Having fun and learning along the way
When I started getting more serious about photography one of the first tasks in our class was to go find examples of lines around us.
I still sometimes gravitate towards seeing and capturing these lines.
Some bring a lot of joy like this weeks water/nature lines, but the lines in the PCR testing site was little joy. 4.5 hours waiting. But in the end all worth it to ensure we keep each other safe.
Hoping your lines are more of the admiration types.
Take care all.
Morning walk got shortened by the rain. Had to seek shelter under the trees.
Xmas 2021
If Covid iso stops you being with your family head to the beach.
The emergence of new life. Struggling against my not so green thumbs and patio life this snowpea is pushing through the challenge. Gives me hope.
Finding joy in the simple moments in life like an early morning beach walk enjoying the winter sun.
Welcome to 2020
Celebrating this New Year on a plane en route from San Francisco to Sydney.
Wasn’t sure what to expect. No big party but to be honest it’s a great way to reflect and relax into this new decade. What better way than to witness the beauty of mother nature from above. The colours are amazing and I just had to share. The photos do not do the colours justice but hope you get the feeling.
Our daily problems appear insignificant when in the company of this vast beauty.
Happy New Year to all. May this next decade be your best yet.
I decided to get up early yesterday morning and pay a visit to Kurnell; a quiet beachside suburb near where I live in Sydney.
Its a strange place in that it is right here in busy buzzing Sydney but you feel like you have arrived in a small coastal country town. Time seems to slow down.
Maybe it is due to the historic significance of the place. According to Wikipedia
Kurnell is the place where Captain James Cook landed on 29 April 1770, making first contact with the original inhabitants of the area, the Gweagal Aborigines whilst navigating his way up the East Coast of Australia on Endeavour
Or maybe its due to the strange industrial ocean landscape with its many tankers in the horizon distracting from the natural beauty.
There is an eery feeling to the morning with the fog/smog floating around every bend as I am approaching Kurnell. The morning sun warming up the cold night air and slowly forcing the last fog away. Still, the view is hazy and much of the horizon is not yet clear as I walk along the footpath into the national park area. Later in the day I hear the haze is due to back burning.
There is something refreshing about being out this early. Refreshing and relaxing at the same time. None of the usual demands of the day has started to surface. The feeling we have a full day ahead brings a sense of relaxation: a sense of maniana: plenty of time to worry about what tasks lay ahead.
The sun is peeping through the trees leaving long shadows on the ground. Not an easy time to take a good photo with the changes in light. I do my best but I can feel I haven’t been out with my camera enough lately.
Steps leading up into the bush stimulating my imagination; just me, my camera and my imagination. A beautiful old house at the top of the hill. Who lives there? Who lived there in the past?
I reach the end of the park and walk onto the rocky beach area just breathing in the see air.
The sound of water crashing onto rocks can be frightening, but this morning I feel safe and the sound is soothing and relaxing.
After a while I start to make my way back. It is still quiet, but for a lone cyclist, a jogger and some fishermen.
It is not till I get closer to the beginning of the park that the place gets buzzing. The cafe is filled with cyclist having coffee and day trippers enjoying breakfast. Me included. Nothing like an early morning walk in nature to get you hungry and make you feel content and alive.
If you get a chance check out Kurnell yourself.
Hello all
I promised to upload a post once a month on both my writing and my photography.
I have a confession to make; this month I have hardly taken any photos!
I find it really hard to put enough focus on my writing to keep the momentum going as well as spend time (and mind space) on my other passions; like photography and music. Do you feel the same? Writing, when you are in the zone, seem all consuming. How do you manage that?
But I promised and I have enough internal drive to stick to my promises ; especially when they are out there in cyber world for all to see 🙂
I did bring my camera along when I caught up with my daughter the other day, but I had too much fun just spending time with her to focus enough on what I was doing with my camera. Plus, my eyes are not really perfect anymore. Actually they never really were. I am blind as a bat without contacts. So I didn’t notice the smudges on my camera lens till I blew them up on my laptop later on. AHHHHH!!!
I did manage to get a couple that are interesting enough to keep. These were taken around Rozelle Bay in Sydney
But back to when it all started. This photographic interest of mine.
I must have been about 12 or 13 when I got my first camera. Don’t ask me what it was, but it was film and only did black and white. Showing my age now! Still, I felt so excited to have my own camera.
I snapped away, but didn’t really learn much. We didn’t have the internet or Utube to make learning easier, and I lived in a small town where after school curriculum seemed to be more focused on sport. So I played hand ball and badminton rather than learn to take good photos.
Throughout my life the interests has always just simmered away in my subconscious. I felt buying a proper camera was an indulgent I couldn’t allow myself. With the advent of the Iphone taking instant photos got so much easier, and my interest started to really take hold. On my first major trip overseas, once my girls were grown up and independent, I realised how much I loved taking photos, and started using my Iphone a lot more for capturing memories. These are from Denmark and Italy.
I finally indulged in 2016, before heading on another overseas trip, and bought myself a proper DSLR camera; a Canon EOS 700D. I started with the Canon 18-55mm lens but have since bought a Tamron 35-270mm lens that I tend to use all the time now.
Such an exciting day when I first bought my camera. I brought it home, uploaded all the info and started teaching myself. Wow, I never realised there was so much to taking a photo. Don’t you just point and click!!!
I took a lot of photos while I was away overseas; this time in Spain and Denmark, and loved being able to capture what I was experiencing and seeing. Came back with so many photos. A few great ones, some good ones, but many pretty terrible too. It was a learning curve.
I was hungry to find out more so enrolled in night classes. I could have persevered on my own, but I think I could also have lost interest and had my camera just gather dust. Doing the ten weekly classes and going out on excursions with other newbies really ignited my passion. I cannot recommend it enough if you are thinking of taking up photography. It just teaches you so much and cements the basics that photography is really all about ; Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed. Sounds simple right?
After I finished the ten classes I would be out there pretty much every weekend practising and loving it. I found landscapes my thing initially. They are relatively easy because they do not move. Most of the time. Still, I had a lot of fun/challenges getting sunrises and sunsets right. All the practical problems you don’t necessarily think about before heading out. The fact that it’s dark and you can’t see the settings on your camera! Now I bring a little torch, but it adds to the essentials and I like to travel light when I head out. So if I do not always have the right gear I just make do and enjoy the outing.
Sunrise in Cronulla, Sydney – my hood 🙂
After some months and a number of favourable comments from friends and from the Flickr and Insta community I summoned up enough courage to enter a local competition run by the Moran Society and two major hospitals here in my area. The criteria was fairly open, just had to be a photo of our local area. I took this one of Tom Ugly’s Bridge , entered the competition and honestly never thought I would hear back. But I did; I was a runner up and my photo was displayed in the local gallery during the month of September last year. I was so proud.
At the same time my focus was also on getting my novel finished. Which I did in November. I have been busy with my editing and will have 3rd draft done in a couple of days. Once I am happy with this manuscript I feel I can relax on the writing front a bit, and spend a bit more time getting out there snapping again. In fact, I am planning on it and have enrolled in a Canon Light Awards weekend class run by Tony Hewitt on Landscapes. Super excited and looking forward to learning more.
One thing I have learnt; photography is time consuming if you are passionate about getting a good photo. Not only do you spend time taking the photo , but you spend as much, if not more time, uploading, reviewing and improving your photo afterwards. But if you love it you don’t mind the time it takes.
Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to sleep. Imagine how much more we could all accomplish then 🙂
In my next posts I will tell you a bit more about some of the excursions I have been on and what I have liked about the experience and my favourite photos.
Happy snapping all.
English