The way it is, the way I see it and the way I think it should be

Gluten Free Sweet Delight

2014-08-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I made a kit kat Lasagna for # 2 daughter's 18th birthday, it was a big hit, both with her friends and the internet (over 60,000 views).

My niece said she wanted one for her 30th birthday and of course I agreed - she since discovered she is gluten intolerant so my challenge was to recreate the chocolate and wafer goodness gluten free.

I was amazed at the products that have wheat in them, marshmallow for example and a lot of lollies

This is the start, gluten free wafer biscuits (they taste like kit kat)

Crushed honeycomb

White Chocolate ganache

Allens Freckles

Chocolate Pudding

Toffee with Almonds crushed for a rough praline

Final layer of wafer biscuits Gluten free of course

Before the sugar police jump up and down about how bad this is and how much fat and sugar is in it, consider that it will be shared with up to 30 people each having a piece smaller than a normal serve of cake.

It is a yummy gooey treat that should be eaten with moderation and much joy.

Happy Birthday to my niece who is not related but is a very important part of my life.

Night Sky

2014-07-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

I had the most amazing opportunity the other night, the chance to hook my camera to a telescope.

One of the teachers at the local high school is a mad keen astrologist, after a lot of talk and promises to show me the stars it finally happened. When I thought about taking photos of the stars, I imagined that we would go somewhere out bush with plenty of dark, so when we started making firm plans to catch up I was very surprised to find he decided my backyard was the perfect spot.

Let me tell you is is much easier to set up a lens than it is to set up the telescope, there was weights and counter balance, motorised swivel heads, web cams and lots of other gadgets I had no idea what they could be and lots and lots of cables.

I am a see it and shoot sort of photographer so it was fascinating to watch the set up procedure of the telescope using the webcam the telescope focused on 3 bright stars in the sky, these were used to set the tracking then using a 'star gazing' program coordinates were programed and the telescope moved and zoomed in to the stars/solar systems.

I felt like a bit of a fraud claiming I took these photos, as all I did was connect the camera and set the ISO and time (they were all taken in bulb mode requiring the need to set a time) my camera did not recognise the telescope as a lens so the fstop was 00, however it was pointed out to me as a photographer this is what we do, I did get the telescope moved a few times to get a better composition. So I am owning this photos and the whole experience.

The lens getting set up in the backyard

The bright star in the middle of the bright area is Eta Carinae a binary star in the constellation Carina approximately 7500 light years away from the sun

M8 and M20 - the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulea, 2 famous nebulae in Sagittarius (I was actually able to see the scorpion in the sky)

M 83 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 15 million light years away in the constellation Hydra, it is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky

I am really looking forward to doing this again, it is not something I will be spending money on (phew says HWMBO) the best nights for star photography is clear dark nights and the best time for clear skies is winter....I am not a fan of the cold. This year is very cold at night.

Photo photos and website

2014-06-23T19:45:00.001-07:00

I have been a very busy and important photographer lately (I might have made the bit up about important....but I have been busy)

Every month I have to have photos to display in the Beerwah library and being the control freak I am I nearly always want to go out and take new photos for each month...then I freak out about getting them printed and framed During the planning meetingd when we decide what the theme is I try and think what I have in my portfolio agree that I have something suitable - then try for something different.

June the theme is Australia - easy peasy I have heaps....but what do I do I go looking for something more. Lucky I saw a koala in the wild only the second time since I got my camera....both times I was lucky enough to have the camera with me.

These are the images I have on display this month.

Huntsman spider

Summer days at the beach

Sunburnt county

Salty

Wallabies

Earlier this year a storm was heading towards Glasshouse, after my successful lightning shots late last year I headed out to a lookout in hope of more lightning from a different angle....no lightning just a huge rain and wind storm this is a shot I got before the rain came, 5 minutes later the mountains were not visible. I got very wet as I bunkered down to wait out the rain. #1 was with me and thought it was a great adventure.

This image will be one of 12 in the Glasshouse Mountains Rotary Calendar for 2015, my prize = 400 6x4 prints from Australia Zoo (I am not sure I am going to collect these - unless the prints are mine printed for me, seriously who gives photos as a prize to photographers?)

I 'borrowed' an idea from a fellow photographer and brought a crystal sphyre to use in some of my photos, I am very happy with the result and will play with it a bit more, these photos are getting very positive reviews with others now asking me where to get the balls from. ***BTW eBay for under $10 for 60mm dia***

flowers in the garden

Noosa Beach

A lesson to be learned here, do not put the ball on a plastic tripod, it acts like a big magnifying glass and will burn....it took me a while to work out where the smoke was coming from.

Be nice to your friends

Roz

100 Days of Happy

2014-05-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

There is a new challenge going around Facebook, #100HappyDays, http://100happydays.com/ a few weeks ago a friend was telling me about it and said it would be good for me to do.....I agreed it was a good idea then made excuses why I wouldn't be able to do it now, not enough time to process my photo, when I am working I don't always take a photo, the clarity on my phone camera is not good, I will wait until I get a new one, I am too busy, blah blah blah...I was one of the 71% who would find an excuse not to be happy.

I was making excuses alright but as I thought about it I realised I can find something to make me happy any day, all I had to do was take a photo of it....or find one from my collection, I was stressing about the taking a photo yet the challenge is to submit a photo.

When my girls were little I used to ask how their day was, I would get 'fine', 'good', 'alright' as answers, when asked what they did they would tell me 'stuff', 'played', 'work', you know the same answers all parents get, I found when I asked what was the best part of the day they were more giving with their answers and soon it was a competition to see who had the best day. I did not have to ask the question many times before it became natural to share the best part of your day with the family. I now get txt messages from all my girls saying 'guess what' when they have something exciting to share with me. (I will often reply with something totally random)

I won't bore you with all the photos I will be sharing on Facebook, just the really special things that make me happy, some days the hard part is deciding which happy to post.

I joined a group of photographer at 5:30am to shoot the sunrise over Brisbane, I am not a sunrise photogragher as I am usually driving to work as the sun comes up, I don't want to get up early on my days off. This day I was starting work a bit later and had plenty of time to do both. It was also the first really cold day of the year and boy was that a surprise.

With Mothers day approaching the shops are full of pots of flowers, I treated myself to a pot of daffodils - these were going to be my happy photo for the day. After a few macro shots of the flowers I decided to take an 'in the garden' photo. My gorgeous Lilly decided to see what I was doing on the ground, this was the perfect result

Seeing my photos displayed in the local library - this is a seriously happy moment.

Spending the afternoon with friends and showing them a new photography trick. (I have had 2 requests from other people to try this since posting on FB)

2014-04-24T01:18:00.000-07:00

I have not been a good little blogger this year, I am full of excuses and reasons why I have not been blogging this year. I have been busy with work and photography, then there is all the editing...and the family time and blah blah blah, excuses! I think the main reason I am not blogging so much is because I am sulking. That's right sulking at the internet.

I am sure everyone who starts a blog expects the same thing, it would be slow for a while then the wide world of the web would bring people from everywhere to my blog and there would be snorts of laughter at my words and gasps of surprise at the awesomeness of my photos. I have had one blog post that has over 61,000 views, I know wow, why can't that happen on every post. http://rozzy35.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/kit-kat-lasagna.htmlThis is why I am sulking....61,000 people like my throw away post about a chocolate loaded cake for my daughter and no one come back for my photos.

Time to put on my big girl panties and stop sulking, after all who is going to read my blog if I don't write it? I am going to forget about the Kit Kat Lasagne post going viral and go back to the reason I started in the first time.....for me.

I am going to share the photos that I have taken that made me go wow when I looked at them on the computer, some times I know when I have taken a good shot other times it is the nice moment when I see my images large on

the screen.

Dude with an Umbrella,

this guy was walking around the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane, keeping cool with shades and a brolly.

Paddleboarder at Bribie Island

a perfect afternoon at Bribie Island, watching other people excercise

Paleheader Rosella

A very shy bird, the slighest bit of movement will scare these birds away.

The wedding of Leanne and Darren

I was best friends with Leanne in Grade 10. (about 100 years ago)

Beautiful Lion at Adelaide Zoo

Frangipanis in our backyard

I love this colour so much

The patient husband

All around the world there are husbands waiting outside shops

Chris and Nicole's Wedding

2014-03-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Nicole and Chris, a beautiful young kiwi couple who are very much in love, they have a gorgeous daughter with another baby due in 2 months.

Chris was one of ‘my boys’. I use a labour hire company at work and usually get the same group of guys each time, he is one of the nicest good natured people I know, he is a great worker with a very layback personality.

The ceremony was at the Brisbane Registry Office 110 George Street., I was pleasantly surprised by the venue and the helpfulness of the staff, I am not sure if I had a preconceived idea or if I stereotyped government employees, the Justice of the Peace who performed the service went beyond just doing his job. The music for the ceremony was on an iPhone that refused to connect to the stereo system, so the JP downloaded the song the bride wanted on to his own phone because he knew his would work – it was an Adele song so I guess there was a charge from itunes, this was not even mentioned or considered.

I was very happy to be able to share this special day with one of ‘My Boys’ and his beautiful bride and I am flattered that they asked me.

Gorgeous Family

Simply stunning

Brothers

Given away by her brother

There was tears

Kiss the bride

It's official

An Uncle's love

Beautiful family

Quick peak

My Boys

The beautiful Korah

I am back for 2014

2014-02-24T21:35:00.004-08:00

I have not had a blog post for ages, for this I am sorry.

There is no real reason, I would like to be able to say that I have been busy and important, that is only half true. The busy bit J there is a lot of stuff happening around me that I have no control over and it has stressed me out, my work load has increased, my pay remains the same ***sigh*** and my free time is limited or taken up with family time.

I was thinking about why I stopped posting so often and it is really such a simple and silly reason….my Google Chrome has stopped spell checking, I have looked at my settings and I can’t get it back. I am the world’s worst speller and my grammar is almost non-existent. I have gotten very lazy with spelling since spellchecker, lulled into a false sense of security that my mistakes will be caught by the computer before I go public. I have put on my big girl pants and remembered what it was like before spell checker and proof read my work. (Then I will google words that don’t look right)

I was going to try and make up for not being a good blogger and write a really long post with a heap of the photos that I have missed sharing over the last few months, but I will not bore you I will make a promise to myself to do a better job in the future.

I will share a few positives that have happened

In the January challenges in our Flickr group, I got a first place in the winner challenge with my Noise photo. The brief was take a photo where the viewer can ‘hear’ the noise.

Hear the noise

I also got second place in the weather challenge.

Rainbow over Old Woman Island

I think my most exciting news for this year is my first ever lightning photo – technically it was last year as the photo was taken on the 27 December 2013, that is only semantics really. I was so excited to be in the right place at the right time although I have been to this lookout about 4 times before in waiting for a storm it has never been the right time.

I will be a better blogger starting today, pinky swear.

I have a wedding to photograph this week and one next week, so life will continue to be busy but busy good.

Bonus photo because I love it

A huntsman on my bedroom wall

One Shot Wonders

2013-12-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

What is One Shot Wonders? It was the most fun, most frustrating photography days I have ever had. A group of us from the Artist's Behind Cameras Group got together on Sunday at Mooloobah for a photography challenge, I have never done anything like this before and I will be a lot wiser if I do it again.

We were given a list of photos to take, one photo only, no deletes and in the order of the list. Our cameras were checked, nothing on the disk ***check*** a test photo was taken for the number to be recorded *** check***, camera set to JPEG medium image ***check***

We had 2 1/2 hours for the first 6 photos, my first mistake was not using some of this time to do a recon of the area and choose my photos more carefully.

1. Mostly Yellow

I went for the first most obvious yellow thing I found. Rooky mistake

2. Texture

I am happy with this and would have considered taking this photo of the fence to use as a texture for my photoshop work, I think the plant adds another element to the picture

3. Repetition

We all ended up with a photo that was either under or overexposed, this was mine. There was a group of nippers (young surf lifesavers all lined up with pink vests, they were so cute and all about the same height. As I was setting up the shoot someone called "GO", instinct made me press the button….bugger

4. Leading Lines

The plan for this image was much better than the outcome, I was waiting for the surf to be in the right spot to lead the eye to the couple kissing...of course the waves moved and I missed the 'lines' (and yes I know my horizon is crooked)

5. A Street Scene

I am happy with this image, the family waiting to cross the street, the loo with the view. I shoot in RAW so it was a novelty to put my camera in monochrome.

6. Food

I knew as soon as I saw this heading what I was going to do, I hoped the lolly shop was still operating - this was taken with a wide angle lens held above the table of sweets. (a bit of fingers crossed that my settings stayed right)

After a break for lunch where we shares stories of the shot we could have/should have got, we were ready for round 2. I was hoping to be a bit smarter this time around

7. A beach scene

We were in the perfect location....the hard part was to look for something to stand out from the crowd, the image I had in mind was a group of multi-coloured umbrellas I had seen in the morning, as I headed off to this location I noticed the lifesavers tower, flag and girls in bikinis, I thought this was a very typical beach scene. I will edit this image and include in my portfolio

8. Al Fresco

Italian for dining outdoors, plenty of places to choose from....I didn't want to get up close for this one. I wouldn't want someone asking me to take photos of my food so I went for the dining experience.

9. Round

This was my 'funny' shot, I was going to take this one a few times, as it fits with round, reflection and self-portrait. (I didn't)

10. Reflection

There was two surf lifesavers, one had a pair of reflective sunglasses on, I asked him I could take his photo while he was looking out to the beach - he said 'NO' but this guy said yes, not the result I wanted but still a great portrait shot

11. Movement

Stupid forgot her tripod....I was never going to get a good movement shot without it, in desperation I asked these kids (and Mum and Dad) if I could take a photo while they were playing in the water. Should have used a faster shutter speed this is too blurry in the wrong places (it is well known I am not a lover of blurry/movement in photos)

12. Against the light

I didn't like this heading, it was too early in the day to get a good silhouette image, there was no one around to lean up against the light post for me...thinking outside the square (then I remembered there was judging and most judges 'don't get it'

13. Self Portrait

After being a focus point for one of the other photographers I borrowed her tripod, a quick focus, 10 second delay and jump in to shot. If I liked photos of myself I would be happy with this. (Again I used the monochrome setting in camera)

My test image

The organizer checking my details.

More of my Darwin Trip

2013-12-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

I should never finish a blog post with 'I will add more tomorrow' I have been so busy, I have not had time to edit photos or even sort through them,

I will be adding my photos to a set on my Flickr page, anyone can go and have a look at them here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rozzy35/sets/72157637715892346/

These are not my photos; some of me taken on the Darwin tour, the rest are of the group I got to know very well after 8 days together.

I have been busy with work and family since my return from holidays, Christmas is sneaking up on my too, I decided to take stock and work out a plan of attack. I was going to be the aggressor, I will get this Christmas stuff under my control. I started by getting out all the gifts I have already brought to wrap and place under the tree, I was surprised at how much I have done.

I have not shopped for gifts or gone Christmas shopping, I have brought a few things when I have seen something that is 'just right'. I must have had a lot of those 'just right' moments. I only have 2 gifts to buy ***plus the mandatory socks and undies for my girls*** then I am done.

I have the family lunch under control, everyone knows what to bring and how much to bring.

I am looking forward to a peaceful day with most of the family and our very close friends. Lots of food and plenty to drink.

Back to the real world

2013-12-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

Obviously I am back from my trip to Darwin and the Northern Territory, I have been so overwhelmed by the amount of photos I took, I have been struggling to decide how to approach blogging about my trip.

I am going with the NIKE method - just do it

I have never had a holiday on my own before, this trip was a new and exciting adventure for me, I have been married for 22 years and I have not spend more than 3 nights away from HWMBO. I am so happy that I clicked really well with most of the people on the tour.

Anyone who has been to the top end of Australia know that November is the worst time to travel, it is hot and humid, the build up to the wet season, this is exactly why we went at this time of year, the plan was to witness and photograph some of Australia's best lightning. That was the plan...but alas there was a huge lightning storm the week before we got there :( . South east Queensland had a massive storm with lightning while I was away - just my luck! I missed the lightning show on our last night in Darwin, I had a few drinks at dinner and just crashed. I will have to brave the weather during the summer and get my lightning photo more local.

Our first night we went to Fannie Bay for Sunset, the very first thing I noticed was there were children playing in the water, I thought the fear of salt water crocodiles was so in built in NT no parent would let their kid anywhere near the ocean. I was a brave soldier and got my feet wet too *** I thought the crocs would go after the kids as they were smaller and tastier ***

The light on the cliffs at Fannie bay was amazing, photos don't do it justice. I had a play with some crabs and my macro lens.

Day 2 was spent walking around Darwin while waiting for the rest of the tour group to join a few early birds who arrived a day early. One of my favourite photos was taken on our first group outings, a rainbow bee eater happily posed in beautiful light for us, I think all of us got a great shot of this guy with his dragonfly dinner.

Sunset at Mindil Beach

I am not a morning person, never have been, never will be, I have to get up early for work and I do it because I have too, not because I want too. It was a bit of a struggle for me to get up for a sunrise at Lee Point, I am glad I did it was beautiful.

Fogg Dam was out next stop where I got my first look at Brolgas in the wild, I was lucky to have a seat on the bus and a clean window to get a good shot of them before they walked out of range.

We ended the day with a 3 hour cruise on the Mary River where we got our first glimpse of both salt water and fresh water crocodiles. I captured a pair of magnificent sea eagles and a jabiru. As the jabiru was not is a great position to be photographed the boat driver tried to scare him into flying away to give us a chance to get an inflight photo, when guide drove the boat into the water lilies the jabiru just calmly walked further up the bank - fortunately to a better location for photos.

To avoid making this a really long post, I will say good bye and stay tuned for more Top End Adventures tomorrow

October Mini Challenge

2013-11-02T21:37:00.002-07:00

My 104 photo group on facebook often has weekly challenges with a theme, sometimes I play sometimes I don't often I pull out a photo from the achives that suits the theme. It is a bit of fun and a way of sharing photos. For a change in October our illustrious leader introduced a new challenge, 13 photos with a themes chosen by members - I chose Old/Rustic/Broken. There was rules with this mini challenge - all photos must be new, only one from the archives.
The List with my photos

1. Peace/Piece

My Piece of Pie....bring peace to my lips....but not to my hips

2. Rustic/Old/Broken
This old tractor was discovered on the side of the road at Maleny

3. Creative Blur

A macro shot of a fly that was biting my leg - the blur was created with photoshop.

4. Light & Bokeh

5. Bikes and Cars
I am not 'in to' cars, I thought I may stuggle with this one and end up taking a boring photo of my car. Then this car was parked outside the local shops

6. Macro
One of my favorite flowers fuschia, there is a reflection of the stamen in the water drop

7. Clouds
Most of October was very dry with no sign of clouds, the first time I saw clouds I quickly took a photo

8. Spring
Jacaranda = Spring, this image was taken at 5am at work. I purposly aimed for this time of day, before the flowers were crushed by walkers

9. Obsession

This was always going to be a no brainer, I am obsessed with my camera. This is a BTS shoot from the Angel series

10. Random stranger - talk to them and attach their story in comments.
This is Sharon, she is a part owner in the coffee shop at Maleny, this shop has been open for about 3 years and has a good turn over. She was embrassed about having her photo taken so wouldn't look driectly at the camera. She has been a barista since she was at school and had to borrow money from her family to go into business.

11. Faces

This is my from the archives shot, these faces are messy and ful of fun

12. Negative Space
HWMBO wanted to check out the new walking track on Ngungun, I was lucky there was a girl on the top happy to pose for my photo

13. Rivers/Lakes/Oceans
Beautiful afternoon at Bribie island, lots of families enjoy the weather.

This month the photos will be judged and a prize given to the winner, the judge will be someone who doesn't know any of us. (I am guessing the prize is a slight boost to your self esteem....this is the usual prize)

Only 3 more sleeps until I go to Darwin, I am packed and ready to go and now very excited

Tired...oh so tired

2013-10-26T15:05:00.001-07:00

Today I am so tired I can hardly think straight, is it such a good idea to write...please forgive rambling, mistakes and typos. I am on leave for 3 weeks from Wednesday and my mind has started to go into holiday mode, which is hard because I have some big days at work to get through.

Yesterday was a 15 hour day for a medical conference, hard day, nice people, they feed me and give me chocolate. Today is a Student Church group they are also very nice (some would say too nice... seriously who is this happy at 6 am on a Sunday) but they are loud.
I am not a religious person, I have been to church a few times as a child and for weddings, funerals and christenings. I don't remember there being rock bands at any of the church services I attended. What's with that?

I think I have worked out why I put off by this group, not the noise (I might just be old) it is that a lot of them have invited me to join them today and listen to the word of GOD. I smile and say thanks, but no thanks, a group of them gave me a sermon on why I should join in their prayers and songs. This is exactly what I don't like about organized religious groups, they all feel the need to convert you. I believe in fate and a higher power, I believe what goes around comes around and I believe you get what you give. These students are passionate and full of love I admire that but please go away and let me 'work'.

I am working on photos from a shoot I did with #2 daughters friend and her boyfriend. I had trouble finding a good location for this idea as the places I liked most were private property. We ended up at a look out on the Landsborough Maleny Road, there was road works on this stretch of road so we had an audience most of the time. The police (after booking someone) sat in their car and watched the whole session. I did wonder if they thought I might make the kids jump over the edge for a 'good' photo. HE HE

Behind the scenes out take

Falling Angel

At the risk of over talking about it, my kit kat lasagna recipe had been stolen and used on another website, I don't have a problem with someone using the recipe or even my photo, however I do have a problem with the fact they have copied and pasted my words and my photos. I sent an email to the lady asking her to take it down or remove my photos. No response yet. I guess there is nothing I can really do if she won't. I found my photo on a few web pages doing a Google picture search, a lot of them were linked back to my blog (which explains how it went viral) I will probably do nothing....after all is imitation the highest form of flattery. (Although I am not sure about plagiarism)

Edit.... the post was deleted with apologies :)

Have a great week

A donation to diabetes

2013-10-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my last post, my Kit Kat Lasagna blog has gone viral, I can use that term now because my picture was found on a random Facebook page. Their post had been shared 81 times and there was hundreds of likes. Should I be worried that my picture has be 'stolen'? I am not, I am flattered that so many have seen and enjoyed my post...I laugh at the comments about diabetic comas and sugar overdoes, I mean seriously who would eat more than a small piece.

This is the Facebook post.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=606508372721976&set=a.138297449543073.15422.123636001009218&type=1&theater

At the risk of everyone thinking we are a sugar addicted family I am going to share #1 daughter's post about the lolly bag cake she made for #3 Daughter's birthday in June. This cake was so awesome and sweet, it was funny how all the flavors sound so gross yet work so well together.

http://experiment-cook.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/the-lolly-bag-cake.html

I have been busy the last two weekends with groups of fellow photographers, there was a macro day with my flickr group at Ewan Maddock Wetlands, this was a learning day for me as I picked up the macro lens only a few hours before we met so it was learning on fly. I know this form of photography will take a lot of practice before I am happy with my results. It is a good thing I like to practice.

I have recently joined a group of photographers on the Sunshine Coast - Artists Behind Cameras, it is similar to a camera club, with out all the rules, committees and BS. It is a group of like minded people who meet once a month and share pictures, ideas and arrange outings. I have only been to one meeting and one outing and they seem like a good bunch of people. Last Saturday #3 Daughter and I joined them on the 6th Annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk. Details here

http://worldwidephotowalk.com/

Our walk was around Maleny, this is a small country town in the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands. I spend a bit of time in this town so it was not very appealing to me... I joined in the fun and helped #3 with her settings and composition. I took a few photos I was happy with and even entered one into the competition. Chances of winning.....slim and none. It was a fun day, I look forward to more outings.

My Amazement

2013-10-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

I came here today to tell you about the lovely lady who asked me to photograph a painting she wants to sell. What was a 5 min job lasted over an hour as I listened to her stories, she worked in Canberra during the Hawk and Keating years of Parliament. She work in the trade department with 39 men, I was in fits of laughter at some of the stories. I don't think they will translate the same if I was to retell them.
Mary spent her money on fine art and paintings when she was young and full of fun ***her words*** she didn't smoke and when she went out there was plenty of men to buy her dinner and drinks. As she has gotten older she wants to pack her belongings into a suitcase and travel where the wind blows....it is a foolish woman's dream she told me, she is looking after her elderly mother. However she will be ready to leave when the time is right.

Painting by Geoffrey Proud 1982

My amazement however is not about the lady or the painting but this very blog. This morning when checking my emails I noticed that there was a conversation on my Kit Kat Lasagna post from last November. There was a lot of overnight activity from America, so I checked the stats on this post.

http://rozzy35.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/kit-kat-lasagna.html

I was gobsmacked to find there was over 20,000 views holly doolly that's more than the rest of my posts put together. I use facebook all the time and blog, I have a twitter account I rarely use, I have posted on video on Youtube so I checked the views on that too....over 1000 Oh Myyy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Gt0bUY2Oc

Today I am very happy to be out in the world wide web, to make new friends that I may never meet.

I needed some good in my day. Thank you

Life is Funny...

2013-09-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

A funny nice thing has happened to me in the last few weeks. You may remember that I put it out in the world that I was not going to try and make a business out of my photography....it is all about me blah blah blah.

I have since been contacted to do family photos on the beach - a friend of a friend of a friend saw my photos of the dancers at the beach and wanted photos of her family at the same location. I had to quickly come up with a price for my services because she insisted on paying.

Then I got a random call from a lady asking if I can take photos of a painting she want to sell. I will doing this work this week. She also wants a printed copy of the photo.

Finally one of my boys (casual labor hire) has asked me to shoot his wedding in February. I said I would do it for petrol money....but no they want to pay me a fair price.....

I am saving all the money I get from my photography....it is going towards my UK trip (or another lens)

These images are a few from the family at the beach.

I am meeting some wonderful people along the way. I love what I do

Dancers on the beach

2013-09-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was asked if I could help out a newbie photographer take some photos for his daughters dance school. Andrew from Nature's Images Photography http://www.naturesimage.com.au/ (also known as the dude who taught me) asked me to help the newbie because photograph people more often than he does. Andrew's daughter goes to the dance school, which is why he offered his and my help. It was a great morning, although I was supposed to be a back up photographer, support for Newbie. I did take over a bit....

Pretty butterfly - Pretty girl

Baby Dancer

The Crown of Thorns - the evil dancer

The mermaid and her prince - the good

My favorite photo of the day

The cast

The owner, teacher and choreographer

Silly Daddy

I am looking forward to photographing the dress rehearsal in a few more weeks, I will take daughter #3 to see the show.

Adelaide

2013-09-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

I had an unexpected trip to Adelaide a few weeks ago, it was the first time I have been to South Australia I would have like more time to have a look around, unfortunately I was there for a funeral. My Uncle Tim (on my Mother's side) another victim to the horrible lung cancer.

This is a picture taken at a my cousins wedding October 2011
Left to right Uncle Mike, Uncle Tim and My Mum

Living in Queensland you tend to forget how cold the southern states are, we left home at 4:30 am wearing tshirts, lucky at the last minute I thought to add the jacket daughter #1 brought me for mothers day. It had only been cold enough for me to wear this jacket a few times over winter. I can now say it has been worth every cent she paid for it. Adelaide was cold and wet and very very quiet. A 10am you could almost count the people in the city centre, there was a lot of construction and few for lease shops but no people.

Mum and I made good use of the public transport, we were staying overnight at North Adelaide a 10 min bus trip to the city. We took the 'tram' (it is a train but there is only one route so they call it a tram) to Glenelg (the seaside) this would be a very pretty spot for photos on a good day.

Friday morning was not a wet, thank goodness funerals are depressing enough without shitty weather. I wont say anything about the funeral other than I found it very hard....

It was funny watching my mother introduce me to my cousins, she has seen them often over the years. I have not seen them since I was 10. Mum would say "Ant you remember your cousin Roslyn?" ***I swear she calls me that just to piss me off*** Ant looked at me blankly and said no when did we last see each other?" He was 3 the last time I saw him...Of course he is not going to remember me! This happened with all 4 of my cousins. OMG Mum give it up

It was nice to re acquaint myself with my cousins, I have invited one of them come stay with us when he brings his family to the Sunshine Coast next year.

I managed to get a few photos on the day, the kids played football in the front yard and I made the girls get the rabbit for me to hold (and photograph) While they are common pets in Australia....but not in Qld so I was excited to be able to hold and photograph 'Marshmallow"

We had a few hours before our plane so I got some photos of the sights of Adelaide, the Adelaide Oval currently under renovation. The swan thought I was going to feed it and the church so often seen in the commentary of the cricket test matches when the commentators are looking to fill air time during boring parts of play

Birthday

2013-09-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday on Tuesday, I love my birthday every year, I don't worry about getting older, I worry about staying the same. The only thing I don't like about birthdays is the enviable question "what do you want", I feel pressured into having a list...I am happy with a nice dinner, smelly candles, flowers and my family. Simple things, the girls think I need more...So this year I was prepared, I told my family what I wanted....and I got everything I wanted and more.

I especially love birthdays that go on for days/weeks. I stated celebrating early when my sister and I spent a day at the Eumundi markets, a sisters day for my birthday, she brought me a hot chocolate calla lilly, it had one beautiful flower the day she brought it and it flowered again on my actual birthday.

Hot Chocolate Calla Lilly

I am also very lucky to have a beautiful flowering orchid that flowers every year for my birthday. (I know it is because it is the start of spring....but I like to believe it is for me)

Birthday Orchids

The Saturday before my birthday this year for the federal election. I was so pleased that I had already planned a weekend away with HWMBO, we postal voted and went into a media blackout on Friday, it was very good to escape from the hype surrounding an election. (I considered this a gift in itself)
We had a wonderful weekend at the Bunya Mountains, I got some awesome photos - they will be in a post of their own.

I treated myself to a new lens for my birthday (actually it was a reward for a good tax refund, that happened to coincide with my birthday) It is a wide angle lens which adds so much more to my landscape photos. So far I am very very happy.

Point cartwright sunset

New cushions for my couch, a bread knife, a lens, a weekend away, a flowering pot plant, beautiful flowers in the garden, a gift coming any day from daughter #2 in the UK. What more can I possibly need. A visit from the neighborhood snake, this snake has been around for years all our neighbors have reported visits from him. Tuesday was the first sighting since it began to get cold. We were calling him Harry as in Harry huge...now he is BS which stands for Birthday Snake (or just Big Snake). I love him he is so beautiful. I do have a healthy respect for him and don't get too close.

Birthday Snake

Curled up in the warm sun

Not such good news for my birthday week, parting with a huge amount of money for Daughter #3 to get braces. I know it will be worth it when her teeth are straight.

Blue bands on the braces

Happy Birthday to me and my other friends who celebrate at this time of year also.

Do what you love.....Love what you do

New Stuff

2013-09-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

I am happy to say the reason I am behind on my blog this time is because I have been so busy with stuff other than work, I am finding it hard to catch up with all my editing and writing. (I also have to fit a bit of work into my fun stuff)

I mentioned in the last post that we were doing a bit of renovating...The two most important things have happened. I got a new oven, it is so good, gas cook top (with a lid), an electric grill that doubles as a small oven and an electric fan forced oven. The very first thing I cooked was lemon meringue cup cakes - because I could. It was so nice to have them cook at an even temperature not having to rotate them every few minutes to stop burning, then I make a beautiful roast chicken with vegies and gravy. SOOOO yum.

***Inset photo of old oven here***

New Oven - I love the extra bench space the lid creates

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

We also got our lounge suite recovered, this was a very hard decision to make as we could have spent just a little more and gotten a brand spanking new one. The reasons we chose to recover not buy new are,

A lounge suite with 2 recliners and a sofa bed was $1500 more than recovering (no sofa bed on $550 more)
The mechanism on our recliners is no longer made and is less likely to fault like the new model
The quality of our furniture is very good, nice thick timber, new products made out of thinner ***inset cheaper*** timber - not as long lasting.
New (reasonably priced) furniture is imported and a lot of the foam is treated with formaldehyde - the use of formaldehyde is banned in Australia but not in our imported products go figure...
I am supporting a local business

The two most important reasons I chose to recover not buy new

The environment, anyone looking for a second hand lounge suite would not likely spend the money on revamping our old one if the same amount of money buy new.
We bought this lounge suite because we liked it and it was comfortable - it still is and I still like it.

Before,

***waves frantically at UK Student , Hi miss you***

The finished product...I love it

My Epiphany

2013-08-18T23:45:00.002-07:00

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have written a blog post, I have no real excuse except life gets in the way. I have been busy with work, home and photos. Work is all kinds of crazy with every weekend booked, lucky I am able to share the work load with my colleagues (a few years ago it fell to me to do all the weekends - until I had a tanty and said 'NO MORE I CAN'T DO IT ALL {shouty capitals intended}. Circumstances have changed a bit at home and we have finally been able to get some much needed work done...this will be another post in a few days ***I hope***

In my last post I was talking about finding my 'style' as a photographer, while I still have not found 'the style' I have come to a huge realisation. ***Insert dramatic music*** I do not want to make a business out of photography, not that I don't think I am good enough, I am. I just don't want the stress or the pressure that goes with making money.
I love photography everything about it (except maybe getting up for sunrise), I loved some aspects of the weddings I have photographed....but I hated trying to get the families organised for the group shots. I will still do wedding photos for friends and families if asked (any excuse to use may camera) I will take baby photos of any babies that are related to me, I just won't do it for money.
I feel really good about this decision. It means everything I photograph now, I do for me and me alone.

This past few weeks I have been working on ideas, I come up with a image (or I see something on the net I would like to reproduce) then I work on how to do it. I have played with a few ideas that have turned out just how I imagined them too. I have gotten into the habit of sharing my idea with HWMBO or my daughters, so that I have some accountability. To show I am not just making it up as I go and hoping for the best result, not that it matters.

The monthly challenges on the flicker group help a lot with my ideas, they give me a 'theme' to focus on.

This was my entry for the Up Close Portrait challenge, #2's friends are so much fun to dress up and play with, we had a huge laugh over the makeup session, I didn't know what I was doing and neither did she so lots of makeup wipes later we got the look I wanted. (this image didn't place I was a bit heavy handed with the background, I should really re edit....one day)

This months challenge is another portrait one - surprisingly only it is Portrait showing extreme emotion. This was good because I had the whole hospital garb idea running though my head. my models couldn't quite pull of the expressions I wanted for the escape through the ferns- probably because we were laughing too much. The hollow log provided the perfect hiding spot.

This was is #3 and our beautiful Lilly, I wanted this image to be a bit dark and mysterious,even a bit magical. I know I pulled it off when The Guy Who Taught ME Everything messaged me saying "This image brought to mind Silence of the Lambs"

Feel free to let me know what you think, I will try not to be so slack and post more often.

Be Happy and smile often

Finding my 'style' what I don't want to do

2013-07-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to find my 'Style' as a photographer, by trying a bit of everything I am sure I will get find it soon. I recently had the chance to do a maternity and newborn baby shoot. What I learnt from this is I loved the maternity shoot - hated the newborn shoot. Perhaps hate is too strong, I did love having newborn baby cuddles and seeing how happy and proud Mum and Grandma were.
Baby girl was wide awake and happy, this meant she was forever moving, I found it hard to get any of the stereotype poses that are popular for newborn photos. I also felt like I was intruding - which I didn't feel when doing the maternity shoot...I can now cross newborn photography of my list of 'styles'.

Now I will keep trying to find my 'style' ***I know what I want it to be...I have to prove I can do it before I advertise it*** in the meantime I will take my camera out as often as possible and search for the million dollar shot.

Last weekend I had a lucky find with a Jabiru (Black Headed Stork) in a pond beside the road near the local shopping centre,I tried to find a way to access the pond via a local park however the only way I could get close was to park on the side of the road...I was spotted 'stalking' the bird by one of my neighbors. I thought the bird was one of the wetland birds from Australia Zoo on a bit of an adventure. This what they said to me G'day Roz, great shot! This is not one of ours. We have had reports over the last 12-18 months of wild Jabiru's in the area (mostly around Ewen Maddock Dam). It's very rare to see them this far south so you're very lucky. Sometimes they're seen as far south as Port Macquarie!I almost didn't read past great shot, LOL.

Until next time....see ya

Need to find a balance between work and play

2013-07-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

This last few weeks have been incredibly busy at work, I have been starting work at 5am and often not finishing before 5pm. Not that I am complaining (well I did a little bit). I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms and missing my camera, I starting carry my camera with me in hope a photo opportunity would present. I don't really like taking photos at work - it is too much like 'work'. I miss a few weeks of the 52 week challenge on Flickr because I have been so busy and it has rained a lot on my days off. The conference that has kept me busy was an International Olympiad in Informatics (or my working title The Nerd Olympics) 300 students from 80 countries, competing for gold medals in mathematics.

http://www.ioi2013.org/

Every team of 4 had a leader from UQ who carried signs with the country names on them, the placement of them outside of the exam room appealed to me enough to take this photo.

On the last day of the Examination part of the Nerd Olympics, there was an hour delay due to technical issues, the students were getting a bit stressed and the tension in the room was high, 10 minutes before the start time there was a commotion at one end of the room. An announcement was made that this animal was harmless and to leave it be. A possum had run into the exam room, the international students were thrilled (and a little worried). With a lot of help I managed to get the possum to an area it would be safe and out of the way. The Dutch camera crew managed to get a good video of it, which I up loaded to You Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Gt0bUY2Oc

The possum came out of his hiding place at the end of the day and was escorted outside.

One night when I got home right on dusk HWMBO was burning the hard wood he had been collecting for charcoal - he is collecting charcoal for his forge.

if made an awesome fire. I took some photos, thinking I would be able to use the flames as overlays for photoshop sometime in the future. I was so pleased with the look of this one it has become one of my favorite photos of the month.

By bringing my camera to work every day I managed to convince one of my boys to let me take his photo - he was a bit worried I was going to make him 'pose and smile for the camera'. I told him I was after a tired hard working look...No smiling. HE HE this is one sure way to get anyone to smile. His girlfriend was very pleased with the result, she says it is hard to get him to look natural.

I finally set aside some time for a sunset shoot, I went to one of my favorite spots on the Maroochy River and waited for the beautiful clouds to turn to gold. As I was taking this photo the rain snuck up on me from behind, it was a mad rush to get back to my car....luckily I got my camera on the seat before the skies opened and I got soaked.

I was so happy to get out with my camera and get a few nice photos I didn't care.

I also found a nice patch of fungi always a treat

Toowong Cemetery

2013-06-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Daughter #1 is always keen to help me with my photography ideas, you may remember when she willing walked in the freezing waters at Gardeners Falls for the lady in the lake photos. Here Recently I have been toying with an dark morbid idea using a cemetery as the back drop. I was after a dark fantasy look. I think I pulled it off.

I have been following the work of Brooke Shaden, http://shadenproductions.com/blog/ she does a lot of composite work with photoshop, I like the story telling of her work and wanted to try my own take. #1 and her BF are keen gamers and love the game of Thrones and Medieval stuff, I am sure they are going to love these photos. ***Although I am not sure how HWMBO will like them*** (perhaps I won't show him)

The Toowong Cemetery is one of Brisbane's most historical cemeteries a lot of Queensland's governors and premiers buried here, the most notable grave in the Toowong Cemetery is possibly that of Jack the Ripper. This is an extract from Wikipedia In August 2008 Toowong Cemetery made world news with the revelation that Jack the Ripper may well be buried there. According to Queensland Historians Jack Sim and Paul Tully, Walter Thomas Porriott was in the Whitechapel area of London at the time of the murders and later migrated to Australia. The headstone over his grave is only engraved with "Bessie - Died 25th June 1957 - And her Husband".

I could have spent hours walking about the cemetery, looking at the different graves, the new and the old...although the old are much more interesting. I have another photo shoot planned for a cemetery so I might spend a bit of time on my own looking around for another site.

This was the first photo I took when I got out of the car, I love the light and colour of the weeds.

From this spot you can see the newer graves in the background, it was really quiet eerie...there was also a very strong smell of incense around the newer graves yet no evidence of it.

The lady in red

HWMBO looking at the headstones

Behind the scenes a little help with the hood

The BF floating above the grave of Sir Anthony Musgrave Qld's 6th governor

This is the image I was after, again I am amazed that I can execute and idea and it work just as I picture it in my mind. Thank you #1 for being so patient and obliging

I am looking forward to my next photography adventure....now I just need some ideas.

***Any ideas would be appreciated***

Musical Instruments

2013-06-25T22:25:00.001-07:00

One of Daughter #2's friends is a very talented musician, before #2 left to go overseas she asked if I would take some photos of her instruments as she is looking for some artwork for her bedroom wall. It was her fathers suggestion that she take photos and get them printed on canvas.... Pommy Chick is a much better musician than photographer. Her exact words 'I am crap with photos'.

It is not as easy as it looks to get photos of musical instruments, PC's favorite is the french horn and this is a shiny brass instrument as is her trumpet and flute. My favorite was the violin...although she doesn't play it.

All the instruments that she wanted photos of....in the bright light of the window. There is many more instruments that she didn't even want photos of

Her dog Rocky wanted to play with us, he was a poser

Her second favorite clarinet

Flute

French Horn up close

French horn Pommy Chicks favorite instrument (at the moment)

Saxophone

This Sax is in need of a bit of love and attention, PC saved it from being thrown out

It is very hard as a photographer to avoid a reflection in shiny objects...I did well on this one

My favorite the violin, when it is played well I could listen for hours.

Pommy Chick was asking #2 what wine i drank so she could give me something for my time, we refused to tell her. Pommy Chick will be repaying me by being a model for me some time soon. I have a location and an idea in mind for her.

Photoshop Police

2013-06-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Any one who reads my blog or follows me on Facebook or Flickr know that I love photoshop....I embraced photoshop as quickly and as passionately as I embraced photography. I love it. This is not going to be a post on Photoshop VS SOOC (straight out of camera), I see and understand both sides of the argument and strongly believe that there is no right or wrong way.

I follow a lot of photographers on Facebook, amateur, professional and everyone in between, I love looking at other peoples work and getting ideas and inspiration. I don't think there is ever a new idea, only different peoples interpretations.

Today I am going to critique someone's work - I do not know this person, I do not follow her FB page (nor will I) she has close to 3000 likes for her page with lots of gushing comments. Her photos are very good however she has added a bird in all her outdoor photos, the same bird in every photo. The editing is not good that even (as hubby would say) blind Freddy can see the copy and paste halo. In my mind she has distracted from good work not added to it.

If she was a friend or one of my photography comunity I would comment on her page about such an obvious PS mistake - the halo not the bird, as she is not I would normally pass right by these images with a smug smile knowing I am better that that....then I read the description on one of the images. There will always be something I love about maternity sessions... and then there's that awesome moment when a bird flies into the shot... Seriously who are her clients

BTW she offers posing and Photoshop tutorials for $900 per day!

I get the whole add something to make it photo your own, like a trademark. I know of people who will photoshop a fly or a flower somewhere on all their photos so even if the watermark is removed there is an identifying mark on all the images they produce. These marks are subtle and often hard to find.

These are a few PS fails I found on the internet today....so many to choose from so little time

Lost - most of my horse....

The famous office chair in front of the Eiffel Tower - I wonder if #2 had this photo opportunity

All the tutorials I have watched has been very clear about avoiding repeating patterns - I guess repeating people are OK....I wonder what was there in the original.

I know I am not perfect and have made some pretty fake PS photos, I was going to show them here only I have not saved them. I am getting better at seeing my mistakes before I publish anything... and I have a very good family who let me know what they think of my finished work. The good the bad and the ugly.

I don't know why this upset me so much today....I guess I never will know. It just did.

(perhaps it is the guilt of not finishing my latest edits....perhaps it is envy for all the likes on her page...maybe I am just a bitter old lady with too much time spent on FB.....)