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Up Close And Personal

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – It’s A Small World and Ragtag Daily Prompt – Assignment.

Guest host of this week’s Lens-Artists challenge, Anne Sandler, has invited photographers to focus on the small things and she has provided a number of useful tips for macro/micro and close-up photography. Thanks, Anne. Unfortunately, I got carried away and so I might not have stuck strictly to the brief, preferring once more to go with arty-farty rather than teeny weeny. Thankfully my True Love had something up his … oh, never mind!

I have redeemed myself though with some wee poetry – haiku, of course – and some vulgar photography humour. My friend has asked me to keep writing and who am I to refuse?

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The C Bird – Crested Pigeon

Bird Weekly Challenge – Birds That Start With ‘C’

Gee, my post title is a bit punny, don’t you think? I amuse myself. This week I am dropping in a quick contribution to Lisa’s Bird Weekly Challenge. I’m too busy on my hols at the moment to sort through photos, so I will limit my contribution to just one bird, the Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) or crestie for short. It is an easy one for me since the cresties are regular visitors to my garden.

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Personal Favourites?

I have no particular favourite photos of 2020. They are all my favourites. Each month I choose a selection of photos that represent the main themes of my month and, as is often the case, many favourite-ish photos don’t make the cut. For the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Favorite Images of 2020, I’ve chosen a couple of those that didn’t fit my monthly narrative and two I published earlier this year. I wouldn’t exactly call them favourites but for personal reasons, they are ones I really like.

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Tea Tune

Today we’ve been invited to join the lovely Su (aka Zimmerbitch) for a Christmas afternoon tea get-together and chat in the blogosphere. Pull up a chair wherever you are and join in some socially distant camaraderie. I’m often too disorganised and my kitchen too messy to join in with my own post, but today I am bursting with excitement and ready for show and tell. Last week, I went actual shopping and bought an outdoor lounge setting! I know. Very un-me. Couch shopping seems to be a Covid thing here in Australia.

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My Preciouses

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Precious Moments

It may come as a surprise to my readers that when I first started this blog some 3 or 4 years ago, I wasn’t at all interested in photography. I have now got thousands of photos and since I don’t have an electronic filing system, it is hard to find that “needle in a haystack” photo that I know would be perfect for a photo challenge. So today, I decided I would start from the back of my digital catalogue to select photos for the Precious Moments challenge. All but one of the photos are family snaps (including some images of family members that are now deceased). Where appropriate, I have included privacy screens (I’ve drawn in sunglasses) to protect the identity of the living. Let’s get started.

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“A” Is For Anarchy And Art

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Subjects That Begin with the Letter A.

I have one subject and two photos for this challenge. I have chosen Art as my subject, and more specifically, my art. This is my first foray into “protest” art. It seemed an appropriate, non-violent way to express my rage over the last two months. This piece was completed today.

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My Best Birds

Hi there, I’ve been inspired by Brian from Bushboy’s World to participate in the Bird Weekly Photo Challenge hosted by Lisa from Eyes Wide Open. The topic of this week’s challenge is birds with a “B” in the title of their name. However, before I launch into it, I would just like to make a speech on wildlife photos.

First I would like to say that the wildlife photographers I’ve interacted with online have been unstinting in their kindness and helpfulness with suggestions for taking good wildlife photos. I’m incredibly appreciative of that, even if from time to time I feel a little intimidated because my gear is not the latest and greatest; I can’t (refuse?) to get up at daybreak to take advantage of the lovely soft morning light; I don’t plan; my backgrounds are often messy, etc. I guess one might describe me as a happy snapper who likes “nature” and who just goes with the flow. I’m a total opportunist, and sometimes I get lucky (well, maybe it isn’t all luck these days).

It is not that I don’t want to improve. I do, but that’s not my mission. Anyway, I want to encourage you whether or not you have a super-duper camera, whether or not your wildlife photos are entirely in focus or not, whether or not your subject is hidden by a busy background, etc, firstly, because it is fun, and secondly, one day you might take a shot of something that is interesting to you and that something interesting might be rare, endangered or even thought to be extinct and without your photo, we would never know. Never hope. No, I haven’t taken a photo of something thought to be extinct, but it could happen, if I’m in the right place at the right time.

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Walking With Magpies

This article contains material of a satirical nature that may offend some readers. Please note the photos are awful, but the story is good/scary/funny.

For months now I have been in serious training. Magpie training. It’s full on magpie breeding season here in Canberra (Australia) and for the unlucky few, a walk, cycle or broomstick ride, may lead to being dive-bombed by a rampaging magpie. As of a few minutes ago, the count on the number of magpie attacks that have occurred in Australia this year is 3798, with 466 injuries (see Australia’s Magpie Swooping Map 2020). The number of attacks and injuries are likely significantly under-reported. But have no fear, ladies and gentlemen, there are a couple of ways to mitigate the risks.

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