Lost Aussie on the loose

In Thailand, All that Glitters Probably IS Gold ....

For the last two days I have been squired around Bangkok and environs by a wonderful Local Guide.  We have seen much together, the Railway Market, the Floating Markets and today we went to see Wat Pho, the Grand Palace and a few lesser known temples.  We also took a canal "cruise" and checked out what is known as the "Venice of the East" and ended the day at the Flower Market.

I've loads of pictures to show for my hours of hither and thither in the high 90F' and nearly 90% humidity.
Most of which will have to wait to be edited until I am back home and less "tuckered out"!!

Tomorrow I am off to old Siam and may even get to ride an elephant ..... there's a first time for everything I guess ?

Stay tuned.......

Another World Away

A few quick pictures from today's jaunt around and about the hotel.
Not much adventuring done as I was wiped from three plane rides and getting tossed through a few time zones to boot and slept a lot this afternoon.

I must confess I'd forgotten how hot and sticky this part of the world is and I was almost melting on the sidewalk as I gathered courage to cross streets and navigate the traffic without getting mown down!

It's wonderful though to absorb all the various sights, sounds and smells of a different part of the world.

 

21 Years Ago

... My how time flies....

This is a pic snapped of me almost 21 years ago to the day, close to 9 months pregnant and waiting for the arrival of #1 son.

Pertinent since I am about to hop on (yet another plane) to head down to Australia to celebrate said son's 21st Birthday on the 1st of June.

I've spent this evening going through photo albums and collecting the pre-digital assortment of fun, cute and embarassing photos that will be used for a slideshow on the night of his party.  It's been a trip down memory lane and definitely brought lots of smiles, and the odd tear to my face.

Although I am not looking forward to more long plane rides, I am looking forward to seeing my tall "small" men again and I'm going to break my journey in Thailand on the way, so stay tuned for some pics of a different flavour!

Winning Gold With Black and White

I'm rather thrilled to say that this image recently won a Royal Photographic Society (of GB) Gold Medal at the Cheltenham International Salon of Photography for 2013, for Best Monochrome Creative.
I'm even more thrilled to receive a note from them today to ask for a high res' copy of the image so that it can be featured on the back cover of their Exhibition Catalogue.

The image will also be on display at the gallery showing of images at the Queens Hotel in Cheltenham on June 3rd - if you happen to be in the vicinity to go see.

I've only been entering these International Photography competitions for less than a year and rather chuffed to have a tidy number of ribbons and medals already!

It's not only gratifying to see your work accepted on an international platform but it's also helped to push my photography and creative editing to another (and I hope better level) and I have to say I'm quite loving the challenge!

A Little Creative Fun

I've been playing with some of my "less than nude" pix today combining images from the model shoot with backgrounds shot in Brooklyn, textures of my own and a whole parcel of other Photoshop fun.

It's always nice to meander down the creative road with no particular direction in mind and see where you end up ....

Lightbulb Moments ...

I've some 50GB of images that I shot whilst away over the last few weeks.  Landscapy stuff in Germany and then a whole slew of art nudes from the workshop in the UK.

As each day goes by I fall more in love with my camera and find myself more comfortable with fiddling with it's settings, shooting in Manual mode more often than not.

I never really thought I would "get" the shoot in manual bit, but I do now ... finally figuring out how to make the camera take the picture that I WANT and not just leaving it on Auto and pressing the button.

Each one of these adventures leaves me invigorated, thirsty to try more and yes, finding a growing confidence.....

 

High and Low Key

The last few days I have been persuing my (somewhat oddly percieved) passion and have been attending a fine art nude photography workshop in the UK.

Lots of learning to be done as we were working in a professional photography studio with a number of really accomplished models and had a couple of excellent teachers.

Since the blog's more or less PG I'll just share a couple of the less riske images....that hopefully won't be offensive...

Above, a high key version of the fine art nude ......

and below a rendition of a low key version ...

I'd like to thank Simon and Graham for their fabulous instruction and patience throughout the workshop!

Never Say Never

I posted not so long ago about the fact that I thought that taking portrait pictures was not really my bag.....

Well here in jolly Germany, I got nabbed by my mother and coaxed into taking pictures of two lovely little girls who were making their first Holy Communion today.

The mother of the little girls is one of Wolfe's visiting nurses and she does a lovely job of taking care of him so I could hardly say no!

Posing children I daresay is hard enough, posing them when they don't speak English is just a tad trickier but I snapped a few frames that wil,l I think, please their mother and MY mother will be pleased I used her Cherry Tree as a backdrop.

Cruising The Mosel River

DH has joined me for a few days here in Germany prior to heading off on a business trip.  To make the most of them we hopped on a tour boat that cruised the Mosel River today, giving us ample time to enjoy the view and see more than we could if just walking or driving the car.

At the height of the Summer I imagine these river boats to be packed to the gills, but this week is just the beginning of "tourist" season and so the adventure ride was relaxing to the max...

... feet up, camera out and a beer not too far away ....

Either side of the river.... the view was pretty amazing!

Evening Delight

Getting accustomed to going out and about with wheelchairs, walkers and sundry other balance items today proved to be somewhat of a challenge.  However my Mother's husband rose gallantly to the ocassion and coped really well.  Getting these various items in and out of the trunk/boot (whatever your language) is not for the faint hearted and will take some getting used to for the folk I leave behind, but hopefully having seen it done will prove to be confirmation that it CAN be done!!

It's not really a visit to Germany with my camera in mind and taking pictures is definitely a back-seat to everything else that is going on......

.... however, one can't resist..... looking for the light and those special moments....