Some things you just don’t expect to happen on a normal work day. A meteor shower, or an eclipse, or a fairy dancing across your desk… Although not in the same league as these, having a stray cat fall asleep on your desk at work is not something that you see everyday.
This is exactly what happened to me a few days ago at work.
Staying home on a Saturday night can sometimes be a good thing - especially when an impromptu fireworks display begins!
I had a great vantage point from my balcony, and as soon as I saw them, I raced back inside, grabbed my camera, telephoto lens, tripod, and shutter release cable (all within easy reach, thankfully), and started taking photos.
I was reading an article recently about the potential pitfalls of photographing a friend’s wedding. Ironically enough, I read this article about a week before I was going to photograph a friend’s wedding! Can’t say it did a great deal for my self-confidence, but it did emphasise the importance of taking extra care through the entire process.
That wedding took place the other day, and the results…
Old world customs appear to be back in style. In this case, the English tradition of a formal sit down high tea - in the old days, being enjoyed by “elegant”society.
My experience was for a friend’s baby shower. The old world customs appeal to my friend, and this is a great place for ladies to go and dress up, for a nice outing.
The place we went is called High Societea, in Brisbane Australia. It only caters for high teas and is exactly how one would imagine a place like this should be.
There is a faint scent of rose that lingers in the air, and the fresh cut roses on every table is a gorgeous touch. To the right is a photo of their place settings - immaculate - even down to the white and brown sugar cubes.
Menus come around, where you can choose from a traditional high tea of sweet and savoury, or you can just choose to have savoury (which also comes with a few sweet items, just to round out the palate). There is even a Chocolate Indulgence option - which I seriously considered.
It’s the one day every year specifically set aside to remind people to acknowledge their partner, and those special people in your life. Not that there should need to be a day for this, but considering how fast-paced life has become, I suppose we all need a reminder.
This year I had a lovely surprise - the first time I ever received flowers on Valentine’s Day (not counting the flowers my mother sent me one year when I was in high school… Yes, I realise how sad that sounds). Not just any flowers, but red roses…
In our busy modern world there always seems to be something happening. These occurrences don’t always require a photograph to be taken, but think of what you could miss out on if you didn’t have a camera handy!
Recently my mother was in a pretty bad car accident. Having safely deposited her at home, I had to drive over an hour away to get all the stuff out of her mangled car. That trip was unexpected, so I didn’t have a camera on me - except for my phone camera, at 2 megapixels (better than nothing I guess)…
Well, my birthday celebrations are now over - lasting 4 days is pretty good!
It was busy for a few days, and as my birthday is also Australia Day, there were lots of other celebrations going on around the city, which made it seem even busier.
Here is some local ‘color’ - an old-fashioned lifeguard scanning the horizon for struggling walkers (rather than swimmers) in the inner city area by the river.
Each year the Australia Day celebrations become larger and more patronized, which is great. It’s good to acknowledge such a day and to provide an excuse for family to gather and have some fun in the sun.
This particular day was very warm, so it was a good thing volunteers were handing out cold pieces of watermelon. I only saw these after lunch though, when I’d eaten too much!
Here are a few other images from my actual birthday day.
It’s my birthday, and what better way to start, than by receiving gorgeous flowers.
Here is a photoshopped “portrait” version of the flowers. Later in this post I’ll show you the full color image, but here I thought I’d have a little fun changing their appearance in Photoshop.
I decided to emphasize the pink in the arrangement - especially those cute rosettes.
In a previous post I went through how to achieve color with black and white with Photoshop. In this instance I didn’t completely turn the photo into black and white, I just destaurated the colors slightly and brought back some of the original colors from a selection of the photograph.
I could have chosen a few different color backgrounds, but decided to go with black. I have a few different colored sheets of A1 size paper always handy - they are a great, quick way to create a professional look, and it only takes a few minutes!
Keep reading for some more photos…
There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of books on photography. They are a valuable reference tool, and also a source of inspiration. This weekend in my home town, I went to a huge book fair that happens twice a year. It goes for 8 days and the stocks are replenished on a daily basis.
For bookworms, it’s unmissable. Everything is grouped into broad categories, and I went there looking for photography books…
Photography expos are a great way to see what’s new for your favourite brands, and to test drive many different types of cameras, that may not necessarily be available in every retail outlet that sells camera gear.
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to check out what’s going on when, and where.
Depending on where you live, here are some resources for finding photographic expos you might be interested in. (more…)
