18/01/2011 - New best friend
Today was a day of puppy-sitting and hot weather. As previously promised, here's a shot of the pup! (plus my own gentle giant, Nelson. He's the one on the left :)
Bella (the pup) is a 9 week old chocolate Labrador and belongs to my sister-in-law and her family. We're looking after Bella for a week while the family is on holiday.
Nelson is a Labradoodle and is turning 7 this year. Despite his relatively 'old-man' status, he's never really grown up and is almost as much of a puppy as when we first got him.
The two of them just LOVE each other to bits! They constantly play together and Nelson is just so gentle with her it's amazing - she even had her head in his mouth at one stage and he just sat there, lol.
PS the title of this shot was taken from an episode of "Absolutely Fabulous" which is one of my favourite shows.
f/5.3, 1/400, ISO auto which selected an ISO of 2200 (not sure why so high with this value!). Black point and highlights adjusted in photoshop.
17/01/2011 - These boots were made for shovelling
This is what my boots looked like after 3.5 hours of shovelling thicky, sloppy mud from the farm yard animal pen at the RSPCA, Fairfield, Qld.
The RSPCA Brisbane headquaters was totally flooded in last week's flood (some buildings right up to their roof) but fortunately all animals were evacuated safely.
I went along today to help them clean up and it was great to see so many other animal lovers lending a hand. Because the RSPCA is a charity, they don't qualify for any of the government's flood relief funding :(
After we'd scraped up as much mud as we could, I sprinkled lime all over the ground to help kill any nasty bugs that may have been in the mud.
A hot, tiring and messy day but well worth the effort!
PS I don't have 'cankles' - the boots/socks come about half way up my shins :)
Taken with my point and shoot camera (Olympus u1030 SW) set to 'portrait' mode which resulted in f/4.5, 1/500s, ISO 80
16/01/2011 - Surveillance overkill
A shot of the tower of CCTV cameras located in the staff carpark of the local council office. I think they're slightly paranoid.
I took this shot while I was riding my bike to work - I'd never noticed it before but I figured they had every angle covered!
This shot is fairly appropriate for our household today with the arrival of my sister-in-law's puppy, Bella, who we will be baby-sitting for a week: she will be under total surveillance by my husband and me!
(No doubt some puppy photos will feature over the coming days!)
Taken from the seat of a bicycle, f/20, 1/100s, vignette and green tinge added in photoshop to make the cameras feel like they are the ones being watched...
15/01/2011 - Time for your meds
This is my mum's 15 year old cat, Bootie (named for her little white boots) who I purchased for $10 with my own money when I was 13.
She survived a health scare late last year and narrowly avoided getting put down because we didn't want her suffering. But against all odds, she managed to somehow get healthy again.
She will live out the rest of her days having to take a tablet each day because of a dodgy thyroid - the cause of her sickness last year.
My parents have gone away for a few days so we went to their house tp feed and medicate the cat today. In this photo, my husband is feeding Bootie her daily tablet wrapped in a piece of turkey breast to disguise the medicine.
I wasn't 100% happy with this photo because the camera focused on my husband's hand rather than the cat's nose. I guess I used too shallow a depth of field (f/5) Shutter speed 1/125s, ISO 200.
I need to learn how to better capture the spontaneous moments with a camera (ie. proper focus, correct shutter speed etc) so that the photo turns out how I imagine it. This was highlighted for me again with the photo I took of my dog at the vet (11/01/2011). I didn't have much time to setup/check camera settings as I didn't want to hold up the vet with his busy day and in this instance, the ISO should have been increased to speed up the shutter speed to prevent camera blur.
Oh well, part of the learning process and part of the reason I took on this project!
14/01/2011 - Don't forget the animals
I promise this will be the last photo in my 365 project to do with the flooding in Brisbane! Today I went down to the Sandgate/Brighton foreshore where the amount of debris piling up on the beach from the flooded Brisbane River is incredible.
I was there for just under 4 hours helping other locals clean up the non-biodegradable bits of rubbish on the beach before the council workers scooped up the sticks/trees/fences etc that have washed up with front end loaders - this type of debris will be mulched.
Among the piles of rubbish I saw many dead animals ranging from snakes, toads, birds, fish and eels. The photo above is of a dead puffer fish with really sharp spines. This view is looking out into Moreton Bay.
The most common piece of rubbish we found down there (believe it or not) were drinking straws! I will be happy never to see another straw again. There were also many cigarette lighters, Christmas decorations, tupperware containers, children's toys, shoes and perhaps most dangerously- hyperdermic needles....all of which have come from someone's house somewhere.
Taken with a Neutral Density filter attached to a Nikon D90 - there was quite a bit of glare coming off the water. f/13 in Aperture mode, 1/100s shutter speed, ISO 200.
I increased the blacks and clarity in photoshop.
13/01/2011 - Not the usual view
After Brisbane woke up to its second day of devastating flooding, my husband and I drove down to the Sandgate foreshore where we saw the massive amounts of debris washed up onto the beach that have come from upstream in the Brisbane River.
What is usually a lovely seaside view is now covered with pieces of pontoons, plants, trees and even household items like couches and combs.
This lone dining chair had been recovered from the pile of rubbish below and placed on the above walkway and was a solemn reminder of the houses lost under the waters.
I didn't spend much time composing this image or checking my camera settings as I felt a bit strange taking photos while other people were cleaning up the mess. Taken in Aperture priority mode, f/5, 1/2000s, ISO 200. In photoshop, I slid the 'recovery' slider across to 77 to 'reclaim' the otherwise washed-out sky, increased the blackpoint, clarity, and vibrance.
We plan to return to the beach tomorrow and help with the clean up.
12/01/2011 - Fighting for Australia
This self portrait is an homage to the WWII poster of "Rosie the Riveter" and also for my home country of Australia (I'm wearing an Autralian flag bandana) as much of it is currently under water due to mass flooding. But, as Rosie said, "We can do it!'
We will survive.
On a side note, it's also been one year to the day since I got my Spongebob Squarepants tattoo so it's kind of an anniversary for me :)
Taken on a tripod with camera on self-timer, 1 image converted to 3 exposures then tonemapped in photomatix.
Probably should have used a bounce flash to light my face a bit more. And probably should have tried looking less 'snarly' lol. This was the first of 3 shots I took in this pose and I liked it the best.
11/01/2011 - A visit to the vet and its effects
Today Nelson (my 6yrs and 7 month old Labradoodle) went for a checkup/vaccination at the vet. He's been having his usual itchy skin issues for this time of year too so we got that all sorted with some cortisone tablets and medicated shampoo.
The vet was kind enough to let me take a photo while he listened to Nelson's heart (strong and healthy I'm glad to report). Nelson wasn't too happy about it though :)
After our visit I took him home and washed him with his special shampoo (again, he wasn't too happy :)
So technically 2 photos for today but they're along the same theme.
I put these two shots together using multiple layers in photoshop which was a first for me!
10/01/2011 - "That's dilapidated!"
Today I went and visited my parents (no, this is not their house). Everytime I visit the folks, I see this old house and think "I must take a photo of that house one day" but I never have my camera with me. Well, today I DID have my camera with me in case a shot for Project 365 presented itself, so on my way home I stopped and took this photo.
It always reminds me of 'The Simpsons' episode where Marge becomes a real estate and is learning how to 'up-sell' a crappy house to potential buyers- the boss shows her one house and calls it a "Renovator's Delight." Marge doesn't quite see the positive side of it and calls it dilapidated.
This house is located in the centre of a very rich area with big, well-maintained houses. I guess I like the contrast this little place presents. :)
A single hand-held image converted into 3 exposures (-2, 0, +2) and tonemapped in photmatix.
f/5.6, 1/250s shutter speed, ISO 200.
Oh, and I saw a dead snake on the road too.
09/01/2001 - "Can I go out and play yet???"
Day number 'too-many-to-count' of rain where I live and we're feeling slightly house-bound and want to go outside. This is my husband looking at the dreary outside world wishing the rain would stop. Shortly after this photo, we went and saw 'Unstoppable' at Gold Class using tickets given to my husband for Christmas.
Enjoyed the movie but felt a bit cheap taking our own snacks and drinks into a Gold Class theatre!
The above photo was taken in our bedroom with Ben propped up on a pillow where he had moments before flopped down onto the bed and sighed about the non-stop rain (I'm starting to realise this rain is taking over my life and my 365 - the last three days in a row have featured photos featuring aspects of the wetness from the sky!)
I used an aperture of f/5, shutter speed 1/20s, ISO 320. In photoshop, I converted it to greyscale to up the drama of the dreary weather outside the window. (In colour, the trees and grass outside the window are just way too green to convey the mood of 'doom and gloom' I wanted). I then increased the blackpoint and clarity, then played around with the saturation/luminence of the individual colour bars until I was happy with the result.
I liked the way the light came in the window onto my husband's face and arm.
08/01/2011 - The indoor clothesline
The immense ammount of rain we've had lately is still making its impact mark on my life - it's nearly impossible to get any clothes dry! This shot was taken in my lounge room where we've had to set up a clothes rack in an attempt to dry the ever- increasing piles of washing.
Originally I had intended to use a photograph of my friends and their baby who were coming over to visit that night as my shot of the day. But when I walked past this now common-place structure in my lounge, the bright multi-coloured pegs were just begging me to photograph them. I figured it was a fitting shot for my 365 photo as it told some more of the story of my life lately :) ie. a frustrated woman with limited clean underwear remaining!
I used a large aperture (f/4.5 - as low as my lens would go) in order to get a shallow depth of field. I focused on the yellow peg right of centre. Shot on a tripod in aperture priority mode, with a 1.0s shutter, ISO 250.
Nikon D90.
I played with it a bit in photoshop to get the grainy/slightly 'hipstamatic' look :) (increased black point, upped the exposure level, reduced contrast, increased clarity, increased highlights then added a noise filter to get the grainy look.)
07/01/2011 - Nelson surveys the damage
Camera settings: f/5, ISO 200, 1/500s
This photo represents 2 things for me today:
1. The first time it stopped raining long enough for me to walk my dog in days
2. The large amounts of rain we're having at the moment
06/01/2011- Slow cooked dinner
This is our slow cooker in action for the first time - it was a Christmas gift from my parents. 'Pulled pork' for dinner - mmmmmmmm :)
05/01/2011- Nelson 'helping' in the garden
My dog, Nelson (a Labradoodle) 'helping' me with the gardening. I thought he looked very cute trying to hide his giant body behind the vines.
I used a large aperture to increase the shutter speed in the available light so that I could quickly fire off a series of shots and get his in focus as he was moving around sniffing things a fair bit.
04/01/2011- Self Portrait in the hand dryer
This is a self portrait in the reflection of a hand dryer in the ladies toilets at my work. It was about 30 mins before taking this photo that I decided to embark on Project 365, hence the rather strange subject matter. This one was taken on my iPhone. I like how shiny the hand dryer is and the random pattern of brown tiles under it. As I said, I was a bit desperate for a photo at this point :)
03/01/2011 - No photo today :(
02/01/2011 - Misty trail
A misty, cloud covering hiking trail at Springbrook National Park, Gold Coast, Australia. My husband and I went hiking on this trail (Twin Falls circuit) as with the recent deluge of rain our state has been experiencing, we were desperate to venture outside while the rain held off!
The cloud actually made it difficult to focus the camera on autofocus mode, as it was getting confused by the swirling mist.
01/01/2011- New Year's Party!
The above shot is of two of my friends at my New Year's Eve party, taken shortly after midnight (ie. January 1st). I used a shallow depth of field and focused on the bottles in front to blur the happy couple in the background.
After asking the vet's permission to photograph him while he examined Nelson I quickly snapped 2 shots but would have loved to have taken more and also had the time to make some camera adjustments eg, increase the ISO so that I could increase the shutter speed as I wasn't 100% happy with the degree of 'sharpness' of that photo. I still feel funny about asking strangers if I can take their photo.
