Share Six: May 2024: Upside Down

Lupji Photography chose the theme {upside down}, and I have to confess that that is what my life feels like right now. Lots of changes going on with work. We are also heading out on a vacation and trying to get everything sorted out and ready to go next week.

Upside down is defined as

with the upper part where the lower part should be; in or into an inverted position.

I had to think what I had either done or could do to meet this challenge

My favorite upside down was taken at the Miami Zoo. We were watching the dolphins swimming and this big guy came and said hello. Dolphins are incredible creatures and I have had the privilege of swimming in the ocean with them. We had gone out on a scuba dive when a pod of dolphin started swimming around the boat. The captain of the boat allowed us to go overboard and swim with them. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Seeing them in captivity is not a great feeling for me but I understand that some are injured and brought in because they will not survive out in the ocean.

Also taken at the zoo was this display of the seal and his trainer. They put on a great show for us.

Sometimes even the birds spend a good deal of time with their heads upside down, preening and primping their feathers.

Reflections make great upside downs as well. The tree below was rotated to the upside down position and it works for me. The upper part of the tree, which is now at the bottom, was a lot lighter than its reflection.

There was not a lot of difference when this image was roatated, however in this case the upper is the lower and the reflection was a lot darker.

Every so often I like to play around with my lensbaby lenses. I rotated the sunset image and while I was not 100% sold on this image, it did work.

The next two images were taken using a super wide angle lens and the dark blue is the sky. By rotating the image the appearance now is that the blue is the water.

A great way to turn an image upside down is to use a lensball. I do not own one, but I met up with a friend to get these two images. It’s a fun sphere to have when you want to do something different.

By rotating the image of the moon, we went from a waxing moon to a waning moon. Only thing is Jupiter is now on the right instead of the left.

The last two images were taken in the wetlands doing my favorite style of photography. I like to just get that sliver of clarity. In both cases the wooden boardwalk has been rotated to show it upside down.

It was a fun challenge that Lupji gave us and I hope that you enjoyed what I had to offer and that you look at the challenge and see what you can share with 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 Claire of Wilhelmina 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.

Share Six: March 2024: Sky

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.

Share Six: November 2023: Shallow depth of field

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

Share Six: September 2023: Beautiful Light

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 in the Dandenong Ranges to a waterfall. I happened to look up and enjoyed seeing the trees splayed across the sky above us.
Still in the Dandenong Ranges 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

Share Six: July 2023: Bondi to Bronte, Australia

Two months in a row we have tried to do a particular theme. It’s not happening. First, I came back from Australia to a dead computer. It took around 3 weeks before I got it back. Then this past weekend, I managed to damage my 34″ monitor giving it the kiss of death. A huge black spot and then black lines going up and down the screen. Reminded me of Christmas bows, and it was definitely a expensive oops. That said I managed to get a new monitor via Amazon within 3 days and it is all set up, and it is better than the last one so I am all good.

Most of us were challenged with the theme we had originally chosen. So to keep it simple this month, we made the choice easy. The theme we finally selected for Share Six is (Your Choice). However, just a heads up this post is going to be a lot longer than 6 images. I would like to keep the whole story in one blog.

So why Bondi Beach to Bronte? My childhood friend, who lives in Brisbane, shared with me that this was a must do on our list. She told me this was the opportunity to get out and explore the natural coastline of New South Wales, and to really enjoy the beauty of this area. Not everything is about the city.

It’s around 7:30am and we are trundling along the city streets, by bus, watching with interest the world going by. The outer suburbs of Sydney city are much older and the buildings are dated, but they are interesting as well. People hop and off the bus using the tap on and tap off system.

Richard always has these options of how to get to places that involve walking. We could walk from the main Bondi terminal or catch the bus. Obviously I opted for the bus.

The weather is not bad, but kind of hazy while we were heading along the walk. This is also the one day in Sydney that I carried a light jacket. I wasn’t expecting to be cold but there was a gusting wind coming off the ocean.

Bondi Beach

We finally arrive, about 20 minutes later, at the infamous Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach is Sydney’s most famous beach. Is it a nice beach town? Absolutely. We did not explore the town as we were on a time agenda but it looked like there was a fair amount of shopping that could be done. As for the beach, it’s a wide open beach with lots of space and it spans a fair distance. I could imagine that it could be quite busy on the weekends. There were some surfers out, not as many as I expected. Perhaps because it was a weekday.

Richard walked down onto the beach. He loves to get his toes in the sand and he wanted to get closer to the ocean, since his camera was his phone.

Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach

I, on the other hand, decided to walk along the promenade taking photo’s of the graffiti. Eventually Rich and I met up again at the end of the beach boardwalk.

This image and the one below were really moving. I remember the bombing in Bali. It was just after we had moved to the USA, and just over a year after the 911 terrorist attack. What I did not know was how many Australians lost their lives.

Below I tried to capture the bay’s two heads and the rolling waves in-between. The surf appeared to be pumping, however the only person I saw going into the waves was the lifeguard. The were a few people hanging out on the beach enjoying the weather.

Northern head at Bondi Beach
Loving the wind and wave action here.
Southern Head at Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach has everything you could want. Lots of restaurants and cafe’s, some interesting shopping area, a grassed area for you to sit on or picnic, and a very interesting board walk filled with beautiful graffiti. I did spot this interesting surfers code below as well.

The life guard heading out into the ocean. My gut feel was that the water was definitely cooler than that which I would venture into.
Clearly this was her hang out house
I loved seeing people just hanging out on the beach

At the end of Bondi beach we climbed stairs (the first of many) up towards Bondi Icebergs on Notts Avenue. Bondi Icebergs is a local swimming club with a restaurant and a beautiful sea pool.

This is where we started our Bondi to Bronte walk. For the most part the walkway is concrete, with a lot of ups and downs. The map below gives you a time frame for the walk but I think that is for speed walkers. To give you a time frame, the first photo I took was at 7:58am (at Bondi Beach), and the last one of the walk was at 9.26am. Of course, I keep stopping to take photos and Richard keeps walking, eventually he would have to wait for me to catch up. Clearly the beach area is a more upmarket area and the homes are really nice along the walkway. Perfect views of the water line.

Another heads up is that this is a popular walk so you are constantly passing people. There is also a exercise workout stations along the way as well.

The map at the start of the walk
I have no clue what this person was doing but this was an interesting image.
Bondi Icebergs swimming club and restaurant

We walked through some incredible rock formations. The pathway left the concrete road way and headed down some steps and along a created cement pathway.

Bondi Beach to Mckenzie’s Beach follows this kind of pathway which also includes steps up and steps down.

I loved the rocky out crops and the different colors in the stone . We passed Mackenzie’s point lookout, and were heading down towards Mackenzie’s Bay. From what I read every so often Mackenzie’s Bay becomes a beach when the sand gets washed up. For the most it is a bay.

Wave action heading towards Mckenzie’s Bay
A lone jetski out in the ocean
Mckenzie’s Bay with Tamarama Beach/Bay in the distance

Beyond Mackenzie’s Bay we arrive at Tamarama Bay seen above in the distance. Tamarama Bay generally offers rough surfing conditions and strong rip tides and is generally better for suntanning. As you can see there is a wide open beach.

Every so often I tried to remember to look back. This gives you an idea of the walkway we had just navigated.
The rocks are a great place to just stop and relax.
We did not see a lot of natural wild life, but this Australian Magpie was one of them. It is about the size of a crow and has a similar attitude.
Tamarama Beach
What I thought was a canoe from the distance turned out to be graffiti.
Signs are posted warning of rough conditions, however the beach looked awesome.
The green area looked very relaxing as well, and what I would have done to sit in one of those chairs for a while. However, I am not sure I would have been able to get out of it.

Moving along we now were on the last stretch of the walk, from Tamarama Beach, to Bronte. Again there is this rugged coastline to traverse and steps going down and back up again. While Bronte is a surfing beach, the water can be dangerous at times.

My picture of Richard was photo bombed. What can I say, Bronte was definitely a surfers paradise. Sorry I could not resist, lol
Out in the waves
Watching from the rocky outcrops.
The little town of Bronte, with it’s very interesting restaurants heading up the street. The grassed area has various picnic sites and you are definitely able to just hang out on the grass if you want to. This was also our final destination where we could catch our bus back to initially the Bronte terminal, and then switch busses to catch the second leg to Sydney.
It looked like it was a surfers delight on this particular day. There was more than one surfer out and about.
There seemed to be some discussion as to the wave action before the guy with the red board took off to go and jump into the water from the rocky outcrop.
If you were to continue walking you would pass Waverly Cemetery on the way to Gordons Bay.

Bronte was the end of our journey, but the walk continues and you can follow the trail to Coogee Beach and Gordon’s Bay and beyond to Malabar Headland.

The one interesting thing that happened was switching busses on our way back. If you are traveling from Bronte to Sydney, the bus drops you off outside the terminal in Bondi. The pick up bus was about 15 steps away from where we were dropped off. However, due to our lack of knowledge we ended up walking into the terminal and then had to look at virtually every pick up point before trying to find our way back out of the terminal to the street. My advice check the outside bus stops prior to going into the terminal.

Bondi to Bronte was a beautiful walk and I certainly recommend it if you are traveling in the area. The area is rugged and stunning and like Day 2 on The Great Ocean Road it coast line was very impressive.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. The sneak peaks are stunning and I cannot wait to see the rest. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Janet of @wiredtothemoon_ 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 IG page. Definitely check out her incredible art.

Next up is Days 2 of exploring Sydney – The Opera House, a short walk alongside the Botanical gardens, a bit more exploring through the city before packing out bags to head to Melbourne.

Look out for more blogs.

Stay well

You can also find me on Facebook, and Instagram.

Sydney and it is day 2…Sunrise over the bay

Sleep came early the previous night. 5pm and we were lights out. That does not bode well for wake up time. 3am and we are hello… it’s still dark outside. Somewhere around 4:30 Richard decides that he is going to walk down to the Opera House and go and watch the sunrise. Well, of course I am going to go, but I see no point in going all the way back to the hotel, to go all the way back virtually to the Opera House to start our day.

So off we go…… navigating our way in the semi dark, down to George Street and along to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It’s somewhere around 5am. We are going to hang out there to watch the sun come up around the Opera House.

George Street and the trams are on the move.
Heading down to Circular Quay

We stop at the end of the pier adjacent to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The bridge is one huge piece of metal. Fascinating structure that spans the river from one side to the other. Interestingly, you can actually climb the arch of the bridge. Not something I would choose to do but I found it interesting that others would want to do that. It’s a lot of steps and I am not crazy about heights. When you stand under the bridge you really look so small. Looking across the river, you can see Luna Park, the amusement and theme park, in the distance.

In front of the harbor’s international passenger terminal

One thing I do have to say about the people of Sydney, they are very health conscious. There were more people out running so early in the morning than I expected on a work day.

Coffee in front of the brewery seems conflicting but it certainly started what was to be a long day.
A huge ton of steel that spans across the Paramatta Rive, which ultimately becomes the Bay that Sydney is settled on.
On top of the bridge is the Australian flag and the Aboriginal flag. The Aboriginal Flag is recognized as one of the official flags of Australia. Designed by Harold Thomas in 1970 the black upper portion represents the aboriginal people of Australia, while the lower red portion represents the earth, and color of Orche. The circle in the center represents the sun. For more on the flag click here.

Sunrise is happening and there is nothing nicer than watching the day start with the sun peaking out through the clouds. OK, the setting sun is pretty awesome as well but we really did not do any of that on this trip. However, watching the sunrise over the Opera House is pretty epic. I never thought I would ever see that happen.

The ferries were off on an early morning start to pick up passengers and ferry them back to the city.
The incredible Sydney Opera House.
Like the trains, trams, and buses, the ferry system in Sydney, is a tap on tap off system and very efficient. All ferries leave from Circular Quay but there are multiple combinations and stopping points. An excellent system for getting around.

This morning was the culmination of a dream that has long been on our hearts. Standing in Sydney watching the sun come up was a thrill. Standing in the city of my grandfathers birth was even a bigger thrill.

Next on our agenda is the Bondi Coastal walk. So another cup of coffee and sausage roll later, yes…. I said sausage roll. Do you know when I last had a decent sausage roll? Not for a long long time, unless I made it myself. Okay I digress. With the coffee and sausage roll in hand we head back to Circular Quay to the bus that will take us to Bondi Beach. Join me as we walk along one of the beautiful coastlines of New South Wales in my next blog.

You can also find me on Facebook, and Instagram.

Another blue hour ending: May 2023

When you read this, I will be walking the streets of Sydney, Australia. A little bit of history, both my fathers parents were Australian born, but both families emigrated to South Africa where my grandmother and grandfather met, married and created their own family. I will not get to where my grandmother was born but I am hoping that I will be able to walk the streets of my grandfather’s birth town.

However, that is not why we are traveling there. In 2020 Richard developed a melanoma, and for the last 2.5 years he has been on immunotherapy. For a while we did not know which way it would go, but as of the last scan things looked good. But it reminded us that he has not seen his family for a good 10 years, and have not seen our nieces for over 23 years. Our nieces have their own families now. Most of all Richard will get to see his mom whom he has not seen for way to many years.

Ironically, his entire family emigrated to Australia, and mine left Australia.

While we are gone I thought I would share another beautiful sunset in the good old Florida, USA. I love silhouettes and on this particular night I managed to get a few.

I loved watching the sun go down, and last of all the blue hour after the sun sets.

I hope you are all having a fantastic day. Think of me, I already picture sore feet. We are going to be walking a lot. I have plotted out a map of Sydney and I cannot wait to see it. In addition, we plan to walk from Bondi Beach to Bronte, and on a different day catch a ferry to Manly. I also get to meet up with a cousin on my dad’s side of the family in Sydney and hopefully Melbourne and meet up with a childhood friend who will fly in from Brisbane. I joked that it seems crazy that we both have to go halfway around the world to meet up again. That is the scatterings of Africa. We are all over the world.

In addition to spending time with family in Melbourne, we will be doing the Great Ocean Road, as a 3 day road trip. I cannot wait to -Port Campbell and see the incredible rock formation. The challenge here will be that Richard hates cities and I love to walk through them and see all the architecture and beautiful buildings. He wants to walk to waterfalls. I’m not saying I don’t like that but I do want a balance of city and surroundings.

Until next time, stay well

You can also find me on Facebook, and Instagram.

Share Six: May 6, 2023: Shooting Through

{Shooting through} was the theme chosen by Elizabeth of It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Willson. Again this was not an easy theme for me. I had to improvise a bit this month. This is a crazy month. In January I said that I was going to be traveling to Australia, and here we are 1 week away and it is hectic trying to get everything in place. Added to that I have some work deadlines to meet before we leave and poor Luka had to go for surgery last week, and of course, I had to go along. I know what it is like to to be waiting alone and I did not want Amy to have to do that.

Through the Window

So we have had a lot of rain lately and I just happened to be out in it. So while I was sitting stationery at the traffic light I snapped the following two photos of the night lights ahead. These were two different evenings. I did some post editing in photoshop to get a bit more black in the images. The first night I was driving home from work. The second evening I was leaving my study group and heading to Amy’s to sleep over because we had to get up at 4:30am to drive to the surgery center and be there by 6:30am. I am not a big fan of driving in the rain either.

Through the foilage

This is a favorite spot of mine. I love to stop off at this pond before going to catch the sunset. Dependent on where the sun is setting, I have got some really nice images. The sun was setting behind the trees this time.

I went on to the normal place I shoot the sunset. In this image I was below the road level shooting up through the trees to capture the sky.

Through a Lensball

I was chatting to a friend recently. I noticed that she was posting images taken with a Lensball. I asked her if I could meet her at the sunset one evening and take a couple of photos through her Lensball. I had not planned to meet her this particular evening but as it turned out it was a good thing that I did. The sunsets the following week were not great.

Through a mesh fence

I took a walk along the side fence of a church and cemetery. The gave site closest to the fence had lost 6 of the children. How hard it must be for a parent to go through such loss.

Through a crinkly plastic bag

This did not quite have the effect I was expecting it to have. I thought I would see the crinkle lines but I did not.

Through a plastic bottle

I cut off the top and bottom of a plastic bottle. I had seen a photo taken through one and it had a better effect than what I got here. I was hoping that I would be able to see the undulations better.

Through the bottom of the bottle

I took the piece that I had cut off from the bottom of the bottle and I held that up over the flowers. The center of the base of the bottle draws in to a finish to the mold and the color is a deeper blue than the rest of the bottle. I did get that effect here.

Through a plastic lid that had a design in the middle

I was looking at what I could use and found this lid to an old coffee machine part. The lid is a clear plastic but the rim has a blue tin to it. The lid also had a design on it. You can see the upside down V over the flowers.

Through a prism

I am not sure what made me think about it but I have had a prism for years and still truly don’t know how to use it properly, but I played around with it trying to get the photo’s. In the next picture I got the kitchen counter and the dishwashing liquid as well as the flowers. In the next image I got the ceiling and what looks like the edge of the computer.

Lastly I took the prism outside and tried to get some outside images. This was the one I liked the most. I have a wild orchid that is in bloom now and I like the rainbow effect of the edge of the prism.

{Shooting through} was an interesting challenge. I am glad I was able to come up with more than one option. I am glad I have managed to get this done. It leaves me one week to get my study work prepped and my toiletries and everything else sorted out and packed. I cannot wait to see Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. I have them all mapped out and ready to go.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented ladies in the group. The sneak peaks are stunning and I cannot wait to see the rest. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Janet of @wiredtothemoon_ 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. Definitely check out her incredible art.

Come and share your images to  Facebook and Instagram tagging #sharesix_shootingthough

Blue Hour: April 2023

It’s another week and another project. This week’s theme was Blue Hour. That is the period just before the sunrises or just after the sun sets. I had a couple of Saturday night but they did not count because they were in the wrong week. So it was back to Loxahatchee National Park on Tuesday evening to see what I could come up with.

Love watching the sun set on the day. It feels like an achievement of sorts. I have survived the day, and survived another day to put it honestly. I am always so conscious that time is limited now. I am at the age where things start to go wrong. I remember growing up and the folks would meet up with friends, and the conversation would be “do you remember so and so…, yes… , well they are dead”. Yikes. I have reached that age. So it is good to get out and celebrate each day.

Taken with my Lensbaby sweet 35, deliberate blur.

Finally the blue hour arrived, and I got the image below. I had hoped for more clouds but it is what it is. I definitely got the blue.

As I was walking away down the embankment to the car, I turned around to see what was behind me and spotted this silhouette. I think this may be my blue hour image that I will submit.

Nature is a great place to get out and appreciate the beauty of this world. When the day is tough and the troubles are huge, find somewhere where you can just walk and appreciate the beauty around you. That is what I like to do.

Look out for more sunsets, more Macedonia pics, and Whoo Hoo, in a few days I am heading to Australia for 2 weeks. I know, I know 2 weeks is not enough, but it is all I could convince the other half into taking. Stay well until next time.

You can also find me on Facebook, and Instagram.

30 Minutes In The Life: April 2023

This has been an interesting week. It has been a time of reflection. Two close friends brothers died this past week. A dear friend from one of my study groups lost her husband this week as well. It makes me so grateful to know that I am still alive to see the sun come up and go down each day. I am especially grateful now that we have a toddler in our lives. Luka is our grandson, and I pray that we are around to see a lot more sunrises and sunsets so that we can immerse ourselves in his little life. Time flies and before we know it, he will be a teenager. My friends grandson turned 9 yesterday and it feels like he was a toddler just the other day.

So Saturday I needed to get some sunsets for a project I was working on. (look for it at the end). However, Luka was having a sleepover and so I asked Richard to come along with me so that he could watch him while I photographed the sunset. He ran all over the place and was a sweaty child by the time we left. We had to have another bath when we got home.

It was good to see them both out and about. As I talk about gratitude. I am so grateful that Richard has recovered so well from his melanoma scare. Two and a half years of immunotherapy and he is doing well. I am so glad he is around to pour into this little guys life. Oh I know the picture is not perfect but it is hard to catch a moving child in the dark when your settings are on the sunset.

That said I was there to catch the sunset. I needed to get my creative project done by midnight Sunday. The theme for the project was Dreamscapes and I had to use images taken during the week. Dreamscapes is not my idea of an easy task. I managed to capture Luka sleeping on Friday, and then I combined the image with two of these sunset images. Pulled birds from another image, and threw in a moon just to finish it off. More about that later in the blog.

The sunset was stunning and there was enough cloud to make it more interesting.

The theme Dreamscape was a challenge for me. As I mentioned there are a number of layers to the composite. First I create the swirls using three different sunset images and manipulating them in photoshop. Then I added Luka sleeping. After that I added the birds and cleaned up around each one of them. Lastly I added the moon.

I tried to create a composite of light and dark with the purple reflecting the rem stage. The moon is still out but the orange of the sun is starting to come out and the dark is starting to fade. That twilight zone. Quite often Luka will laugh while he is asleep or smile. I often wonder what he is thinking about.

Going back to my opening paragraph. We are not guaranteed to see the sun come up or the sun set. If you have not told your loved ones that you love them, now (sooner rather than later) is the time to do so.

30 Minutes in the Life is a small group of bloggers who get together once a month to put thought to paper and share on the happenings of their lives. Take some time to follow the link to see what my friend and very talented photographer Lupji of Lupji Photography has to share.

You can also find me on Facebook, and Instagram.