Flower Garden

Some of the blooms on a neighbor's Flametree. The normally bright red of the flower bracts still look good in Black and White.

I don't know what these are called- Ixia or Sparaxis maybe. Anyway I found them growing on a road verge near my house and really liked the crazy color scheme. Only Mother Nature would think of combining hot pink and bright yellow with accents of black and white.

Some beautiful yellow and orange jonquil flowers from my garden.

I grew up calling these Easter Lillies, since they bloomed around Easter time. When I was a child growing up on the farm there was the old ruins of a house buried in the pineforest in front of our property. The remaining garden plants had been left to grow wild around the piles of debris left over from when the house was demolished. My brother and I loved exploring these junk piles. I remember thousands of these Easter Lillies used to grow all through the ruins. We hosted sword fights with their fleshy stems until we were both liberally coated with pulp and sticky sap.

Cats of all kinds

Today I thought I'd share a few images of pussycats from my archives. All are standard domestic shorthair's, a breed usually know just as "Moggy". Most of the cats are, or where, owned by my family.

When I origionally took this photo several years ago I named in Elasto-cat. I have always loved watching a cat sleep and marvelling at the amazing positions they get into. We humans could never manage that and still sleep so soundly! The cat in this photo was named Muffin and was an orange striped tabby. In PSE9 I turned the image to black and white then increased the contrast so that it really bought out the pattern in the cat's coat.

This was a young girl at a Farmers Market in my hometown. I don't know her name but I loved the fact that the kitten's orange coloring almost matches her own red hair. The blue of her t-shirt and the blue crates full of fruit on the green truck behind her add aditional contrast.

Do you remember those painted pet rocks that were all the rage in the 80's? Well this is mine, pretty realistic huh? Actually his name Harry and he is pictured snoozing on my sofa on a cold winter's night.

This is how you build a Cat Sandwich....my mum taking an afternoon nap with her moggy Tiger-tim. By the look on the cat's face he really doesn't mind being used as a warm fluffy pillow. 

Going Bushwalking

I found this really great patch of bush yesterday,  right near town, and walked for several kilometres just enjoying the great outdoors. This is just a summery of what I found out there.

I liked the contrast of the bright green and yellow leaf set against the rough red/brown gravel. I didn't set the photo up, it was just something interesting that I came across on the track I was walking along.

I like the way that the setting sun's rays shine between the pieces of burnt tree stump and backlight the grasstree.

For the past couple of days there  has been some really interesting cumulus clouds  that form over the horizon to the east and south-east of Donnybrook. I don't know what's causing it but they fascinate me. I love the shapes that clouds can form.

I don't know why but there was something really interesting about the way in which this tree trunk had burnt and the contrast between black charcoal and white trunk.

Cheeky Birdy

I was trying to photograph a couple of Grey Fantails and I guess one little guy got sick of all the attention. Adds a whole new meaning to 'Flipping the Bird'.

I can just imagine the conversation those Fantails were having about me; "Bloody photographers, now I know how those Hollywood celebrities feel, with the paparazzi photographing their every move...Hey cameralady, SNAP THIS!!"

Pathways and water views

A surfer heads back to the car park, silhouetted against the sunset at one of the surf breaks near Margaret River. The water in the foreground is actually the mouth of a river that has been blacked by sandbar.

A band of granite rock extends into the water like the backbone of some giant prehistoric creature.

Follow the pathway to the end of the rainbow.

One of the footbridges at the Big Swamp reserve in Bunbury, Western Australia.

Insects

A very obliging blue dragonfly that was kind enough to perch on a plain dirt bank so that I could get a great shot of all its delicate features.

It took me ages to track down this cicada to its leafy perch just by following its chirps.

Two different wasp species feeding on the Fennel flowers in my vegetable garden.

A different dragonfly taken on a different day. Not sure it this one works or if the dry leaves it was perched on were a little distracting. I tried converting the image to black and white just to see how it would look. Moderately successful.

Butterflies

Just some of the butterflies I have photographed in my yard. One of the biggest lures for butterflies is a big Buddleja bush. In spring and summer its covered in clusters of lilac colored blooms who's heavy honey scent fill the air and bring in great swarms of butterflies, bees and other insects. 

Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi)

Common Grass Blue (Zizina labradus)

Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

Spotted Jezebel (Delias aganippe)

Wellington Dam, Daisy flowers and woodwork

These little yellow button flowers are part of the daisy family. All year round its covered with fine grey leaves but each spring it is covered in masses of tiny yellow buds, each about the size of a five cent piece. I've never really liked the smell of daisy flowers but they are tough and colorful so I put up with them.

The patterns of this partially burnt tree trunk caught my eye as its textures were highlighted by the setting sun. The tree was still alive despite the massive holes in its trunk. Taken in a patch of forest near the Donnybrook Cemetery late in the afternoon in early autumn.

Taken at Wellington Dam near Collie a couple of years ago. A particularly good winter rain meant that the dam was overflowing and this picture was taken at the base of the wall near one of the vents.

Another view of the water that was flowing over Wellington Dam and across the granite boulders at its base.

more aloe, dandelion, chicken and the view from my doorstep

A study I did a couple of years back of one variety of Aloe plants that line the fence on one side of my property. This variety of aloe is pretty common in gardens in my area. Its tough and looks amazing when in flower with the bright orange flower spikes set against the bright green leaves.

The view across the valley from my front door. I like that there are a number of layers of colors, angles and patterns.

Photographing the neighbor's chooks I came away with this image. I liked the way that the fence wires formed a frame and almost ask the question "Who's looking at who? exactly who is in the cage?".

A close-up view of a dandelion head taken on a frosty winter's morning when the dew really bought out the fine details. I liked the way that there are all stages of the plant; bud, flower and deadhead.

wattlebird, a cubbyhouse and a wild hat

A black and white study of a common Australian bird known as the Lesser Red Wattle Bird. A very noisy, bossy and territorial little creature. this one was so busy yelling abuse at my cat (who was innocently strolling across the garden) that the bird totally ignored my camera and allowed me to get really close and take a great number of photographs.

 Another photo of that same little bird.

My five year old neice playing in her cubbyhouse in grandmother's back garden.

Playing with my new copy of Photoshop Elements 9 I came up with this portrait of a young girl that I photographed at the Balingup Medieval Carnivale a couple of years ago. I loved her headdress but the background was really bad, a couple of people and some very boring stalls. I erased the people and blurred the background then changed the coloring to make her really stand out. I am pleased with the result.

Roses, birds and a dog named Mangles

My little sister Anni and her dog Manny. He was named Mangles after the suburb where my mother lives; but that always seemed a rather butch name for a small brown and white teddybear like him.

These small Silver-eyes were feeding on the nectar of the tree aloe that grows just outside my front door. I just stood in the house with the camera lens poking through a crack in the door.

I got several good shots of the birds that day. I had to stay quiet and still as possible since they are very nervous little birds. Even the click of the camera lens was enough to spook them, but they soon returned to the lure of the rich nectar. 

It started out as a rather boring image. After all there are a million photos of roses/rosebuds in the world. I recently aquired a copy of Photoshop Elements 9 and have been playing with it. I used the lasso tool to isolate the rose and then turned the background monochrome. I feel it made the rose much more interesting.