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

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".

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.

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.

City Slant #1

Ack, slacker. Had to post this backdated so I could get one for Tuesday. Guess I was too busy enjoying some silliness!

*ETA: If you're looking for something else to read, I've actually updated Little Bloo Creativity tonight, too. Go ahead and check out the shiny ornaments I've been making.

Southbank & the Brisbane River as viewed from the far end near the Cultural Centre:

There's a spot in Southbank that I like to go and sit and just watch the river. On one such occasion I leaned over and snapped this. I know it's recommended that you make certain your camera is flat in order to take a scenery shot, but this sort of angled shot is perfect for my Edges & Angles series.

Snow Slide

Damn, missed yesterday's post, sorry. I got distracted with some craft-work.

Maxie enjoyed the snow in Canberra as well:

Until this year, when I took a trip down to Canberra and visited Selwyn Snowfields, I had never in my life seen snow. While I was there I got to experience sledding, making a snow angel and I saw my first snowman; but I was so busy doing these things that most of my snow pictures are taken out the car windows. I did, however, get a couple of pictures of Maxie enjoying herself on the embankment afterwards.

I zoomed the camera in and got down nice and low to grab this particular shot.

Little Flowers

White flowers overhanging a little waterfall at DreamWorld:

These were taken with my macro lens on zoom, from an elevated walkway above a tiny creek-waterfall. I know the name is rather lacking, but I was running out of time to post it before it was tomorrow! ;) Any suggestions are welcome and encouraged!

Mine!

Another Friday has come along!

Seagull pair at Brisbane's Southbank:

I'm not generally a fan of birds, and seagulls aren't exactly the prettiest ones there are, but I caught this pair of seagulls by chance, using my old Kodak DX6440, zoomed in and presumably on general settings.

Emergence

Sorry I missed yesterday's posting! I did begin one (which I'm posting now), but I was so exhausted last night I couldn't finish it in order to post it.

Goodness me! I have been "on the go" since 8 this morning when Erica picked me up. I've scrambled along the edge of a slope, chased some ducklings, had a wander through my local area and walked the streets of my city in a Reclaim The Night march. I'm beat!

A floral cocoon releases the budding blossom within:

On a wander about my local streets, I spotted these beautiful flowers and couldn't resist stopping to take a photo. Taken on macro setting, this is one of the shots I've made small edits to. Because the original is a lot more blue, I applied a filter (to change the colour of the lighting) using Paint Shop Pro to snazzy this one up a little.