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

Pawfection

So, since my last update, I've puppy-sat looking after a young staffy x bull arab -- beautiful, beautiful dog -- and now taken on a little foster dog. You can expect a photo of her next week, most likely!

Sleepy Paws-es:

These big feet belong to the staffy x bull arab pup mentioned above. He was a 'found' dog whose owners hadn't been in contact yet, so he came to stay overnight. I named him 'Captain Jack' (Harkness, of course) while I cared for him because he was such a sweetheart he's bound to be a heartbreaker, though his name actually turned out to be 'Charger'.

The photo itself I took by sprawling across the concrete on the verandah. (Do you get the feeling I do that a lot for a photo? I know I seem to write it a lot!)

Camera settings are below -
Shutter Speed: 1/79 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 4 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Sphynx

Sorry for the delayed updates, we've had some pretty crazy times lately. Horrible weather, flooding, car and washing machines needing repairs...!

Guardian kitty:

This beautiful boy belongs to my upstairs neighbour, and he loves to come visit our yard and roll around on the ground. He's friendly enough, though he doesn't like being picked up/carried, but definitely a grot! ;)

Camera settings are below -
Shutter Speed: 1/101 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 9 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Curiosity

I bet you thought I forgot about FAA again, didn't you? I didn't, I was just waiting for the right day to come along and it's here! Welcome to Photo Friday!

It was just too much to come up with photos I liked enough to post *every* day of the week, so instead I've decided to compromise it to once a week. That seems more doable. :)



I can see this one taking on a cat and winning, can't you?:

My partner and I took some bread to the park to feed the ducks, and we were joined by a crow and several magpies. Though the crow was quite tame, the magpies were even more so - deigning to take a morsel of bread right out of my partner's hand!

To be honest, since we shared the camera, I can't tell you whether this photo was taken by my partner or not. Despite the small amount of blur to his head, I really want to claim it, but I can't definitively do so in good conscience. It may be my work or it might be Bumface's! ;)

Bones

A new year, a new chance to get this back on its feet and running properly again! I don't do resolutions these days, but it's always important to have and set goals, and one of my 2013 goals is to get back to creativity & blogging.



Boat Ribs:

My partner and I wandered along the beach in Caloundra and discovered this old wreck. While it might once have been quite magical, all that remains is the barest skeleton of a ship, rotting and rusting away. I fiddled with the zoom and used a bunch of different settings that day so I don't know exactly how I came about this shot, but it was an enjoyable play.

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.

Show Horse

Sorry this is so late! I was exhausted after Jazzercise yesterday and wound up going to bed to read very early, then this morning completely forgot I hadn't written up a post the night before. I will get this sorted out eventually. ;)

Anyway, today was Melbourne Cup Day, which probably means very little to most people reading this. In Australia, once a year on the first Tuesday in November, we have what we call "the race that stops the nation". Pretty much everything stops for the Melbourne Cup: in Melbourne itself they even get a public holiday, but even up here a lot of workplaces have functions and/or close early and wind up at the pub for celebratory or commiseratory drinks.

A show horse at Brisbane's 2010 Ekka:

I figured since today's all about horse racing, I'd throw in a photo of a show horse. (Having only actually been to the races once, I don't have any racing photographs to share.) I took this photo using zoom but not macro - the horse was in the arena and I was on the stands. Not much else to say today.

Right There

I've been thinking about how I was going to write these posts every morning, and it's just not working so well. I keep having things to do in the mornings, or places to be, and things are generally too crazy to get this posted up at the same time so I think I'm going to make it that I write these up the night before and schedule them to post in the mornings, like I mostly have been doing. It seems to be working so far, anyway!

Soldier statue pointing at memorial:

Brisbane's ANZAC Square is filled with statues devoted to the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps. Sometimes, if you move around to view them from a different angle, it really changes things a lot.

A friend and I used to meet up in ANZAC Square occasionally, and I took this on one of those days, as I waited for her to arrive. I love that moving just a few feet around from where one sits to view this statue makes it look as though he is pointing to the monument above (with the always burning flame in rememberance).

I adjusted the focal length and the exposure time on this, zoomed in a fair bit, then crouched with my camera balanced upon the edge of a seat-back in order to capture this.

Budding

Phew, I've been on the go all day today! I did manage to get a few things accomplished though: several loads of washing done and already put away properly, gym and a walk (despite managing to somehow crunch my hip and put it out a bit at the gym), banana bread baked and the bathroom cupboard totally cleaned out and sorted! (This last one took several *hours* of work.)

Budding pink flowers on a clear day:

Now that's what I call a clear day - not a single cloud in sight. I don't remember much about the taking of this particular photograph - not even what day it was taken or where, unfortunately. I do know that I had to use my camera's zoom rather than the macro setting, and that I played around with the focal length a fair bit.

I like the way the colours pop on this one; the blue of the sky manages to accentuate the pink and the green.

Fireworks Light Trail #2

Today I have only an appointment to go to and the rest of the day is free, hooray! Unfortunately my appointment is timed so that gym will not be possible, so I'll need to go for my walk at about 4 o'clock. Other than that, I intend to be fairly productive today with some more craft cupboard (re)sorting, some bathroom sorting and hopefully some scrapbooking and/or card-making. In the kitchen I am hoping I'll have time to make up some fruit salad and some banana bread. What does your Friday look set to include?

Fireworks making light trails in the evening sky:

I snapped this with my camera set up on its tripod for steadiness at the 2009 RiverFire celebrations. I used a combination of the fireworks settings and the night settings to grab photos all night and I think this one was set to "night".

A Hand To Hold

Quick write-up for Thursday's picture, done on Wednesday (this is starting to become the norm!) as I'm out early again on Thursday. So ready to have a quiet day at home, wish I could!

Evie and Kendall holding hands:

Rhi and I took an outing one day to the Botanic Gardens at Mt Cootha with Evie and Kendall. I managed to get several shots of Kendall in various outfits, and a couple of the two bears together.

After posing the bears how I wanted them, I used my macro setting and zoom lens to snap just the bears hands 'held' together.

A Mother's Love

Another big day looms for me - I'm ready for things to stop happening every day every week, now! Too bad I'll have to put up with it a while longer. I've two appointments today and I think after that I might hit up the op shops. Almost all of my clothes no longer suit me or fit right at the moment, so I'm pretty well replacing my entire wardrobe!


A mother koala cuddles with her joey:

I spotted this koala cuddling her joey at DreamWorld a few years back, and I knew I wanted to capture that. It took a bit of patience to try and get the photograph the way I wanted it - it was a wet day and I had to do a bit of a balancing act! Still, I'm happy with what I ended up with.

In the end, I stood back a ways and zoomed in, making a few adjustments to the focus and light settings and there you have it. Simple settings, a bit of zoom and a lot of patience.

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.

Eastern Water Dragon

I cheated and wrote this one up on Wednesday night, thinking I was going to be out and about early on Thursday. I figured it would be better to write it early and schedule it for a 7am posting than to write it late... but as it turned out, it was unnecessary!

Anyway, my Thursday intends to involve a trip to the gym, a Lush bath, and possibly a pumpkin scone, how about yours?


Leapin' lizards, it's an Eastern Water Dragon!:

I was wandering through Southbank one day when I spotted this little poser sunning himself on the wall beneath the pink flowers. Not sure where mum and dad were, but he was quite small.

There's something about skinks and lizards that just calls to me. They're generally fairly harmless and they always seem so friendly and *smart*. I mean, look at him there, watching me! What a sweety.

I snapped this using my lovely Kodak; not sure on most of the settings as I played around with a few that day. I'm fairly certain I used the Macro option, and crept as close as I could without scaring him away. Happily he was not very timid and allowed me to get quite close indeed, as you can see!

Fireworks Light Trail

Apologies for not posting this this morning, we had a man out to install some insulation, and while he was here he touched one of our lights and blew a fuse - which of course meant no internet.

Fireworks on 2010's RiverFire:

I haven't much to say about today's photograph, so I'll just get on with it.

This is one of the photographs I snapped at 2010's RiverFire using the Fireworks setting and my beloved tripod. I just love the way the beams of light splay out and up, and the clarity of the lines. This is of course part of my Fireworks series.

Little Storm

I'm so glad I don't work, just now; I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I need to do as it is! If I had to add a job to the mix, I think I'd fall over.

Is anyone watching yet?:

I snapped this one of my niece, J, while she was in the middle of a tantrum. I got a few shots of her, but I love the timing on this one best: she's just peeking out to check if anyone's paying attention to her little strop! No idea what the crying was even about, but this moment is now forever immortalised. One for her 21st birthday, I think... ;)

I had to crouch down to her level to grab it, but unfortunately I was in too much of a hurry to take note of what settings I was using.

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.

Fragile Beauty

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day, a day that has a lot of meaning for me. Today and always I honour the children in our hearts and never (or too briefly in) our arms.

What better symbol to represent our lost babies than the fragile beauty of a butterfly who stands also for rebirth and transformation? In the spirit of that, and acknowledgement of the transience of life, today's image is a butterfly I photographed while in the UK.

A butterfly rests upon her lunch:

I caught this image while at the British Natural History museum, at the butterfly exhibit they had running at the time. I managed to get a couple of nice photos that day, despite the notorious difficulty of capturing these fluttering beauties, this is one of my favourites.

To get this, I set my camera to Manual but with Macro set to on, then adjusted the aperture and shutter speed settings. I believe this one was taken at an ISO of 100, but I fiddled with the aperture and shutter speed so much on the different butterfly photos I was trying to take that I've not a clue what I settled on with this particular shot.