Photo Challenge 2009

New Year - New Challenge

2009-12-31T23:35:00.001+11:00

Well this year was a bust towards the end... here's hoping I can do much better in 2010....

November 2nd

2009-11-06T17:52:00.002+11:00

November 1st

2009-11-06T17:48:00.002+11:00

Back and ready to roll.. Have had a rough year this year so things really slid away, but I'm back....

I've been slack...

2009-02-17T20:28:00.002+11:00

...in uploading, I've got shots for every day of the year, however processing and uploading has been delayed by lack of computer for a few days and school returning followed by taking and processing pics for friends :) need to build a portfolio somehow!!!

All photo's should be uploaded and up to date by this weekend - all going well :)

February 6th

2009-02-06T22:25:00.001+11:00

My daughter absolutely adores our cat, Portia - unfortunately her love is not reciprocated. Portia will tolerate being handled, carried around and treated like a baby, however she most certainly does not seem to like it!!!

~ Unrequited Love ~

February 4th

2009-02-06T09:48:00.004+11:00

Today I did my first ever "proper" photo shoot. My friend brought her boys around and I set up the dining room with a black fleece backdrop with a white sheet to the side for soft reflection. Lighting was in the form of large north facing windows. this little boy was sooo cheeky and loved pulling faces - but was still quite serene as well. I love this image for the peacefulness and child like innocence.

~ Jackson ~

February 3rd

2009-02-04T12:27:00.003+11:00

Toby has had a sulky couple of days which is really good photographing him as he stays still and only moves his eyes to follow things/people around.

H is our 18 month old Maltese x Shih Tzu Unfortunately he's started nipping at the kids and isn't responding to training so he will be going to DH's parents to live at he end of Feb if things don't improve. We al love Toby but the children's safety is paramount - especially as he's already broken skin :(

~ Toby ~

February 2nd

2009-02-02T23:28:00.003+11:00

We had a lovely cool change come through today which resulted in rain in the morning. i ventured out this afternoon and the roses were just asking to be photographed. For a change I threw on a macro filter to investigate the roses further.

This one caught my attention as the heart of the rose looked like lots of little arms wrapped around each other as they were protecting the inner sanctum of the flower. The petals were damaged and blown around, but the heart was tight and compact and still in perfect condition.

~ Heart of the Rose ~

February 1st

2009-02-02T22:34:00.003+11:00

We ended up at the Devonport Bluff again for another BBQ with friends today. I was going to have a photo of their daughter as my photo of the day then thought I'd better not - you never know who will stumble upon this blog and I'd rather risk it with my kids than someone elses - does that sound as weird in writing as it sounds though out?? LOL

This picture looks OK in colour, however with her vibrant red hair my daughters gorgeous blue eyes seem to fade into the background and make her look a little washed out. I love this B&W version as her eyes stand out just that little bit more. Here she is doing her best Tyra Banks impersonation and being 'fierce' In reality I was trying to get her to relax her face, as when she smiles she tends to tense up and pull really tight lipped smiles that can look really weird.

~ Kahli ~

January 31th

2009-01-31T21:49:00.003+11:00

Yet another day at the beach. i snapped this image of hubby walking with our children on our way back from an evening enjoying the cool change in the weather.

It was OK as a stand alone image but I felt it needed something more - I'm feeling rather sentimental at the moment :)

~ Walk a Little Slower, Daddy ~

January 30th

2009-01-31T00:52:00.004+11:00

I had so much trouble picking out which image to use for today's photo so shut my eyes and pointed and voila here we are :). Domenik's eyes were so brown today they were like huge glass pools reflecting everything in front of him. I love the way they have photographed :)

~ The Eyes Have It ~

January 29th

2009-01-30T14:01:00.001+11:00

Today was a stinking hot day (nothing like what the mainland was experiencing though) so we spent it mostly in front of the air conditioner. My eldest son did venture out towards evening to raid the strawberry patch :)

I was playing with a macro filter on this image. It's not the prettiest berry, but was very tasty *grin*

~ Fruit of Summer ~

January 28th

2009-01-29T23:00:00.001+11:00

It was a glorious evening and we were lucky enough to be at the Devonport Bluff with friends to enjoy it. There wasn't a breath of wind and the children were swimming right up to 9pm in Bass Strait.

~ Sunset Silhouettes ~

January 27th

2009-01-28T00:34:00.001+11:00

Slim pickings today. I spent most of the evening in hospital with Domenik. He reacted to some peanuts off a drumstick icecream via breastmilk. He ended up having a severe allergic reaction - classed as borderline anaphylactic. It's not a pretty sight seeing your 16 week old baby swell and try to clear their airways.

So apologies for the crap picture, but it's an image that will stay with me or the rest of my life. This is just the beginning of the reaction - his eye swelled shut, face swelled as well as become covered in welts as did his tiny body :(

Not a good day, but at least we know we have a child with allergies, I just wish it wasn't this severe via breastmilk....

BTW - it's called De-Ja-Vu as we've been through this struggle already with his older brother and we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... Now it's all going to start again *sigh*

~ De-Ja-Vu ~

January 26th

2009-01-27T15:50:00.001+11:00

Australia Day - what better way to celebrate being Australian than at the beach. This was Dom's first visit where we allowed him to enjoy the sand.

He loved being swung between daddy's legs and letting his feet brush through the warm sand :)

~ Sandy Toes ~

January 25th

2009-01-27T15:35:00.004+11:00

I had a shocker of a day with the camera - most of the say was shot at ISO 1600 and it was a glorious day!!!! In the end I let my boys pick the photo for the day as they were all pathetic LOL.

We went to the Somerset Foreshore Fiesta and this kangaroo was at the entry - it was an Australia Day celebration as well - hence the flags and cape. The background made the [photo too busy so I put over the 'notepad' filter via photoshop for this effect - the boys loved it, thinking I had turned the photo into silver metal LOL

~ Patriotic Kanga ~

January 24th

2009-01-25T19:18:00.003+11:00

We attended the Ulverstone Twilight Rodeo. This rider was a part of the Grand Entry team which thrilled my children riding past - they loved the feel of the ground shivering as the horses galloped past :) I took so many images last night but in tribute to Aust day being in a couple of sleeps and my children's awe of the Grand Entry this is my selected pic for the day.

I love this aged effect, looks like something my grandfather would have pinned against the back wall on his shed - Not only was he supremely patriotic but loved a pretty girl as well :)

~ Flagbearer ~

January 23rd

2009-01-23T22:02:00.003+11:00

Domenik is officially 4 months today which meant time for his next round of immunisations. I wasn't able to photograph the 'event' so this is the next best thing.

~ Immunisation ~

January 22nd

2009-01-22T23:08:00.003+11:00

My baby boy turns 4 months tomorrow and I wanted some shots of him to remember this special age by. He sure is growing so fast!!! I adore this shot, he is so cheeky :) When he gets huge grins up he screws up his nose trying to make the grin even bigger :D

~ Baby Grins ~

I couldn't decide if to use the single shot as my photo of the day or part of the story board I made so am submitting both.

~ Baby Grins Storyboard ~

January 21st

2009-01-21T23:37:00.002+11:00

Today was a lovely day so we headed off to Fern Glade for a wander around and BBQ. BBQ didn't eventuate as all were wood fired ones and we had no matches *doh* so DD and I wandered around taking pics and enjoying the scenery. We also spotted some of the natural fauna - platypus and brown trout - both were very camera shy!

I loved the reflections in the water. The water is very dark brown and it acted like a mirror.

~ Reflections ~

January 20th

2009-01-20T22:53:00.003+11:00

Today was another last minute shot. The day was 'wasted' on housework so I took the camera out tonight and got some lovely silhouettes of some roses.

I decided a simple silhouette was a bit boring tonight so had a play with some textures and this is the result i quite like it - thinking of making a set and see what they look like :)

~ Texturised Roses ~

~~~~~~~~~~

~ Original Silhouette ~

January 19th

2009-01-19T23:37:00.002+11:00

I love watching the agapanthas from our sun room window go from perfect bud to a burst of flower heads - this one is about to be in full glory :)

~ Agapanthas ~

January 18th

2009-01-19T23:32:00.004+11:00

Not overly happy with the processsing on this one I was at mums all day Jan 17th and got sick of flower pictures so was looking for something different to capture when I spotted these treasures that were from my grandmothers tea cup collection.

I've tried to play with textured to age the photo. It looks OK in photoshop but not so hot here...

~ Nan's Treasures ~

Did some work on cleaning the image up, here is the result...

January 17th

2009-01-18T22:53:00.002+11:00

I'm a day behind uploading - eek!! We attended a fundraiser Sat night for a local boy with a rare form of leukemia.

As we knew the organisers we stayed late and helped pack up - this pic I took on the spur of the moment showing the last person on the dance floor before it was all cleared and balloons all popped. It was a great evening with a great result money wise for the family.

It was a 60's, 70's and 80's themed evening, hence the fashion statement ;)

~ Last One Dancing ~

January 16th

2009-01-16T23:53:00.001+11:00

My daughter has a pink room, but I never thought it would throw such a pink cast over this night shot!!! I didn't like it at first and tried to play with it, but came back to the original and de-saturated the colour a little to give a kind of aged feel.

And yes, I admit that I was once again struggling for photo's tonight Nothing i snapped earlier was right, and feeling totally exhausted after cleaning all day this was all I could muster. I'll add a title or something in the black border under the image, just can't think of what exactly at the moment...

~ Sleeping ~

January 15th

2009-01-15T23:05:00.002+11:00

A busy day here, In fact I didn't get a realistic chance to have the camera out until late this evening. There was very little natural light so I had to improvise (not liking the camera flash)

I picked several roses from the garden and lit them by torch on the dining room table. I've softened them a little in lightroom and this is the result :)

Not my best work, but I'm starting to think outside of the box re lighting etc again - yay!!

~ Roses ~

January 14th

2009-01-14T23:48:00.002+11:00

Another day scratching for inspiration. I knew what I wanted to photograph but it just didn't work out - I'm blaming the heat :P

This pic is again from a BBQ (anyone would think it's all we do in Summer - well we are Aussies after all :)) DH and his can of beam - he wasn't going to let this one go LOL

~ Hold Tight ~

January 13th take two

2009-01-13T23:30:00.005+11:00

I've done the unthinkable... well not really, but I've changed my mind on what should be today's photo. I was playing around with Depth of Field (DOF) when Dom was asleep in his cradle and love this shot I took. I've always loved the professional hand and feet shots that people have of their babies but have never been financial enough to contract a photographer to take said shots - I think I've cracked the shot I've always wanted here... I adore it!!

~ Little Fingers ~

January 13th

2009-01-13T16:26:00.002+11:00

I caught Dom having an intense chat with his big brother this morning. He is really Mr Serious when he has something to say :)

~ Brotherly Advice ~

January 12th

2009-01-12T23:19:00.002+11:00

I couldn't pick any individual photo out today so tried my hand at a storyboard. This is my first ever and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It was also my first play with sunflare in the top right hand corner - not the best when by itself but I think it's been effective in the series of photos - makes me want to work harder to perfect it now :)

And the boy hanging upside down on the slide was discharged from hospital only yesterday after being admitted with suspected appendicitis - boys will be boys *sigh*

~Brothers and Friends ~

January 11th

2009-01-11T23:56:00.001+11:00

After spending the good majority of the last 24 hours in doctors rooms and hospitals I'm sorely lacking inspiration today. So here is the view from my bedroom window - not bad to be honest as a view, as an image - probably a bit boring but hey - it's a photo :P

For an artistic perspective I love the distortion from the original glass - the house is around 130 years old apparently so plenty of time for the wobbles to build in the glass.

~ Views ~

January 10th

2009-01-11T20:41:00.004+11:00

One day late in posting as we've had medical issues this last 24 hours or so. In fact todays image is a a result of these issues.

William had been complaining of tummy pains the last few days and has interrupted sleeps and he was totally exhausted when he finally fell asleep here on Nanny's lounge

This photo was taken Jan 10th just before we took him to the hospital for suspected appendicitis (home now - all good, just a viral thing)

No time for processing, just wanting to get this uploaded and added to the challenge.

~ Sleeping ~

January 9th

2009-01-09T19:34:00.002+11:00

One of the first 'toys' that Domenik noticed was the bee mobile hanging above his cradle. He will sit and talk to it for ages. Every time he see's it he grins from ear to ear :)

I didn't want to take a 'regular' pic of the mobile, so shot it through the mosquito netting that hangs above his cradle, focusing on the netting for a different point of view.

~ Mobile Bees ~

January 8th

2009-01-08T23:05:00.005+11:00

Williams pet rat passed away last night. He was shattered with losing her and carefully dug this grave for her. He found the rock in the garden and decorated it with a 'A' for her and picked a rose from the garden and carefully laid it just so for her. Wil loved this little rat and to see him so heartbroken was hard. He really wanted this photo today so I had to add it to my photo a day challenge - not for anything other than sentimental meaning. My little boy learned about grief and its resulting pain today - I'm sure it's a day he'll remember for the rest of his life. Rest In Peace Angel!!!

~ Angel At Rest ~

January 7th

2009-01-07T21:37:00.003+11:00

today was going to be a day of cleaning and caching up on things around the house, instead at 10am the in-laws called in for a visit and stayed for an impromptu BBQ - what else do you prepare that doesn't have too much hassle LOL. I've loved seeing other peoples BBQ shots so attempted a few of my own. This one caught my eye as I love the feild of vision blurring the snags behind the onion, but you can see the smokesteam rising above the onions - makes you almost taste and smell the food on the BBQ plate!!!

~ Summer Entertaining ~

January 6th

2009-01-06T23:42:00.002+11:00

Today's offering is yet another of the kids. We went to the beach for a BBQ this afternoon and of late William has started to LOVE the camera - always posing and wanting to be in the limelight - with freckles and eyes like this who can resist?!?!

~ Kisses from the Sun ~

BTW it's called Kisses From the Sun - it's what our children call freckles :)

January 5th

2009-01-05T23:02:00.004+11:00

I was scrambling for photo's to submit for today's challenge pic. I have been using the camera today but just didn't have any one image speak to me - so settled on yet another one I captured of Domenik. It was just after his bath and he was wrapped up in his frog towel (I have a thing about frogs LOL) It came out very dark despite him being right beside a window and using ISO 800 so have had a bit of a play in photoshop. I'm still not too happy with the result, but at least I've had a go and am starting to remember little bits about photoshop so am sure to improve ;)

~ Froggy Boy ~

~ Froggy Boy Too ~

If anyone who happens to stumble upon this blog has any idea on how to bring some more 'zing' to this image please drop me a line. I've been geting frustrated trygin to clean it up. The original was very ruddy and I seem to have flattened the image trying to work on it.....

January 4th

2009-01-04T18:02:00.003+11:00

Today's image was not quite a fluke but it was... I as out helping Aleksandir find some worms for his worm farm when I decided to have a peek under the house to see if there was anything interesting down there to photograph. At the door I noticed something a little different. If you look carefully at the door knob in between the rust bubbles you can see the sky and clouds reflected!! I'd never noticed it before and thought it quite unusual for something so unkempt to still have a reflective surface!!! So I call it a fluke in that if I hadn't looked that second time at it I would have just walked on by and not seen the quaintness of something this different.

~ Unkempt Reflections ~

Runner up for today was this shot of garden wires that I discovered hanging over a branch of the walnut tree in the front garden.

~ Wiry Growth ~

January 3rd

2009-01-03T13:53:00.003+11:00

Well I got my shot for the day first thing. After saying I didn't want to include pics of the kids in the challenge I just couldn't resist. I woke this morning with Domenik gazing a me from his cradle - too cute!! Here's what I captured.... It was a great start to the day :)

~ Peeping Dom ~

January 2nd

2009-01-02T18:11:00.002+11:00

It was so hard to pic a photo to put up for the challenge today. The boys had a lovely day out playing with their remote control cars and I sooo wanted to put one of them up, but I'm trying to keep pics of the kids out of the challenge - until I'm desperate for ideas and inspiration- or get "the" shot.

Todays photo is of Portia, our cat. She was up on the cushions at the door begging to us to let her come play when we went out to race the cars. She sat so still and was a good little model that I was almost tempted... almost - too many cars go up and down the hill we live on though that wont stop for her is she decides to investigate the bitumin LOL. So Portia - today is for you!!!

~ Portia ~

And runner up for the day is Aleksandir's remote control car doins a wheel spin in the dusty yard - it's weird, it's been raining but still dusty - guess that's why Australia is in drought so much of the time.. the rain just isn't enough!!!

~ Wheel Spins ~

January 1st

2009-01-02T14:20:00.002+11:00

I forgot to post here!! not off to such a great start LOL Well actually I did post but the date is showing 31st Dec for some reason - anyways my offering for the challenge is here.....

~ Dying Pyro ~

And close runner up....

~ Starburst ~

Yay - worked out the date, now it makes sense to me ;)

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T01:41:00.000+11:00

Well I've just uploaded some of the 300 fireworks piccies from new year celebrations and am VERY impressed with my new baby - no not Domenik but my camera!!

Here are some of the many pics - I can't get over the clarity and colour that it's picked up!!!

Introduction

2008-12-27T21:12:00.000+11:00

I've joined a photography challenge to take a photo for every day of the year. I have a Nikon D60 that I'm trying to learn to use. I also have re-introduced myself to photoshop after not using the program for almost 10 years so am undergoing a steep learning curve that I hope this challenge will help with.

ultimately what I plan is at the end of the year to create a photobook of the image I've captured that will show me not only what I've learned and accomplished for the year but to show some kind of personal journey as well.