Focus!

I had to go out and take a photo today.

Of a blade plough.

Ever wondered what a blade plough looks like?

There you go.

It's a big plough that digs deep. And that is all I know.

You can now sleep at night, right?

Sure.

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Now, while I was out, I decided to take FIVE minutes to do a little practising.

Practising my 'Depth of Field' action - inspired by the efforts of so many talented photographers at her place. And (I admit) spurred along a little by a certain pick-cher being listed somewhere.

Pardon the pun.

So here we go...

Purple weeds, at f5.6 and 1/1000 second.

Please note: My lense only goes down to 5.6, but the depth of field is still pretty shallow here thanks to the zoom being at full stretch. Is 'full stretch' a photographic term, do you think?)
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I then found a birds' nest in my car. Don't even ask. Okay, it's been floating around the house for a while after all this happened, and then it was taken to Show And Tell at school last week. And yes, my car DOES need cleaning out. Stat.

Wagtail Nest, f5.6 at 1/800 second (pic below is f5.6 at 1/640 second).

I love these shots - love that the horse hair woven into the nest by the willy wagtails is in focus, while most of my hammy hand is not. If you look really closely at the bottom one, you can see some sort of seed pod (?) on the tiny twig at the back of the nest.


You can also still see the sticky tape - keeping it real!

Then I spotted fences, and recalling how many people had used chains to demonstrate shallow depth of field, I tried this...

Barbed wire green - f 5.6 1/800 second

And I am also LOVING that green!

This one, however, is the one I like the most.

Barbed wire rust - f5.6 1/800 second

It was shot where a fence ran in front of a pile of rusting steel pegs and coils of new barbed wire - hence the rusty red and the blue steel blur in the background. The only PS work done is to slightly up the contrast. *Hand on heart*.

I was torn between entering this one and the one above. I went with the one above... am not quite sure why...

I guess I need to get back to business now.

Sending off blade plough photos and paying bills.

Focus Bush Babe, FOCUS!

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While I am gone, tell me, which shot did you like best? And why?

And did you know what a blade plough was before today?

Eye on the prize...

Okay - that's a slightly misleading headline...

(What can I say, I am an ex-journo/sub-editor!)

Kate and Pam let me know this morning (as I checked emails between making tuckshop for 20 kids and ironing uniforms and clearing breakfast plates) that my spur photo had made the Day 2 list of Pioneer Woman's photography assignment...

I was (momentarily) speechless.
Lil' old Bush Babe amongst all those amazing photographers?

A big thanks to Ree for selecting the shot and appreciation to those who let me know.

I don't expect to get any further than this (semi-final?) but this is far enough to put a massive smile on my dial. I am inspired to keep on trying and stretch that little camera even further, and really, that's the main thing isn't it? I don't even know what the prizes are - so no, I don't really have my 'eye on the prize'. That's simply a pun on the next image...

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I have added this photo to the massive melting pot of Ree's Depth of Field assignment

(we are allowed to enter one new photo per day).
Horse eyelashes.

Mmmmmm.

Those who read here regularly or have bought my calendar will know it already.

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Hope you have something happen to YOU today to make you grin like Luna Park.

Let me know about it in comments...

*skips off to do the mowing*

Weather Watch for Drips and Nerds

It's Wednesday today. I know this salient fact, 'cause I just arrived back from our one-teacher school where I help out with the reading activities. Plus I checked the computer date. Heck it's only taken me FIVE Wednesdays to actually get into gear for Weather Watch Wednesday... the idea I came up with. I am SOOOO organised!!
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So what I'm going to do today is to share my weather and forecast (duh) and some images I shot during recent rains here on Granite Glen. Does it seem like it's always raining here to you? I assure you, it is not. I just talk about it a lot. And take more photos of rainy days and the glorious aftermath of moisture arriving on our countryside...

What can I say, it inspires me when it's green.

(More than this anyway!)
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Below are a series of shots of water dripping and trickling from a beam underneath a big old bridge that links our place to our neighbours - we sheltered under there while inspecting the puddles of water in the river back here. I was trying to capture the drops clear and still in the shade of the structure - and not knowing where the next drip would come from made focussing tricky. Nonetheless, here's the result:

(I am also sharing basic camera settings for those interested in photo-nerd stuff. )


f 6.3 at 1/800 second

f6.3 at 1/500 second

f 6.3 at 1/200 second

f 6.3 at 1/200 second

(Faster speeds freezing moving drips better).
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Weather Forecast for today and next few days:
Showers predicted with up to 80% chance of less than 1mm

Temperatures ranging from 19 degree Celsius (min) to 30 degree Celsius (max)

Steamy.

Steamy spit.

Hopefully bringing more of the stuff that does this:

f 6.3 at 1/1000 second

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NB This is my new entry in PW's assignment this week - just so you know, I have no hope of winning but I do like to take part. I don't mind not being selected - it honestly gives me a buzz to see what others can do. Inspiring.

Shallow spurs

A long time ago (in blog time) I was sent a special gift by a woman I had never met. It was to change the way I thought about blogging and it would allow me to make a real connection with a place somewhere on the other side of the world.
You can read about it here if you don't know what I am rabbiting on about.
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Anyway, this week the fabulous Ree is running another contest at her place. For photos exhibiting a 'shallow depth of field' - she does a great tutorial on it here if that phrase bamboozles you. Basically she wants mostly blurry and a bit in focus. And the shots I took of that gift sent by Debby just over a year ago fit the bill.
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I don't own a lens that REALLY gets down low (in the aperture department) but the limits of my little 18-200mm zoom did their very best for this one.

It was shot on my kitchen bench in natural light the day I got it home.

It is uncropped and run with PW's Fresh and Colorful action...

(How's that for ironic? 'Fresh and Colorful' on 'Old and Rusty'?).

It's still one of my favourite photos ever...

perhaps not for technical reasons, but it never fails to make me smile.

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What's your favourite photo? And why?

And if you are entering PW's contest please add your link to the comments so we can all admire...

For those who haven't, the whole lot of amazing images can be found here.

Man there are some talented bloggers out there...

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Late note: I made a list, I made a list!

Day 2 finalists are here. And the spur is tucked in amongst the awesome snow and bubble shots. I won't get any further than that (the standard of pics is staggering!) but am utterly stoked to have been chosen for a day list.

Dancing on the inside (Axel-style)

It's someone's birthday today.
He's beside himself with excitement.

Want to sing with me?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO

youuuuuu....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO youuuuuu....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

dearrrr AXE-ELlllll....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO youuuuuu....

Axel Rose-berry the First (aka 'the great galut') turns ONE today.

For the record he DID enjoy his birthday corned-meat fritters.

And he's freaking right out with delight at his treat.

You just can't tell.

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(To see his progress since arriving here 10 months ago, check out this post, and this one and this one and this one too. Man this dog has GROWN!)

Addiction, apologies and catching up

I have a confession to make today. I am a shocker - I have a real problem actually.

Do you have ANY idea how many photos I take? Literally hundreds a month. I try to slow down, but it's my crack. My poison. And I figure it ain't hurting no-one with my addictive pastime, except for my hard drive (and my grammar apparently!).
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And when readers and friends say: 'How on earth do you think of your next blog post?'
My response is usually: 'Are you kidding? If I was laid up for the next six months, I have enough blog fodder saved there for daily contributions to the chaos of www!'

My problem is not WHAT to write and blog about, it's finding the time to do it. Sure I can take the photos and have a rough idea what I am going to write with them, but generally I can't sit down and focus on it until late at night - after when all my loved ones are fed, bathed and tucked into bed. It explains why so many typos make it to the 'publish' button.

(That's my excuse and I am sticking with it!)

For instance, I have a small mountain of photos from after Christmas - when the rain started falling (finally) and softening the views from our windows (and the faces of our workforce). I am finding an excuse to post some of them now - as it's been raining again this week (three and a half inches of gorgeous precipitation into our rain gauge) and as I am reintroducing Weather Watch Wednesday. (Yes, I know it's not Wednesday, this is a PREVIEW. Stay with me!).
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Here are some shots of the kids from a month ago - exploring a gully running with water. There had been a heavy downpour with that same amount (as we had this week) falling in a couple of hours. It's amazing how differently the country 'lets go' of the water with the different rates of rainfall. This week, the water simply soaked into the ground. No run-off.

No ready-made waterfall-filled playground for Dash and Violet...

It was incredible how quickly the Nintendos and Wii games were forgotten as they frolicked in the stream. Exactly as I did when I was a youngster growing up here... before either of these devices had been dreamed of.

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We had also checked out the river bed during the last lot of rain...

Here Dash demonstrates his 'Jesus Walk' .

It only lasted 1/100 of a second, but the moment is officially filed in our Historical Events!
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Mr Incredible also checked out how far the water levels were rising in the river bed. Did you know that rivers keep running BELOW a sandy river bed like this? Even if you cannot see it from above, dig a little and you can generally find sand-filtered water...

The river was running about two feet below the natural level of the sand.

In the old days, cattlemen would use hollowed out tree trunks to bury into the sand, digging out the sand inside the circle of timber, and viola: a trough of clean water for animals to quench their thirst. I actually have a couple of these old sand troughs as 'pots' in my garden.

Hey - there is something I haven't photographed lately...

Oh wait... hang on... lookee here:

In the archives baby.

See that timber thing in the background of this lily photo taken at this time.

One of the unposted thousands...

*Sigh*

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So Weather Watch next Wednesay, okay?

Would love you to catch me up on the last month of Mother Nature's efforts in your neck of the woods, in the comments section below?

And while you are there... what's your poison?

Something you KNOW an addiction you KNOW you should cut down on, but just can't?

Make me feel better please!

Compliments, busy-ness and bottoms

My son is such a little man. He is growing up so darned fast it makes my head spin. Wasn't it yesterday that I nervously watched him off on his first muster when he couldn't keep up with the mob? And the day before that when he was promoted from Rob Roy the Great (Shetland) to Lovely Lacey? And the day before that, I watched him FINALLY take his first steps sometime after his first birthday (and his early hurdles)?
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And now? Now he is a little man who rides a ripstick with the best of them, who eats like a HORSE (despite never appearing to put on any weight) and wears the title of musterer extraordinaire with beaming pride.

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I remember when I first started mustering on my own - I also remember the first day my Dad (Pagi) proudly told Mum I was 'as good as a man'. I very nearly busted. (I was about 11 years old and it was long before I had heard of women's lib - to this day I totally understand that he meant that my gender was not an issue while I was on a horse: I was as good as a man. And regardless of political correctness, his compliments just don't come any better than that.)

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I think of this as I watch my smiling, skinny seven-year-old son who now easily hoists himself onto that old chestnut mare and boots her into action.

Of course he sometimes completely forgets to arrange the reins/steering gear before he climbs aboard. Luckily Dad is around to sort out this minor dilemma for him. (Note how patiently Lacey is waiting - I think she may actually be catching a nap. She's old. She's allowed.)

Undeterred by his initial steering issues, Dash contemplates tactics as he prepares to move the cows and calves from the yards.

And into action...

(if anyone can see a human bottom in this photo, could they please point it out for me? I swear this kid inhales calories like there is no tomorrow, but where they go, no-one knows!)

"Walk up, walk up!"

He walks Lacey forward, sitting up straight as a rod, moving those cows and calves through the dust and back towards their home paddocks... I suspect there could have been some whistling going on at this point...

"Walk up girls!"

(I am never sure if the cows mind being called 'girls' - I am here to tell you, some of them are not exactly spring chickens, so I fancy they are quite flattered.)

And now is when Dash really gets active.

And Lacey wonders what the heck she has done to deserve a kid with ants in his pants.

Dashing off to one side...

Then darting back across the mob to keep those slower cows moving, moving, moooo-ving.

(Sorry. Cow pun. Couldn't help it.)

Across...

And back...

And again... and again.

Either this kid is hyperactive, or, as Mr Incredible says with pride:

"He's just tidying them up - like a good dog."

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Compliments around here - you've really just got to know how to take them!