Capture the Colour

So apparently there's a new meme/competition/thing floating around the blogosphere, all about travel photography. And there are prizes!!! #ZOMG

You want details, you say? BAM: Travel Supermarket are running a competition called Capture The Colour, where they are encouraging bloggers to share photos from their travels featuring 5 colours, being blue, yellow, green, red and white. A grab of the story behind the photo is encouraged! 

I was nominated by the lovely Tash of jouljet to share my five photos. WHEEEEEEEE!!!! (And incidentally? I'm super jealous of Tash because she's in the middle of a three month stint in Toronto, and can therefore have Tim Horton's whenever she wants. Although I'm not super jealous of the disgustingly humid Toronto summer weather. I remember that all too well!!)

ANYWAY. On with the photos!! 

Blue: 

2008 was a rather exciting year for me. I quit my job in Brewery Land (for good!!), went to South and Central America for nine weeks (which didn't QUITE go as planned), and moved to Canberra to start a post graduate degree in museum studies. Just after the great Peruvian medical evacuation saga, I spent a week in the Galapagos. I was literally about a metre away from this blue footed booby on North Seymour island. (And yes, I was freaking out a little because I have bird phobia...)

Yellow: 

You guys have seen this one before. I took it last year when I was in Colorado for Megan's wedding. On my last day before flying home, Lyndsy took me on a drive up to the mountains to see if we could find any early autumn leaves. Boy, did we ever! This patch of aspens was smack in the middle of a pine forest by the side of the highway.

Green: 

This is part of another story that will be coming up (eventually) as part of the Ancient History series. It was quite possibly the most exciting day of my life (and also the most disgusting I have ever felt - 35ish degrees C + 90% humidity + mosquitoes the size of cows = EEEEEEEEEEEUW), because this is Tikal in Guatemala, which was the first of the Mesoamerican ruins we visited. This is the view from the top of Temple V. I love the way the city buildings stick up out of the trees - the only sign that there's anything there at all.

Red:

Sure, I used to live in Canberra, so including a photo of the poppies on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial might be cheating a little bit. But I was living in Melbourne and visiting Canberra when I took this, so it technically still counts as travel photography. The Roll of Honour breaks my heart a little bit more every time I see it - so many men who never made it home. It's nice to see this many poppies and know that they're still remembered, and still cared about.

White:

Washington DC is basically one big city of impressive white stone these days. And they're adding more to it all the time. I love the Lincoln Memorial so I was pretty thrilled last year that I was able to get a photo of it that was a little out of the ordinary!

And now to my nominees!

Kat from The Engineer's Other Life

Deidre from Decoybetty

Pretzel Thief from Pretzel Thief

Kerri from Answers in the Journey

Ness from The Teensy Tiny Insignificant Details

How to enter:
1. Publish a Capture the Colour post on your blog with images for all 5 colours if possible. Bloggers who don’t have photos for all 5 colours will still be in with a chance of winning the iPad category prize but to be eligible to win the £2000 overall prize your blog post should feature photos for all 5 categories.

Within your post, be sure to mention the Travel Supermarket competition page http://www.travelsupermarket.com/c/holidays/capture-the-colour/ so that your readers know what Capture the Colour is.

2. Nominate 5 fellow bloggers to take part in Capture the Colour at the end of your post and notify them via Twitter or Facebook.

3. By 29th August 2012, let Travel Supermarket know you’ve entered by either:

- Linking to your blog post on your Facebook wall mentioning Capture the Colour and tagging the TravelSupermarket.com Facebook page or…
- Linking to your post via Twitter including @travelsupermkt and #capturethecolour in your tweet or…
- Email your entry to capturethecolour@travelsupermarket.com, including your name, email address and phone number.

4. The best Capture the Colour entries will be shared throughout the competition by the expert judges and Travel Supermarket social accounts…

5. Each judge will select their own colour category winners. The judges will then combine to select the overall winner of the £2,000 travel prize. For further information about the judging and the prizes see the Terms & Conditions here.

Want to know more?
If you want to know more about the competition or if you have any questions please get in touch with Travel Supermarket via either Twitter (@travelsupermkt) or email (capturethecolour@travelsupermarket.com).

K xx

Favourite photos of 2011: Volume 4

I've decided to combine the last two categories - 'People' and 'Macro' - into one post, because there didn't seem to be enough of either to warrant a post each. So this might get a little long. But it'll be filled with (what I think are) awesome photos, so you won't really mind right? Right??? It's also occurred to me that a lot of the shots I deem 'macro' shots aren't technically macro. They're just close ups. So I'm going to call them 'macro-ish' and be done with it!

Anyway, without further ado, let's press on.

People

September - Vietnam Nurses' Memorial, Washington DC

September - Oriels vs Red Sox at Fenway Park, Boston

I really wish that wire hadn't been in the way...

September - Megan on her wedding day

December - Little Miss A

She would now be horrified by this photo because she doesn't have
decorative bits of fringe hanging in her face.........

Macro(ish)

January - A bee on lavender, Canberra

May - Blue food colouring in water makes pretty patterns

September - Starfish at the New England Aquarium, Boston

September - Aspen leaves, Colorado

September - Aspen tree, Colorado

So, which one's your favourite?

K xx

Favourite photos of 2011: Volume 3

Today's instalment of my favourite photos of 2011 is 'Animals'. It seems like I went to a zoo or aquarium in every city I visited in the US last year. I think Washington DC is the only exception to that rule, and that's simply because we ran out of time. We DID see lots of amusing taxidermied animals though...

Speaking of which, I'm thinking of doing a series of posts about my favourite ridiculous museum objects. Because I have a TON of photos on my hard drive from museums and galleries of things that made me laugh/were really freaking awesome, and very little use for them. So I figured I'd share them with all of you!! (Aren't you lucky??)

Anywho. On with the show!

August - Domino. 

Yes, that's a slipper shaped like a koala.

I miss him every day.

August - Snake at the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago

August - Allosaur at the Field Museum, Chicago

Okay, I'm stretching the definition of animal. Whatever.

August - Major Mitchell cockatoo, Denver Zoo

I still find it amusing that I went half way around the
world to take a picture of something from Australia

September - Moss frog, New England Aquarium, Boston

September - Lion fish, New England Aquarium, Boston

I seem to take photos of lion fish at every aquarium I visit. It's getting ridiculous.

September - Lyndsy's cat likes suitcases, Denver

Does anyone else get home from overseas and find their memory cards filled with pictures of zoo animals and museum objects??

K xx

Ancient History, Volume IV

In 2004, I wanted nothing for my 21st birthday except money for a plane ticket to America. After a semester of practically living in each other's pockets back in 2002, Megan and I were on opposite sides of the world and spending large chunks of our time emailing each other hilarious quotes from Buffy and Angel. Because that's how we roll.

After much grovelling and "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease, she's my best friend and I haven't seen her in A YEAR AND A HALF!!"-ing, my parents acquiesced (Gina, that one should have gone in my favourite words comment last week!). You know what's terrifying at the age of 21? Taking $1,500 out of the bank IN CASH. Sure, I only had to take it about a hundred metres across the quad at uni to the travel agent. But it was still more money than I'd ever seen in one place at one time.

ANYRANDOMTANGENT. I boarded a plane on 12 June 2004. The flight to LA was long and dull, as most flights to LA are. Upon arrival in LA, I presented my visa waiver form to the guy at immigration, and this happened:
Him: [looks at state abbreviation] NE? Oh, you're going to New England!
Me: Um. No. I'm going to Nebraska. Is New England even a state??
Him: Oh yeah, I remember now!
Me: O.o

After several uneventful hours at LAX, I boarded a flight to Denver. During the flight, I spent rather a lot of time wondering what the white stuff on the ground could be before realising that THE ROCKIES HAVE SNOW ON THEM ALL YEAR. Duh, 21 year old me.

The next day was a Sunday, so we headed to church (where I tried my hardest not to blaspheme or spontaneously combust) before driving back to Nebraska. It turned out that the church we went to (which just happened to be right by the highway, hence choosing that church) had decided against the whole Vatican II thing. So Megan, her mum and I were the only women there in trousers, and the only women without veils on our heads. AWKWARD TURTLE. Sitting through a full sung Catholic Mass in Latin while jetlagged is pretty much what I imagine being on drugs is like. The service went for TWO HOURS and eventually we had to sneak out so that we could get on the road at a decent time.

The rest of my trip was relatively calm compared to that! We visited Megan's college town, including lunch with a couple of her professors that included "Plastic money, whaaaaaaaaaaaaa???" style comments when I pulled an Australian $10 note out of my wallet. We went to the Omaha Zoo, which included this exhibit on the native fauna of Nebraska:

Prairie dog (centre) and giant jack rabbit (bottom left)

We drove up to St. Paul to visit Liz, one of the other girls from our study abroad days, and went out on a paddle boat on the St Croix river:

While in St. Paul, we also went to a bar where this happened:
Bouncer: ID, please.
Me: Sure! [hands over international student card]
Bouncer: [stares at card, then looks at me in confusion] What month is 25?
Me: Um. 25th of April?
Bouncer: Oh, I GET IT!! It's backwards!!
Me: *facepalm*

We also visited the Mall of America, which is basically obligatory for any trip to Minneapolis-St. Paul. I maintain to this day that if there's more than one of the same shop, it shouldn't count as the biggest shopping mall in the US. I did eat Dippin' Dots though, so it wasn't a total loss.

Back in Nebraska, I had a small heart attack when two of Megan's brother's friends turned up to show off their new gun. They burst into the house all "Hey, where's B-?", waving the new gun around. Which of course I (coming from Australia, which has, you know, gun control...) interpreted as "WE HAVE A GUN AND WE'RE NOT AFRAID TO USE IT. NOW WHERE IS HE??" and went "Oh God, please don't kill me!" Apparently it's still hilarious all these years later...

For the Fourth of July, we drove out to Denver to stay with Lyndsy. I was completely baffled by the notion of a drive through ATM, to the point where I got out of the car to take a photo of Lyndsy using the drive through ATM:

We also went to the rodeo in Greeley:

Calf roping

Small child riding a sheep. Because why the hell not?

And then played the world's most epic game of Cranium with a group of people that included Lyndsy's future husband and two of Megan's future bridesmaids. We had an "everyone draws" challenge where the answer was "A rolling stone gathers no moss." Fifteen minutes later, we were still going. Until Lyndsy drew the logo for the Rolling Stones, and I yelled the answer, and we all heaved a sigh of relief. (Lyndsy - we should have framed that piece of paper. Because it was BRILLIANT.)

And that was my first (solo) trip to the US. Well. Apart from the part where I promised my thesis supervisor that I'd do a ton of reading and write at least one chapter. I carried who knows how many photocopied articles over there with me, read maybe half a dozen pages of it, and wrote about 400 words. But that part was boring.

Oh, and because you're no doubt expecting it, here - have a picture of corn and soy beans and flatness. Stereotypical Nebraska!:

Did anybody else grovel for a plane ticket for their 21st birthday? If so, where did you go?

K xx

Favourite photos of 2011: Volume 2

Yesterday, I forked out $125 for a single textbook. Thankfully, it's the ONLY textbook for my entire Masters degree, so I guess it could be worse? Anyway, having to put that sizeable a dent in my savings on something so unexciting made me want to look at pretty things that are free.

And so I give you my favourite photos from last year: Natural Environment Edition.

January - Cliffs at Cape Bridgewater, Victoria

July - Nice dead tree on Mount Lofty, near Melbourne

Sometimes, you just need to make things monochrome.

I'm pretty sure I could fill an entire art gallery with just the pictures of dead trees that I have on my hard drive. I'm kind of a little bit obsessed with them... (See also: metal statue of dead tree in Part 1 of this series!!)

August - Sunset from the John Hancock Observatory, Chicago

I elbowed a small child out of the way for this shot.

September - Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

Complete with insane rock climbers, if you look closely enough!

September - Part way up Pikes Peak, Colorado

It seems kind of Bronte-esque, to me

September - Seven Falls, Colorado

September - Central Park, New York

This is currently my desktop background

September - Guanella Pass, Colorado

September - Aspen trees on the Peak to Peak Highway, Colorado

This was the most amazing sea of trees I've ever seen

Which is your favourite? Does anyone else like dead trees as much as me? And do you know why textbooks are so sodding expensive??

K xx

Favourite photos of 2011: Volume 1

I realised the other day that it's been a while since I did any photography posts. I am actually planning on FINISHING the 30 Days of Photography challenge at SOME point, I just need to remember to leave the house after dark to take some long exposure shots first! Hopefully I can get some taken in the next week or so, seeing as all my classes for uni are in the evenings.

Anyway, for now, I'm copying my BFF Kat and posting my favourite photos from 2011. Unlike Kat, I'm indecisive and unable to limit myself to a handful of awesome photos. (Mostly because she's a much better photographer than me!!) So to save you an insanely picture-heavy post, I've divided them into the following categories:

• Macro
• People
• Animals
• Natural Environment
• Built Environment

I'm going to start off with Built Environment, because I'm a rebel that way. And they're chronological because it hurts my brain for them not to be.

May - Reflection on the side of the museum

July - Melbourne from the roof of Council House 2

I like the juxtaposition of old and new buildings

August - Millennium Park and Cloud Gate, Chicago

August - Downtown Chicago

I like the light. Also the old/new combination

[Do you guys have any idea how hard it is to write 'Downtown' when you're a fan of Downton Abbey??]

September - The Capitol Building, Washington DC

It's kind of postcard-y. But I don't really care.

September - Metal tree in the American Art Museum Sculpture Garden, Washington DC

September - Enclosed courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Okay. Apparently I *really* like old stuff and new stuff close together...

September - The roof of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Because sometimes you just have to point your
camera straight up in the air.

September - Statue of Liberty, New York

I love how it looks like her torch has gone out
because of where the cloud is!

September - Flowers at the 9/11 Memorial, New York

September - 9/11 Memorial, New York

September - Manhattan from Top of the Rock, New York

It's a little overexposed, but I like that it incorporates New York's three most
famous skyscrapers - Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and 30 Rock!

September - The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado

For such a (supposedly) haunted building, it's very pretty!

December - St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne

So there you have it! Well. The 'Built Environment' photos, anyway. I'm not convinced that my photography is getting any better over time, but that's completely my own fault for not thinking about the shots more before I take them! 

What do you guys think? And does anyone else love the juxtaposition of old and new like I apparently do? (Hell, does anyone else love the word 'juxtaposition' like I do?!)

Next instalment coming soon, whether you like it or not ;)

K xx