Its show time!

The advantage to being a granny means that you can have the children for fun times and give them back when you want some "me" time! So it was this weekend. I was able to take the children to the local country show - of course there are not too many opportunities to take photos when you are keeping your eye on two tiny girls with eyes like saucers! But I managed to take a few shots that I can share here - the photos of the girls having the time of their lives I cannot show, their mother would not like it, but those I can print out big and show them off to all my visitors!

Perhaps we arrived early but the first photo I took shows very few of the crowds that were at the show! The camel rides were very popular and there was always a stream of people waiting for their turn on the ships of the desert.

Of course there are plenty of horses at a country show - not too many cattle, didn't see any sheep and I did not see any big bulls or Clydesdale horses either. But I did see the judging of some very small horses - these tiny horses are not much bigger than my dogs! They really surprised me - I did not know there were horses this size that were so fine boned like the thoroughbreds that are the pride of the horse arenas, I thought that the mini horses were more sturdy - more like the tubby Shetland ponies!

My two charges were the right age to enjoy a puppet show so we timed our wander around the stalls and arenas so that we arrived at "show time". So engrossed and believing in this "make-believe" world were they that they leaped out of their places when a cloud of stage smoke billowed from the bottom of the striped stage indicating a dragon hidden inside! It was fun to hear them try and tell the story they had watched to their mother when they got home! "... and the duck tried to play the piano but a spider was inside and then a dragon came and tried to eat the duck but we shouted and saved him"!

What is a show without rides? Our local show is not as big as the show that is in Brisbane but there are still lots of rides and games and ways to spend your money! Since my girls are not big enough or old enough to go on these rides I had to snatch a photo while on the run! Its just a matter of getting the camera settings ready then pausing, aiming and shooting! It is so much fun having a camera that is so easy to use!
As we walked back to where we were to meet the shuttle bus - we had taken the Show Society's advice and parked at one of the collection points and taken the free shuttle bus to the show, it delivered us right to the entrance and when we returned to the car, dropped us right at our vehicle! as I started to say, walking back to the main gate we passed some highly polished and painted vehicles. This was an excuse for a few more photographs!         

I think this is the first time I have managed to take car photos without getting the back of men of all ages gazing down at the engines (what are they trying to see, I wonder!) I like to see the paintwork and the interior finish and the mag-wheels! I guess that means I am not really a car buff!
The show is over for another year - and this year the weather was absolutely perfect and I am sure that the organizers would have been very happy with the crowds that attended and the money they would have brought in.
There will be another Show on the Gold Coast - this one was organized in one of the smaller suburbs, the next show is for the entire Gold Coast and is much bigger (but not necessarily much better!) I haven't been to the Mudgeeraba Show (this one) in several years so it was fun to do it with my two little granddaughters - you tend to see things in a different light when you have young children with you.
AJ

Fun with my bloggie camera

Here is a little video I made of one of the buskers on Friday.

I am not sure if this will work or not - This time I am trying to upload a video from my computer instead of putting it into Youtube first.
Fingers crossed!!
AJ

rocks and gems

This afternoon I visited the local Lapidary Club because they were holding a Gem Show. I was really surprised by the number of cars in the carpark and even more amazed at the number of stalls out in the open. The ones that were in the shade of trees were at a real disadvantage because they were unable to show off the colour and shine of their wares - the opals looks like riverstone in the shadows! A couple of enterprising people were prepared with torches and when anyone came near they would direct the light onto the stones that were being looked upon.
Although this photo looks nice and bright - it was only one in the afternoon - the shade of the trees put everything into deep shadow and I have had to employ Photoshop to brighten the picture.

 There were dozens of stalls like the ones that are shown here but there were more people standing behind the stalls than there were people wandering along and looking at the wares. I just wish that I had buckets of money - I loved the fossils! There were some real beauties - but what would I do with them? So it is just as well I am not rich!
Instead I enjoyed taking a couple of photos. Most people did not want me to take any photos but a few people were only too happy for me to take some. I really loved this unusual amethyst. The person trying to sell it told me that often this type of amethyst was cut in a thin slither so that it looked rather like a flower.

As you can see, this stall was out in the sunlight which made taking a photograph of the amethyst so much better.
As well as rocks and gems for sale for jewellery making or as jewellery that has already been manufactured, there was a room set aside for competitions and displays of collections of work.

There are certainly some incredibly talented people around.
Another stone that took my eye and that I was given permission to move into the light to take a photograph was a large bumpy piece of malachite.

The top is gorgeous with its multiple rings however the underside is equally as interesting.

Now isn't that something? I wonder if it were a slab of soft material that was covered with bubbles that shrank down to create this dimpled surface. I guess a geologist would be able to give some explanation!
AJ

Feet stomping

Here is one of the snippets of video I took yesterday. It is of a group of talented drummers who have managed to make a good living from doing just this - having fun! They travel the world giving their performances. They are known as "STOMP".

Hope you enjoy it!
AJ

Street performers

There is a new event happening at Surfers Paradise and one of the happenings during that Festival is a competition for Street Performers. Although I live in one of the suburbs inland from Surfers Paradise I wanted to join in the fun and see what was happening.
The Street Performers or Buskers competition started today which meant that I was able to see some of it. My weekend is pretty well organised with heaps of activities! Surfers Paradise is not really the safest place for a woman on her own so I dragged my willing husband along with me as my body-guard.
I was not sure what to expect but I anticipated performers on street corners and alcoves singing or playing an instrument or juggling or whatever, what I did not expect was to find a clearing with rows of chairs arranged for a seated audience in the middle of Cavill Mall. Asking a fellow who was tweaking a sound system inside a small marquee, when things were going to start I was told "two minutes" so we found ourselves a seat on the front row. Following our lead lots of others came and sat down too. Setting up took far more than two minutes! More like twenty! Anyway the wait was worth it, The young Argentinian fellow twiddling a soccer ball while the sound system was being fine tuned turned out to be the first performer.

f6.3  1/200  ISO500

There was not much that this boy could not do with a soccer ball! He was quite a comedian too so his performance was very entertaining.
The act that followed was also a juggling act and although each of the tricks were very clever the fellow himself irritated me so much that I actually wanted to walk away!

f6.3  1/200  ISO500 

This fellow juggled with fire, knives and an active chainsaw (!) and finished up on the top of a pole held up by people he had picked from the audience - he even jumped up and stood on the shoulders of one man (from the audience!) to get up high on the pole where he had a couple of footholds. I actually felt sorry for his victims!
Changing the pace of things was the sound of drums. We looked around and a bunch of people were creating amazing rhythms using tin garbage bins, folding chairs, tin lids and stuff, they walked as they drummed and led the crowd to the top of the Mall to the Esplanade where they stopped and gave a performance. I took a few minutes with my pocket video camera which I will try and put together for tomorrow.
Colin and I walked to another venue at the other end of Cavill Avenue and watched and listened to a very talented group who were playing exciting music.

f11  1/50  ISO500 

The young fellow in the red shirt was just as talented as the other two band members! They were a great trio. I did feel very sorry for the performers who were allotted this location for their performances though, there were no people here. a great venue but no audience.
Surfers Paradise was actually very quiet - apart from the sound from the performers, that is - I have never been there and seen so few people. It meant that I was able to get my shots of the performers easily but from the entertainers point of view it was not good! There are not many visitors around, in past years the place has been teeming with people who are obviously from other countries but today most were locals. The high Aussie dollar has killed our tourism!
AJ

Beauty destroyed

We are visited by so many different birds here at my home and although I chase them away, I cannot but admire the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos with their glorious white plumage and striking yellow crest which always fans out when they land. I chase them away because they can be very destructive - it is so tempting to feed all wild birds that venture near and can be encouraged to be quite tame - however the Cockatoo, although one of the easiest birds to encourage, can become the boss very quickly. Once these birds know that they will be fed when they visit, they will expect a handout every time they arrive. If you happen to not be at home when they call these large birds will vent their frustration by ripping at the wooden frames around the windows, tearing the fly-screens and the cloth covering of outdoor furniture and sinking their beaks into whatever they can. Unfortunately we learned the hard way! They are a beautiful bird (but noisy!) and are best viewed in the bush!
Unfortunately there is a nasty disease that can touch these magnificent creatures, it is called Beak and Feather disease. I have no idea how this starts but the consequences are miserable. The top beak grows long and makes eating and preening difficult and the feathers fall out. Usually the beautiful yellow crest goes first. Eventually the bird is unable to fly or feed - a slow, drawn-out way to die. This morning was very cold - the lowest part of our acre block had a covering of frost on the grass - so I felt so sorry for this poor bird.

I spotted the bird sitting on our bird feeder - it was unable to get to the food because we have a cage over the dishes - intentionally to keep the cockatoos away. I went straight to the camera and put on the 50-300mm lens and quietly opened the door to the veranda and took my pictures while hidden from the bird's sight. Being so vulnerable makes these birds even more flighty and it is very difficult to get close to them.
As you can see from the last shot where he was just in the act of flying away, it has no feathers left on its body. How it was able to survive the cold night, I have no idea.
The pity is that the cockatoo is a native bird and as such we would get into trouble if we killed it - and yet that would be the kindest thing to do. Instead we are supposed to trap it and then take it to a vet to kill! I think that is actually quite a cruel thing to do, trapping a bird is very traumatic for the bird - and who would be expected to pay for the euthanasia? So we do nothing - and feel sad because we can do nothing.
AJ

Water - splash or smooth?

Water is a magnet when you have a camera in your hands - or I should say "it is a magnet for me!" I am not the greatest fan of water that has been photographed in such a way that it looks like something other than water. I have seen crashing seas taken with a slow shutter speed that has successfully taken the anger out of the water and rendered it into a solid seething mass of slime. To me that is unthinkable! The sea has so many moods but it is never "slimy"!
In spite of my dislike of that "look" I still cannot resist the challenge of slowing down the shutter speed and adjusting the aperture when I see fast flowing water. Just last week I took this shot.

f/ 36    0.3 sec  ISO 200     55mm  (17-55mm lens)

The water was in a little park and I had to lean over a fence to be able to take the shot. To my mind this is a shot that gives force to the water, the shutter speed has not been slow enough to smooth the water completely, there is enough splash left to give character to the water - so that it still looks like water! In the background the water running over stones has been smoothed to look more like material but that is due to the depth of field. The softer focus combined with the slow shutter has removed any splash.
By contrast I took a photograph of a pelican racing into the sea with its trophy on a fast shutter speed because I wanted the bird to be in focus and the agitated water to show the urgency of the dash.

f/ 6.3   1/320sec  ISO 200     55mm  (17-55mm lens)

Photography is all about decisions! Deciding on what is the subject, deciding on how to capture that subject to show a particular emotion or feature, deciding on whether to use shutter priority or aperture priority and so on and so on! Everyone wants something different from their images so although I may criticise what someone else has done with a photograph (I try not to!) it is more than likely that that "someone else" captured exactly what they set out to capture! I can only tell you the reasons I have taken a photo in a particular way.
AJ

Ring light

Today I opened another Ebay purchase - a Ring Flash for a macro lens. I had always thought these specialised lights to be very expensive so when I was able to purchase one for $62 including postage I jumped at the chance! The camera with macro lens has been promised to me so I felt that this item would be invaluable as a companion to it.

Opening the package was a surprise, the quality of the goods looked to be robust and well constructed. There also seemed to be a lot of things in the box!
Taking out the ring light I found six different sized adapter rings to fit almost any sized macro lens.

The camera I was to fit this light onto is a Canon D40 and has a 58mm lens.

The adapter ring is flat, as you can see, with a raised ring screw that fits neatly inside the lens ridge. The ring flash then slips onto this ring.

The controls for the light fit onto the top of the camera in the hot shoe - but the connection is NOT a hot connection.

There are two inputs on the control, one is for the lead to the light (as shown) and the other is for a power connection that is also included - along with a conversion adapter for Australian power sockets.
I installed two Alkaline AA batteries and switched on . . . .

Don't ask me why I was surprised that it actually worked - but I was! Hence the photograph!
Next thing to do was to find a few things to try it out on so here are three examples.

I had printed this train timetable from a web site so the print is not brilliant - but is as was printed - the reason I chose a paper with type on it was to see how even the lighting was from the ring light (not a flash, it is on all the time the switch is in the "on" position).
Since I actually need this light to help a friend put together some good macro photos for a book he is writing I chose a rock as one of my subjects.

Now I could see yet another advantage to the ring lighting - hardly any shadows! I have not done any clever Photoshop work on any of these photos - just adjusted the levels and added a little sharpening.
Last photo needs no explanation but gives an idea of the distance I was from my subjects shown above.

This is a Twenty Cent piece 28mm diametre. The picture has not been cropped.
This light is going to be fun to use!
AJ

Sign of Autumn in the Sub-tropics

This morning when I should have been tucked up in bed I was delivering my tour driver son to where he was to pick up his coach for his next trip. There was a reward for me when we got there. Just as we turned in the drive I noticed the most gloriously coloured tree!

Naturally, I dug out my little camera and took a photo. Such a colourful sight is not seen too often among all our lush greenery!
I walked closer to admire the tree - such a perfect shape! - and just had to take a photo of the leaves beneath it. When I lived in the UK such a sight would barely make me look twice!

I can remember that as a child I would kick the fallen leaves, heap them up and jump into them and take great pleasure in throwing them up into the air! I think my son would have disowned me if I did that today!

Standing among the fallen leaves I gazed up into the tree, the morning sunlight was streaming through the leaves. It made me feel great to be alive on such a day!
As I walked back to the vehicle to drive home (leaving my son to drive off in the coach) I heard the distinctive call of black cockatoos. I looked up and saw three of them flying directly overhead, barely higher than the tree I had just left. I was looking into the sun so an in-flight shot was impossible. I continued walking up to the vehicle but could hear the birds still. I looked over the boundary of high bushes and saw them in the pencil willow trees in the next property. How I would have loved to have gone over there to get on the "other" side of the tree the birds were in. Knowing that the birds would fly away as soon as I came anywhere near I moved into a bit of shade and managed to take this shot.

The birds are chasing grubs that develop inside the heart of the willow and to get at these morsels they practically destroy the tree. The beaks on these birds are huge and so strong, they tear the soft flesh of the pencil willow and the branches then break and fall, you can hear the creaking sound as they go about there work!
I hope your morning was as eventful!
AJ

Is Spring on the way?

Winter has barely begun and yet today I saw a pair of swans busily preparing for a clutch of eggs! They were nest building.

The male swan was obviously the one in the water while his mate sat on the top of the heap and made things tidy.

The male would plunge his head deep in the water and pull up the weeds from the bottom and place them on the heap.

The female would remain where she was seated and spread the leaves and push them so they were tangled together and would stay together.

Since a moat had been cleared all around the nest the male swan had to move further and further away to find more weeds. Rather than swim back to the nest with each mouthful he would be like an excavator - pulling up the weeds from his right side, swinging his long neck around so that he could deposit them on his left side.

While he was working as hard as this his mate was getting rather bored so she curled her head back over her body and had a bit of a snooze. After all, unless the weeds were put onto the heap she had nothing to do!

I would have loved to have taken video of this nest building - I was using the 70-300mm lens at full stretch - but without a tripod no one would have the stomach to watch such a bouncy film! All these shots were taken hand held and for such an undertaking I upped the shutter speed and increased the ISO so that there would be plenty of light on this rather dull day. The ISO was 640 and my shutter speed was 1/500 second (for all the shots). Since Shutter Priority was chosen the camera took care of the Aperture.
A fast shutter speed is recommended when using the full zoom on a compact camera with a zoom such as 16x or 24x, such cameras do allow the user to select this. The faster shutter speed gives you much sharper images because you will not get motion blur (from your own hands shaking).
AJ

Creative sewing

Walking around the Textile Art expo I came across a group of women seated at sewing machines and receiving pieces of coloured lace and "tops" (dyed and coloured, teased wool)and provided with a plain coloured acrylic scarf they were to use these machines to create something colourful and special. I was able to use my little camera since the low surrounding baricade was close enough for everyone on the outside to see what was going on in this workshop.
None of the ladies had ever worked with one of these special "embossing" machines before but they soon knew exactly what to do and I did not see any one person actually plan what they were going to do or work out where they were going to lay their different colours and textures.

Enjoy.
Again, if you wish to see this video without the sides trimmed off just click on 'scarf making.flv" in the top left corner of the video and you will be taken to Youtube.
AJ

Unusual fashion

Went to Brisbane yesterday to the Textile Art Show and took a few photos.
I put them together to create this little video. There are certainly some talented and imaginative people in this country.

If you wish to see this video in Youtube - and slightly larger, click on the top lefthand corner on the words textiles.flv and you will be transferred to Youtube.
Enjoy
AJ

My tropical garden

After a very chilly start this day turned out to be a glorious sunny and warm one. I managed to get quite warm working in the garden, digging things out and moving them around then tossing mulch all around the new plantings. Nothing goes to waste in my garden, whatever I pull out gets put through the mulcher and is returned to the garden.
After an hour I had used up my energy for digging and mulching so cleaned up and grabbed the camera. I had noticed that the staghorn fern was looking rather magnificent.

 f6.3  1/10  ISO 200  18mm

 This wonderful plant needs no looking after at all, it is not a parasite, it does not send roots into the trunk of the tree it grows on, it is an "epiphyte" drawing moisture and nourishment from the air and rain that touches it. This particular plant was given to me when it was so small it would fit into the palm of my hand. For the first couple of years it was left on a piece of chip board to grow a bit - it came originally from the surface of a rock. Then it was put onto this tree and held there with a strap of plastic covered television aerial wire. The wire is still there holding it but the main leaf now hides it. Without the wire it may fall to the ground from its own weight.

 f6.3  1/15  ISO 200  20mm

The fence behind the tree gives some sort of scale to the Staghorn fern - that fence is two metres tall and is only a metre away from the tree that is supporting the Staghorn fern.
Many people make the mistake of calling this fern an Elkhorn fern. The Elkhorn fern is also an epiphyte but it does not have a magnificent large top leaf like the Staghorn fern. This is the Elkhorn.

 f6.3  1/6  ISO 200  30mm

It does look rather a mess but this is how the Elkhorn grows - it has lots of "pups" and they seem to crowd together. This one is on an African Tulip tree and it seems to really enjoy being here. Both these epiphytes love the deep shade so these heavily leafed trees provide the ideal situation for them - the Staghorn fern is on a Blackbean tree.
Sharing the same Blackbean as the Staghorn fern is a native orchid. This orchid is known as the King Orchid and has sprays of yellow flowers. Obviously it is not the time for the flowers just yet!

  f6.3  1/6  ISO 200  27mm

My garden is full of imported "exotic" plants but it is also home to many natives too. If it will grow in my garden I don't mind where it originated!
AJ

Pelican lunch

On Sunday I took my camera to one of the Northern suburbs of the Gold Coast and was fortunate enough to wander onto the sands as a flock of pelicans gathered on the water. The seagulls were massed around them so I thought that the people sitting on the sea wall were throwing their lunch out to them.

f/8    1/250  ISO200

Happily I started to take a few photos and barely had I started when the pelicans started to march up the beach, one behind the other.

The pelican march  up the beach was quickly realised, a man wearing a rubber apron and carrying two large buckets was setting himself up on the sea wall among the picnickers. The birds were about to be fed!

f/8    1/250  ISO200

The birds were very orderly and waited patiently for their turn to be given a fish carcase.

f/6.3    1/400  ISO200

Sometimes the birds would catch the fish and sometimes it would fall on to the sand only to be snatched up with its thick coating of sand grains to be taken to the water to be washed.

f/8    1/400  ISO200

This bird did catch his (her?) fish. How do you tell the sex of a pelican? Its just as well the birds know how!

Taking the fish down to the water. This fish has been caught before it hit the sand so will be swallowed as is , the fish that fall into the sand are given a dunking in the sea and then swallowed.

f/6.3    1/400  ISO200

Once the bird has had a fish it did not return for a second helping, so when the pelican took the fish into the water it would eat it, swim around for a little while and then swim over to the farther bank of sand before flying away.

f/6.3    1/320  ISO200

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my small collection of pelican activity. The movie uploading was a bit of an experiment. The movie taken with my Samsung (still camera) could be uploaded into my Picasa album from where I brought it into the blog. This is the video that just has the thin strip with the play button on it.
Video I took on the High Definition blog camera has been converted to flash video using AVS4YOU and loaded into Youtube before being embedded. The AVS converter I bought a couple of years back would not recognise the file format of the blog camera so I downloaded a newer version. I hope there are no intrusive adverts plastered all over it!
AJ

Back out with my camera!

I get "withdrawal symptoms" when I have been unable to write into my blogspot! I wake at night wondering what I should write about, I drop the housework and take out the camera and gaze longingly at the different lenses before putting them back and "getting on with things again" and I scour the free papers and the 'net for local event that might be worth "dropping everything" for. Then the weekend comes around - and family takes precedence! (I can't resist the invitation to have the children!). However, today I insisted on taking the Nikon with me when we went out looking at bedroom furniture and once that was out of the way it was MY turn!
I wont tell you about all the day because that would take too long. My blog today includes a few photos taken on the way back home.
Our photography group has three monthly topics, one of the topics for this month is "pink" and I spotted a tall pink building so pulled over into a car park that was almost opposite to take my shot. Once that was done (Its a magnificent building, incidentally!) my attention was taken to my immediate surrounds.
The car was parked right beside the most incredible plant pot I have ever seen. It has peacock eyes on it.

This I would like at home! However it was almost as big as the car so not something I could take!
Colin and I decided (I decided and he agreed) to take a walk into the park beside the car park we had chosen. A friend has shown photos taken inside this park of the most flamboyant of exotic birds - peacocks - so I imagine that these birds have been resident in this park for a while because the fence was the next thing I just HAD to take a picture of!

What a wonderful piece of artwork this fence is! Each panel flows over into the next. I was very restrained and only took the one photograph of this part of the fence - it straddled the footpath entry to the park. We walked though and were amazed at how beautiful the park was and right in the centre of our tourist city of Surfers Paradise and, when the big race is on, is surrounded by roaring V8 cars as they vie for the trophy at our annual car race (Once called "Indy"). The race track (normally busy streets used by everyone) runs all the way around the perimetre of the park and several residences and high-rises. 
While we were walking we heard the sound of music - I love music and it was such a magnet! We came across a brass band all smartly in uniform and under the baton of a conductor, playing very pleasant music of all genres. We gave a hearty round of applause when the first tune finished and that encouraged several other walkers to applaud too so the conductor asked us where we came from and happily launched the band into another rousing number. I struck up a conversation with a fellow who was sitting watching and learned that the Surfers Paradise Brass Band were now going to play every first Sunday in the month in this park. They used to perform in a hall but they never had much of an audience - the acoustics under the trees are perfect for brass and the sound carries quite a long way. I am sure they will be very popular - they are very good.

The drummer looks to be only a teenager. He was excellent.
Colin and I did not find any living peacocks during our time in the park but on the return walk to the car found yet another patch of decorated fence.

As for previous blog entries, if you wish to see the pictures larger, click on them. Hit the return arrow to get back to the blog - if you close the picture by clicking on the X, you close the blog!
I have had my "blog fix" so am feeling better now!
AJ