Thoughts And Recollections Of A Tree Spirit

Project 365

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

On Tuesday, as I wasn’t working in the office, I went for a brisk early morning constitutional down to the beach. Of course I took my camera with me and after getting some interesting shots of an Ibis on the walking track to North Avalon I decided today would be a good day to start my Project 365.

What is Project 365? Well, if you are frequentor of Flickr.com you may be familiar with it as it is very popular among photographers. It’s basically a commitment that one makes to take a photograph for every day of the year (and then upload it to Flickr if that’s your choice of platform). I think if you are doing it seriously then there are other rules but I’m just going to do it for me so that’s as far as I’m going.

My main aim is to improve my composition and eye for an interesting photo by regular practice. As I only have a basic point and shoot I’m not expecting brilliant photography but I figure the science behind it is something I can learn at a later date when I get a manual SLR or the like. There is no point in being able to take a physically brilliant photo if my composition is shit. A good photo is a piece of art, in my opinion anyway.

So, you can find my photostream here for now and with any luck I will be able to add a Flickr feed to this blog later so that any new photos appear in the sidebar. Shown below are my photos for Tuesday, Wednesday and today:

Grafitti Ibis

The Ibis regards the somewhat jaded grafitti and is of the definite opinion that it is in need of an overhaul.

The first photo is already explained. Yesterday’s shows my brother’s amazing and wonderfully colourful piece of grafitti art that he did for Mat and I on his visit. I wasn’t sure whether to do a closeup or include all the surrounding rubbish. I opted for including some of the rubbish as I figured it depicted our “Life” which goes with the word “Life” on the art board.

This morning, as I was finishing tidying the kitchen I heard next door’s dog, Sparky, barking in the garden. I grabbed my camera and took the opportunity to snap some pics through the chain link fence and amazingly this one came out okay. He is the cutest little terrier (not sure what type) with the biggest sticky up ears I have ever seen :-)

Life grafitti

Our life surrounding Life

Sparky the terrier

Come and play with me, please please please...

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13.05.2010 Australian Flora & Fauna, Moggies & Doggies, Personal, Photography, Pictures 2 Comments

Photo Opportunities Abound At The Beach

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Mat was working all last weekend so on Saturday morning I decided I would go for a walk so that I didn’t end up getting cabin fever and feel like I had just sat in front of the computer all day, which was becoming increasingly likely.

I wanted to go into the village and thought I start by walking in the opposite direction, head towards the north of Avalon Beach, then walk down the beach, cross the road and end up in the village that way.

On my way to North Av I found a wicked little footpath following a creek and all along the side was colourful graffiti. I assume it was legal as a lot of it seemed to be divided into sections so different artists could have their own canvas, so to speak.

North Av Graf 1 North Av Graf 2

It’s not the best graffiti in the world but I like it. I have developed a strong appreciation for the sometimes controversial art medium since my brother started to nurture his artistic flare in this field a year or so ago.

So much for a bracing walk. When I reached the beach my camera came straight out again and I spent a good half hour sitting on the rocks clicking away, trying to improve my eye for a good composition.

North Avalon Beach North Avalon Beach & Rocks

Once I’d finished with photographing the seascape I retrieved my bag from a nearby rock and proceeded along the beach only to get stopped by another photo opportunity. There were lots of Bluebottles washed up on the beach – a common type of jellyfish that has an inflatable balloon thing that it uses to catch the wind and drift along the sea along with long stinging tentacles. I’ve never been stung by them but it’s very common and it doesn’t hurt too much by all accounts, just itches a bit and leaves you with (more…)

10.11.2009 Australian Flora & Fauna, Personal, Photography No Comments

New Header Image

Monday, September 28th, 2009

I’ve finally got around to changing my header image to a suitable photo that I took myself.

Old original header

Old original header


New Avebury Beeches header

New Avebury Beeches header

I took the photo for the new header back in May this year whilst we were on our holiday home in the UK. I spent a lovely day at Avebury stone circle with two of my close friends and came across this stand of beech trees on a hill just outside the main circle on the way to West Kennet Avenue. The foremost tree looks as though it is a wishing tree from the brightly coloured ribbons that have been tied to various branches.

I may have a further play with the format of this image as I think it could perhaps do with being a little thinner. I suspect it will impede on the first post even more now for anyone that is still using IE7. For now though it will suffice and I’m happier with the more personal feel it adds to my blog.

28.09.2009 Personal, Photography, Techie Stuff 2 Comments

Cardiff Bay and Torchwood

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

I’m going to try and post about my holiday in the UK now that I am back in Oz and settled into the daily grind once again. It may take a while though so don’t hold your breath!

After spending a couple of days in Clydach with Chris et al, me Mat and Seb left on Thursday morning (23/5/09). We decided, as pre planned, to take a slight detour on the way home via Cardiff Bay so we could have a look at where Torchwood (off shoot from Dr Who starring the enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness as the main character) is filmed and take a load of pictures of the famous water tower.

We were a bit worried about finding the place as we didn’t have a map but we pretty much found our way straight there and then parked up in a muti-storey just down the road from the National Assembly for Wales building.

Me & Mat by the water tower Seb & Mat by water tower Cardiff Bay Water Tower

As you can see by the two pictures of Mat and me, then Seb and Mat, standing in front of the water tower on “the step”, the perception filter was clearly out of order that day, lol. Though on closer inspection (more…)

23.05.2009 Personal, Photography, Pictures, Videos 1 Comment

Yachts & Dinghys on Stormy Pittwater

Friday, February 6th, 2009

I took these photos a couple of weeks ago. I had just got home from work and after a stinking hot day there was the beginnings of a stormy front sweeping in. The wind had obviously picked up because on looking out towards Pittwater the expanse seen from our balcony was covered in dozens of little white sails.

My first thought was how I wished my dad could be there to see it, being a dinghy enthusiast, and so I decided to do the next best thing and take some pictures for him.

Yachts on Pittwater

I’m not a huge fan of boats in general but (more…)

06.02.2009 Personal, Photography, Pictures No Comments

Cockatoo Invasion

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Monday morning saw Mat and I getting up early to make our first trip to work from the new house. I had not had the best night’s sleep and had been woken before the alarm again, first to the sound of maniacal laughs of the resident kookaburras and then to the screeching of cockatoos.

After Mat had left and I was just about to go into the kitchen to have some breakfast I realised I could hear a strange pattering of small feet on our balcony. It sounded like a small band of gnomes having a party out by the barbequeue so naturally I went to investigate. This is what met my eyes:


[click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image]

Of course I ran to get my camera and took as many pictures as I could before the battery went dead. At first I was worried they would all fly off on sight of me but unlike the other birds I try and photograph these cockatoos were true to their nickname – cocky! I was able to get up very close, within a foot from their faces, though I was not willing to try any closer due to (more…)

24.12.2008 Australian Flora & Fauna, Personal, Photography, Pictures, Videos No Comments

Art, Food For The Soul

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Art – it is such an ambiguous word and can describe many things, from music to a painting to simply a wonderful landscape, at least in my opinion, art can be whatever you want it to be if it brings you joy.

Whatever your take on art, it is definitely food for the soul and for the past year or more I have had the urge to create some of my own art. I have dabbled over the years in many different crafts but just recently got re-motivated to get out the acrylics by a course that was being run at the local college. It was a short course, just two evenings, on aboriginal art, but I have been so fascinated by the types of paintings that the aboriginals create and the deep stories and legends behind them that I was really inspired to give it a go. I also thought it might help loosen my artist’s block (my excuse for thinking about painting a lot but never actually picking up the brush) and help me find my muse.

However, after spending a whole week really looking forward to it, it was not to be. I had a phone call last Thursday to say that the tutor had unfortunately had to pull out due to personal reasons and that only two people had signed up so it was unlikely to have gone ahead anyway.

Very disheartened, I started to think about whether there were any other courses I could do instead and had a flip through the college pamphlet when I got home. After much deliberation I decided on (more…)

22.10.2008 Personal, Photography, Pictures 3 Comments

Winter Solstice Sunrise at South Curl Curl Headland

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Some belated pictures I took whilst watching the sun rise off South Curl Curl Headland with Mat on Sat 21st July.

More to come with better annotations but wanted to get something posted up at least.


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02.07.2008 Personal, Photography, Pictures No Comments

Moonrise Over Collaroy Beach

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Last month I was driving home from work and was stopping off at Tom and Chris’ on the way to pick up Mat as he was round there having a beer with them. As I was driving down the hill I marvelled at the beautiful mauve sky which complimented the almost full (it was one day off), silvery moon perfectly.

As I approached the turn off to Fielding Street instead of turning right I decided to pull over into the beach front car park and take some pictures first.

The following are some of the better results I got and considering I did not have a tripod I think they have come out quite well (if you click on the photos you can display them at full size if you wish):

This photo shows the moon over the sea with a bit of Norfolk Island Pine showing in the foreground (a tree which is prolific along many beach fronts in the Sydney area due to it having favourable properties for making ships’ masts; in the olden days damaged ships could pull in, cut them down to build new masts and then continue on their way).
(more…)

13.06.2008 Personal, Photography, Pictures 2 Comments

The Golden Orb Weaver

Monday, May 26th, 2008

I was intending on including these photos in my photography category as well as australian wildlife etc. because that was what motivated me to take them in the first place; I was experimenting with macro shots. However, when I started comparing my photos to those on flickr.com, what I originally was quite happy with, suddenly seemed terribly amateur and only good for demonstrating the spider itself as opposed to good photography. Then again, on second thoughts I guess I did set up the category to monitor my progress of the hobby and not as a gallery of best works so maybe I will include it after all.


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26.05.2008 Australian Flora & Fauna, Personal, Photography, Pictures No Comments

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