Holiday Bokeh

Another entry for I Heart Faces, this time just because I loved learning about bokeh and its my new favourite thing.  Will be attempting it everywhere I go.

I especially love this photo, you've already seen it.  Oh, and the stars at the front are from the head of my santa :)
Some of the others with little characters were a little blown out and I'll have to work on that next year.  In the absence of christmas cards with myself and N, bokeh lights will do :)

And so that was Christmas...

Christmas, like everything comes and goes so very quickly. With the blink of an eye gifts are opened, family has been visited and you've all but moved on to the next stage of the year, the end of it, the celebration and making of resolutions.

It all happened to me too.

Christmas was great this year, celebrating again with both N's family and mine (at different times) and visiting with family we hadn't seen for a while.

I tried to take some bokeh of our Christmas tree but I just wasn't feeling it...sometimes you just don't do you?

Hope you've all had a safe and happy Christmas...New Years is right around the corner and hope that sees everyone safely making it into 2012 too :)

2012 is the year of challenging myself.  I'm looking at participating in some book group or reading challenge, you can check out how I go on my new blog Catch the Reading Bug and I'll also be participating in a photographic challenge or two.  At this stage I'll be doing a 52 week challenge.  Will of course post links once thats sorted!

Happy New Year and hope if you're making resolutions (this is my first time) they work out well for you and you don't over extend yourself.  I've never thought they were about that, more about resolving to be a little better or do a little more or grow a little.  Not about damaging who you are or how you feel about yourself.
Good luck!

Images processed etc with Paint the Moon's whimsy set and watermarking action.

FaLa La L a Laaa La La La Laaaa or Carols by Candlelight...

Last Sunday was our local Carols by Candlelight on the green....
N and I shared dinner at the local 'wonderful' Indian restaurant where we really lashed out and ordered something completely different.  YUMMO! The evening there was polished off with a latte (me) and a complementary port (N), again YUMMO!


We got to the Carols, within close walking range with 1/2 an hour to spare before the big fireworks.  We got to hear Santa talking (he may have also delved into the complementary port elsewhere) and heard the final song this year before the fireworks.  In fact, there was some silence, at which point everyone wondered whether it was time to leave and whether there were in fact no fireworks this year.


The fireworks came, I got to sing a few bars of  most of the songs (or the other way around) and got to try out my night time photography skills, of which there are very few.  I need to obtain myself a tripod, but I did okayish, in that I had fun, you can see colours, and make out Santa in one or two of the shots.  I played around a lot with the manual settings, very scary but you can always delete your shots, right? I went completely manual for the first time, and wished I'd read fully or memorised the piece on DPS about fireworks! Silly me!! I'll definitely read it again before New Years Eve because the very first hint is about a tripod! :)


I'm loving their new piece about bokeh too, can't wait to try that one out.


Need that tripod before Christmas so I can take my annual photo of N and I....

Frames are by Paint the Moon

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Furry Friends

Ok, this is my very first entry into a challenge and I'm VERY nervous and VERY excited to participate. I need to start somewhere right? Rigg....hhhtt?
This is a completely nerve wracking experience because I don't know that my photos are good enough, but I've finally decided that its the fun of participating and learning as I go....its always about learning for me, especially since the new camera arrived.

So....with that in mind, here goes.  This week at I Heart Faces the challenge they've set is for 'furry friends', of which I have one.  A very cheeky, yet very adorable lop eared bunny, who will actually answer to the name, 'Fudge'.  He was so yummy and multicoloured, in the brown sense, when I first got him...his name had to be food related in some way cause he was so yummy I could eat him up.  And Fudge is such a delicious name!

Enjoy!

Ready for Take Off

Midnight train...

Friday night is generally a quiet, come home from work and relax kind of night, and tonight hasn't really been any different. Came home, late, and lounged for a short time before N queried the nights takeout. Friday night is takeout or dine out night, more explicitly no cooking night.

Pizza and an evening of movies on the television lay ahead.

I've spent much of the night reading eBooks I'd downloaded and playing games on my iPad, my new best friend, or new best device. I've also explored online book clubs...there have to be some but they're surprisingly difficult to find. I shouldn't be too surprised though I suppose, when I wanted to locate one in my local area a while ago, when I was living 'back home', I couldn't find one. Or to be precise, I couldn't locate one that would take new people.

There are one or two twitter groups I've seen, though the ones I've stumbled across are themed, ie hisorical fiction. Which is fine, I love hisorical fiction, I'd just like to look at all my options before I commit.

So, here it is midnight and I'm about to get back on the train, metaphorically speaking. Soooo, let me know if you are in a great group or know of one. I've always wanted to be in a book group, just never happened I guess...

P.S. still waiting for that bag, or any sign of the bag, or news of the bags whereabouts! Concerns that it will be a 6 week delivery are looming.

The ghost of Christmas past...

I'm participating in Virtual Advent this year for the first time and I've had a lot of fun reading everyone's stories/traditions and then reminiscing about the things my family did. 

I guess I've been thinking more about what I did do with my family than what I currently do because to me Christmas was really alive with the whole 'santa' thing when I was younger - something I don't think I'm really into for kids now. 

It's been a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me and I just can't select one tradition to talk about this time, but guess I'll need to try.

My earliest memory of Christmas involves the tradition of our Christmas or Santa sacks and books; there are always books :)  Each year my brother, sister and I would help mum decorate the Christmas tree to the tunes of various Christmas carols and each of us trying to ridiculously out sing the other...or grumpily tossing away knotted lights and tinsel, depending on the mood at the time and the state of the decorations from last years pack up.  We'd then stick our heads into the linen cupboard, calling out to mum 'Where is my sack? Did you put it away, where did you put it?'.  Mum would patiently (or not, depending on the mood) come and help or call out the viable places the sacks may be hidden.  At this point you might be wondering why why didn't go into a drawer or perhaps away with the decorations each year? Who knows, it would seem more logical and it would indeed have been easier.  Many a cross word was spoken trying to locate them amongst a years worth of table cloths, summer and winter sheets, doona covers, vacuum cleaner and everything else that was stuffed away in there.

Eventually they'd be located, each proudly holding up our sack (or pulling it off a sibling stating it was ours, depending on the mood) and triumphantly marching it over to the tree and laying it underneath.  Always for me, imagining what might be laid inside by Santa, and if indeed I'd been good enough this year for his visit.  There was always a scuffle to place your 'sack' in the best position, and that being right at the front of the tree.  And you'd better watch out if you tried to lay on it or move it to watch the television...I'm starting to think we were quite territorial!  Oh, and mum finally realised that our names on things was a very safe option, so our sack eventually had these printed nicely on the front :)

There was always a lot of waiting, a lot of will the sack have something in it Christmas morning and what would that be?  Eventually Christmas Eve and as we grew up Catholic, there was always midnight Mass...and what an extravaganza that was! So much singing, the nativity and it would bring you that much closer to Christmas day.  Maybe that will be a focus for next year :) The first year I really remember I got up during the night to make a trip to the toilet, just down the hall.  I didn't turn on any lights, and stealthily as I could, made my way over to the tree.  I knew exactly where my sack was....quietly as I could I knelt down and stuck my hand inside...it was so full! There were things spilling out on the ground!  I put my hand in as far as it would go and felt the outline of a book, I smiled (at least I remember smiling), wondering with excitement what book it could be.  I knew if I turned the light on my mum would wake up, a light sleeper, and I'd be in trouble and the sack would be taken away...a threat to keep us in bed.  I dared feel inside the other sacks and can't really remember what I felt inside, but was awed by what I could feel and my mind going crazy trying to work out what was inside.  Knowing, but not completely knowing all the detail.

I went to the toilet, crept back to bed and was still VERY excited the next day when I finally got to see what I'd only felt and imagined the night before.  

I did this nearly every year for many years...always going out, sometimes getting caught.

What I remember and love was the mystery, the placing of the 'sack' under the tree and always receiving a book in that sack.  Even though for years I stuck my hand inside with excitement, I never knew what was really inside until the next day.  

It took a long time for us to stop placing our sacks out under the tree....we were well into our 20's, no one wanting to give it up, because Christmas just wasn't the same without it.  It didn't matter if there was anything inside, it just mattered that the sack was placed out.  Again, we continued to receive a book as part of our gift and again, this continued....actually I was well into my 30's before this stopped and only because mum found it difficult to choose books for us.  

I'm lucky and on the years we choose to do the bought 'gift' thing rather than something else I seem to always receive a book from someone.  I think if I didn't receive one I'd have to go out and do it myself, because it just isn't right to go through the next few days without a book to relax with. 

This year, my family has decided to donate to charities of our choice instead of purchase gifts...so two of the Christmas traditions I've lived with won't happen.  That's ok though, Christmas isn't about the material or the receiving for me, its about family and giving and remembering.

Hope you've enjoyed this lengthy trip down memory lane with me and take a look at the other participants on Day 7 of the Virtual Advent tour.

A selection of books received in my Christmas sack

The bag lady...

Well, that's just what I feel like at the moment...that or the book lady.

I am like a mad thing downloading ebooks onto my new iPad; just in case I'm anywhere and need something to read.  At this rate, I could live for 2 months on the books I have stored and I'm still hungrily searching for more. I've just remembered a few that I have stored on my old laptop, they will of course need to be retrieved to help my virtual library grow.

And the bags, well I haven't exactly accumulated those, but I've been madly searching and researching and looking into and investigating the best, most reliable, most long wearing bag for me.  There are just so many on the market, how does one decide? There are special lady bags, there are backpacks, there are lens bags and sling bags, bulky bags and well, anything else you could imagine really.  Such a nightmare for someone like me really, but in the end, I just wanted everything.

I couldn't of course get everything, I'm on a limited budget and had some birthday money.  What helped tipped the scales was the fact that a wonderful friend got me an e-voucher for Kelly Moore, who makes the most gorgeous bags.  It was either a Kelly Moore or Epiphanie, again a most gorgeous set of bags you ever did see.  So, I've gone with Kelly Moore bags for the moment, because there are always more birthdays and more Christmases and more special occasions in the world.  And if all else fails I can save.  I now have to wait, so the waiting game begins.

I now wish I'd paid the extra and gone for extra speedy delivery, because quite frankly I'm having a really a really difficult time waiting and its only been a week.  I'm checking USPS everyday (or 3 times a day if I'm truthful) and it seems to rarely even move. :( Of course sad face, this waiting is very difficult indeed.  So stay tuned for the bag, I expect to post a picture as I'm super keen for it to arrive.

Have a good weekend and keep yourself sane if you can (I know how difficult that can be) :)

Source: kellymoorebag.com via Fiona on Pinterest

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

1st of December today and it's quite amazing to watch the year hurtle towards its end.

Christmas decorations have been in stores for months, however everyone is now starting to put up their trees and home decorations. I need to start thinking about gifts, but really feel like its too far away. Who am I kidding? We all now it will get ever closer until I'm running in a mad panic the night before.

I'm really enjoying my iPad, amazing birthday gift of gifts it's brought me endless pleasure already, just days into its life with me. I've got books galore stored within, games and a handy notepad. It'll never leave my side again :)

It's been a huge week...both at work and my personal life. In the last few years im left wondering why so many things happen to people around this time. It feels like the time of year when things should sail along for everyone.

This week at work we lost someone dear to us and are still reeling in the aftermath. It will take a long time to recover, but one of the things I realize is that we lost more than a colleague and friend; we've lost someone who strings many threads together in the community, someone who has ties everywhere, someone who you could always see just there. Someone who will never be forgotten and we weren't even aware we'd have tobe ready to say goodbye to.

And that's only half of the story really... The week has continued, as it does and other things have arisen to keep you going on. Even though there are those who wonder how they can, if they should or whether it's irreverent to do so.

I've not taken any photos lately and for various reasons am determined to do so this weekend. I also feel the need to capture the image of something, because after all that's what people are left with. The memories and the images that will last, or hopefully last. Let's hope my next post is more cheerful :)

Source: diycrafts.blogspot.com via Alli on Pinterest

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

I love birthdays, in so much as to say I love having them, love the suspense and the mystery...but I dislike parties.

That's fine though, I'm not having a party this year and haven't had one for many years now.  Its a rarity I have to say.  

Today IS my birthday though and I've been 'Appled' up even more than I was before with a cracking gift from my gorgeous - I've moved into the realm of the iPad. I love it.  I knew I'd love it. And now I can't stop loving it.  Today I spent all morning setting it up and playing with it, only to be late to see actual people :)

My family made a special trip down to see me.  A beautiful surprise was that I didn't realise everyone was coming, how special do you think I felt?  I just feel like the luckiest person in the world right now....I have so many people who love me, treat me well and wishing me the best.  You really can't expect much more from life than that.  And really, everything else is insignificant isn't it? This is what really matters, this is what really counts.

The fun continued when I got taken out to dinner, a beautiful little spot we'd only been to once before and it didn't disappoint.  Now, sitting back with a chance to relax, be with my 'family' and play with all my little gadgets.

Oh, and last week, after much debate, I bought myself a new Canon 60D, and can I say WOW! Haven't had a lot of time to play with it but today I did.  The sun was shining, life was good and so were the people surrounding me.  I didn't get a lot of time to play, but some of the results coupled with my dad's macro that I'm trialling at the moment made me feel good when I looked at them and good about me.  Enjoy with many more pictures to come in the future with my rockin' new camera! Now all I need is a good back so I can carry around more than just the body and one lens.

Images tweaked with Coffeshop Sunny Pop and Coffeeshop Coffee with Cream, then sharpened and resized with Paint the Moon's Frame/sharpen and Paint the Moon's Vintage Attic frames (I think that name is slightly wrong).  The frames are great, they're just my thing and I'm LOVING them at the moment.  Hopefully the next few days I'll get to play with images, editing and my new iPad! Bring it on :)

A New Addition...

Yesterday we were graced with a new addition...Fudge.  He's a gorgeous, cuddly and loveable rabbit who seemed to just snuggle me right away.  He was happy to sit with me for the longest time when I first met him, and was a champion on the ride home.
We've been super careful with him, tried to make him feel at home and not miss his brothers and sisters too much.  And...he seems to be quite happy here; he won't stop eating and happily gets in and out of his hutch without too much prompting and its only Day 2.


There'll be many more pics to come, but this is the first and only one I've had time to edit/resize.  I've edited using Paint the Moon's Miracle Makeover and The Essentials.


Meet Fudge....

Spring and Stuff

An absolutely gorgeous weekend has made me fully realise that the start of spring really is here and the year has nearly gone full circle.  Amazing how time flies isn't it?


I remember thinking at about the same time last year that I didn't think I'd get to this point in 2011 without some things happening along the way.  I didn't know how I'd get here if they did or didn't.  And now, here I am, with things that have happened that I'd perhaps rather not have and things that didn't eventuate that I wished with all my heart that they would.


But you carry on don't you? Other people have much worse things happening to them or their loved ones and they cope and get by and live and well, carry on.  So how can you not?  Sometimes its good to be reminded of those special people, who never think they're special at all.  They are just living life the best way they know how, not doing anything different, not being heroic and certainly not being special.  


It's not like this year was filled with a nothingness either.  It has been a great year, filled with so much more than I could even begin to go into.  People have let me into their lives, just so I can practice what I love, I have been places, met people and I've done some things I didn't want to do or thought I couldn't, but guess what? I could.  You always can, you just can't give up on the trying.  And me, well, I hate to give up.  I'll complain, I'll kick and I'll scream but I find it very hard to just....give up.


And so, I'm awaiting summer (and my man who is out) with high expectations and desire for great things.    Some of the great things I desire are purely material and I'm hoping to get a new camera bag I've been eyeing off.  Not sure yet whether to get one from Epiphanie or Jo Totes, so many good bags, but it will have to last me for a while.   


I've gotten all philosophical today, I think I enjoy blogging and haven't done it for a while. Not many photos this weekend.  Too filled with outside, being a couple and removing all the old files from my old pc to my Mac and loading some great new actions from Paint the Moon.  I thought about them for a while, there is a great deal going on for the Picture Perfect Mega Set, and went for it today.  The photo below is processed using some of the effects from the action set.  


Have a great week :) 

3 Top Tips I've Heard Recently

Let me just say before I start that these came from ALL over the place on the web and in books, they're NOT my tips. I've read them and think they're super. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read them all

1. Take photographs of things you enjoy
2. Try and take a photo every day. You'll learn to see something in everything. It also helps you work out what you like, how your camera works and know your lenses better (this is one I really need to work on)
3. Use natural light as much as possible, it is your friend. Clouds and wind can also be your friends.

And that's my super quick photo for today, shot on my phone and brightened on instagram. a busy day ahead and not sure I'll get another chance.
Have a good weekend

Desperate and Dateless

Well, haven't had a lot of time lately to take pics...I'm ever so desperate to do so, but I'm swamped at work with very little chance of getting home or out before dark.

Its set to rain here all weekend, I don't have any plans in the near future where I could take some gorgeous pics.  I'm going to have to knuckle down and take a photo a day. Everyone says it helps, everyone! Who is everyone? Well, those helpful tipsters out there, thats who! I love reading hints and tips, but they make me feel so inadequate sometimes.  If only I could take a decent picture of something. Next year I'm going to take a photograph a day, and do the 365 challenge.  By the time winter hits I'll have a habit started, surely? 

Anyway, wish me luck, maybe I'll entice 'he who won't be photographed' into doing some sitting for me :)

What I did today...

Such an English school project thing isn't it? Well, although its kinda winter still and we should be a teensy bit rugged up, the weather didn't seem to know that today.  It was sunny, a bit windy and we got out in the sun, washing car, planting herbs and doing some general yard clean up.  
I then moved inside as it got later, did some inside 'chores' or jobs and then progressed to photograph everything in my wake! Look out when I'm in the mood.  I've popped a couple into a free action I bought from MCP Actions, not pretty but hadn't the chance to use it before.  I haven't done it justice...as I made a boo boo, I also added one of My Four Hens Photography's thin white border actions around the outside.  


I love everyone who creates these actions! Free and paid....remember, if anyone stumbles across this blog and uses any of the free actions, you can donate to most of the providers! It helps them keep going and continue to provide those of us with tools that we can't create.


Well, the weekend continues, I'm heading in for the night...a big day tomorrow!  Football and the last home game of the season.  Should be a great day!

Tired...

I've been unwell over the past few days and apart from the times I was too unwell to care what anyone was thinking, there have been many times that I realised how much I missed my social media.

I crave it.  I love to share what I'm doing, I love to share or be a part of what other people are doing.  All this doesn't of course take the place of human interaction for me.  It does help in moments when you just aren't feeling yourself or can't be in the public arena.

Much of the time I was unwell, the sun was shining and they were great days to be out taking photos.  I of course wouldn't have been doing that anyway (they were work days!), but you seem to dream more about it when you're ill...it gives you a sense that you 'could' be doing this and you 'could' be doing that if you were just a little better! :) The reality is, if you were better, you'd be at work!
The dreaming of photographs led me to remember my first real shoot with new subjects, a new location and basically children I don't know very well.  I had so much fun that day, sun was shining and they reminded me how to loosen up and quite frankly, how to just enjoy being.  It was great practise and there was the promise of more days like this to come.  The photographs I've posted below are among two of my favourites.  They remind me of the day, and although its technically still winter (as shown by the boots), summer is not too far away :)

Sunny days...

Sunny days are always hard to take when you're indoors working, with only a lunch break to venture out.  But the promise of the weekend and the possibilities are endless.  So many things you could be doing, so many people you could be seeing!  I love the anticipation of a weekend.
Last weekend I had a moment to myself, the sun was shining so I toddled out to the backyard and took some pictures of the very few flowers I have in the yard.  Not a great lot to choose from, but it felt nice being out in the sun...I didn't want the day to end :)

I didn't even mind that some of the 'flora' were weeds, brightening up spots in the yard and pointing out all the onion weed.  Wednesday tomorrow and the promise of another weekend is looming.   It doesn't feel like its been a long winter this year, but I'm already excited at the prospect of more sun, more outdoors and fresh air.

I processed the image above using some new actions I purchased today from My Four Hens Photography, and resizing for the web with The CoffeeShop Blog again.  I LOVE those rounded corners :) 

I hope to post more images with my posts...I realised I had forgotten earlier and some of the ones I'd like to post I need permission for.  Something I will now need to start thinking about.  

I love bees and lavender 

Sunset near my home in summer

I have used actions on each of these images.  I have Photoshop Elements 9 on my new iMac.  I've used actions here from Rita at The Coffeeshop Blog to get the lovely rounded corners and to sharpen the first image :)  So many free actions, you can also donate or buy them in packs which is what I've done with some of them.  I'll add badges/buttons of sites as I get the hang of blogging :)

First post

Are all first posts titled just that? First post??
My photographic journey began a little while ago, well quite a while ago.  I bought my own SLR Minolta right before digital cameras took off.  I was hopeless at it.  I'd dreamed I guess of being a bit like my dad, he always took great photos and he knew all about the camera, he took cool images and did fantastic things with light, with shutter speed and the filters he had!...he even helped me choose that first SLR.  


Problem was, I was no good at it. I wear glasses and thought that was my problem.  I'd wait a day or two until the film was processed and was always bitterly disappointed.  Some of the photos were taken a month prior; I had no hope at all really, I couldn't even remember much about the photos, let alone what settings I'd used.  I just couldn't ever work out what was wrong nor how to fix it.


I decided I was no good, and the camera didn't see the light of day for years!  I waited a while and bought a digital camera, just to catch the memories, catch the moment only.  I loved it, loved that I could see a really bad photo and delete it without costing a fortune.  I loved that I could try some things and if they were bad or embarrassingly composed...delete.  


A couple of years ago my dad upgraded his digital and offered his old Canon DSLR 350d to me to 'borrow'.  I still have it, the lenses that came with it...the filter was upgraded when I had a minor accident with it during my borrowing period.  I've since expanded my kit, I still have the 350d as my sole body though, and my love and knowledge of photography.  I've still got sooo much to learn, I'm still at a basic level I'd say but loving this hobby and loving everything I've learnt so far.  And not just about cameras and photography, I've learnt a lot about people as well.  My favourite things to capture are people in their environment being natural, macro (when I can loan my dad's lens :) ) shots, and nature.  Well, I'm still learning, so really I do like to try anything new.


I'll be learning along the way, posting images and things I've stumbled across and sharing my journey with you.
Using natural light in a superb way and a rockin' set of catchlights in a crisp portrait are two things I aspire to....and I just hope to catch them in that perfect, that dream, that awesome moment that makes you feel it when you see it.

First post

Are all first posts titled just that? First post??
My photographic journey began a little while ago, well quite a while ago.  I bought my own SLR Minolta right before digital cameras took off.  I was hopeless at it.  I'd dreamed I guess of being a bit like my dad, he always took great photos and he knew all about the camera, he took cool images and did fantastic things with light, with shutter speed and the filters he had!...he even helped me choose that first SLR.  


Problem was, I was no good at it. I wear glasses and thought that was my problem.  I'd wait a day or two until the film was processed and was always bitterly disappointed.  Some of the photos were taken a month prior; I had no hope at all really, I couldn't even remember much about the photos, let alone what settings I'd used.  I just couldn't ever work out what was wrong nor how to fix it.


I decided I was no good, and the camera didn't see the light of day for years!  I waited a while and bought a digital camera, just to catch the memories, catch the moment only.  I loved it, loved that I could see a really bad photo and delete it without costing a fortune.  I loved that I could try some things and if they were bad or embarrassingly composed...delete.  


A couple of years ago my dad upgraded his digital and offered his old Canon DSLR 350d to me to 'borrow'.  I still have it, the lenses that came with it...the filter was upgraded when I had a minor accident with it during my borrowing period.  I've since expanded my kit, I still have the 350d as my sole body though, and my love and knowledge of photography.  I've still got sooo much to learn, I'm still at a basic level I'd say but loving this hobby and loving everything I've learnt so far.  And not just about cameras and photography, I've learnt a lot about people as well.  My favourite things to capture are people in their environment being natural, macro (when I can loan my dad's lens :) ) shots, and nature.  Well, I'm still learning, so really I do like to try anything new.


I'll be learning along the way, posting images and things I've stumbled across and sharing my journey with you.
Using natural light in a superb way and a rockin' set of catchlights in a crisp portrait are two things I aspire to....and I just hope to catch them in that perfect, that dream, that awesome moment that makes you feel it when you see it.