Lost Aussie on the loose

Perth Music And Fashion

Tonight I spent some time with #2 son at a local fashion shoot where he was working as one of Colosoul's event photographers.

There was art on display, music of the live and DJ variety as well as a showcase of some of Perth's up and coming young designers.

Plenty of eye candy all round and the wood-fired pizza that they were serving, hand made to order, was uber delicious!

So thanks for the invite honey bee.... I had a great time!
And ^5's to Colosoul for putting on a great event at a fantastic location at Perth City Farm.

A Face of Character

I need to preface my post today by saying that I am appalled at the events that transpired in Boston today and my heart goes out to all who have been affected.  Not nice, not good and you have to wonder how and why people can deliberately set out to cause such devastating harm to each other??

Having said that, it was not deliberately that I chose to work on an image of soldier this evening, just odd how the fingers do the walking and well... it is what it is...

This is a chap that I photographed the first (box unpacking) free weekend I had here in Charlotte, where DH and I came across a Civil War re-enactment on our way to Asheville.  Considering the folk were all dressed up to play, few of them were keen to have their picture taken and this one was only caught courtesy of my long 300mm lens.

Color Filled Cleanup

It was a perfect Fall day today, clear, crisp, fluffy white clouds dancing across a lovely blue sky.  You would hardly have thought a thing was amiss were it not for the air filled with sounds of numerous chainsaws in the neighbourhood, churning away at cutting and clearing the fallen trees .

I spent a good few hours outdoors today raking and clearing and then cutting the last of the late Summer flowers - or shreds of!  It felt like I was being productive but in reality it was just taking the tip of the iceberg and we too will have to wait our turn for the clean up crew and their chainsaws to come and help us clear the rest.

I had in mind to take a few pix of some of the fall leaves with their lovely color but it was literally impossible to find a single one that was not tattered or torn.

Let there Be Light

After 4 days without power we now have electricity, heat, the ability to cook food, have a hot shower and some semblance of normality after Hurricane Sandy is returning, albeit slowly.

You still cannot get gas (petrol) and the odd few stations that have it, have queues miles long and waits of up to 3 hours to fill your tank.

Having said that, I do have a roof over my head, clothes to wear and food to eat which is much more than can be said of some of my friends in other areas around NY who have lost their homes, business facilities and are still a long way off from finding that place in life that we call "normal".

So I'll take a deep breath and count my blessings that the damage and mayhem is confined to downed trees and destruction about the house, but not on it or inside it.

Our thanks go out to all the service men and women who are working hard to get our neighbourhoods and lives back to normal, in particular the Melville Fire Department who came and cut away fallen trees from our street and driveway so that we could get "out"!

My thanks also to all of my online friends and family who have reached out either via FB, the blog or phone to check up on me.  I love you all and am so glad you are there and keeping us in your thoughts.

Recovering from Hurricane Sandy

I took the photo of this stone scupture in Bernkastel (but added a different background)... and it seems rather apropos for today ...... which is Halloween...
Unfortunately the trick and (not treat) is that we are still enduring the dramas of Hurricane Sandy.

Thankfully humans and animals in our house are fine but we are day 3 without power and starting to encounter challenges with heating, eating, washing, communications,trash.... and the list goes on.

Most of the businesses around us have no power either, including the grocery stores and the petrol (gas) stations.  Most of the ATM's are out of commission and so are the transaction processing machines at the stores, if you can find one open - so cash is the only form of payment accepted in many instances and that is in rather short supply.

I've actually come to work with my husband today so that I can stay warm, get coffee, hot food and have some degree of communication with the outside world.  It's also nice to just have the lights on!!

And speaking of lights .....my stellar "survival" technique over the last few days has been figuring out how to make a Lamp using "extra virgin" olive oil, a wick made out of an old t-shirt and some craft wire and an empty jam jar (or 6!).....surprisingly effective actually!

DH has also admitted that my penchant for purchasing candles has finally paid off!!

Some Light Relief While Waiting For Hurricane Sandy

The winds are swirling outside with increasing intensity, trees bending, leaves being swept in great piles against the house.....

Inside we await the arrival of Hurricane "Sandy" with torch batteries aplenty, candles and lamps ready.  Food is cooked.  The garden denuded of anything that can remotely fly at any stage.  Dh's guitars have all been stashed in the basement and "pertinent papers" are boxed and ready to head downstairs too. Knick knacks have been removed from window sills and quite a lot of furniture moved to less vulnerable spots in the house.  All phones charged, hard drives backed up and computer equipment ready to be unplugged and moved tomorrow if needs be.

So I'd say, bring it on.... but I really would rather not.

Whilst waiting for files to sync and what not I've been twidding with the odd pic or two snapped while in Germany last week.  In this case some photos of a really intruiging sculpture in Bernkastel depicting stories about the region and the wine making.... and of course concocting my own "photoshopped" version....

and in case you are interested, here are the SOOC images that I used ....

Here's hoping that all my friends here in the NE are staying warm, dry and safe while we endure the trials of Hurricane Sandy.

The Hampton Classic

Today I ventured off to the east end of Long Island to check out the Hampton Classic Horse Show.  Another one of those " must do" events for hob knobbing with 2 and 4 legged creatures of classic style and pace that populate our fair area during the Summer months.

And despite the fact that Day 1 is the beginning of a stellar calendar and with larger crowds to come, I was pleased to be here for the opening, where there was still room to take pictures and walk around and about unfettered.  Further on down the week it will get madder as the days progress....

I'm not much of a sports photographer, in truth, coming lately to the point where I try to make my camera do what I want, but I was pleased with a few of the shots I managed to capture of the horses and riders in motion..... no easy feat believe you me!!

It was really sunny and for the most part the main protagonists are dark which makes sorting out exposure compensation a bit of a nightmare .... yeah excuses, excuses.....

Anyway, you get the picture.... lots of horses jumping around, and oddly enough, lots of shopping, I guess it is afterall the "Hamptons"!!!

A Work In Progress (sneak peek at the new website)...

FINALLY!!!!

Lovetophotoshop.com is born!

OK and just because you are here and looking ....

I'll give you a preview of the new BABY!!

This is just the bare bones of what I hope will be a site FULL of AB, FAB Photography, Photoshop and Mixed Media resources.

It's going to take a little time, crime and punishment (Ha!) until it gets fluffed out. So bookmark the site.

Add love2photoshop at gmail dot com to your address book (otherwise it will be spam filtered) and don't forget to Subscribe to the mailing list.  Add us to your Google reader subscriptions and soon I will have an RSS feed set up!

The new website will officially launch on March 1st with Giveaways and Registration for a new Online Class. 

Stay tuned between now and then for some surprises along the way! Let the Countdown begin!

Here's to LOVING PHOTOSHOP!
(and Elements and Illustrator and Painter and so on.....)

Lest We Forget

A 09/11 tribute.

All Rained Out

"Contemplation"
Digital Collage

Seems that the last few posts have been peppered with earth reports and stories of crash, bang and rain. Sadly nothing much has changed as we are garnereing the effects of Tropical Storm Lee and being duly soaked with that.

In the same week I have emptied down the pool in preparation for torrential rain, filled it up again after the hurricane whipped three inches of water out of it, filled it up and now need to empty it out again as we have had 2"+ of rain in the last few days.

I'm exhausted by it all and heaven knows I am way better off than most folk who are still dealing with power outages and flooding.

Solace as usual, is found in the studio where I have been messing around with an update on Painter and pencilling outlines for a new online course or two.

And thanks to all the people who left a comment on this post.  I just decided to call her "Irene". It seemed apropos.