Seed pods

Lipstick Magnola

Unlocked Gate

Irony

Cactus

Patterns of spikes in a cactus

Father & Son

Just some lads enjoying the afternoon sun.

Tall Greenhood Orchid

We also found these little beauties, Tall Greenhood Orchids

Cobra Greenhood Orchid

Another great day to get out in the bush, today we went to an area close to home looking for Orchids, we found Cobra Greenhood Orchids.

Fungi #5

A strange bit of fungi found in the bush today.

Bird Orchid

I think this is a bird orchid, not sure but it was taken last November in Tasmania.

Yellow Daisy

I'm beginning to see a theme here, flowers and macros. Maybe this is my calling, I do love macros and I love flowers even more as I'm getting older. They never argue when you take their photo and they never complain!

Nodding Greenhood Orchid

Nodding Greenhood another find on our travels yesterday. These little guys are all of 4 or 5cms in height, easily missed but numerous. F/20, 1/10s, ISO 800.

Cobra Greenhood Orchid

Yesterday my wife and I went hunting for Orchids and boy were we rewarded this Cobra Greenhood was only one of two that we saw all afternoon. F/29, 1/3s, ISO 200.

Subaru Impreza

Who would have thought the Stig lived in my neighborhood.

VW Beetle

A classic car I couldn't resist.

Lavender

Wandering around the neighborhood I came across a beautiful Lavender.

Snow Bells

Early Spring

Anderson Street Bridge

On a still night Melbourne and the Yarra river reflections make beautiful pictures.

Melbourne Skyline

Melbourne Skyline

Playing with the white balance here, reduced color temperature and added a little vignette.

Steiglitz Courthouse

Steiglitz Courthouse is a part of the old goldfields area between Geelong and Ballarat.

Native Grass

This grass is so weird but I love it.

Native Flowers

Well we've been out and about. Took a trip up over to the Brisbane Ranges today, found some lovely Native Pink Heath.

Transport Hub

The new Melbourne bike initiative, opposite Flinders St Station.

Heart Fungi

Walking through some gardens yesterday I noticed several of these fungi. I've decided that I really like shotting these guys, firstly because their so unusual and secondly you don't need a consent form to shot them. Unlike humans.

Magnolia

After leaving the doctors the other day I spotted these beautiful Magnolia buds.

2 Little Chickens

Here I'm experimenting with White Balance, in previous shots the combination of tungsten and fluorescent light was a little off putting. So I played around with a manual white balance setting.

Snakes Alive

Tim Burton's exhibition at Fed Square, this snake caricature really grabbed my attention.

Fed Square

Federation Square always has interesting reflections.

Melbourne Skyline

Melbourne from across the bay, its a dull day, its flat but it is a lovely skyline.

Sunrise Mt Buffalo

Early start for this one, but a little on the chilly side at -5. Made the mistake of not wearing gloves, lets just say that's a lesson well learned.

Morning Cloud

Later in the morning and still plenty of low level cloud, the challenge was just finding a clear view of the view.

New Start

Walking to one of the many lookouts you come across these newly shooting plants and you just got to wonder how anything survives in the extremes.

Lady Bath Falls

Just one of the many waterfalls in this area, Lady Bath Falls is just one of the easier waterfalls to get to and tricky to photograph because of the shrubbery.

Lake Buffalo

A great day for reflections as the water was quite still.

First Impressions

Not long after sunrise we left our mark, the sun shining at such a low angle made the ice glint beautifully.

Hay Sheds

This is straight out the box HDR no tweaking!

I've had my eye on these sheds for years and although I've taken images of them before, I decided to have another go.

The sad thing about these two old sheds is what you can't see. The suburbs are creping up to them at a furious pace and before too long these two little gems will be gone.

McCrae Pier

Mt Martha

Fresh Catch

Dromania Beach Boxs

Fungi #4

I promise this is the last one.

If you've ever traveled out in to the rain forest with your DSLR you'll know that the ambient dark light can be tricky. I usually end up with images that are way to dark or blown out with the flash. It's been a frustration of mine for quite some time.

So I decided this time to be a little more proactive and I try a few things. First I tried uping the ISO and that helped heaps because I could bring the shutter speed up , near 1/40, a point were I could at least try taking images hand held.

Then I tried experimenting with the on board flash. In this shot I wound back the flash power using Flash Compensation. This shots not perfect but I think it looks pretty natural.

Here you'll notice the conflicting lighting and shadows. The reason for this the very weak flash settings.

Fungi #3

I know its getting a little odd but I like them.

Fungi #2

I just fascinated by these little guys.

Egret

I spotted this guy in a small creek just off the Great Ocean Road hunting for his breakfast as we were traveling back to our accommodation after the sunrise.

Apollo Bay Harbor

Apollo Bay harbor is a quaint little spot, well worth a look and when the fishing boats are in I believe you can buy the catch, fresh off the boat. This little pink boat I later discovered is quite popular around town, it appears in postcards and tourist information around town.

Fungi, Apollo Bay

Walking through the rain forests in the Otways National parks is a little like a goldmine for fungi spotters. I got this lovely shot thanks to my wifes keen eye.

Apollo Bay Sunrise

I love sunrise images and I hope someone loves this too. I guess its like the thrill of the chase you never know if you'll bag the prize. Some days you just should stay in bed but then how would you know?

Anyway this was about 7:20am last Saturday, I think this was worth the effort.

Times' gotten away

Well I'm back again after sometime away, I don't mean on holidays or anything quite so nice, I mean doing what I said I would do.

I went away for the weekend to Apollo Bay which was great and had a few moments of clarity in terms of photography as I hope you will see.

I must admit trying to keep up with this idea has been much harder than I thought, all sorts of things get in the way not the least my own motivation. Trying to come up with new and fresh ideas to keep myself motivated haven't exactly been as free flowing as I would like. My thick head has been pretty self absorbed lately and I was hoping I might get some online support but that hasn't exactly been overwhelming.

I know it sounds like I'm feeling sorry for myself, and the truth is I am. I hate that.