Nostalgia

Today is a good time to revisit some old images thru new eyes.  Earlier in the day I had the privilege of returning to one of my old schools and seeing so many wonderful young people and their parents catching up with old friends and teachers and celebrating all that is special about our schools.

No matter what nonsense is being promoted by governments desperate to get a quick boost in the polls, schools remain such a special place in our society.  Like few other institutions, they are a constant that links us all.   Today, it was such a day.  150 years of continuous education, of families, of kids, of dreams and of successes.  It was a privilege to be there.

Returning home tonight I felt I needed to dig back into some images that I'd taken some time ago and had put away not knowing how to show them at their best.  Having now installed all my Nik Software and needing some practice, I have let my old friend "Nostalgia" out for the night.

Some of these images do look better having been locked away for some time.  Others needed to be culled and headed straight to the Trash.


Enjoy!  I will keep adding to this post over the next couple of days as I dig out some new treasures.




These few images were taken in the area around Cairns in January during the wet season.

Port Douglas (above)

Mossman Gorge (above and below)

The cyclone winds were ripping around when I took this image (above) looking out towards the Coral Sea.

In the zone @ Tarana

Highly recommend all photographers find some way of isolating themselves for a short time just to focus on photography. It is the advice you see so often from those who are successful photographers and artists. For me it's always so easy to forget this advice and it's only when I find myself with this special opportunity that I begin to sing photographically and make all sorts of promises to myself to repeat this activity more often.

Don't get me wrong. I pretty much have my head in my photography world most of the time, but it's often in the midst of doing 3 or 4 other things. All of these photographic opportunities are fabulous - I never know what I'm going to get or what I might see or what might present itself. However, when I truly remove all the "noise" from my daily life and just allow myself the time to soak in all that is around me and think, dream, imagine, talk photography .... my work is so much better.

A few days ago I headed over the mountains, west of Sydney to spend a couple of days @ Tarana and the Fish River area. It was cold and much of the Autumn foliage was already on the ground. I travelled with 2 other women photographers and our brief was to laugh, talk, share, shoot! And I think it is fair to say that we excelled in all aspects!

We stayed at the Tarana pub in the cabins that were warm and cosy. The BBQ worked, the fridge worked, the water was hot and the sunrise the next morning was to die for - that's for those who were up in time to see it. Sadly (or wisely?) I was in bed but my buddy photographer kindly brought the viewing screen in so I could see what I was missing.

It was once the home of trout fishing 
http://bluemountainsfishing.net/fishriver.html  and looking at the river as we drove around you can see why this is. Much of the river bank that we drove around is fenced so it was only accessible in a couple of places. One of the better ones was Flat Rock Picnic Area on Mutton Falls Rd between Tarana and O'Connell. Really worth planning a couple of hours here if ever you find yourself in the area.

One of our group is working on a personal project about water so it was a great opportunity to spend some time in an area that had boulders, rocks, gravel, flowing water, small rapids and unbelievably beautiful colours and reflections. I'm still working out how I want to show some of the work I did but including here a few of my early edits. I've also uploaded a handful to my pbase site. http://www.pbase.com/ssteel If you clock on "recent" you should see them.

Enjoy! I think I will get some real pleasure out of working with these images over the next couple of weeks. 

This image (above) was taken in the area close to Flat Rock reserve.  I'd been working with a wider lens and an ND filter and polariser but just had a feeling that I wanted to see if I could get something different with my 105macro.    I like the result and particularly some of the underlying colours in the water.  Interestingly a couple of the images taken in this river look to be black and white.  I can see no colour at all.

Early morning, close to the hotel.  I was wandering around with some pretty weird looking clothes - I ran out of the cabin excited about the light and dew and didn't bother dressing for public view!  I was warm and I got some great shots and that is really all that matters.
I loved the pearls of light behind this wispy plant.  It was moving slightly in the morning breeze and I like how the movement adds to my enjoyment of the image.

What glorious colours!  A birch tree I think?? Or maybe a beech??  I get them mixed up.

The hotel had a few pieces of old farm machinery in the grounds. It fitted in beautifully but it was at its most captivating early morning with dew drops and low sun in the sky. I let my wonderful Sigma 105Macro do its thing and the abstract image (above) is the result.

A few days in the Hastings

Just back from a visit to mum's in Wauchope.  Had a few opportunities to get out with my camera - to visit spots that I knew well and also to check out for future shooting opportunities when next I return.



Attaching here a few of my favourites.

Beach grasses (above) late afternoon Nth Haven

Lake Cathie (above)

Nth Haven (above) late afternoon with rich overcast sky using ND filter.

Mop head (above) caught in the late afternoon light leaning against the fibro wall.  Beauty in the least expected places!

Old corrugated iron (above) being used as a shelter for firewood given a beauty treatment!!