Everything is different somehow.

Once upon a time I would see things. Now I ‘see’ things. 

Strange thoughts, but I’m sure that if you have creativity in your heart you will know what I mean. And when you have set yourself a challenge like I have this phenomenon is magnified a hundred fold.

Take today’s photo for example. Mindless graffiti on the footpath? Possibly. A deliberate attempt to make people feel good inside when they walk over it? More likely. A photo opportunity? Most definitely.

I walked over this on my way into work. I had to walk over it on the way back to my car. And I did walk over it. Then I called myself an idiot, stopped and went back with my phone and took this photo. Because I ‘saw’ it and wanted to record it and share it so that others could also see.

I’ve gone blank

I’ve really gone blank.

It must be the heat, because those who know me know that I rarely struggle for words, or thoughts, or opinions. Yep. It must be the heat.

I do love Melbourne in the summer. That horrible, dry, draining heat that can quickly turn into disgustingly, sweaty, dripping, humidity. And the promised cool changes that take forever to arrive, often bringing incredible displays of lightning.

At this time of the year there is one thing I can’t live without. My ceiling fan. We never had them when I was a kid. I discovered their magic when I was 18 years old and house-sitting for friends. They had them in the bedrooms and I slept blissfully every single stinking hot night I stayed. So I’ve had them installed in the bedrooms in every house I’ve ever owned.

So today’s photo celebrates the wonder of the ceiling fan.

.

“Sorry Tom, but I can’t go out with you tonight. My mum’s cooking a lamb roast.”

When your wonderful mother asks if you would like to come over for a lamb roast there is only one reply…”Yes please!!” And the roast was absolutely delicious. But the roast is not the subject of today’s photo. Apologies to those whose mouth was already watering at the thought of a roast leg of lamb accompanied by roasted potatoes, pumpkin and carrot. And I mustn’t forget the home made mint sauce and the gravy. Maybe some other time.

No. Today’s photo is about what happened to me while I waited for the delicious meal to cook. I turned into a prune. It was a very warm Melbourne evening, the parents have a pool, I had packed my bathers for just such an emergency situation and I popped myself into the crystal clear waters of the said pool to relax and unwind after day 2 of being back to work.

Water temperature 32 degrees. Sensational. None of that “It’s OK once you get in” crap for me. Give me water temperatures like those in Greece during a hot summer. Let me dive straight in without having a cardiac arrest from the cold.

Needless to say, I might have stayed in the water for a while. Suffice to say, my fingertips wrinked like prunes. And straight away I thought ….photo opportunity.

Now I am going to be naughty and post more than one photo today, but they are of the same theme so please dont be cross with me. I took the photos whilst in the pool (very carefully) with my Nikon D5100 and played a wee bit with Adobe Lightroom 5 pre sets to get the desired results.

The pruned fingers salute

One version in colour

One version in B&W

Underwater

“I’m SO happy to be back at work” said no-one ever.

The dream came to a screaming halt this morning. My holidays were over and I had to rejoin the working people. (I had to get back to work to pay for the new car battery!!)

So I shall share with you my photo of the day, taken with my Kogan Agora phone and tweaked lightly in Lightroom. Everything I need in my day at work. My security pass and my diary.

How many weeks till I can have another holiday??????

The best laid plans of mice and men………

Today was supposed to be restful. Last day of my holidays……thought I might just wear my pyjamas all day. How quickly things change.

Suddenly, I found myself walking the dogs, bathing the dogs, washing the car, vacuuming the car, grooming the dogs (pug owners know about the hair!!!) and lastly having that blissful ‘end of dirty day’ shower. Decide to have dinner and need a couple of ingredients. Car won’t start. Bugger poop. Call to the RACV and an expected 2 hour wait for the man. Dead battery and now I wait for second man. And all this led to another change of plans.

I had my photo all ready. I’d been a bit creative. I was happy. Now I had a completely different photo opportunity.

So I will share with you the new photo opportunity and will save the other shots for the days where I am lost for inspiration or have simply run out of time.

How hot?? Damn hot.

This will be a quick one for you all today. I’m at my parent’s home enjoying the pool as we await the change that’s expected in a couple of hours. We are going to go from 40+ degrees and strong northerly winds to some nasty storms. But….it will be cooler.

Photo taken with my phone.

It has been a tad warm on day 2

Even the flowers were wilting today.

I have hidden myself away today as the temperature in Melbourne climbed past 40 degrees celcius. But I have been productive. Today was the day that I decided to clear my life of the unnecessary. And how bloody good does it feel!!  As I did the housework I removed things from my life that are no longer relevant. I deleted phone numbers from my phone. I deleted contacts from my email accounts. I deleted people from my Facebook account. I deleted clothes from my wardrobe.

If it is not enriching my life it is now gone. And then I took a moment to read my stars for today…..

“Are you ready to start 2015 as you mean to go on? Are you tired of living with dual standards and hollow promises? Are you bored of hearing the phrase ‘one day this will change’? Or, ‘eventually, things won’t happen in the wrong way any longer’? Are you prepared, not just to take action, but to keep on taking action every day, until new routines are established and old habits are forgotten? The power to establish a very different kind of future is in your own hands. Hold them high and start striding ahead.”

I know that there are cynics out there who think that astrology is a crock of shite, but I’m sorry, this is just too freaky. To read this after I’ve been going through my life with the proverbial big broom felt amazing.

But I do digress. The photo of the day.

Today’s photo is of the poor flowers that have not liked this heat one bit. And I haven’t told them that tomorrow is going to be hotter.

Day one.

And here we go. First photo. The only photo that was appropriate for today.

January 1st 2015. While other people are wandering around with sore heads after a night of New Year revelry, or counting the minutes since that last cigarette because they decided to quit a nasty habit as their new year’s resolution, I have cleaned my fridge, pulled down my Xmas tree and decided to start a blog.

Why a blog? Because I was shopping one day and saw something in a store that got my creative juices flowing. A spiral bound book titled “One photo every day for 356 days” So I bought the book and waited till the start of the year.

One photo a day. Every day. For 365 days. I can do that. I’m sure I can do that. And how can I make doubly sure that I do that? Put the photo on a blog as well. I figure that if I blog it I can get support from fellow photographers and friends. I want feedback (I’m a Leo, I NEED feedback. Lol), I want ideas, I want to be pushed and challenged and I want to learn. And most importantly I want to have fun with this.

Let the challenge begin.