Quizzical

Meet Meeka, the little dog I have been fostering. She is a(n approximately) 2 year old Mini Foxie x Jack Russell, with a lovely nature. She is incredibly smart and has the heart of a Rottweiler, determined to protect 'her' people.

At the moment she's having some specialist training to help her adjust from a previous home where she wasn't cared for (and hence saw herself as top dog, responsible for the family's welfare), but this little girl is still looking for her forever home. (If by any chance someone in Australia reading this has a place in their family for miss Meeka, please let me know so I can tell the rescue!)

Meeka's rescue is based in Queensland, but her specialist traniing is in NSW, and it may be possible to transport to other areas of Australia for the right forever home for this precious little girl.

Miss Meeka:

I sat on the verandah with Meeka, drying her off after her bath, to get this shot. I got a few nice ones that day (9 Feb, 2013), but this was my favourite, with her little quizzical expression.

Camera settings are below -
Shutter Speed: 1/318 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 400

A Wiggly Pole

Good morning! Today is an exciting day for me! For ages now, one of my favourite things has been the British show "QI" which is hosted by Stephen Fry and, even more importantly, always has the adorable Alan Davies on it. Well, QI has come out to Australia and I've scored myself tickets to see them live *tonight*! So, since I'm in a celebratory kind of mood, I've decided you can all have a funky cheerful picture for the day.

Shiny:

I saw this pole in Wiggles World at DreamWorld on the Gold Coast and it was just so cheerful and zany I knew I wanted to photograph it. It took a little bit of physical wrangling (of myself!) and my camera's zoom & macro functions, but I'm really pleased with how bright and cheery it came out - exactly the mood I was hoping for.

Lights: Ferris Wheel

Welcome to another Monday! It's early morning and the birds have beaten me up again - Summer is definitely on its way over here, despite the chill still in the air overnight.

Ekka Ferris Wheel at night:

I love Brisbane's Exhibition - from the quiet arts competition entries to the busy-ness and bustle of the Sideshow Pavillion, and all the things in between, and I love that there are so many opportunities for photographs of all kinds. As evening turned into full dark on my '09 visit, I stole down into Sideshow Alley and found myself a quiet spot to photograph the beautifully lit up rides and attractions.

This Ferris Wheel shot was taken on the 'night' setting, quite zoomed in, while I braced myself and my camera against a pole. I love the way the night sky makes the colours really 'pop'.

"Lights: Ferris Wheel" is part of my Ekka series.

Jacaranda Blossoms

Good morning! Today my mother and I are going for a picnic in ithe park with my older brother and the three children. It should be a lot of fun, and there may be the opportunity for some nice photography.

Jacaranda blossoms on a clear day:

Ahh, I love Jacaranda trees so much, and of course now that it's proper Springtime, they're all starting to bloom, and the grass around each tree is gradually becoming a sort of lilac purple as it is covered in fallen blossoms. The original reason for taking this photo, back in 2008, was to show my purple-loving friend how gorgeous the Jacarandas are since she had never seen one.

A definite with the macro, I would also have fiddled slightly with the aperture and shutter settings on this one.

City Slant #2

Yesterday's photograph turned out to be quite appropriate since I saw two Eastern Water Dragons while I was on a walk between the gym and my doctor's surgery. Very pleased! And it did, if you were wondering, include the gym and a pumpkin scone. Sadly, there was not enough time for a Lush bath. Perhaps next week?

As for today... it was a very productive and interesting day, but I am absolutely exhausted tonight! And I have a brilliant tattoo that took an hour and a half. :p

Sliding over the edge of the world:

As a postcard, this would be an absolutely shocking photo... but as an interest photo, I love the way it feels like the world's sliding off the edge of the image, carried along by the gently flowing waters of the Brisbane River.

I can't recall what settings I had the camera on this day, probably semi-automatic with small adjustments to the focal distance. I love how clear it all is, and how bright and vivid the colours came out in this set.

This photograph, like the others in the set, is part of the Angles/Edges series, as well as my Suburban Life series.

No Leeway

So far this morning the sun is out and shining. I hope this continues as I want to wash my bedding today, and while it dries on the line I'm planning to make healthy breakfast muffins and pumpkin scones. Mmmm.

Pink flowers (Chrysanthemums?) butting up against a garden wall:

Out on a walk one afternoon I spotted these flowers in someboddy's garden. To me it looks almost like they're headbutting the wall, struggling to make progress in their world; held back by a force greater than themselves. There's a kind of sad beauty in that -- but the most wonderful part comes from the fact that even while confined, these flowers are flourishing. They're taking what they've got and working with it instead of fighting against it... and that, my friends, is truly beautiful.

I haven't a clue what settings my camera were on when I took this photograph, except that I'm fairly certain "macro" was involved somewhere. (Isn't it nearly always with me?) Too, this is another one of those photographs where I got down to the subject's level - so crouched outside somebody's front yard, camera balanced just above the edge of their brick fence.

Life And Death

It's been warm and sunny today, and I have new shoes! Plus I managed to convince the bank that I am me, even though I gave the wrong access code when I called to get my authentication code reset (because I had no idea what it was) so my crafting supplies are on their way as of tomorrow! Once they arrive, I'll finally be able to use the new dies I got for my Cuttlebug.

Little purple flowers at the bus stop:

After hitting the shops, the weather had cleared up again a tiny bit so I walked to the bus stop, and just before it, in the garden, were these little purple flowers. There was a mixture of healthy flowers and dying ones, and I was lucky enough to capture this photo (for today's Project 365 photo) with one of each!

To get this one I once again had to lie down in the middle of Logan Central, and I experimented with my camera on various settings. I angled the camera up to the flower in the crazy-bright daylight. I was actually aiming for a lot more off-centre than I got - turns out the traffic going past on the main road really knocks these little guys around a lot!

Unfortunately this is one of the photographs I've had to edit - first I had to remove a lamp post from the edge, and then I had to do a small crop to trim off a bit of road that made it onto the shot. Still, I'm fairly happy for it, especially considering the sun was so bright I could barely see what I was doing.

Season's Greetings

Happy new year!

Again, apologies for the unintended hiatus. Let's hope I can do better this year!

Jelly spill in Christmas colours:

Almost everybody that celebrates it has a favourite Christmas tradition or two; one of mine is that every year either my mother, or I, or both of us together, make trifle. We usually use both red and green jelly, and this year was no exception - although this year our trifle was a bit smaller than usual, which turned out quite lucky as we spilled about half of our green jelly! Apparently it's bad form to lick it off the drainage board, though... so don't worry, I used a spoon! ;)

Lorikeet In Watercolour

Sorry for the missing post yesterday, my mum went in for an angiogram and things were a little crazy. She's out and doing well now, but not allowed to do anything strenuous for about 48 hours.

Watercolour Lorikeet outside McDonalds:

Completely unedited, I took this one on a cloudy day. I remember I was angling the camera up and trying not to stand in gardens or get too close and frighten the lorikeets away, so I couldn't really see what I was doing/getting, but all of my shots came out over exposed like this, looking almost like a watercolour painting rather than a photograph.

Pink Flower

Went to the oral surgeon today and got my two remaining wisdom teeth removed. One was fairly quick and simple, like the first removal, the other was rather nasty - he even had to use the drill! That's probably because that little jerk was coming in almost directly sideways, but still. Oh well, it's over and done with now, so here's some pretty!

Pretty pink flower reaching up to the sun:

I do believe I found this pretty pink flower on a walk with my camera one day. It's shot, of course, on macro, but as usual, no clue on any of the other settings I might have used.

I've no idea what kind of flower this is, but if you know, feel free to give me a shout and let me know!

On Duty

Apologies for my sudden and unintended hiatus. I went through quite a rough patch with a lot going on in my off-line life, and I also took a short holiday with an overseas friend. In fact, today's photo is actually from that holiday.

A Surf Life Saver busy patrolling the beach at Noosa:

On our last day up the coast, Kate and I spent a little bit of time relaxing on the beach. I was busy trying to take a photo of a scrub turkey without getting too close, but I managed to look up and snap this Surf Life Saver as he walked past. No idea what my settings were, but I can at least tell you it wasn't on macro and it wasn't on night or fireworks. ;)

This one is part of my People series for now, with possible view to include it in a series called This (or maybe My) Way Of Life.

Photos for the next little while may be in the same couple of themes as I'm really needing to get out there and take something decent!

Abandoned

Alright, you're all in luck. I'm waiting for someone to get back to me about a word sprint, and I don't want to spoil my perfect count while I wait, so you do get a second photo today!

An old rusted car at DreamWorld (in the dingo enclosure):

On a bright day, trying for some over-exposed bright shots, I got this photo of a rusted car. No idea what setting I was using that day, unfortunately, but I did zoom in.