I spotted this duck perched high up in a tree branch. She was spying on a beautifully coloured male duck. He was showing off, trying to impress her. Sadly, she flew off and left him all alone.
I thought these were mallard. But since I posted this I learnt that mallards are more likely to have orange feet. I think they are Australian Shelducks.
Ready
Set
Go
Landed and having a quiet swim.
All by himself.
The purpose of this challenge is to compare the black and white photo to the coloured version. So, just for fun, here’s my contribution.
Apples have to be red. Sweet and juicy. But red, most definitely red.
Not green. It’s just wrong, in oh so many ways..
And black and white leave a lot to be desired.
But seriously.
Pianos by their very nature would be odd if they were anything but black and white. However, I’m leaning towards the coloured version of this photo. The piano is old, a single key is missing. The ivory (or plastic in this case) has naturally turned to cream. The ebony (also plastic) is starting to fade. The shades of brown tone in to emphasize the cream. It’s mellow. The feeling is one of warmth and love for the aged instrument.
The black and white version works for me too. I keep changing my preference here every time I reexamine the photos. I really like the reflections and interplay of light in the black and white. The missing key stand out starkly, making the same visual point, maybe with even more emphasis. Thus it shows the age, by the state of repair, not by the more emotive colouring.
This is an Australian Native Hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii), some times called Lilac Hibiscus. It has been claimed that it thrives in the most desolute of places (Simpson, A.G.W. (1982) Bush Garden Handbook, Rigby Publishers, Australia). That goes a long way to explaining why it grows so well in my garden.
Actually, I managed to kill off the original one in my ‘garden’. This one self seeded and thrives on the bank of the lagoon, literally just on the other side of the property boundary. I guess it left home.
Settings: ISO 160 55 mm f/5.6 1/80 sec
Introducing a friend of mine.
When I began my blog I wanted to merge two of my passions, one for gardening and the other for my creations. I don’t call them ‘dolls’ because not all of them take the human form. They are very impressionistic. They’re not perfect in proportion and my sewing can be impatient. I still haven’t found the language to express my ideas, (I don’t know what to tag them), but the images might tell my story.
When I began my blog I was frustrated with the quality of my photos. I have been fixated on trying to improve them. I’ve studied lots of other blog and watched countless videos. Now, I have a new challenge taking inside photos indoors. I cheated and went outside in the brief sunshine we’ve had. Who to take first? This one seemed appropriate for the sunshine.
As I was playing around with the sun and the pesky shadows, (there is a downside when the sun comes out), I noticed something through the viewfinder. Oh wow, blossom. Here, as I’ve said often lately, it’s the end of Winter. Wait on, maybe I should say the start of Spring
Details about the doll on My Friends
Today marks the start of the last week of winter. The wintry weather is persisting, but I’m looking forward to the start of Spring.
Yesterday I took some pictures from my upstairs window and noticed a little dot of colour down below in a pot. It was a bit of a mystery. Being winter here, there’s not much of this colour in my garden at all. So I braved the cold to investigate.
It was a rose flower that has clung on since I pruned them last. At that time I couldn’t bear to nip off the final rose. Looking more closely, it was a fairly battered about, missing a few petals and looked a bit wind blown. With the arctic ‘breeze’ this week, I have to say I’m surprised it had any petals at all.
I’m awaiting the time when it has new blooms so that I can share them.
Also for Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day Challenge (FOTD)
I glanced out the upstairs studio window and grabbed the iphone in excitement. There was a storm coming. There might be a drop or two on the window.
There was a sudden darkening of the sky and the colours were all changing. No post-photo adjustment to the photo here.
Then the sun peeked through the cloud and lit up a patch of reeds beside the water. I love how the colour changed, (without resorting to after photo fiddling with the colours.) Isn’t sunlight amazing…
After visiting Cee’s Flower Of The Day Photo Challenge and looking at her fabulous photography, I was inspired to play with tomorrow’s post. Here it is. Come back tomorrow for the real thing. I’m still debating which photo I like the best.
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