Finally!!!!!! Something else to shoot and edit.

We all know that I have recently returned from an amazing holiday where I took over 3000 photos. (“Good God! Is she still banging on about that bloody trip?”)  But I have had enough of editing them……..for now.

I have been craving the availability of something new to photograph.

Something. ANYTHING!!!

Even with the knowledge that whatever I photograph is going to be shot with my old, original DSLR, the Nikon D5100, as my D750 is at Dr Nikon getting the shutter unit replaced, I still needed to photograph something new. I just didn’t know what and I was hamstrung with other commitments that prevented me going out to play with my camera friends.

But in the marvellous way the earth’s energies converge, I was handed not one………not even two photo opportunities today. I was presented with THREE occasions to pull the camera out of the backpack. THREE!!! I would  have been content with one chance to get creative. I was dumbfounded to have the three offered to me to grab and enjoy. Because that is what taking photos is for me; the chance to grab a moment in time and capture it in my own way.

It began with a table full of donated, hand-knitted and crocheted items on the table at work. The colours, the patterns, the textures! It was something. And I was happy. I had something new to edit and something new to blog about.

And then the earth’s energies came together to offer me bliss as I began my ten minute walk to my car. The beautiful Pablo, an eight month old Basset Hound, playing in the fallen Autumn leaves, his colouring complimented by the reds and oranges on the ground. Fortunately for me his lovely owner was more than happy to let me shoot away.

I said my goodbyes to Pablo and his mum and continued my short trek when I saw unusual activity in the old pavillion on the edge of the lake at Queen’s Park. Is/was that really a person walking on a rope ties to the balustrade? Oh my goodness gracious, this is real, hurry up Suzanne and get your camera out before you miss this chance!!!!

Ahhhhh…………the D5100. How excited and happy I was when I bought her and she was my one and only. I thought that she was the bees knees.  She was the catalyst behind my blog! And she is still a very good camera………….. for an entry-level DSLR. But I have to say, in all honesty and with a touch of embarrassment and shame, it is like going back to dial-up internet when you’ve been on super-fast broadband.  I love you D5100, but I miss D750 and her speed and ability to handle low light situations. I will continue to take you everywhere I go, in case of photographic opportunities, until the time I collect my D750 from Dr Nikon. (Which will, hopefully, be in a few days.)

But…………I got my photos. I grabbed those photography gifts with a slow camera and two eager hands. I worked with what I had and I have something new to look at with wonder and pride.

I am in awe at the way the earth energies work. Just when I needed them, they were there for me. And I hadn’t even really asked for anything. It was just a passing thought. Wow. Imagine what could be possible if I thought with more conviction!!

 

PS: New watermark. Matches the ‘business card’ I had printed. I like.    🙂

 

My first waterfall

When you’re out in the Australian bush and mountain ranges during late winter you expect to find one thing………water……….and quite a lot of it. This is especially true if the mountains are in snow country.

When you are in mountainous terrain you might also expect to find waterfalls. This is especially true if the mountains are in the snow country. Big hills + melting snow = waterfalls.

Those are my theories anyway.

So when I was off on my little adventure with my mate Dave and his 4WD club I had high hopes of seeing some pretty good waterfall action. After all, we were heading off the beaten track.

I saw one waterfall. ONE. And it was only seconds after mentioning to Dave that the one thing that would make the trip extra special for me was to photograph a waterfall. This was Day One!!

I made him stop for the small waterfall I spotted and I jumped out of the 4WD with camera and tripod. My mind raced with the things I had read and heard about shooting a waterfall. This was my first and I was under the pump time-wise as the other vehicles had continued on and we would be forced to play catch-up.

I had to think fast and shoot fast and pray to the photography gods that I was getting everything right. I had to quickly choose the best spot, set up the tripod, change the camera settings (ISO, F-stop and shutter speed), set the remote release button snap away and get back in the car. I had less that 5 minutes!!!  Talk about making it tough on a girl!!

But I do think I work best under pressure. Possibly why I love street photography so much. No time to over-think. Just set and shoot.

It was my first waterfall. It was Day One. It was also the ONLY waterfall I got to see in the whole three days.  🙂  Thank goodness I made Dave stop. Thank goodness he did stop.

Bigger than Ben Hur.

For those of you who are old enough to remember the Charlton Heston film, you know what I mean by the phrase ‘bigger than Ben Hur’.

For those of you too young to have seen the movie Ben Hur and are scratching your head wondering who the bloody hell Charlton Heston is, here is a brief overview.

Filmed in 1959.

Largest budget and largest movies sets built of its time.

213 minutes long, making it the 3rd longest film of its era after ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘The 10 Commandments’.

It won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

And Charlton Heston was one of the Hollywood big name actors and cinema heart-throbs, starring in 100 films over 60 years.

My weekend was bigger than Ben Hur. It was epic.

And it is 7:45pm Sunday night and I am ready for bed. All I have had the energy to do since I arrived home is feed the dogs (and my Claytons cat, Freckles), upload the photos (over 650), have a deliciously long hot shower, make a cup of tea and edit one of my favourites from a weekend crammed with photography adventures, excursions, laughs and learning opportunities.

The weekend included not one, but two early morning starts for sunrise photo sessions. Sunrise!! I was out of bed, dressed AND functioning before the sun rose on BOTH days of the weekend. Bloody good thing the magnificent mornings made up for the fact that I was out of bed at dark o’clock.

I do worry about we photographers sometimes. Did I mention that it was about 6 or 7 degrees celcius on both of these mornings? Did I mention that everyone, including myself, was in multiple layers of thermal/snow garments, and waterproof clothing, and waterproof footwear, and multiple assortments of warm hats that we would not normally be seen dead wearing? Did I mention that not one of us noticed the cold while we had our cameras in our hands?

Did I mention that the 4 hour drive took 7 because we had to keep stopping to take even more photos on the return trip?

Epic weekend. Can’t wait to do the next one. Oh, lucky me, next one is only a fortnight away. Just enough time for me to get the thermals washed and all the photos from this weekend edited.

Yeah, baby!!!!

Is there anything better than a night that goes off with a bang?

I am a big kid still. Doesn’t matter that I turn 49 in a few weeks, I like fireworks and I will squeal with glee and excitement when I watch them. Tonight was no exception.

I, along with many members of a Facebook photography group that I belong to, and hundreds of eager fireworks fans took up positions around Docklands, in my marvellous Melbourne, to witness the ten minutes of fabulous colour and noise.

We were incredibly lucky tonight. The weather gods had smiled upon us. The rains had stopped, the night was relatively clear and the wind was but a mere gentle puff. For a Friday night in the middle of a Melbourne winter, these weather conditions were more than acceptable when one had to stay outdoors for a couple of hours.

Photographing fireworks can be tricky. There are lots of little things that one must take into consideration, not the least of which is what direction the wind is blowing! But the hardest thing is working out how long to keep the shutter open in order to get enough of the exploding fireworks and their trails of light. Too long and your image could be blown out. Too short and there’s not enough of anything.

Tonight I was given a little tip and I believe that bit of advice paid off in spades.

There was an enormous cheer of appreciation from the crowd tonight as the fireworks concluded. There was an even bigger cheer from me when I uploaded my images to my computer.

Yeah, baby!!!! I scored some winners tonight. My night definitely went off with a bang. 🙂

 

The last one.

The last one.

Relax folks. I have not yet decided to give up on the wonderful world of blogging. Certainly not now that I have reached the 500 blog posts milestone.

500. 

And there I was on January 1, 2015 wondering if I would be able to complete 365. I surprised myself by completing that challenge and I think I surprised many others as well. And now it seems that my post yesterday was #500. I think I’ll just have to keep going until I reach 1000. (But don’t hold me to it. Life works in mysterious ways)

The last one refers to the last leaf on my apricot tree.

The leaves had been slow to fall this year. The autumn in my marvellous Melbourne was unusually mild and many deciduous trees were unsure whether they should turn or not. My apricot was among those confused by the temperatures. However, winter finally arrived with a vengeance and the leaves rapidly turned and fell to the ground. It was like, one week the tree was green and the next………….

Well, the next week the tree was standing naked and shivering in my backyard.

Naked but for one solitary leaf that was not prepared to let go.

I don’t think I have ever had the good fortune to spy a tree with only one determined leaf left on its bare branches before. Somehow it felt important that I capture that moment. Why one solitary leaf could hold such importance to me I do not know. But it felt special. Magical. Eventful.

That last leaf remained steadfastly connected to its branch for a full twenty-four hours before my tree was finally totally bare.

I hope the fall to the grass below was gentle for you brave leaf.

Let’s give life a big thumb’s up.

Tonight could have ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Instead, I drove home from work with a smile on my dial and the realisation that things are going pretty well for me right now.

I had done something a tiny bit silly and a big bit forgetful. I had driven to work this afternoon and had been unable to source an all day car park space within walking distance. As I was working till 9pm, finding a car park close to work is important as you don’t really want to be walking back to your car, through a dimly lit park, in the  winter dark at that time of night. I had to grab a 2 hour park, with the intention of moving it to an all-day spot later. But I forgot!

At 8pm the sudden, sinking feeling that I was going to find a parking fine stuck to the windscreen of my car upon my return to my vehicle hit me like a punch to the sternum. OMG! I could not believe that I had forgotten all about my car.

So it was with fear and trepidation that I walked nervously back to a car which had been parked for seven and a half hours in a 2 hour parking zone.

I may need glasses to read anything up close, but I have better than 20/20 vision when it comes to distance. As I crossed the double lane of Mount Alexander Road and looked cautiously at the windscreen my fear began to fade. There was no ticket!!!

I thanked the car parking Angels profusely and promised that I would acknowledge them properly when I got home to my computer.

I also swore that I would endeavour to never forget to move my car again. (One can’t push one’s luck with the Angels)

This may only seem like a trifling matter to some, or purely a case of being lucky that the parking inspectors weren’t casing that car park area today, but for me it is just another sign that I am heading in the right direction.

And that’s a big thumb’s up in my book.  🙂

So many photos, so little time.

There is one minor problem with attending a music festival over a long weekend and then going away for a week…………

Actually, it is a major problem………..

Well, it wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t also have to go to work……….

The major problem that I have is the number of photos requiring my attention. A number that is very close to 1300.  (Look at that! 1300. That’s the start of one of those commercial business phone numbers)

Concentrate Suzanne!!

Sorry. So many photos that my mind has started to frazzle.

I have managed to amass almost one thousand and three hundred photographic images in 8 days. And that is the post-deletion number. I was far too afraid to even look at how many shots in total I had taken.

But these were not your average days. There were four days of the National Celtic Festival that involved dozens of bands, countless musicians, interesting people, and a cruise on a tall ship and then four days of adventurous holidays that included a whale watching cruise, quad bike riding, beautiful beaches, obliging animals and a couple of scenic mountain tops.

I tried to be restrained. I thought that I had even been conservative in my photo taking. But things just happen……………and you simply have to take advantage of the opportunities. I mean, how often are you given free access to all areas at a music festival? I was allowed to wander on stage, behind stage, up close to front of stage………my camera and my, seemingly, professional manner opened doors that are normally off limits to the general public.

And don’t even get me started on the whales!! They say that you should never work with children or animals because of their unpredictability. Enormous humpback whales are unpredictable. When they decide to play in the waters beside you …………..  Let’s just say that I changed my image quality settings to JPG instead of RAW because I was concerned that I would run out of space on the two SD cards in the camera.

I have begun the mammoth task. I spent all afternoon working on the National Celtic Festival photos. I’m up to Sunday!!!! LOL!!!!

Only 800 or so photos to go.

Did ya miss me?

Well, the sun has set on another Queen’s Birthday long weekend National Celtic Festival.

Is it just me, or can you all see the irony in holding a Celtic Festival on the Queen’s Birthday weekend???

Anyway………..my feet are killing me because I have walked and danced 500 Miles, my body is weary because I slept in the top bunk of a set of bunks, and it is a miracle that I have any voice left because I have talked and sung my way through four LONG days. I can tell you for certain, that there are one or two singers who don’t have a voice left. 🙂

I can also tell you that there are more than one or two people who have been self-medicating the last couple of mornings with ‘the hair of the dog’. How these folk even managed to remain standing the ‘next morning’ is a testament to the fortitude of the Celts. Hangover? What hangover? Bar man!!! Pour me another Guinness!

Honestly, these folk are unstoppable. The drinkers drink until they close the bar and the musicians play until they fall asleep where they stand. Every year the sessions continue on till the wee small hours of the morning. Long after the last gig has finished for the night these dedicated (crazy) individuals meet up back at the Grand Hotel and sing, talk and play until they drop. Then, with only a few hours sleep, they make their way back to the stages and start their official music commitments all over again.

I guess the mere fact that they come from all over this wonderful country of mine and rarely get such an opportunity to ‘play’ means that they grab the opportunity with both hands. Not to mention the overseas performers who have flown out from Ireland, Scotland and Wales…….they want to share and socialise with local musos.

Good Lord, it’s nearly 11:30pm!!!! I was going to bed early.

One last parting comment before I retire to the bliss of my own bed.

I have enjoyed another wonderful National Celtic Festival. I made new friends, I caught up with old friends I see this time every year, I discovered wonderful musicians, I ate wonderful food, I danced, I sang and I loved being a volunteer worker at this brilliant event.

The weather was kind, considering that it is winter in my marvellous Melbourne and we even enjoyed some gorgeous sunshine.

Thank you Portarlington for being the perfect host town for what is my favourite weekend of the year.

 

Life is a balancing act.

Life is a balancing act.

You teeter from decision to confusion.

Sway from certainty to fear.

Overbalance and everything can be beautiful ……..

…………..Or disastrous.

Positive versus negative.

Right versus wrong.

Should you do as your heart desires or should you conform to the ‘rules’?

Contentment competes with emptiness.

Love fights with hate.

To have, or to have not.

Should I turn right or left? Or even turn around and head back to where I started?

To wait for the whole dream or make the most of the now?

Where is the equilibrium I seek?

There is so much I want, but the gnawing sense that I’m seeking that something to fix me and balance my inner scales is preventing me from going out and fulfilling those wants and dreams.

I can’t help wanting those dreams to be more than mine to experience.

I want to be able to stand on those hills, smell those smells, see those sights, experience those amazing things that life has to offer without that little part of me hating that I am standing on my own.

When will these rough seas in my soul abate so that I can tell life to go and get fucked………..

 

When you begin to question your sanity…….

So there I was, on a miserable, grey, cold, drizzly Saturday afternoon standing on a slippery, rock shelf on a popular Mornington Penninsula beach with more that $3000 worth of photography equipment, questioning the seemingly insane decision to walk out to where I was standing as unexpected waves came crashing over the rock ledge, over my runners and four inches up my ankles and tripod.

News reports of fishermen who had washed away to their deaths flashed before me. Men with families and futures who chose the dangers of rock fishing without life vests and safety equipment over their own lives.

Was I as insane as them, with the single-minded focus of capturing ‘the shot’, not considering the possible dangers and consequences of my actions? My only comfort was the vague realisation that I had never heard of a photographer being washed out to sea.

As the water rushed over my ankles I was terrified that I would lose my new camera, my new lens, my footing………..

Would I be able to get my camera bag off? Would I get pulled straight out into the water? How cold was the water? Would I sink quickly? Would I be bashed against the rocks? Would I be able to swim to the beach? Would the guys on paddleboarders make it to me in time?

The low tide was not as low as any of us expected. The sudden ‘freak’ waves that caught us unaware were equally as unexpected. My mentor for this expedition of madness merely told me to “not look out to where the waves are coming from”. Gee….thanks Tom. So comforting.

So I did what any crazy person/photographer would do. I stood my ground, I held on tight to my tripod, I kept pressing my remote shutter release button to capture the action and when the waves settled I figured that, since I was already wet, I might as well stay where I was and keep taking more photos.

When you look at the photo you would never have imagined that there were waves crashing into the rocks just moments before.

Nature is a fickle creature.