Merry Christmas!

Another year almost over and the special season of Christmas is upon us to let us recap, make and save our memories for the year with our family and/or friends before the number turns over again.  No matter your beliefs or if you don't have one this is a time for all to gather and be Merry, to treasure those we have around us and be grateful.  

Wishing everyone a spectacularly happy Christmas Day with lots of EAT DRINK and BE SILLY...after all it isn't called the silly season for nothing.  

May your New Year be all that you wish for.

Lights of Christmas 2014

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Life More Simple

Two weeks after the occasion, I find time to sit down to find the beauty of the day, both in images and in thoughts...

Congratulations to my handsome nephew and his beautiful wife...

As in all weddings I'm the first to make a beeline for the wedding cake and this one did not disappoint...simple yet sophisticated...teamed with the beautiful natural light the venue offered this was bound to be a no fail photo call.

The beautiful centre floral arrangements designed by the talented bride...

Bridal table.

My thoughts of the day?...an incredibly love filled day from family and friends and of course most of all between bride and groom...may their love continue to grow, blossom and flower.  It was a elegant event in an understated way...simplicity at it's best.

When you have thirteen nephews and nieces, most of whom are of marriage age, it comes as no surprise that the next happy day will be next March....YIPPEE!

Two weeks on the floral arrangement is blooming in parts and decaying in others but the beauty is still there to be found...

Calm amidst the Chaos.

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Life's a Cycle

 

Life begins and ends on an unpredictable day . . . 

the days in between are just the pages that make up the chapters of our book. 

 

It happens to most of us at some point in our lives, 
to witness a loved one's health slowly decline, 
this is a painful and helpless process. 

Is there an instruction manual? How do you deal with having a loved one who is living with the possibility of death every day from the moment that they open their eyes in the morning til the moment they close their eyes for the night...possibly thinking "will I open my eyes when the sun comes up next?".  

It's sad but it's also a reality that we all face, one day we will also be on the other end of the stick, so to speak...how will we feel then? scared, helpless, brave, impatient, resigned, accepting, peaceful or all of the above plus more? Until we are faced with this we will never know what we will feel...so we are in no position to judge.

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Blood Moon...It's Not To Be

So for the second time this year, last night, we all prepared and were excited to be amazed by the sight of a blood moon caused by the lunar eclipse that everyone was talking about... and for the second time this year we Sydneysiders were disappointed yet again, the blood moon was washed out by a cloudy sky...this was as much as I was going to see last night {I considered myself lucky} though I know a few were a little luckier than I and saw it more bloodier than this...

But we made a wise choice, this eclipse, to wait it out at Coogee Beach rather than Maroubra Beach, so there was plenty of pretty lights to distract ourselves while we secretly hoped that the moon would decide to make a bigger appearance than ten seconds...with all that time we had a play with some LE...

Heavenly spot on the horizon where the bright moon shone through a hole in the sky.

Coogee Life Saving Club and rockpools.

Taken from the morth end of Coogee Beach.

I wonder if this fisherman was there fishing while waiting for the blood moon or just fishing and wondering why there was suddenly an influx of people visiting the beach and it's surrounds on this crazy cloudy night...

 Hope you were one of the lucky few in Sydney to get a better glimpse of the ever elusive blood moon than I.

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Peace Is...

Sunny 31ºC

"Peace cannot be kept by force, It can only be achieved by understanding.”

― Albert Einstein

Hong Kong is my country of birth and where I called home for the first six years of my life...even though my memory of those early years are almost next to none, I spent extended periods of time there creating my own impression of it and along the way made many happy memories of my own there.  In my opinion, it is a unique city where there is no other like it, a place where the east and the west co-exist in an extraordinary partnership...taking the best of both worlds and merging it into one...which results in a pretty awesome place that is buzzing day and night.

So when in the past week, witnessing the unrest unravelling on tv, it was with a feeling of shock and disbelief that such an ordered and heads down bum up working attitude society would have resorted to this kind of reaction...I won't go into the for and against of things, which certainly are dividing friends, parents and children, siblings and even couples, anyone who has had or have any association with this unique city...both sides have their valid points. But it seems that as the protests have continued the situation seems to have lost the meaning it was originally set up to be.

Sometimes there will be imperfections...

I am one of those people that live in a political blur...

I sincerely hope that things will be returned to normal and the change we all want for Hong Kong will gradually be put in place...some things just cannot be rushed and expect to be achieved overnight.  

PEACE is ... Patience and Understanding.

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Springtime in Mono

Cloudy 18ºC

Spring has arrived and my hard drive is filling up with this year's new blooms, though I hope it doesn't develop hayfever like many I know including me...wouldn't want any hiccups with it.  

Spring is usually associated with colour and I fully appreciate why...but I like to have other options when playing around with my images...so I thought I would try to convert a few for you, sometimes images will take on a different feel and mood without the distraction of colour getting in the way...although I do have a preference for black and white images at times so I am a little biased, some that don't agree with me and think it is just plain boring...hope these will images will show another side of an image sans colour...

I find that simplicity sometimes works best but high contrast also can work quite positively with black and white...

In saying all of this, with some images I'm so torn between colour or mono that while I'm processing I keep clicking backwards and forwards between colour  & b&w trying to decide which I like better...then end up saving one of each...just like the image below,  by removing the colour I also removed the warmth of the sun but the mono also has a mood that the former doesn't...

But my moto with processing has always been play around with your options because one simple adjustment can be the difference between a good image and a extraordinary one!  Experiment is the key!!!   Happy processing!

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Make a Wish

Cloudy 21ºC

It is simple, consists of many little fluffly seeds, white and round....if you have never looked at it closely it would be just another annoying weed that grows abundantly in your backyards...it is really a very pretty delicate flower...up close, each little seed is a flower in its own right, perched symmetrically upon a pin cushion like base.  Enjoy a macro look into the Taraxacum Officinale, also known as the humble "dandelion" flower...

When seeing them in macro they always remind me of fireworks, every one of them.

But before all that prettiness...this little yellow flower is what makes it all happen...

If you would like to witness the transformation from yellow petals to white seeds click here to see the amazing timelapse video by Neil Bromhall from beginning to end.

You may now close your eyes...make a wish and blow...

 

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Spring Is Here

Sunny 23º

Four of my five senses have finally awoken from months of Winter hibernation...I can see it...smell it...feel it...and hear it!  The spots of colour that Spring brings has arrived, the first warmth of the sun that it also brings is most welcome on my vitamin D deprived skin.  Yesterday's Spring rain in the morning brought me hours of glorious photo time...

Nature's jewels brought by the light Spring rain...

Nature brings me so much inspiration especially when it's at it's happiest.
Hope you all enjoy Spring as much me and my camera do...though will need to stock up on the tissues for the season.

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