30 Days of Photography - Day 26

Oy. It's been seven-ish months since I last made any progress on this challenge that was supposed to take a month. I'm officially the worst. On the plus side, I'm not leaving it five-sixths finished, so I guess that's something??

The theme for day 26 was "close up". I thought this fit the bill quite nicely, don't you?

And no, it's not still attached to a peacock. Which is why I'm so close to it - that whole bird phobia thing doesn't extend to bits that have already dropped off the bird!

K xx

30 Days of Photography: Day 25

The theme for Day 25 was "something pink". I had half arsed plans to take photos of the twins, seeing as how they're small and pink and squishy and whatnot. But they're usually into their bedtime routine by the time I get home from interning, so there will be no photos of babies today (sorry Mum).

Instead, you can have this - a weird decorative cabbage planted in the garden of the fancy looking cottages at Sovereign Hill that I took during winter:

You're welcome, I guess??

K xx

30 Days of Photography: Day 24

The theme for Day 24 was 'animal'. I've been holding off on this one because I knew that once I got to Canberra, I'd have access to cats and therefore be able to take photos of something other than the manky birds in the front garden at home...

So here - meet Missy:

I don't think she was particularly impressed with me shoving a camera in her face...

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 23

The theme for Day 23 was sunflare. I had high hopes for taking some shots today, seeing as it was a gorgeous, sunny day in Melbourne. Buuuuuut we had a bunch of people over this afternoon, and I a) got distracted helping with the cooking, and b) flat out forgot. FAIL.

Thankfully, I remembered that I took a bunch of photos on a bushwalk we did way back at the start of September that I never showed you guys, so here:

I'm kind of obsessed with taking photos of dead trees. Dead trees are to me what abandoned houses are to Katie - kryptonite. I could quite happily fill entire memory cards with pictures of dead trees. I think I just like the textures of them!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 22

I started this challenge over a year ago. I am made of fail...

The theme for Day 22 is 'hands'. And appropriately, Little Miss A has started hiding behind hers any time I bring out the camera.

One day, that kid is going to be old enough to read my blog, and see all the ridiculous pictures I've posted of her over the years. Sucks to be Future Little Miss A... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 21

Wow. I'm FINALLY to the point where I have less than ten days left on this challenge. It's only taken me the better part of a year.........

The theme for Day 21 was "faceless self-portrait". Today when I got home from the gym, I decided to take advantage of the 25 degree weather and the sunshine, and eat lunch outside on the grass. Course, the back garden hasn't been mown in about a month because I'm not allowed to use the lawn mower (last time I did, I ran over a concrete phone doohickey and nearly broke the mower...), so it kind of looks like a jungle.

So I figured that I may as well take the opportunity to cross the next day off the list as I sat in the front garden, which wasn't at ALL weird. Aaaand here you go - a faceless self-portrait!

Also, this is the only time you will ever see me wearing leggings. YOU'RE WELCOME.

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 20

OH MA GAH, I remembered about this series again! Kidding. I knew it was still here. I've just been really slack/lacking in motivation to take photos...

Anyway, the theme for day 20 was bokeh. Part of the reason why it took me so long to do this was that I was kind of hoping that the City of Melbourne would put up the Christmas lights cu-raaaaaaaaaaaaazy early, allowing for pretty twinkle light bokeh in the background. However, they rudely neglected to cater to my whims, so you don't get any twinkle light bokeh. Hopefully I can rectify that at Christmas time!!

ANYWAY. Instead, you get this:

A sign that spring is finally on the way. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

It may not twinkle, but there's still more than a sufficient amount of bokeh to cross off the theme for day 20!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 19

So before we get to the photography side of things, you guys probably already know that I'm a huge Buffy fan. Like, "watched every episode at least 10 times" kind of huge. Like, "knows that there are 144 episodes, not including the original unaired pilot in which half the cast are different" kind of huge. Like, "collects the season 8 comic books" kind of huge.

Oh, hi. I'm a giant nerd. I'm sure you guys were already aware of this fact.

ANYWAY.

The point of this Buffy themed segue is that you'll now be able to find me writing Buffy recaps with Lor over on Snark Squad on a weekly basis. It's super exciting (especially because Lor's never seen it before), and we're HILARIOUS (even if I do say so myself), and y'all should go check out our first post.

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The theme for Day 19 is 'something orange'. So when we made use of our fireplace recently, I figured it was a prime opportunity to grab a few shots!

Fire + slower exposure = purdy patterns

Perfect for toasting marshmallows! Sadly, we had none...

There's a distinct possibility that after I took these photos, I put the fire screen back in place and then spent the rest of the night reading my book on the floor by the fireplace. It was awesome.

Seriously, though. Go check out that Buffy recap.

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 18

Oh, hai. I bet you thought I'd forgotten about THIS challenge, along with my cookbook challenge! I didn't - I just got horribly sidetracked, what with my camera getting stolen, and then uni, and then...just being a slacker.

But hopefully this will get me back on track, and through the last 12 days!

The theme for Day 18 is shoes. Here's a pair I picked up today. I actually had an identical pair that I bought back in April. But within 6 weeks, the soles had started to come off them. Thankfully, the store where I bought them was kind enough to give me a replacement pair. HURRAH! (I really hope the same thing doesn't happen with this pair, or I'll be super cranky...)

I love them, though. They're a little bit Eleventh Doctor, and a little bit badass!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 17

I picked up my shiny new replacement camera on Wednesday (wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Although I still don't have my 50mm prime lens because they've had to order it in - SAD FACE FOREVER), and can therefore FINALLY start up this series again! Hopefully now I'll get it finished, rather than leaving things hanging as they've been for the past however many months...

Anyway, the theme for day 17 is "technology". To be honest, I had no idea what to do for this. I mean, photos of mobile phones or modems or laptops aren't particularly exciting. So I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to show you what I spend chunks of my time doing now:

MARC coding. Fascinating, no? (For the record, this isn't actually something I coded. The records I've done are far sloppier than this, and have way less lines of data in them!)

The joys of training to become a librarian... And yes, that does make sense to me!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 16

Oh, hey. Y'all thought I forgot about this again, didn't you? Yeah, I don't blame you - it's been nearly 2 months since I posted day 15 #umWHOOPS

Anyway, last night there were fireworks going on at a park down the road, so I figured I'd head down there with my camera and my tripod and see what I could come up with. You know what's not fun? Spending 10 minutes setting up your camera and tripod and getting everything perfect, only to find that you've pointed your camera in totally the wrong direction. And for some reason, turning the entire tripod around seemed to make much more sense at the time than turning the camera. DO NOT BE LIKE ME.

Still, I managed to get some decent shots (and a lot of really terrible ones). So here's day 16 - long exposure:

I'll try and do better than once every two months from here on in!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 15

Happy Australia Day, kids! I've celebrated by going for a bush walk, complete with a mob of kangaroos, and will shortly be having barbequed lamb for dinner! #giantstereotype #onlynotquitesoboganasmostofthestereotypes #stupidlylonghashtags

Ahem. The theme for Day 15 of the challenge was 'silhouette'. I've been trying for about a week now to take some silhouette photos, and have failed miserably every single time. So I'm abandoning ship and delving into the archives again, otherwise I'll never get this bloody challenge finished!

So, in honour of Australia Day, have a silhouette photo of Uluru and Kata Tjuta that I took in 2010.

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 14

I swear, one of these days I'll actually get better at remembering to take photos for this. And, you know, FINISH the challenge...

Anyway, today's theme is 'eyes'. If you were one of the handful of people who read my blog a year ago, you'll know that I have eyeball phobia. So I've kind of been putting off taking photos for this one. It's totally not because I'm really forgetful. Anyway. Here's a close up of my eyeball.

You're welcome.

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 13

Oh, hey. Y'all thought I'd forgotten about this, didn't you? SURPRISE!

The theme for Day 13 of the challenge is 'Yourself with thirteen things'.

Obviously I'm a dirty cheater and included a picture of myself rather than my actual self.
1. My iPod, which I rarely go anywhere without.
2 and 3. Two of my favourite books - Jane Eyre and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
4. Me and my BFF, Sara, at Bondi Beach in 2010.
5. My beloved 50mm prime lens.
6. My trusty sunglasses. I even wear them when it's raining.
7. The awesome cake server my mum got me for Christmas that says 'I <3 cake' on the handle.
8. An Egyptian £1 coin with Tutankhamun's death mask on it that Sara got me and which lives in the bottom of my handbag because it's awesome.
9. My blogging notebook, which also lives in my handbag.
10. The awesome Boston Red Sox helmet that I ate ice cream out of at Fenway Park. Best souvenir EVER.
11. My favourite nail polish - OPI's Bogata Blackberry
12. My Pandora bracelet
13. My favourite necklace - it's electrified moonstone.

So there you have it. Hopefully now that I'm back in the swing of it again, the rest of the 30 Days of Photography won't have as many long gaps in it!

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 12

Contrary to what it might seem, I haven't actually forgotten about the 30 Day Photography Challenge. The theme for day 12 is 'sunset'. So for the past ten days, I've been trying to remind myself to head out with the camera just before sunset. And every single day, I've either forgotten or it's been raining/cloudy/miserable. And tonight we're going out for dinner because it's my dad's birthday.

So just this once, I'm going to cheat and delve into the archives instead.

Taken with my crappy point and shoot in Flores, Guatemala in June 2008. If I remember correctly, I was with my BFF Sara - who I'd known for about 24 hours at that point - and we were on our way to get ice cream. Aww. Good times...

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 11

So I spent the first two days of December alternating between "Wheeeeeeee, I don't have to blog today!" and "Wait, what did I *do* before I started NaBloPoMo???" I still don't know the answer to that question.

Anyway. Today's theme was 'something blue'. Obviously, if I had my way, there'd be a photo of me standing outside the TARDIS. Alas...

Instead, I present you with something that might be considered more purple than blue. But it's pretty and it's how you know that it's the start of summer in Melbourne:

The jacaranda trees start blooming. It doesn't last long, but it's one of the things I missed when I lived in Canberra. For some reason, no one has jacarandas up there. SO inconsiderate...

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 10

Today's theme is 'a childhood memory'. As luck would have it, my mum and Little Miss A put the Christmas tree up this morning, so you get this:

I made Lamey McSad Star (as I christened him this morning) when I was five and we lived in Canada. And he's adorned our Christmas tree every year since. This poor little cardboard and tin foil bastard is 23 years old. He's lost half the sequins from his smile (but the dried out glue is still there), and the (paper!) twist ties that hold him to the tree are pretty much tetanus waiting to happen. And I'm still as annoyed as I was on the day I made it about the fact that my teacher spelled my name wrong on my star. Possibly more so, because I've had to put up with 23 Christmases of my name being spelled wrong on top of the tree... *sigh*

Does anyone else still have their insanely old Lamey McSad Star on the top of their family Christmas tree?? (We've been trying to persuade Little Miss A to make us a new one for about three years now. She won't...)

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 9

The theme for today's photo is 'someone you love'. Obviously, if I had my way the post would be filled with pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal and David Tennant. But that would be cheating, because I haven't actually taken any photos of them. YET. *evil grin* (I'm sorry, was that creepy? My bad.)

Ahem. Anyway, you get this instead:

I took it two days before he died. And I miss him every day.

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 8

I went to a Pump class this morning for the first time in about a millionty years ages. By the end of the squat track, my legs hurt so much that I thought I was going to die. Needless to say, I foresee tomorrow and Friday being filled with me acting like it would be less painful to have surgery without anaesthesia than stand up/lift my arms above shoulder height...

Anyway, today's topic was "a bad habit". My brother and I are equally guilty on this one - leaving our shoes all over the house.

Seriously, I have absolutely no idea when I last wore my red heels (possibly to drinks with Ness and Kat like two weeks ago??), but they're still sitting around in my room. They're at least NEXT to the cupboard, so they're ahead of my sneakers (which Dad's just moved from the middle of the kitchen to the back porch in frustration) and my thongs/jandals/flip flops, which pretty much live at the bottom of the stairs during summer.

Um. Whoops?

Okay, confession time y'all - does anyone else leave their shoes all over the house??

K xx

30 Days of Photography - Day 7

The theme for today's photo is fruit. I thought about taking a photo of any strawberries on the strawberry plant in our back garden. But there weren't any. Booooooooooo. So you get this instead:

WE HAVE BANANAS IN THE FRUIT BOWL AGAIN. Not the most exciting news ever for me, given that I don't like banana. But it's a novelty seeing them in the house again. For the non-Australians among you, here's why. After the floods in Queensland this time last year, the price of bananas skyrocketed to around $15 per kilo.  It's only within the last few weeks that the price has really started to drop. But they're still $7, which is rather a lot when compared to the 69c per pound I saw them for in Denver during September!

And as a bonus, here's a shot of some mulberries that were still on the tree that I took after my laying on the front path session last week:

K xx