Dark in Daylesford
Posted: August 27, 2011 Filed under: Australia, Landscapes | Tags: Australia, Daylesford, landscapes, night photography, The Lake House, Trees, trees, Victoria 6 CommentsThanks to my fab husband I got to spend my birthday at The Lake House in Daylesford. A biting wind at 5pm told me it would be a clear night which usually translates to me wearing all the clothes from my wardrobe at once, and jumping from foot to foot to keep the circulation going in the arctic night, whilst W waves from warmth behind glass. These were my favourite photos from that night. The first one almost looks painted to me, in that classical style. The tiny pinecones and sawn-off log are what grabbed me to begin with, and the pretty, delicate, branches flanking an ominously disappearing path, like Hansel and Gretel would skip off down it never to be seen again. W’s favourite part is the tiny house in the middle.
I love the colours in this, achieved by the use of a couple of light sources. I also have a special affection for gum trees as you may have gathered, so it wins on that count.
Sucker for a starry sky. Is that Orion’s belt? Can anyone recommend a good star identification site?
These remind me of skeletons. Hmm…recurring gothic interpretation.
Always love to hear what you think. Anything grab you, and why?
No fences
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Australia, Landscapes, SA, WA | Tags: Australia, landscapes, night photos, NT, outback, pilbara, roadsides, Roadtrips, SA, Stuart Highway, Trees, WA 2 CommentsMy love of a far-reaching, uninterrupted vista is becoming more self-evident in my work. It dawns on me that this Vista-Love is directly related to my Ocean-Love – no fences and a sense of limitless expanse seen through the dive mask. W would probably suggest this relates to my alleged resistance to authority and boundaries.
I took these on our recent trip to the Pilbara and back.
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The upside of insomnia
Posted: August 1, 2011 Filed under: Australia | Tags: Australia, Gisborne, night photos, night sky, Painting with light, trees, Victoria, Victoria 2 CommentsWakeful at 4am. I now have a reason to get up! Taking photos at night in urban areas means you are picking up all sorts of light sources, each contributing different colour casts to the final result. The challenge of offsetting urban glow is more than made up for by the purple and green that showed up from street lights a couple of nights ago. These have not been recoloured. Fingers took until 10am to thaw out!
Nullabor nights
Posted: July 26, 2011 Filed under: Australia, Landscapes, SA, WA | Tags: Australia, camp sky, landscapes, night sky, NT, Nullabor, Roadtrips, SA, Trees, trees, WA 7 CommentsDuring our last foray into the heart of Australia, we spent a bit of time camping in the bush. When it is pitch dark by 6.30pm, idle hands start messing around with the fire and camp equipment, specifically the light sources! Here are some of the results.
Not your standard marbles
Posted: July 25, 2011 Filed under: Australia, Landscapes | Tags: Australia, landscapes, NT, Roadtrips, Rocks, Trees Leave a commentI’ve taken my standard break from looking at my roadtrip photos. This is because I generally do not like any of my photos when I first download them. Something to do with expectation versus reality perhaps? After a couple of weeks I see humour or potential in a handful. I loved the Devil’s Marbles despite, and perhaps even because of, my camp mates – see Day 22. When I look at this all I can see is Popeye (missing his corn cob pipe).
Sky so clear there’s no losing the marbles. Waving the torch around doing this one drove my camp neighbours into their tent.
Where the cool chicks are
Posted: July 25, 2011 Filed under: Australia | Tags: Australia, Birds, Chickens, chooks, Gisborne, Guinea fowl, Guinea fowls Leave a comment
Moments after fleeing the Dictator’s Enclosure, it sinks in. The cool chicks stayed inside.
There had to be a catch, and by crikey, they weren't falling for it.
Grass is greener
Posted: July 21, 2011 Filed under: Australia | Tags: Australia, Birds, Chickens, Gisborne, Guinea fowls, guinea fowls, Victoria Leave a commentI am housesitting at the moment. Along with the house comes three chooks and two guinea-fowl, who spend their daylight hours desiring the other side of the chicken wire. All five rush to the gate of their pen in the morning, desperate to be released into the garden. Once free, they set about displacing the ordered paths and beds of the garden.
The guinea-fowl are capable of flight, but have a tenuous grip on short term memory. When let out into the day pen, they take immediate flight into the garden. They fluff their feathers, examine their feet, realise the chooks are left back in the pen, and then proceed to pace back and forth outside the pen for the rest of the day, oblivious of the garden, and desperate for incarceration with their homeys.
The chooks are far more independently spirited. Henny Penny has figured out how to fly out of the pen as well, and will spend all day digging up the garden without a backward glance. Aretha has not figured out how to escape, but is in a permanent state of readiness, DEFCON 4 in West Wing parlance. With an ever vigilant eye on the gate, or on someone who could open it, Aretha likes it when the Guineas fly out, because this usually leads to gate opening, and she is a patient gal. Julia is the gentle one. She gets the tough end of the roost, always last to be allowed up, and repeatedly booted off by the Guinea fowls.
As I was at home today I decided they could all have a garden day. They stormed the gate, raced out, and jumped into the spring onion bed. Thirty minutes later, all five were grouped on the deck looking out at the rain, where they remained until I herded them back into the pen.
As I see it 