Machinery #2: Ready To Pounce

Ha! Grand plans will always be foiled by circumstance, I think. Day one of my new idea and a storm hits while I'm in the middle of scrapbooking. My mother pulled the plug on the internet long before I was done enough to contemplate my post, and went to bed before I could ask her if I could put the internet back on. Oh well, there's always tonight! ;)

Old-fashioned farm machinery at Brisbane's Exhibition:

One of the sections of 2009's Ekka (what we call the Brisbane Exhibition) included some examples of old-fashioned farm machinery. I just loved the shapes and lines the machines created, especially when viewed from some of the more unorthodox angles. Unfortunately because it was the Ekka, I was laden down with a bit of stuff and couldn't quite try for all of the angles I'd normally use!

Another for the Edges, Angles and Lines series, I snapped this as-is, after mildly adjusting the usual settings (yup, another one for the macro!) and changing my camera's colouring to sepia.

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Good evening! Another busy morning left me no time to write up this post, so I'm afraid you're getting it several hours later than usual. My day included card-making, a trip to the post office and lots of shopping! I came home with a sunburn, pretty clothes and things for crafty-activities, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with my productivity!

9 year old P having a laugh:

Seriously, is that child not absolutely gorgeous? Of course she is.

Wanting to practice some portrait photography, I borrowed my (at the time) 9 year old niece for the day and took her out to a "new" park. This is one of the many shots I snapped that day. I can't remember for certain what she was having a laugh at, but I rather suspect that it may have been me!

To get a bit of a different angle with this one, I crouched down under the piece of playground equipment she was using and titled the camera up with macro set on and the camera set to sepia photographs.

Cracked

The weather yesterday was absolutely beautiful, but at some point last night it turned very cold! I'm not very impressed, and nor are my goosebumps.

Broken gravestone at Toowong Cemetery:

I caught a glimpse of this old tombstone while I was wandering around looking for something in particular, and it just felt 'right', so I threw my camera onto its sepia setting and crouched down to bring my eye-level in line with the old stone. This one is of course part of the Suburban Life: Toowong Cemetery series but is also tentatively part of a separate series I'm putting together that I'd consider displaying eventually.

I don't have much to say tonight, so I think I'll just put the photo. I may come back in a day or two and add some blurb.

Old-fashioned farm machinery at Brisbane's 2010 Ekka:

Still Life

Well, it's been another warm day here. My scrapbooking stuff arrived earlier than expected, too, so I'm looking forward to having a play with my new toys over the next few days. ;)

Bird on a birdbath at the cemetery:

I happened to turn around at just the right moment to catch this little bird on a birdbath last time I was off at the Toowong Cemetery. I just love the way the little bird looks - almost like he's part of the bird bath itself - and the juxtaposition of this obvious and vibrant life in a cemetery.

Photo was taken with the camera's sepia setting and, bar a resize to keep the file reasonable, is completely unedited.

Sadness In Her Eyes

I migrated to our lounge-room today while everyone was out in order to get some serious card-making done. As it turns out, I have so far made a single card. It's ten past 6 and everyone else is long home!

Even sad my niece is stunning:

Last year I took my (at the time) 9 year old niece to a pretty awesome playground. After she had a good climb and I'd snapped a few free shots, I got her to pose for a couple so I could practice taking deliberate photographs. This is one of the posed shots where I'd asked her to look sad.

I took this on my camera's portrait setting, I believe, in sepia. This is one of the photographs that was entered into Brisbane's Ekka in 2009. None of mine won, but this is one of the 5 (of 8 submissions) that was placed up on display.

Wheel Spokes

Oops. I gotta get back into the habit of posting this daily now.

This one wheel-y spoke to me:

At this year's Ekka there was a man who worked for one of the historical type places, with old machinery and so forth. He'd brought some of the old farm machines and had them set up surrounded by bales of hay and straw.

I just love the angles and lines on things like this! This one, as you can imagine, is part of the Edges series focusing on angles and lines, which is, I do believe, my favourite series to take.

Small Things

Good morning everybody! The sun's out, it's Melbourne Cup day and the horses are getting ready for their run! Meanwhile I am (or rather, I am supposed to be!) getting myself dressed and heading out to a Melbourne Cup function with Giraffe Hat!

A mushroom in the grass at Toowong Cemetery:

Grabbed this one at Toowong Cemetery one day. Sepia on a macro setting. (Sorry for the extremely short blurb, running late!)

Shatter

Last year I entered a cropped version of today's photo (which I, unfortunately, apparently neglected to save!) in a photography competition for the Welfare Rights Centre. I entered mainly for the practice, I certainly didn't expect anything to come of it - so when I got the call telling me I was a winner, I almost keeled over in shock. Just as exciting, I gave permission for my photograph to be included in a book/booklet they were bringing out. I received my free copy of Scene And Unseen today, so I suppose that makes me a published photographer? Ha!

A shard of glass under the bus shelter in Logan Central:

"In low income area Logan Central, glass shards litter the streets. These are both a literal and figurative representative of the effect of alcohol abuse and poor mental health" was the tag-line that tied this photo to the issue of homelessness. Getting this shot involved lying down under the seat at the bus shelter with my camera set to macro, colours on sepia.

Tracking

Lazy Saturday has apparently led into Lazy Sunday, but that's okay. Later I'll start tidying up my things so that I can "get crafty".

Suburban railway tracks at the onset of dusk:

Headed home after a day out, I couldn't resist stopping to snap this one at my local railway station. This is another I took using my old DX6440; although it has a sepia affect, I think I actually achieved it by applying a colour filter to a regular full-colour photograph. Part of my Suburban Life series, this one could definitely do with a better title. Suggestions welcome!

Lean On Me

I'm thinking I might post in the mornings when I can, that way I start my days on a really good note.

A falling gravestone at Toowong Cemetery:

I love visiting places like Toowong Cemetery; because it's been around so long a lot of the graves are starting to deteriorate. There's a real sense of history in a place like that, and there's a lot of beauty. This photo, titled Lean On Me, is part of my Suburban Life: Toowong Cemetery series. Sadly, I haven't a clue what settings the camera was on, except obviously sepia, for this one that was taken in February 2009.