Pics from the family's holiday to the farm

They had a wonderful, relaxing time with friends but as you can see from the second photo, it was bloody freezing in the early mornings!  Thanks for the photos, Jo.

Dedicated photography site

I am very proud to announce that G-Trove (this blog) now has a sister. She is over at g-trovephotos.com . I have been taking photos now for over 4 years and my portfolio is growing. The new site provides a nice interactive way to view some of my better photos. I am hoping to get some photographic commissions for paid and charity work as time goes on and the site should help. Its been a lot of work but I think you'll agree its been worth it. Thanks to Charles for finding the template. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Clone stamping with Photoshop

I've been trying it out in photoshop - its a pretty cool tool. Of course, it can be taken to excess as perhaps I have done here!

Before





After

South African evening

We had Greg, Ellen, Charles, Pascal, Kerry and Cora over for dinner last night. Greg and Ellen are off to South Africa on honeymoon in a few months so that was the theme of the evening with boerwors, Babootie and peppermint crisp dessert on offer. Cora (below) is a new friend of Ally's from cooking class - she's lovely. As you can see from the bottom photo, everyone was totally stuffed by the end of the evening and the reclining position was the only comfortable position to be in.

Autumn Colours

Thanks to Charles for the idea. It's a cracker. We just happened to have a tree down the road shedding its leaves with all 3 colours. I pasted the leaves to the window with cellotape and that's how I shot them with the sun behind.

Darling Harbour at dusk

How is this for a day job?

I went to a photographic exhibition in Sydney today. This model was part of the Canon stand. Imagine standing in wet paint all day with thousands of people (myself included) snapping away at you. One day she'll be a supermodel and won't have to put up with this stuff.

Walk about town

Train Blur

Some arty, abstract shots - I quite like the top one, it was done through a panning mootion. I'm always striving for crisp, sharp shots so it was quite nice to aim for deliberate blur. The others on the platform probably thought I was some kind of crazy "trainspotter."

St Mary's Cathedral

St Mary’s is the largest church in Australia. It is located in the heart of the City of Sydney where, despite the high rise development of the CBD, its imposing structure and twin spires make it a landmark from every direction. In 2008, St. Mary's Cathedral became the focus of World Youth Day 2008 and was visited by Pope Benedict XVI. It really is a beautiful cathedral.

Fiction books read (2009)

• The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
• The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follet)
• World Without End (Ken Follet)
• The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)
• The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
• The Shell Seekers (Rosamunde Pilcher)
• I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
• Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)
• Dances with Wolves (Michael Blake)
• Gaurds, Gaurds! (Terry Pratchett)
• Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
• The Lord of the Flies (William Golding)

Chatswood buildings during and after sunset

Amazing how the colours changed in a period of just 5 minutes.

World's tallest shower

I just found this in my old South America photos and thought it was quite fun. I don't think I blogged this at the time. It was taken in Argentina. That's me at the bottom of the waterfall.