A Photographer’s Dream

I was so excited to spot this panorama of reflections, and felt it deserved it’s own post. Even an amateur, intermittent photographer like me always has to keep their eyes peeled and their camera at hand. You never know what you’re going to see and as much as it might be about capturing what you see, you also need the vision to peer beyond the surface and skill to do it well. I’m still not convinced that you can do al of this with your phone but our daughter has the latest iPhone and it does a great job and is so much better than lugging my bulky Nikon SLR around.

Have you taken any remarkable photos lately. Please feel encouraged to leave a link in the comments.

Best wishes,

Rowena

Centre of Our Universe: Day 4: Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge.

There’s the honeymoon.

Then, there’s the “before the baby arrives” holiday and the one before the next baby arrives.

While anticipating our daughter’s grand entry into the world, we flew down to Tasmania with Mister and stayed with Geoff’s cousin in Brdport, NE of Launceston. Geoff grew up on a 10 acre farm in Scotsdale. He is a dyed in the wool Tasmanian and has the scar tissue to prove it. His family has been living in Tasmania since the 1830s and includes free settlers as well as a convict who was accomodated at the notorious gaol: Port Arthur.

So, continuing the theme of posting photos of us behind the lens, here is Geoff photographing Mister at St Columbas Falls, Tasmania. From memory, I think Geoff was photographing the falls when Mister jumped in front of the lens, insisting on being the subject. Didn’t like being ignored! Reminds me of how dogs sit in front of the TV driving you crazy trying to get your attention.

Even though this blogshare is about sharing one photo a day, I couldn’t resist adding this photo of Mister, which conveys his dare-devil spirit. He isn’t quite so daring these days but he still has an eye for adventure. It was taken at Tomahawk Beach in NE Tasmania, which is 111 km NE of Launceston and looks out onto Bass Strait, which can be a gruelling patch of sea..

Mister, Tomahawk, Tasmania aged 18 months.Has pram will travel!

I am, having a ball trawling through old photos for this blogshare and am truly coming to realise how much work lies ahead sorting our my photos into some sort of retievable system. This is proving quite a challenge. In case you hadn’t noticed, “systems” is a foreign concept.

I was nominated by Geoff Le Pard fromTanGental for the Five Photos Five Stories blog Share: http://geofflepard.com/2015/06/10/five-photos-five-stories-day-two/

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The rules of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. This is fun, not a command performance!

xx Rowena

The Beginning: Five Photos Five Stories

My journey of a million photos began with a humble Kodak Instamatic camera.

Before Dr Phil redefined all of life’s great milestones as “defining moments”, my mother escorted me and my box full of coins into the local photography shop to buy my very first camera.

A far cry from my current Nikon SLR, my pride and joy was a Kodak Instamatic 56X. These were manufactured from 1972-1977 . It was Simple Simon to operate and all I had to do was press the silver button on top and manually wind the film on. That’s right speaking of film, it used a 126 film cartridge you shoved up its backside. Oh yes! The flash was a disposable plug-in flash cube so it was something reserved for special occasions.

“To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.”

Ansel Adams

Of course, any thought of being able to see your photos in the back of your camera before you paid to have them printed weren’t even considered. Rather, the cartridge was dropped off at the local pharmacy where it was sent off to Kodak for processing while you waited…at least overnight.. I still remember tearing open those packets of precious snaps with such excitement and love.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.“

Henry David Thoreau

Although my precious photos might have been blurry and I’d inadvertantly chopped off subjects’ heads, stuck fingers over the lens and ended up with way to many photos of Baby Alive, the dog and my brother who was fond of showing off, they were still precious…my photos!

“Photography helps people to see.”

Berenice Abbot

While I’m no Ansell Adams, photography is a passion and so often my way of viewing and capturing both the world around me and the poetry within.

I was nominated by Geoff Le Pard fromTanGental for the Five Photos Five Stories blog Share: http://geofflepard.com/2015/06/10/five-photos-five-stories-day-two/

I was nominated to take part in this photo challenge by Ali Issac, who takes the most beautiful images and always has a story to tell about them. I would like to nominate Rowena at BeyondtheFlow, to take up this photo challenge baton.

The rules of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. This is fun, not a command performance!

I have decided to nominate Kath Unsworth from Miniscule Moments whose illustrations and photos are breathtaking and really worth a look: http://kathunsworth.com/

Do you have any special photographic beginnings you would like to share?

xx Rowena

A Twinkling Wonderland on a Starry Night

Geoff managed to capture the stars through the Gum Trees at Staples Lookout last night. Not an easy shot to pulloff at all…especially without a tripod! xx Rowena

PS I’m hoping uou can see the tree branches in the photo. They were quite clear in the original but not so visable on the post from this computer.