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.

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.

Dusk Bloom

I've spent the better part of the last three hours trying to work out which photo to post for Monday's. I have a billion things un-done and a billion more half-done, but oh well. Too late now!

A yellow flower after some rain, as dusk settled in:

When I stayed in Sydney, my friends took me to a few different places. One of those was an outdoors shopping complex that had some lovely big flowers in the garden there, and this is one of the photos I got of them. As always, any hints on what type of flower this is are welcome!

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.

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!

Flower Child

Managed to procrastinate my morning away today, then needed to rush for an appointment, so you're getting today's image tonight instead. Fingers crossed tomorrow goes better, but as I need to be out of the house by half 6 (just over 3 hours earlier than today) or 7, I don't like the chances. ;)

Kids and flowers are a combo made for cute-dom:

For those who don't know, this shot is of my nephew, L. I love my little monkey dearly, but he can be a right cheeky thing when the camera comes out! This particular day I was trying to get a decent photo of him - any decent photo of him - and all he was interested in doing was playing hidey from the camera... at high speed. I managed to snap this one when he threw himself onto the couch to avoid being photographed. ;)

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!

A Child's Rose

Morning, world! The birds are chirping and the sun is... well, hiding behind a bunch of clouds, but don't let that stop you.

A weed-flower posed on the coffee table:

My niece picked this 'flower' from outside on the grass and brought it in for me. After a few experimental photos of it in hands and the like, I was getting myself sorted to take another of it on the coffee table (increase the chance of me getting at least one that wasn't blurry), and just as I took the photo, my brother dropped a towel. This just goes to show that sometimes accidents make for great photographs. ;) Part of my 'Composure' series, I took this one using the macro setting.

Banner One

I told myself no blogging until I reached 3000 words on my novel (a goal that I was about 500 words away from reaching). That was two hours ago!

Brisbane NaNoWriMo KOP banner:

I snagged this at the Kick Off Party for National Novel Writing Month last weekend. It's another one for the Edges series, taken (I think) on macro setting while I lay down on the grass. And now... back to the novel!