So long 2016, Hello 2017

It's been a quiet few days since last post and the end of 2016. Partially because my camera lead to the computer developed a problem and I couldn't download photos. There were some hot days in which flowers glorified in the sun....

.....some one decided this was the coolest place in the yard, complete with cold beverages.

I noticed the cherry tomatoes had set fruit after the first rainfall...

and  the end of the thunderstorms gave us a lovely light display!

2017 came in with mid to high 20 Celcius temperatures and a lovely partially cloudy morning that developed into some nice rain and cleared to a beautiful sunset in the evening as evidenced by my new blog header photo and the photos below.

Wishing everyone a New Year that is enjoyable, peaceful, filled with family and friends and is everything you make it become.

Cheers,

RobynLouise xo

Busy week, gifts from nature and special mail :D!

It’s been a busy week for me as I “lost” my RMO last Friday due to staff shortages and then was rostered on Saturday with the regular work schedule so Sunday was catching up on things around the house – laundry, house cleaning etc and catching up on a few hours sleep. I also tried out some  additions to my sourdough baking and ended up with this. It's in the freezer until I finish eating the current loaf.

 I had my regular RMO on Tuesday and had a friend visit and even though Wednesday was a real “stinker” at work with the humidity I was rewarded with these lovely views of the evening sky when I took Flash for a walk after I came home.

 Shame they were only taken on the mobile phone as the colours aren’t what my eyes could see but if you “picture” almost iridescent blue skies and peachy orange clouds I’m sure you’ll see why I was entranced with the view J.

I discovered these on one of my pumpkin vines this morning as I was watering them and squashing 28 spot ladybugs. The leaf pictured below is what happens when these decide to chow down on your curcurbita!

This morning, when I arrived home from work, I took Flash for a walk across the park to the post office and collected the Soap by Sandy that I’d ordered a couple of weeks ago. Darn Auspost took their sweet time delivering them…..grrrrr. I love them! Some are for gifts and some are for me. They are currently sitting on the kitchen bench where I took this photo and the lounge/kitchen area smells divine J.

Hoping everyone else has a wonderful week too….or at least a few delightful days!

Cheers,

RobynLouise xo

Possum light sunset

It's this time in the evening I call Possum Light time - a time when it's not light but it's not dark either - there's a briefer time in the morning when this happens too. Possum light as it's a term used in Elyne Mitchell's Silver Brumby book series and when I first read them as a child, then living in suburbia, the phrase caught my attention and my imagination and I never forgot it. That's what good writing is about. It's also the time when I'm most likely to see the resident possum, if it's going to visit, so it must be based on truth :).

To see the sunset and the evening stars (look closely there are 2) at the same time is a real treat so I thought I'd share it as the last post for this month. If you click on this photo you can view it in a bigger size. Enjoy.

Cheers,

Robyn xo

Back to manual

After returning from my afternoon walk and feeding the dogs their evening meal I noticed a change happening in the sky and knew the time to capture it was limited. I raced inside and grabbed the camera but I knew as soon as I was back at the gate that the Auto and Scene Recognition functions on my camera just weren't up to it....so I bit the bullet and turned the dial to Manual. Not something I am familiar with on this camera.

Now, manual on a mostly Automatic digital camera offers restricted f numbers so I'm stuck between 2.8 to 8, not like my old 35mm SLR (may it RIP), so I have to be a bit clever with the speeds and viewing angles especially when I would have used 1.4 for a night shot or 16 or 22 for a daylight shot involving bright sun, water or snow. I still can't figure out what replaces the film speed option either as I used to use 400 film for indoor/night shots and also had the option on moonless nights of popping the camera on the tripod, opening the shutter to 1.4 and leaving the lens open for up to 8 seconds. I had a few great night shots of towns, moving traffic and stars at night (no moon) using this method :). I actually use the flash more in the daytime to combat shadows as it can bleach out the colours in night shots.

Out of 6 shots I have 3 useable ones. The first useable one was a bit of a washout as I had the speed on 1/50sec, f5 and the camera was on the wrong angle so that also made for too much direct light. It's still a pretty accident though :). Taken 5:32:02pm.

The next two were more realistic and close to perfect. Both taken at 1/80sec, f6.4 and with my little finger under the camera lens so the "angle" was giving the picture the same colours as my eyes were seeing. I will never have the depth of field I want with this camera as I don't have the range of settings but it does a pretty reasonable job for the price. Top one taken at 5:37:04pm, bottom one at 5:37:48pm.

I didn't change the camera position but I had to wait a little for the camera to process the previous photo. The bottom photo is a fraction lighter and the colours aren't quite so intense. 44 seconds can make a difference and sometimes even 5 or 10 seconds, earlier in the day, can lose you a great shot as the light won't be exactly the same ever again. Lol, bit like trying to photograph kids and animals :D!

Thanks for looking at my amateur photography and I must start taking more outside shots as the current farm photos are outdated. The farm looks fantastic after all the rain and there's something more personal/romantic about the natural lighting in Autumn and Winter. If you like photography you'll know what I mean :). I'm looking forward to a frosty Winter as frost makes for really interesting sights, lighting and photos.

Cheers,

Robyn xo

Unnatural Sunset

I noticed this sunset and thought I'd snap a photo of it as this is coloured by smoke from either a controlled burn or, more likely, another bushfire on the other side of the ridges to the west.

Pretty, yes, but it can be pretty awful too when you see these. The sun was actually a red colour, like the aura around it but I couldn't capture it with my automatic camera.

Cheers,

Rob xo

Sunrise, Sunset

I wasn't going to have 'old' layouts on here but I'm a sucker for sunrises and sunsets and I did a recent layout on a sunrise as part of a Winter 'likes' challenge so I thought it wouldn't look right without posting the sunset as well. The sunset photo was taken in Summer 2009 and the sunrise, obviously, in Winter 2010. However, no artist will ever match what nature achieves every day :).