her employer used, so she asked if I would take a photo that she could use on her business cards and stationery for her new job.

I said that I'd 'have a go'.  She said that she would be here after work at about 4.30pm.

The way she said it, made me think that she believed I had a studio here.

An hour before she arrived, I pegged a white sheet up over a wall on the Eastern side of our house, which at that time of the day, is in shade, and I took a couple of practise shots.

When she arrived, I led her through the house and outside to my makeshift 'set' and explained to her that portrait shots were not my forte, so I couldn't guarantee that the shots would be any good, but that I would do my best.

She did seem a little surprised to be standing in front of a pegged sheet in my back yard!

Surprisingly, it only took about a dozen shots to get one that we agreed on.

The tricky part was then finding my way around photoshop to make the crinkly white sheet in the background look like a solid colour behind her.

I suffered my way through for a while, becoming very frustrated.  I even found a site called Elements Ten for Dummies.

I'm obviously dumber than a dummy, because I couldn't understand it at all.

Finally, in desperation, I sent my friend 'The Nikonian' a private message in facebook and asked her to explain in simple photoshop terms how to perform this task.

One paragraph later (thank you! thank you!) and WHALAH!!

Not too bad for my first business card photo!  Even if I do say so myself!

She offered to pay me for the pleasure, but I told her it was my 'congratulations on your new job' gift from me.  When I emailed it to her later, she replied with a very pleased message, thanking me.  Thank goodness!

Very nerve racking these shoots.  All good experience, and each time I push myself a bit out of my comfort zone, that just improves my photography.

Tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I are helping a couple learn how to download photos from their camera to their computer and then how to create an email with a photo attached.  They also want to learn how to put information from their computer to a memory stick.

Then another photo shoot for me!  This time with musical instruments.  What I thought would be one musical instrument, has turned into almost an orchestra of instruments, so I am very excited at what I might find when I arrive!

So it's a big day ahead for me.  Best get some sleep!

Nite all.

Almost Famous

Well, my fifteen minutes of fame commences as of tomorrow.

The town Newsletter was published and issued today, with our photos and story on page three.  Woot Woot!

My photos arrived from the Sunshine Coast after being printed by my friend down there and they look so much better than I expected.  I am very pleased and it's a weight lifted from my shoulders.  Now I only have 50 more to print, which we'll do this week.

Will take a couple of the odd sized ones to the gallery this week to make sure they have frames to fit them.

I still have to organise the postcards eep!

Need to write a blurb about myself so that the patrons can read about me.

Falling into place nicely now I think.

Played in photoshop a bit this afternoon.

I can't imagine ever knowing all there is to know about it.  Every time I open it, I find something new.  I need to sit with someone 'in the know' (you know who you are! lol).

That's all I'm sharing for today.  Off to bed for yet another early night.

Nite all.

Excellent Show!

Jon English - Rock Revolution.

If you get a chance, go see it!  You won't regret it.  More talent on one stage than you could ever imagine in your wildest dreams.  Breathtaking Brilliant Bravo.

The mini challenge in the 104 group this weekend was 'From a Low Angle'.  Here are my photos that I have just posted onto Fb.

I think I might go to bed early (11.30 is early for me!).

Nite all.

Goin' to a Show

We are out this evening for dinner and a show "Rock Revolution" which is Jon English's new show.

I saw his last show twice and obviously, it was excellent!  So I'm expecting to have an enjoyable night.

Needless to say, I will be home too late to update here and that's why I am here now.

Drove into town with Kaz this morning.  It's a really nice opportunity to catch up because we never get time together with just the two of us.  This is the 3rd time I've driven into town with her on a Saturday morning and it really makes for a great day, to start like that, instead of on the dreaded speeding bus!

Thanks Kaz :D

Of course, the best part of the day was seeing my little Chicklet, who ran to greet me when I arrived this morning.

She was very happy all day and I discovered that she is just like her Mama, in that when she gets tired, it doesn't take much to get her giggling.  Actually, that's a bit like me too.

I read "Are You My Mother?" to her (the shortened, more fun, version), three times.

There was lots of giggling and lots of new words.

She knows how old she is and holds one finger up as she announces "ONE!"

She is a climber.  She climbs on her little table, the chair, the lounge, the coffee table.  A bit scary for poor old grandmothers.

I forgot to take photos!!  Again!!  I think I can get one more Saturday visit in before things get too busy for both the Chicklet family AND for me.

Soon they are off on their overseas holiday and when they return, they may be living somewhere else.  There's a chance they could leave even before that!

Takes my breath away just thinking about it.  Ugh.  However, we will worry about that when it happens and not before!

Anyway, that's most of my day ... now I have to go and make myself beautiful for Jon English.  I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Nite all.

Caravans and Campers

The Maryborough caravan and camping expo is on this weekend and it opened today.  Adoring Husband and I were there bright and early, got a park directly across the road from the entrance gate and walked through those gates at approximately 9.03am lol.

It was a beautiful day and my nose took me directly to the closest coffee bar where I got a skinny latte to help start my day.

Next I tried an amazing vibration machine that got all the muscles working in my body and the blood well and truly circulating through my veins.  Straight after that, I bought a fabulous military style cap with a diamonte 'peace' sign, which came with a free pair of diamonte polarised sunglasses.

Four hours later, we had walked through almost every caravan and campervan there, chatted with half of our community who had decided to attend today too, found some gluten free wood fired pizza and gluten free ice cream, bought some bamboo socks and some accessories for our campervan and had the ingredients to go home and cook my famous roast chicken and veggie soup.

It took me all afternoon to make the soup, which could be my best effort yet!  Adoring Husband ate four bowls of it for dinner!  Delicious.

I'm very unhappy that my football team lost their game by one point tonight and I'm pretty sure that Number One Son will be equally unhappy with his team who also lost by one point tonight!  Ugh!

Tomorrow is Chicklet family day, so I'm off to bed (yet another after midnight bed time!).

Nite all.

Ball of Panic

In relation to the impending exhibit, I have my good days and my bad days.

I think I've had a lot of good days lately, because my progress has been coming along quite nicely and I have felt 'on top' of things.

Today, however, I've felt the little ball of panic in the pit of my stomach.  Every hour or so, it gives a little rumble and a tremble.  Enough to send some adrenalin surging through my veins.

I think that I should probably make a new 'to-do' list.  That will either calm my nerves OR get that adrenalin well and truly pumping!

So, in response to this negative physical reaction, my brain has responded with a nice strong defensive ramble, which I have already shared with BGWLBH, and which I will now share with you!

Begin Manic Rant

I have had a DSLR camera for almost 4 years.  

I learned how to use a DSLR camera in manual mode, 16 months ago, in a two day workshop (admittedly, with an EXCELLENT teacher, who doesn't know I have this blog, so I'm not sucking up lol), and where I also learned how to compose my shots.  

The flickr group, photographers who have completed the same workshop, have also provided VALUABLE advice, critique and feedback over the same 16 month period.

I challenge anyone with such limited experience, to find 100 quality photos in their collection, that are good enough to print enlarged, (ranging from 8"x12" to poster size) and display them in a public exhibit.

Seriously, this is not an easy task.  It is especially more difficult, when the theme of the exhibit is FAR REMOVED from what you class as your 'forte', which in my case, is birds and wildlife.

Not to mention the 'photoshop' issues.

I'm not sure if I'm trying to convince you or me here ... but I reckon I have done a pretty amazing job just to get to this point.

End Manic Rant

So there is a good reason for me to have a little ball of panic in the pit of my stomach right about now.  I hope it doesn't hang around too long.  

I expect it to be there on opening night, but I'd really like it to make rare appearances between now and then.

I'm doing ok.  

I have my boys at the Seat of Knowledge, helping me start my day in a happy and relaxed manner.

I have Adoring Husband cooking dinner every night and being the perfect house husband in support of my endeavours, while leaving me alone to focus on the task at hand.

I also have my online photography friends who have been wonderfully supportive along the way and who prop me up whenever I begin to wallow in negativity.

My lovely kids who are proud of me and my even lovelier granddaughter who makes my heart race every time I see her and makes me want to be a 'Boz' to be proud of.

I'm doing something that I absolutely love and I have this opportunity to share it with my world, small as it may be.

I'm doing ok indeed.  Life is pretty darned good.

BE GONE this ball of panic!!

Nite all.     

Puberty Blues

I read the book.  I watched the movie.

Tonight I watched the first episode of the TV series Puberty Blues.

It was like being a fly on the wall and watching myself as a teenager.

Everything is so accurate.  The fashions.  The attitudes.  The language.  The roles of females.  The arrogance of males.

Not once, during that episode, did I disagree with even one line of the dialogue.  So spot on.

It's quite frightening to watch and I wonder if it's the same for teenagers now.

I can still see the same attitudes in my generation of married couples that I know today.

I hope things are different for the current younger generation.

My brain is mush from six hours of learning how to use photoshop, so this is another short but sweet post.

Instead of posting photos, I am giving you a link to check out some beautiful photos by somebody else.  Somebody who is most proficient in photoshop!

http://www.joelsantos.net/Joel_Santos_-_Photography/Home.html

Nite all.

Canon EOS Photo5

Yes!  It's that exciting time of year again!

EOS Photo5 is the competition that inspires everybody to create amazing photography. And while the inspiration is just 5 simple items in a little brown box, there’s no end to what you can create.

https://www.canon.com.au/en-au/worldofeos/photo5/Enter

Vegan Chickie introduced me to this competition a couple of years ago, but last year I made my first submission and I entered four of the five briefs.

With thousands of people entering every brief, it's very difficult to think of something new and original.

As I was once told "Everything has been photographed.  It's all been done.  So it's about how you can do it in a unique and beautiful way."

That is where I struggle.  I'm certain that I have an imagination lurking in the recesses of my brain somewhere.  I just haven't found it yet.

So, because I missed the final brief last year, I have to apply for the little brown box, by entering the Open Brief which is 'WIND' and the entry date is 23rd August.

Time to get my thinking cap on and time to start prodding for at least a glimmer of my imagination.

I did want to start with a good night's sleep, but it's already after 12.30am so I guess that idea is out the window.  We'll try for that tomorrow night.

Nite all

Pelican Party

The usual - a day in front of the computer screen playing with photos.

This afternoon, I went for a ride.  I had to visit the 'Shell Man' briefly and then I rode down to the beach.  There was a lady there feeding some pelicans.  She had some carcasses of the fish that she had caught earlier in the day.

It was the highlight of my day ... until I discovered that the Brahminy Kite chick in the nest is still being cared for!

Last week, one of the older Brahminy Kites fell dead out of the nest, onto the road.  The man who lives in the house under the tree had told me that there was a chick in the nest and I was sure that it would die without the older bird to care for it.

This afternoon, I watched a Brahminy Kite in the tree opposite the nest as he ate some food and then flew over to the nest.  I could hear the chick making noises!  Such a relief :)

So all is right in my Brahminy world again :)

Nite all

Boz is a beautiful word.

It was too windy to ride around town this morning, so after I left the boys, I did one quick ride along the river path and then I came straight home.

I cooked a hearty, sausage, eggs and tomato breakfast and then sat down at my desk all day.

Played a bit with photoshop and learnt some more about it.  I still don't like it.

I am easily distracted.  Gekko's birthday party is a perfect example.  I spent some time on the photos from his party today.

I need to focus on the job at hand!!

Oh and I also played with photos of my baby.

She's got such a cheeky little face sometimes.

I had a good visit with my Chicklet family and my favourite word in the whole universe is "Boz".

Off to bed for me.

Nite all.

Happy 60th

Just a quickie before I climb into bed.

We attended a 60th birthday party tonight.

Gekko - in the red and black stripes

Most people were leaving for home at around 10pm.  Gekko hasn't been well, and then on top of that, had a motorcycle accident recently ... so we are grateful to be celebrating his 60th birthday.

He was surrounded by a good crowd of family and friends tonight and he was a happy man.

Happy 60th birthday Gekko :D

Nite all.

Arty Farty Party

Adoring Husband and I attended the opening of this month's art exhibits at Gattakas Artspace in Maryborough, tonight.  The Artist and her husband, The Yachtie, also attended.

It was just to get an idea of what to expect next month for our opening.

It was all very arty farty and wonderful, and we booked the young lad who was providing the entertainment with his guitar in the corner, to entertain at our opening.

We were home by 9pm.

It's now 11.15pm and I am off to bed so that I can be awake early enough to catch a lift into The Bay and see my Chicklet family.

Too many late nights and early mornings and hours in front of the computer screen this week. (three glasses of wine tonight might also be a contributing factor!)

Very tired.

Nite all.  

At Last

I have finally finished the thirty A3 sized photos and put them on a memory stick to send to my friend at the Glasshouse Mountains, so that she can print them.

I have quite a wide variety of photos to display at this size, from birds to landscapes to still life to black & whites.  I think I'm happy with them all.  I just hope that they print well.  I guess if they don't, I can always get them done professionally and quickly if necessary.

'Best Cousin in the World' kindly informed me today that I had 3 weeks til the opening and I began to panic just a touch, but since our phone call, I have calculated that there are still 29 days til 7th September and by my calculations, that's four weeks and one day ... whew!

So, tomorrow's job will be to find all of the photos that I need to print at A4 size and put them into one file (which I should have been doing all along, but you know me, the organisational skills of a gnat).  Then next week, we can take them in to be printed as well.

I also need to figure out which photos I will do at poster size.  Just two or three.

Tomorrow night is our trip to Maryborough for the August artist's exhibit opening, just to get an idea of what to expect at ours.

Adoring Husband and I will drive over early, because I'd like to get a late afternoon shot of the wharf near Muddy Waters Cafe before we go to the gallery.

My lovely artist friend advised me today, that I would be required to speak publicly, albeit ever so briefly, at our opening.  Just one more thing to think about.  Ugh.

I'm excited about two whale watching trips that we are taking.  One will be the Sunday before the the opening and the other will be the Saturday after.

Here is a series of five shots that I took last season of a whale breaching near our boat.

The most beautiful and graceful creatures.  I will be forever in awe of them.

Well, I believe today has been quite productive and I have achieved what I set out to achieve.  Let's hope that tomorrow can be equally so.

I'm feeling pretty calm.

Nite all.

Playing Around

I've been playing around with photoshop today.  Just the basic edits.  I'll work on the more complex and complicated editing later as I begin to feel my way around the program.

I've also been playing with the Bamboo Tablet, which I think might be an even bigger learning curve!

So my poor brain is feeling truly overworked tonight!

Here are a couple of photos that I edited with photoshop.

... and here are a couple of beautiful pelicans that I photographed on the beach at low tide this morning.

Now I am going to rest my brain for a bit before bed.

Nite all.

Falling into Place

Today has been a good day!

My brother has confirmed that he and his friend will be here for the opening of the exhibit.

My sister and one of her girls will be here too.

My tutor, Andrew Goodall, of Nature's Image Photography, has agreed to be my public speaker and introduce me and my work at the exhibit.  I feel very honoured that he has agreed to do this!

We are all going on a whale watching tour the day after the opening.

I printed out 4 photos today in town, to test the quality of the print and they were so much better than I imagined.

We had printed out some photos here at home on A4 photography paper and the quality was just terrible ... I thought it was my photography and if I had to mount photos of that quality at the gallery, I would have been SO embarrassed!

But these photos looked great, so now I am excited to get the rest done.

I am so relieved!

After that, we went to see my Chicklet family!  It was lovely to see them after more than a week, because they had all come down with the flu after my last visit.  (No, I didn't give them any germs!)

My lovely little Chicklet was in fine form.  Bright and bubbly and happy.  No photos though - another 'too busy enjoying the moment' moment :D

So things seem to be falling into place nicely.  So far so good!

Nite all.

Invitation

So ... if you're not too busy ... and you want to come to the opening night ...

Just a month to go now.

I've been playing with photoshop today, just learning the basics and trying to feel my way around.

The National Bank Building in Tenterfield is architecture of the Art Deco era.  

I have a couple of photos of the Roxy Theatre in Bingara.  One of the front display windows, has a fabulous statue of Marilyn Monroe, but it didn't matter what angle I tried, the light was all wrong and the reflections in the glass are pretty bad.

This is heavily edited and the best I could get it.
(I have others without the silly man in the background!)

I really hoped I could photoshop the glass clean, but it appears to be an impossibility - well it is for somebody at my PS skill level anyway.

Anybody out there brilliant enough to clean this up?

It's been fun playing around with PS anyway.  This week, I might even teach myself to use the tablet that's been sitting in the cupboard for about 2 months now!

This morning I got a lovely photo of Molly, patiently waiting for her owner to continue on their walk.

Isn't she lovely?  Looks can be deceiving - she is a cranky bugger sometimes!

It was another glorious day, and Adoring Husband and I planned on going into The Bay to print some photos, but a delivery that we were waiting for, arrived later than expected, so now we are going in tomorrow instead.

Adoring Husband suggested that we go to the movies, but he's not interested in seeing Magic Mike and there isn't much else to choose from at the moment.  Maybe next time.

That's it for my day.  I didn't get to see if my rat was still on the concrete pad.  Let's all imagine that the beautiful white breasted sea eagle swooped down and grabbed him for breakfast!

Nite all.