a new watermark

and some old favourites. Lib at Lib Creative designed a gorgeous watermark/logo for me as can be seen on the above photo. Still working on uploading photoshop so until that happens I can't watermark my photos. Until then, here are some old favourites of mine.

i am sailing

little leaf boats in the fountain at Central Park.

What a lovely day Monday was. After days and days of rain, Melbourne finally turned on the sunshine. What better way to spend it than with friends, having a play at the park and a long leisurely brunch?

After brunch we headed back to the fountain and tried to skim stones. That was completely unsuccesful but I did manage to build a couple of leaf boats and we set them free to sail around, being pushed by the wind until they capsized. I love the sun flare that I managed to capture as well.



Of course the weather is back to rain and wind now, but at least Monday was glorious.

to market, to market

to buy a fat pig! Well, technically we didn't buy a pig but we saw plenty of them. Scared my poor boy a little bit to start with given the size but before too long he was letting them sniff and nudge his hand and trying to clamber over the fences so that he could get into their sty and pat them.

We headed to the Farmer's Market at the Collingwood Children's Farm today, braving the rain and mud, and we had a great time. Lots of yummy food, nothing like pancakes fresh off the bbq, and lots of animals to keep us entertained.



Of course each time the sheep were glimpsed we had to sing "baa baa black sheep" and all make "baa" noises. I loved the pony, although nobody else seemed particularly taken with him.



The fun was had when we entered a little garden that was full of ducks, chickens and geese roaming freely.






I hate birds that are bigger than budgies but I sucked it up and trailed along behind my boys as they chased and petted as many fowl as possible. Highlight was my darling boy looking at the chickens and saying "mmm, chicken, YUMMY!!!!!"

The rain looked so beautiful on the grass that I couldn't help myself, I had to capture them on film.

babycinos

~ the drink and the cafe are both equally awesome in my delightful son's opinion. A great little cafe located just off Punt Road in South Yarra, babycinos cafe is a lovely place to while away a couple of hours.



I expected to just sit and relax and have a coffee, maybe a chat, I didn't expect to find some little flowers hidden away behind the play equipment! It was heaven for all.





I think these pink ones were my favourite though, if anyone knows what they are please tell me. I really need to learn more flower names I think!





And of course, rain brings water and we all know how much I love raindrops left on any form of flower or leaf.

visiting the waterfront

in Geelong last weekend was a lot of fun! We were invited to a friend's daughter's birthday party at The Carousel and it was such a great destination!


They have fixed up a lot of the original horses from the carousel and they look amazing! I know that my little bubba boy certainly enjoyed talking to them.



Us big kids preferred the broken-down "in original condition" horsies though. If only they could talk!


After the party we had a short walk along the waterfront to try and get some of the sugar out of bubba boy's system and we met some very interesting folk along the way...





Shooting in manual on a rainy day at the beach is tricky I tell ya! This is one of my favourite photos of the day, it looks like my darling husband is checking out the time on pylon man's pocket watch.

the beach in autumn

is a wonderful place. We spent the weekend at Mt Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula and made the most of the last of the autumn weather with an afternoon trip to the beach.



It was my first time shooting manual on the beach and it was quite tricky due to the sun shining so brightly, but it was so beautiful! I'm so glad I managed to capture some of the sparkles of the sun reflecting on the water.



After the beach we headed back to b's house. Her garden is lacking in flowers currently although she assures me that next visit it will be overflowing. I still managed to find a few though and indulge in some macro.







I think my favourite part of the garden was a piece of creeping ivy hanging out in the sun.

between chapel street and toorak road

if you cut in at a diagonal is the most delightful section of little cottages and terrace houses. And these houses have the most charming little gardens, full of roses, gernaiums and other delights.



After having been sick for the past week or so I decided to head out into the sunshine and explore this little piece of suburbia. I liked what I saw.





Now if only we could afford a house there. This little slice of picture-perfect suburbia comes at a price, and sadly (unless I win lotto) I think that I'm going to be reduced to visiting, photographing and returning to my own little unit.

raindrops keep falling on my head

but I love it! Had an awesome day practicing shooting in manual yesterday with some very cute kiddies playing up for the camera. However I tore myself away from my adorable child models so that I could sneak in some macro photography after a brief shower.



And just in case things are a little too dull I got some nice bright shots also





I will be back later to upload some photos of the adorable kiddies that I shot in full manual.

a study in flowers

I had my first ever indoor macro shoot yesterday and I love love loved it!!!! I used the flowers that were part of my Mother's Day present and decided to see what I could do with them indoors. I wasn't convinced I would enjoy the experience much as I thought it would be too man-made and unnatural but boy was I wrong!



I was so impressed with the results that I got. The sun was streaming in through our balcony doors so I simply laid some black fabric on the ground in the sunlight, arranged the flowers in a bud vase and went to town. And really, the results speak for themselves.



I didn't need to do any post-production editing at all, apart from cropping some down a little. I just can't get over the results that shooting indoors in the correct lighting can give!




One of my favourite photography books is Creative close-ups: digital photography tips and techniques. In it, the author Harold Davis expressed the same concern about shooting macro indoors that I had prior to yesterday ~ mainly that it just wouldn't be right and as "real" as outdoor macro photography. He was converted after his first indoor macro experience and despite my scepticism I have been converted as well. Guess this means someone will have to continue buying me lots more lovely flowers so that I can keep practicing!