Share Six: April 2024: Curves

Posted on April 6, 2024

The theme for the month of April was chosen by Janet from @wiredtothemoon_ and it is {Curves}. Once again I decided to use images from the trip to Arizona and I was surprised at how many curves I actually came across.

The Oxford Dictionary says that a curve is : a line or outline which gradually deviates from being straight for some or all of its length.

Below ar3e some of the curves I found.

One evening we stopped by a rooftop bar to watch the sunset. Across the road was this apartment building with these weird shaped windows. Looked like a bunch of partial igloos.
I love graffiti and Phoenix has an area where you can find plenty of this type of art. I had to push my camera through some steel railings to get a clear view of this artwork.
Release the Fear – Melted Weapons Sculpture This monument is made up of around 17000 pounds of melted weapons. You can read more about it by clicking on the link.
We were looking for the tourist board when I realized that we had found Phoenix’s Arizona Center. A shopping area set around a beautiful outdoor area. I loved the curved feel of the walkway they were constructing.
The shopping center surrounded this outdoor area. To the left was outdoor seating where I sat and enjoyed the solitude. Richard was sick in the hotel room and I was trying to avoid his germs. But they got me in the end. What I loved was the artwork of metal frogs in the pond, and story telling all around the walkway. I will confess this was a green space for me, in Arizona’s very dry arid type of environment.
We were in Scottsdale and our time to head back to Phoenix had arrived. Richard always likes to get to the bus stope early and so we had a bit of time sitting out in the hot sun waiting for the bus to arrive. One of the best things I found about traveling through Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe was how user friendly their transportation system was and how cheap it was. Definitely worth looking into if you are visiting.
Train track curves in Phoenix. We hopped on and off the Metro train system a fair bit. The day we travelled to Scottsdale the Metro train broke down and we were stuck on the train for about 30 minutes while they tried to get it working again and then when they finally did they went backwards to the next station where we were allowed to get off and catch the next train. The good thing about this system was that they were able to switch tracks fairly easily.
We’re in Sedona and following the curving roads through the Red Rock. It’s a beautiful part of town but my warning would be that it gets pretty busy on the weekends.
Leaving Sedona and heading out to Page we happened to stop at a viewing site and took in the bridge. It always impresses me to see the framework of a bridge spanning a gorge.
I nearly missed this shot as you can see, but we arrived in Page Arizona, home to Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe bend. I really liked the curves in the sign.
Page is also home to Lake Powel – one of the largest man made lakes and the Navajo Generating Station which provides power to customers in Arizona.
Horseshoe Bend is another example of curves. It is an amazing visual and get place to stop and take a photo. For those who plan to visit be aware that it is about a 15 minute walk downhill to the viewing site which means it is a 15 minute walk uphill back to your car. It is doable but it feels like it goes on forever.
The best curves for me were found in Antelope Canyon and here are a few of the camera images that I have edited.
I don’t know if it is just me but I could see a face in this rock. Part man part leopard / wild cat. Maybe just a wild cat. Whatever it is, I see it every time I look at this image.
Where ever the light shines on the rock you get these stunning changes in color. As you went deeper so there was less light. What I did find was that I felt unbalanced walking through there. I am going to assume that it was due to the undulating walls. The visit to Antelope Canyon was a bucket list item for me and it was worth every penny that I spent on it. Thanks to Antelope Canyon Tours for this incredible tour. Our tour guide was the best.

You can find curves in every area of your life. In the shape of a branch, the edge of a flower, the shape of a vase, roads, handles etc. There are so many different ideas out there.

I hope you enjoyed my second glimpse at Arizona. If you missed the first glimpse you can view it here. I will eventually get to editing more of our trip to Arizona. Sometimes I feel like I can hardly keep up with everything that is going on around us.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Katherine of Cobert Photography is up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of her work by clicking on her Instagram page.

Until next time, stay well.

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 2 Comments

Share Six: March 2024: Sky

Posted on March 15, 2024

We have just spent 8 days in Arizona, specifically in Phoenix, Sedona, Page and ever so briefly Flagstaff. So this month’s Share Six theme {Sky} I really wanted to use photo’s taken on the trip. Outside of that I have some crazy sky photo’s that I have shared before, mainly sunsets which I love. But for this blog, Arizona sky is what you will get.

Flying high above the clouds is always interesting. This looked like cotton candy or snow just hovering below us.
Another image from the sky. Hello, we are not in Florida anymore. I was pretty excited to see mountain ranges, even from up high in the sky. Florida is so flat that you can barely see an undulation.
Phoenix airport from the plane, and the sun setting in the sky. It was nice to land and have my feet back on the ground, and to be able to experience something new and exciting. In addition, I got to see my brother as well so that was really nice for me.
Day 1. My brother headed off to his conference meet and greet and we had dinner at the hotel restaurant before heading to a rooftop bar to see if we could get a sunset. The building had a very interesting rooftop that made me think of Game of Thrones. When the sun had set the lights on that upper floor came on, alternating red and green. I never found out what it was but enjoyed seeing it.
Day 2: Train and bus was our mode of transportation out to Scottsdale. Transportation is efficient and cheap. We spent the day walking around the downtown area. We were doing the Art Walk. There was some interesting outdoor art, but a lot of it was “shops” selling art. We found an interesting little “country” bar/restaurant where we rested for a while and had lunch.
Day 3: It was back to the train and bus method of travel. We headed out to the university town of Tempe. I loved the strange feel to the sky in this image. We did not get a lot done here because by midday Richard was not feeling well and complaining of a splitting headache. 5 hours later we discovered he apparently had pneumonia. Not happy to hold onto his germs he graciously shared them with us. I ended up with bronchitis and my brother was complaining that he chest felt tight. Day 4 was spent with me wandering around on my own and Richard conserving his energy at the hotel.
Day 5. We are now planes, trains and finally automobiles. We headed out on the road early Thursday morning for Sedona. The weather was great although somewhat cloudy. There was definitely a moodiness to the sky.
We passed through an area that gave every indication of a storm about to happen but somehow we missed it.
We finally arrived in the beautiful but busy Sedona. Thursday was busy and Sunday was a parking lot. That said the town is gorgeous, our hotel was awesome and the red rock was just spectacular. Given our time limits and Richard not well, and me starting to feel iffy, we just drove from location to location and did little to no hiking. We climbed a couple of hills but not too high and not to far. In the afternoon those clouds let go and we were trapped indoors for a couple of hours. It was fine, we all wanted to snooze. That evening we went to an Indian Restaurant and had a really nice curry.
Day 6: Cloudy sky but no longer raining. We were ready to head out after a stop for me at the Urgent Care and then the pharmacy to get antibiotics. Sedona and the red rocks are stunning and well worth the visit. What fascinated me was that outside of this area the red of the rock seemed to disappear and the color become more neutral. Sedona is known for it’s vortex sites as well but more about that in a later blog.
We are heading up to Page, Arizona, up near the Utah border. We had to head up through some windy mountainous roads. The sky was cloudy and the weather was cold. The mountains were scattered with snow. We stopped at an American Indian trading area, and it was freezing when we got out of the car. In addition snow started falling on us. I was happy to get back in the car and keep moving.
Over the hills and down the dale and the scenery changes again. The sky was brighter, the clouds light and puffy and the rocks a completely different color.
We had arrived in Page. Two things I wanted to do there was Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. We opted to go down at sunset hoping that it would be good. It wasn’t and it was bitterly cold. In addition to all of that it was a fairly long walk down hill, which meant that it was an extremely long walk uphill. It took me 15 minutes of huffing and puffing and being totally out of breath to get to the top. I was timing myself because I knew there was a time limit at Antelope Canyon and I was worrying about that. It was nothing to worry about, Horseshoe Bend was much harder for me. The combination of being sick, higher altitude and just generally unfit took it’s toll. I told my brother I was convinced I was an undiagnosed asthmatic.
Day 7: Page, and I am super excited and super nervous. We had time in the morning to explore and we accidently explored into Utah. I could not resist taking this photo. The sky was clear, the temps were moderate to cool, and we were standing in Utah.
Antelope Canyon has been on my bucket list since I first saw photo’s of these beautiful rocks. The tour is not cheap and I paid for all three of us, but I promise you, it was well worth it. In the next couple of photo’s the really bright light is the sky shining through the gap at the top of the rocks. The walls undulate and it feels kind of disorientating. I found myself at times feeling a little unbalanced.
There were times I felt like the rocks looked like molten lava or that they were on fire. I cannot wait to sit down and start editing all the trips images. If you can do one thing in Arizona, my choice would be Antelope Canyon. It’s busy but the tour group we used Antelope Canyon Tours were very sensitive to the busyness and staggered the entry so that the groups were able to get images without a million heads bobbing up in the images. I tended to shoot up when our group got in the way.
Straight from the tour we were back in the car again and heading back to Flagstaff. Clear skies were perfect for the drive. Although in Flagstaff the snow was still on the mountain, some was on the streets and there was a chill in the air. A lot of my photo’s were taken from a moving vehicle because our driver, Richard, does not like to stop and start.
Flagstaff on a Sunday morning was not cutting it for us, so we headed out back to Sedona for a short while. Unfortunately we discovered that weekend travel causes Sedona to become super busy. That is not my thing. So after buying my baby boy a t-shirt, we headed back out, making one more stop in Black Canyon City. I read about a place called Rock City Pie shop and we made a detour for coffee and pie, which I will add was really, really nice.
A whirl wind week and I will confess that I have had better weeks where we are not sick. We were back at the airport with a long wait time. My brother was flying out international and had to be there by 5pm. Our flight was only at 10:40pm. Drinks were had, farewells were said, some tears where shared and then we were back on the sky train to our terminal for the 5 hour wait. Fortunately they had some chairs along the window that were really comfortable, so I settled in to read while Richard crashed on the floor.

We saw some interesting skies this week and I was grateful for the changing sky and scenery along the way. It definitely makes the trip more interesting.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Lupji from Lupji Photography is up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of his work by clicking on his Instagram page.

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

 2 Comments

Share Six: February 2024: Out of Focus

Posted on February 6, 2024

I chose the theme this month with the criteria that the level of {Out of Focus} could vary. That said I have chosen some images that are my favorites from the archives and some that are more recent. I will say I kind of went overboard a little, but I hope you enjoy.

When I looked at the theme, I broke it down into a number of categories, elements, nature, lenses, and my favorite style of shooting images, that isn’t travel.

With the elements I found two images that reminded me of what days in Florida can be like, hot, humid with the occasional fog,

This first image was a combination of using the Lensbaby soft focus, and going from a cold airconditioned house into the hot humid air. The lens was already soft the the temperature change on the lens created this really hazy image. 
In the days when I was doing a 365 project, my camera was always in my car. Driving out one morning the fog was in the air and I had to stop and take this photo of a young student walking to the bus stop at the entrance of our community. The fog created this mystic out of focus image.

Nature, particularly sunsets, when using the Lensbaby lens, can create unique out of focus images. Here are a few taken at one of my favorite sunset spots. 

Sunset Sweet 50
Sunset using the double glass lens
Sunset using the Lensbaby pinhole lens
Sunset using the Lensbaby Sweet 35

Using lenses to create different styles of out of focus is a fun way to experiment. In the days before I had a macro lens, I discovered the reverse ring method. It’s hard I am not going to lie. Its kind of like free lensing with a reverse lens. At the time I could not afford a macro lens, and this was my best option. It was definitely fun, until the day I could not get the reverse lens off my camera and I panicked. I did get it off but that made me more determined to get a macro lens.

Fir tree fronds
Tiny new buds

At one stage I got into all the different types of Lensbaby optics. I have a huge variety of them, but I constantly forget to use them. My favorite is the sweet 35, but I also have the double glass, plastic, sweet 50, twist, pinhole, single focus, and soft focus. I will confess that the soft focus messes with my eyes. When you are used to sharp images the Lensbaby optics will cause you to do a double take. Below are a few of the images I have taken with the different optics.

Playing with the Lensbaby Pinhole and loving it.
The Single Glass Optic
The Plastic Optic

The images below were taken with the Lensbaby sweet 35. This is probably my favorite of the Lensbaby optics and if I am going to pack one, this typically finds its way in. My problem is that for the most part I am using my zoom lens and I definitely forget to pull the Sweet 35 out. 

I have always enjoyed getting out and walking in the wetlands. Lately I have not been so often, because I have Luka, but I really need to get out and do it some more. It winter now and the weather was perfect this last week, so I put him in the stroller and off we went. Every time he saw a bird he laughed so loud. When he saw a gator, I told him the gator goes snap snap snap. We had fun, until he had had enough. But it is a start and it got me back out again.
Christmas trees always look like so much more fun when taken with the Lensbaby Sweet 35. I tend to do this shot every year, sometimes with color light and Richard’s preference, the plain white lights. 

Macro lens are super fun. The focus in on the main area and leave the rest out of focus. We have these plants in the garden that are really great with water drops and dependent on the light can give a nice hazy effect.

My favorite style of photography by far, is done with the 70-300mm lens, and my 150-600mm lens. This requires me to get down level with the critter or leaf that I want to shoot and just getting that tiny sliver of focus while the rest are out of focus. This I broke down into two areas, critters and still life.

Critters are a lot harder as they move, but here are a few examples of the out of focus with the attempts at in focus. What I love about these photo’s is the creamy out of focus feel with just an element that is in focus.

Just for the record, spiders are not my favorite critters, but we have hundreds of these spiders making nests all over the garden. As a result I refuse to weed unless the webs and the spiders are relocated.
Now lizards I can handle. I do like them. They are not going to jump on me and bite me. 
Any black looking spider that has the potential to jump makes me glad I am using my zoom lens. Two recent cases of spider bites that have taken forever to heal is not my idea of fun. My friend was lying on the grass when a tiny spider bit her and she ended up having months of healing as they packed the wound with antibiotics and had to cut away dead skin. My son was the same. He thought he had an odd pimple on his shin, and scratched it. It was not getting better so he saw a doctor and discovered that he had been bitten by a spider. Who knows where or when, but that resulted in months of healing as well. So for the most part, I am not a fan of spiders.

Leaves are still life and don’t jump on me and using the same concept of getting low and level with the object, and having people look at me as if I am weird, and wondering what the heck I am taking photographs of, I continue to take my photo’s of leaves or something that catches my attention. Of course, there are ants on the board walk and Florida loves fire ants. I got bitten once and those critters are nasty.

Again I love the sliver of focus with the balance of the image being a creamy out of focus. Dependent on the leaves, you can get some really interesting colors. One of my favorites was a boardwalk that had moss on it, and it gave off this blurry greenish creamy color.

Another images that captured my attention that were not leaves, was this feather that clearly someone had picked up and stuck in the groove sometime before I walked along. It just looked really neat sticking up and so I snapped a shot. 

Last but not least I came across two other images that were experimental that can create a beautiful out of focus effect. 

This first image was taken using a clear plastic bag. I wanted the out of focus effect and this was a fun experiment. 
Last but not least – double exposure can create that beautiful out of focus effect. This was a combination of the earlier pinhole sunset picture with a photo I had taken when we were traveling somewhere. The train was running past us and I obviously had my camera in my hand. 

Out of focus is fun and I am expecting to see some stunning images from my fellow blog contributors. Some of them specialize in the Lensbaby and ICM effects and I can’t wait to see them. Which reminds me, this is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend  Janet from @wiredtothemoon_ is up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of his work by clicking on her and Instagram page.

Don’t forget to share your photos on the theme {Out of Focus} Tag us #sharesix_outoffocus

I have struggled since Covid to pick up my camera. The combination of covid, Richard getting sick, a new baby on my days off, and just a lack of desire to pick up the camera has made it harder. I am seriously considering doing another 365 just so that I pick up my camera everyday. 

I’ve also noticed that I have struggled to edit as well. I am sitting with unedited images from Macedonia. Unedited images from Australia, and in 4 weeks we are heading to Phoenix for 10 days. I have been doing some research and the images I have seen from Antelope Canyon and Sedona blow me away and so I know I am going to come home with a million images to edit. I need to stop doing other things and settle down and get these pictures done.

Until we share again, stay well

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 7 Comments

Share Six: January 2024: Painterly

Posted on January 6, 2024

I am not sure where time went but this group is starting their 9th year as a blog group. We have had people come and go but I have loved every minute of being with this group and learning from them. They challenge me and force me to step out of my comfort zone. This month is no exception. Claire chose the theme {Painterly} and I have to be honest that I was forced to go to Youtube to figure somethings out. 

My frustration was the brush tool. It kept brushing white on a new layer. I have not figured out the answer as to why it is doing that but if anyone has suggestions I am so open to hearing them. There were some great techniques but I was stumped with that tool. 

This is what kept happening to me. Super frustrating but it was time to move on and try something else.

The next effect I aimed for was a watercolor effect using different filters. 

Sunset out at the local National Park.

The next attempt I made with to create layers of texture. I followed a Youtube example and quite like the rough textured effect. 

Taken on a really lonely walkway in the local national park. 

I am not quite sure how I got the next effect but I kind of like the embossed feel to it. I used texture images, with and emboss filter and changed the layers from normal to a different setting. 

Sunset at the local national park. 

For the next image I wanted to do portrait painting and make it look like a water color. I followed the tutorial step by step. I am not 100% sure that I like it. Added to that I have a limited amount of brushes and I really need to find some more. 

Luka at the pumpkin patch

This image already had a textured feel to it when you looked at the wall, but again I used textured overlays and embossed them and added some filters what provided a bit of grain . 

This is my sweet boy Simba, that I put to sleep the other day. He had a huge tumor growing in his jaw and across his mouth and he was having some breathing issues. It broke my heart to say goodbye to him. Tomorrow I will pick up his ashes, and lay him to rest in his favorite spot in the garden. 

This image already had a strong bokeh effect to it created with my lensbaby sweet 35. Like the first image I used attempted to get a watercolor effect to the image. Plenty of texture and paint brush swirls.

Walking in the local wetlands. 

Claire definitely challenged us this time around, but it was fun to play and find different ways to do things.

I followed a number of tutorials, some worked, some didn’t. Here are a few that I followed:

https://www.psfreebies.com/convert-any-photo-to-digital-oil-painting-effect-in-photoshop/

arizo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MAoR4-Jnjsna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obokOCj3vNs&t=644s 

I also downloaded some free brushes from

https://www.brusheezy.com/brushes/59067-free-painter-photoshop-brushes-3

Lastly I used some textured images for the overlays:

blank-concrete-wall-white-color-texture-background Image by ArthurHidden on Freepik

pexels-kseniya-lapteva-9176032

smears-from-from-brush a tmImage by kues1a on Freepik

whie-cracked-wall Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

Finally my last image was an attempt to get a brush stroke effect as well as the blended edges. Again the brushes were a problem but in the end I was happy to just get something. 

This image was taken just outside of Skopje, Macedonia. We had taken a boat trip through the waterways to a cave. The scenery was incredible and Macedonia itself, was an amazing experience.

Trying the {Painterly} effect was fun. It was a nice change of pace and I really enjoyed doing something different.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Katherine of Cobert Photography is up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of his work by clicking on her Facebook page and Instagram page.

Don’t forget to share your photos on the theme {Painterly} Tag us #sharesix_painterly.

Look out for more blogs along the way. I have Macedonia and Australia to finish and we are already planning our next trip to Phoenix, Arizona in a few months. 

Stay well

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

 8 Comments

Share Six: December 2023: Vintage

Posted on December 6, 2023

I have to be honest. The past couple of weeks have been hectic and a little stressful. We had a call for my husband to go for an ultrasound. That is never a good feeling when you are dealing with melanoma. Some of his blood levels had spiked. However the good news was that the ultrasound came back clear, and they will just monitor the blood levels.

I had a crazy spike with my blood pressure. Not sure what caused it but I saw the doctor and he put me on medication. Now every time I take my blood pressure it is low. Can’t win.

Lukie has to go back for more ear surgery in the New Year. Apparently his body is rejecting his tubes. Poor little guy. In addition his tonsils are enlarged and his adenoids appear to be a problem as well. So I guess that those will come out as well.

In addition we have had a run of birthdays. Everyone is getting older, myself included. Which brings me to the theme of the month {Vintage}, and I am right up there with it. I am a collector of family history, and so when things have been handed down to me I hate to let them go. I have a clock that is almost 100 years old. It fell off the wall and broke the glass. The way the glass was fitted meant it was hard to replace. I could not get the same thickness. In fact everything was too thick. I could not see it in the garage, so I asked my husband what he had done with my clock, thinking that he had tossed it. Turns out it was hidden, and I asked him if there was a way to just put a piece of glass in and secure it so that I can get my clock back up on the wall. I am not sure that the clock has ever worked to be honest. I hung at my mother’s house for years with it not working. I may try to get a clock maker come to the house to get it going again.

Another {vintage} that I have packed away is a cutlery set that my grandmother was given in 1925 when she got married. I opened it up the other day thinking I could use the casing and the cutlery is all tarnished. But I packed the box back away again because I couldn’t bear to take the cutlery out and use the box for another set that I had bought. I wanted gold for the Christmas table and ended up using it for thanksgiving as well. I liked the look to be honest.

One of my favorite {vintage} items that I have is books. I have a collection of classics that include Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Rabbit Hill, Call of the Wild, Jane Eyre, The adventures of Sherlock Holmes. These are linked to beautiful memories of evenings cuddled up on the bed with my dad as he read us stories. I cannot wait for Luka to sit still enough to pull out these books and read to him.

Digging away in the same display cabinet is my mother’s tea set. It is named Crown Regent 1950s Gold Chintz from what I can see. I have a couple of variations of the set. In an endeavor to get gold plates for Christmas I set out to find a set locally and managed to pick up another variation of the same style. So for this theme I decided to use the china set to show my take on {Vintage}.

Last year I used the tea set in the Flat Lay theme. I decided I would start out with this image for this theme.
Aside from my vintage tea set, we have some vintage books as well.
There is nothing quite like tea in fine china and Walkers shortbread to feel those English genes emerging
One of the sets I have has this beautiful rose pattern inside the cup and on the plates.
This one has the leaf pattern all over cup and saucer, but nothing on the side of the cup.
Here you can see the three different patterns of the cups.
I had an idea to have the tea set and some cookies, however, I forgot to buy cookies when I went to the shop. I did however buy a decorative car the other day and it had chocolates inside. So I raided the car and ate a few chocolates in the process.
I am excited to have my gold and white setting for the Christmas table, and to pull out these beautiful sets and use them for a change.
I have had a set of dried out roses sitting on my chest of drawers for a while. I never know when I might want to use them in a photo. Today I wanted to put fresh flowers up so I decided to toss the old roses. Before I did that I thought I would use them with my vintage tea cup.
Lastly my favorite books along with my tea set.

I am a collector of history (and my husband will say all sorts of junk), I love things that link me to the past. To the memories of loved ones, and times that have slipped away. I miss my folks and this is just a little part of them that I can pass on to my children, with the hopes that they will pass it on to their children. I have this doorstop that used to be at my grandmothers. Every time Luka comes to the house he makes a beeline for the doorstop. It is a soldier on a horse. I am not sure what they attraction is for him, but I told him that is going to be his.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Lupji Photography  up next. I can’t wait to see what he has to share. You can see more of his work by clicking on his Facebook page and Instagram page. Definitely check out his sportrait art.

Don’t forget to share your photos on the theme {Vintage} Tag us #sharesix_vintage.

Look out for more blogs.

Stay well

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , ,

 1 Comment

Share Six: November 2023: Shallow depth of field

Posted on November 6, 2023

For the month of November, Lupji Photography chose the theme {Shallow Depth of Field}. I have to confess that this is one of my favorite themes and I love to get out into nature to get these images.

I had the perfect opportunity to get out today. A old school friend arrived at our home on Friday. He has been hitch hiking through the USA, sleeping on the beach, catching up with friends, sleeping on more beaches. He is a very interesting character who has traveled the world. Today instead of sitting watching sport, which him and Richard did yesterday, I dragged him out into the wetlands for the morning. That freed up Richard to do his own thing.

For me nature is beautiful. I love finding leaves on the boardwalk and taking pics of them. I love that sliver of focus that I am able to capture this way.

Getting out into nature does wonders for my soul, and I have needed it this week. This walk was not as quite and contemplative as I may have wanted but it has helped lift a little of the sorrow of last week.

I would encourage you to keep in touch with family and friends, let them know you are thinking of them. If they are close by give them a hug. If they are further away, drop them a note letting them know you are thinking of them. You don’t know when time will become short or when time will end, either for yourself or your friend. While I stayed in touch with my friend, I was still stunned when I heard the news he had passed away so unexpectedly. We have no idea when time will stop, lets not waste it unnecessarily. This is in memory of you my beautiful friend. Myles you were my rock.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Elizabeth of It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Willson up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of her work by clicking on her Facebook page and Instagram page. Definitely check out her incredible art.

Don’t forget to share your photos on the theme {Shallow Depth of Field} Tag us #sharesix_shallowdepthoffield.

Look out for more blogs.

Stay well

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , ,

 3 Comments

30 Minutes in the Life: October 2023: Sydney

Posted on October 30, 2023

We’re back in Sydney post the Bondi walk and I had things on my list that I wanted to see. In 1846 the Customs House (below) was built near the Sydney city center. Over a period of 10 years from 1837 to 1847, convicts worked to reclaim the land to form Circular Quay. The Customs house form the solitary symbol of British power over the land and sea, with custom officers checking for contraband and smuggling.

Towering over the customs house is this very unique building. Again I am fascinated by the juxtaposition of old and new buildings and grateful that Sydney has maintained it’s unique history with the upkeep of these interesting old buildings.

We were not the only people taking pictures of the city that day.

Below is a mix of new and old that we found on our walk back into the city center.

Below is the Sydney Sky Tower. We did not go up but it stood tall amongst the buildings and was pretty neat to look at.

The building that impressed me the most, and one that I had researched and also been told to visit was the Queen Victoria building. I loved the old dome roofing and the beautiful arched windows, along with the intricate scrolling on the outer façade of the building. Walking inside this gorgeous building is a shopping mall. And I wanted one pic, but I did get a few more.

The pastel window in the ladies bathroom was gorgeous. In fact, the ladies bathroom was impressive.

In the center of the mall was this tall clock with historical images in the center of the clock.

There were also some incredible stain glass windows.

This was the photo I wanted showing all the levels and the beams of the roofing.

We’re back out on the street again and the first thing I saw was this vibrant burst of color.

Last but not least I was out of time and added to that super tired. I will explore the clock tower on another day.

We’re back at the hotel, ready to put our feet up, but there is still the repacking to do. We have to switch up the contents of the suitcases because we are traveling Qantas in the morning to Melbourne, and honestly my camera back is equivalent to a small suitcase. So I am going to be booking my two suitcases and Richard’s one, and he will take clothes for both of us in his small suitcase, just in case.

My nerves are already getting the better of me. We are off for a quick dinner and then it is off to bed. We have an early start in the morning back to the airport. I am looking forward to seeing family again. We have not seen our nieces since they were 5 and now the one has a little girl who is 5. Crazy how time has flown. I am so glad that we are doing this trip now.

Check out my friend Lupji Photography to see what he has to share this month.

Until next time …. stay well.

 Category: 30 Minutes in the Life    Tagged: , , , , , , ,

 2 Comments

share Six: October 2023: Artificial Light

Posted on October 6, 2023

This months theme was chosen by Katherine of Cobert Photography and it is {Artifical Light}. I don’t typically use additional lighting so this challenge was harder for me.

However, I was part of a meet up Photography group that did some studio work, and so I pulled some images that I had taken and edited them. I also pulled an image I found of my daughter during her pregnancy.

The meetups happened over a period of about 1 year.

I wish I could say that I rushed out and took photo’s but it did not happen this month.

In Amy’s case she has all the studio lights, but never uses them. At that stage she had them out so that we could do this maternity shoot.

If I have to be honest I wish the meetups were still happening and that we were still spending time working with different lighting but as all things happen for some reason or another, this group stopped meeting.

Perhaps one day I will consider asking my daughter for her light set and turn the bedroom into a studio and play some more. Right now my other room is my at home office, craft room, come Luka playroom.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Katherine of Cobert Photography is up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of her work by clicking on her Facebook page and Instagram page. Definitely check out her incredible art.

Don’t forget to share your photos on the theme {Artificial Light} Tag us #sharesix_artificiallight.

Look out for more blogs.

Stay well

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , ,

 1 Comment

Share Six: September 2023: Beautiful Light

Posted on September 6, 2023

This month theme {Beautiful Light} was chosen by It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Willson. Beautiful light can mean different things to different people. Since I am still working through my Australian images, I decided to look though them and find the images where the light appealed to me. Walk through them with me as I share just a little bit more of our Australian trip.

As most of you know, sunrise and sunsets are my thing. I really enjoy them. This was taken on our first morning in Sydney where we went out to watch the sunset rise over the Opera House. It was a little to the left and a little bit cloudy but I still loved what we managed to get.
Above and Below: We went into St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, situated on the diagonal corner to Flinders Street train station. I loved the light shining through the stain glass windows and the natural light that came into this stunning cathedral from the upper windows.
I could be wrong but I believe we were walking to the Toorongo Falls in Noojee to a waterfall. I happened to look up and enjoyed seeing the trees splayed across the sky above us.
Still in the Toorongo Falls in Noojee and enjoying the natural light filtering through the trees as we traversed the uphills and downhills to get to and from the waterfall.
We were on the second day of our Great Oceans Road Trip. Waking up to a really overcast morning with this purply tinge. It did not bode well for the day ahead, although I would say towards mid morning it started to get a bit better.
Another look at the Great Ocean Road and if I did not know better I would assume that this was a black and white image. Nope, the gray light was our morning drive. It was a little frustrating because this was to be the day we would get in and out of the car to see the different rock formations.
The hazy light that we found later in the day at the 12 Apostles was a little frustrating because it did not show the crispness of these beautiful statues in the ocean, although as I have already mentioned there is no longer 12 of them.
We are back in Sydney and out walking about. I loved the play of light and shadows.
The all famous Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge as we set out late afternoon towards Watson Bay. The sun was setting and the light was so interesting.
Walking in Sydney towards St Mary’s Cathedral and we happened upon Hyde Park and the Archibald Memorial Statue. It just so happened that the combination of water and the refraction of light created this beautiful ray of color.
Last of the Australian pics was taken early morning at Circular Key, when all the trams were heading out to start the day.

In addition to the Australian photos are some of my older sunrise and sunset photos which are favorites of mine.

Sunrise on the beach
Sunset at Locxahatchee
Sunset at Loxahatchee

And, finally, a few outdoor flora shots.

Waterdrops in the early morning light
Fir fronds lying on the wooden railing.

Beautiful light, I believe, is in the eye of the beholder. We all see light differently. When googling the definition of light my favorite was this found in the Marriam Webster dictionary:

“the sensation aroused by stimulation of the visual receptors”

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Liz of  It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Willson is up next. I can’t wait to see what she has to share. You can see more of her work by clicking on her Facebook page and Instagram page. Definitely check out her incredible art.

Don’t forget to share your photos on the theme {Beautiful Light}

Look out for more blogs.

Stay well

 Category: Share Six    Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

 4 Comments

30 Minutes in the Life: August 2023: Sydney Opera House

Posted on August 28, 2023

This blog is probably encompasses the 30 minutes, plus a few add on’s. The Sydney Opera house is an impressive sight to see. Unfortunately we timed it badly because 10 days after we left there was a light up Sydney event and the opera house looked stunning with all these lights on them. However, it is what it is. The fact that I was there makes it so much more impressive.

An unknown fact, maybe, is that I love different kinds of architecture and I have to be honest you just have to be impressed by this incredible building. In fact there was a lot of different architecture in Sydney that appealed to me.

So what is the history to the opera house. From what I have read Sir Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra believe that “all people, regardless of their class or background, had the right to enjoy fine music”. In 1956 a competition was created for the proposed new building. In 1954 the beginning stage to support an Opera House began. In 1957, Jorn Utzon, an unknown Danish architect was announced as the winner. The estimated cost of the design would be around 3.5 million pounds It was believed that this design would become on of the greatest buildings in the world. In 1959 the construction began. Stage 1 was completed in February 1963. Stage 2 began in 1063 and took 2 years to complete. Due to a number of issue the cost of the building had now increased to 13.7 million pounds, In February 1966, after some conflict Utzon quit the project, blaming the then Minister, Davis Hughes, of forcing him out. In April 1966, a panel of Australian architects were appointed to complete the job. In 1966, Peter Hall was asked to complete the Opera House. Initially he declined, but later accepted the request. In January 1967, stage 2 was completed. Stage 3 focused on the interiors. On October 20, 1973 the Opera House was finally opened by Queen Elizabeth 11, and on September 28, 1973. the Opera House’s first productions opened. I have radically summarized the story. Credit is given to https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story/peter-hall-and-completion-opera-house for this information. There were 6 pages of interesting reading, which if you are interested in architecture and in this incredible building it is well worth visiting the website.

Taken on day 1 as we familiarized ourselves with Circular Quay and the location of our hotel and where the rocks were etc. This building is amazing to look at.
Sunrise on day 2. The sun was coming up directly behind the building. It did cast a gray shadow on the building but it was well worth seeing.
It’s early morning, the cloud blocked a lot of the sun out but it was good to see life happening all around us.
Finally, after the sun rose, we walked around to the Opera House. Like most famous places in the world (and I think of Barcelona’s famous church Sagrada Família who, when we visited in 1987, had construction going on and it is still going on today), the Opera House was not unique. There was construction going on there as well to ruin the pictures.
Working around the construction, I knew that I wanted a photo of the steps and this couple really made it happen for me. The glare of the light in the background makes for a hazy image.
The other image I wanted was the Bridge and the Opera House, Sydney’s two famous landmarks, to be in the same image.
Looking back at the city, yup, I was there, even if it was a shadow with a (heavy) backpack of camera lens. Having said that I used mainly my daughter lens that I borrowed which was a 24-70mm lens. Mine had died a few weeks prior.
What fascinated me was just how big the architectural design of the building was. I can understand how they could have run into problems during the course of development.
Looking back towards the city, as I walked around the building. I love the flow of this walkway where the Opera Bar is situated.
There is a whole section in the link I shared that talks about the specifics of the roof tiles, and the weight of these huge spherical designed arches.
Man is small in comparison to the height of this incredible building.
The following images are taken from all sorts of angles from the base of the on the bay side of the building.
Again in this image I wanted to link the two famous landmarks once more.
I was aiming for the leading lines of the steps. This encompassed our 30 minutes of walking around this stunning building.
Leaving the Opera House grounds we headed up these steps where I would stop to take one or two more images of the Opera House
A close up on the city side of the Opera House with the Sydney Harbor Bridge, along with the Australian Flag and the Aboriginal Flag as well.
Last but not least was the view from the top of the steps in a beautiful park like area called the Bennelong Lawn.

Sadly we did not get to go inside, we were out way to early in the morning and nothing was open, but I enjoyed every minute of this architectural masterpiece.

One of the other things I wanted to get was some images from the ferry both day time and night time.

These were taken on our return to Sydney were we headed out to Watson Bay on the Saturday evening to meet up with a cousin of mine and his family. Here are a few night shots coming back into the Harbor from the moving ferry.

These images were taken the last day of our Australian trip. We headed out to Manly via the very efficient ferry system. Although there were tourists it was a little blustery, and so most of them headed inside. I on the other hand was determined to stick it out.

In the view, the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Skyline, the Rocks, and part of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
I really wanted a image of the Opera House with the Skyline, and this was about the best angle I could get.

Next stop will be the some of the downtown area that we got to walk through, so look out for the posts.

My friend Lupji from Lupji Photography is co-blogging with me today. Don’t forget to check his blog to see what he has been up to.

You can also find me on Facebook, and Instagram.

Stay well.

 Category: 30 Minutes in the Life    Tagged: , , , , , , ,

 1 Comment

Follow sharleenstuart on WordPress.com
December 2025
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
Archives
Flickr Photos
Spinaker TowerSilence!Autumn in the Dolomites
More Photos
Share Six Blog Contributor
30 Minutes in the Life Blog Contributor
Tell Me a Story Blog Contributor
Artist Inspired Blog Contributor
101 Ways to Shoot…
Shoot and Share
PBH (Voice, Vision, Soul) Project 52