Blue Mount Cemetery
This cemetery has not been used for decades, and is now quite overgrown by bushland. There are probably many graves of timber cutters and families who lived in the area in the 1900′s, but the only ones still visible are of local families who are well known in the town of Trentham. Dominated by a huge Camphor Laurel tree, it is a quiet and peaceful spot near the top of the mountain, somewhere that will never be disturbed.
Blue Mount
Blue Mountain is 837 metres high, and close by the town where I live. Today my weekend visitors and I went to the top, which is only accessible by a four wheel drive vehicle or on foot. We drove up the very steep and bumpy dirt track to the top where there is a watch tower used in summertime to spot fires in the Wombat Forest. It was a beautiful place with amazing views across the countryside to Melbourne in the distance.
Apricot Nectar and Jude the Obscure
Two of my favourite roses.
Sewing Room Skink?
This morning I found a little skink in my sewing room…….on checking with the Museum of Victoria Field Guide site, this little lizard is a common Garden Skink of the Lampropholis species. It must have lost its way!
Gently caught and transported outside to my moss pot, it became the subject of practice with the 5D. I’m finding the numerous modes of auto focus a bit of a challenge, but managed to get some good shots. Some of these have been cropped a little, but all were taken with the 100mm macro lens. He was quite small, about 8-9 cms long. If you look carefully you can see my reflection in its eye!
Just a word about these galleries – you can click on any image and it enlarges, the whole then becomes a slide show. The gallery itself will show images in a different order each time it is opened.
A Present for Me!
I purchased this little number yesterday……..
A big splurge indeed, and now I have to learn how to use it to its full potential. Yes, that is Gaffer tape spoiling its beauty – purely a protective measure to prevent marks or bumps as I get used to its larger size and weight. Watch this space for some results!
Early Morning Lakeside…..
Most of today was spent preparing three entries for a local photo exhibition that will be held in a couple of weeks, and the theme was “Our Town”. I unearthed this as one of the three, taken last year when we had a pair of black swans on the town lake. I used a slice of this image for a header some months back, so here it is in it’s entirety.
At My Feet – WordPress Photo Challenge – From Above
Another from around the garden this morning – quickly and without much thought. Apologies – inspiration lacking!
The Wombat Forest Exhibition.
There is going to be a small photography exhibition in town from tomorrow evening until May 9th. This is being staged by the local Wombat Forest Care Group and promises to have a great group of images of this precious place. This was one of a couple I submitted.
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Up
This week’s challenge is to show a photo which means up – it can be be a direction, an orientation, or even a movement. These were all taken on a recent trip to Singapore and Penang. The roof structure and the Supertrees are in the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, and the Palm was outside the window of my hotel in Penang.
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Amanita muscaria
Autumn is the season of change, and misty mornings when deciduous trees with wonderfully coloured leaves make it a time photographers love. For me it is also when many and varied fungi begin to appear, and I get down and dirty to take my pictures. These spotted ones have appeared in my front garden over the last few days. They are Amanita muscaria or Fly Agaric toadstools, the classic toadstool of childrens’ fairy story illustrations, or magic mushrooms from hippie times. They are hallucinogenic, and although thought to be poisonous, there are no recorded deaths from consuming them as they can be eaten if par boiled. It is not recommended!
Ladybirds
I’ve been rescuing Ladybirds again. I think they come into the house on firewood somehow, perhaps they are hiding in crevices or under the bark, but I am never aware of them at the time. Then they must emerge and fly towards the light, as I find masses of them on the window screens, or around the widow edges. There is a wonderful website about them if you are interested – HERE. Today I must have caught and removed at least 25 of the little beetles and released them onto my large pot of moss that is often use as a background for photography. Of course I then had to take some pictures before they flew away. Here are a few……..
These are all taken with my usual Canon 550D and the wonderful 100mm macro lens and tripod.
Texture Tuesday – Also late!
Taken this morning……it’s Autumn here now and weather is getting colder. Still some roses about, but this gorgeous one was the only one on that bush. Sorry – can’t recall it’s name.
Processed with KK’s textures Isobel (86%) and Blue Bayou (50%), both at Soft Light with textures removed from the rose.
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Colour
It’s a bit late, but here is a selection of very colourful shots taken when in Singapore earlier in the year.
Texture Tuesday – Flower Power
I spent a short time today lying on my grass, observing and photographing dandelions and bees. I have used one shot for this week’s Texture Tuesday image. This has two layers of KK’s textures – “Paper stained music” and “Fall in”, at multiply and soft light modes respectively. I had difficulty deciding on the colour for the quotation as dark colours appeared too harsh and light ones too bright – I eventually settled on this after a lot of trial and error!
These are some of the other photos I took:-
Texture Tuesday – Wise Words
For this week, the brief was to use at least one of Kim Klassen’s textures and include some wise words, so this is another quotation from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lau Tzu.
This is an image taken recently, a big fat caterpillar on the dried seed pod of an Oriental Poppy, into which it later disappeared. I presume to eat the seeds inside. Textured with two of KK’s textures, Aurora and Fall In, both at soft light mode but reduced opacity.
Praying mantis
Found this fellow on my window this morning ……..it was about 35 mm long.
As usual, you can click on any photo for a larger image, and you will get a slideshow.
Texture Tuesday – Free and Easy Edition…..a bit late
A bit late this week, things have been hectic and even this was done in a hurry! Textured with one of KK’s Magic textures at reduced opacity and Edith from the Downton Collection. Hope you like it.
My apologies to those whose comments have recently gone unacknowledged…..they are very much appreciated and I am sorry for so doing, but there has not been much computer time in the last week or so. I shall endeavour to be better in future.
WordPress Weekly Challenge – Lost in the Detail
This week we are asked to see details in a larger scene – once we have chosen a subject to shoot, then work a little further into the scene. The example was a landscape – read here – but I have another example which meets the brief. This year I planted some sunflowers specifically with the intention to photograph them when in flower. This was the first one which bloomed, and I was very pleased with this shot. Nice blurred background of a fresh unblemished flower that had not been attacked by bugs etc etc…
Then I looked a little closer…..
And what did I see?
A couple of little Ladybirds and some larvae hiding in the flower’s bracts. In my opinion, a good example of getting lost in the detail!
Litoria ewingii – Brown Tree Frogs
When down by the lake in search of emerging dragonflies early one morning, I discovered the water reeds were full of these gorgeous little frogs – Litoria ewingii, who come in a variety of colours, and are rarely over 3 cms long. I love them! By the time the sun is coming over the trees and it begins to warm up, they are gone, hiding in the grasses and reeds on ground level.
Click on any image for a larger view.
Fishing with Friends
These three, a Spoonbill, a Grey Heron and an Ibis can often be found together in my lake – an unusual and unlikely group of friends.
All taken from a distance with my 70-200 mm lens and early morning. With a higher ISO they were quite noisy, and colour was not impressive so I made them black and white for a change!
