Seagulls on a windy day

Brianna and I just went down to the beach for a little while. I was hoping to take some photographs of the sunset but it wasn't that spectacular tonight so I turned my attention to some seagulls instead. 

Four in a row

Windblown

Just before take off

Flying

On a frothy beach

Congregation

and one of the sunset (plus a few seagulls)

An enjoyable visit to the beach and experimentation with my camera...

Shadow Shot Sunday - October 5th, 2014

A variety of shadows today for Shadow Shot Sunday. 

Last night I was kind of watching television and noticed some great shadows cast from some "Where the Wild Things Are" figures that I have on top of a bookshelf. 

This morning I took some photographs along with discovering rather a lot of dust. 

After a quick dust and a bit of a change around I took a few more photos. Here's a couple that turned out best. 

I then ventured outside. All of my shots for Shadow Shot Sunday are taken in and around my house and yard. 

Here are some leafy shadows on leaves. 

What is leaf and what is shadow? 

and some shadows on a fallen palm frond. 

To see other people's shadow shots go here. 

Sound advice from my younger self

Sound advice from my younger self

A bit of a retro post today for Six Word Saturday. Recently I was scrolling back through some old posts and enjoying doing so very much. I've had a rather long break from the blog and it's good to be back. Reading one of the posts that I found it felt like I was talking to myself now from my self of a few years ago. What I wrote is still so relevant today! I often think about things that I would like to tell my younger self and I find writing letters to my younger self a very useful thing to do. It was nice to receive some sage words from my younger self. 

Here is a copy of the words from the post, originally written December 11th, 2010 - 

-----

Set goals........and always remember to carry loads of courage and kindness. I am feeling pretty proud of myself. I did go along to the poetry group today and I did read my two poems as planned. Well done to me!

I have been thinking about how I have been able to be successful recently at things that I wasn't able to do in the past. I spent a lot of time in the past setting goals - meeting some and not others. What was missing I think was kindness towards myself. I was very hard on myself when I failed to meet one of my own goals. A lot of my goals I set were around talking and I failed to meet many of them. I wanted to talk in groups but just couldn't seem to do it. I was always very disappointed with myself but this didn't seem to help in any way. It was only when I started offering kindness to myself that things slowly started to shift.

Knowing that I will be kind to myself regardless of whether I meet my goals has actually resulted in me successfully meeting more goals.

So...I am glad that I managed to do what I wanted to today but I like to think I would now be offering kindness to myself if it had not worked out so well. There will always be more opportunities to meet goals with the help of courage and kindness.

-----

Here's to continuing on with loads of courage and kindness!

Shadow Shot Sunday - September 28th, 2014

Earlier today the prospect of getting a shadow shot seemed dismal. A short while later the sun has come out and I am spoilt for choice! 

These shadows appear often near my back door with the sunlight peeking through leaves. With a little wind they shimmer gently, beauty impossible to capture in a photograph. 

I finally mowed the lawn last weekend. It's fun to go searching for things not normally noticed like the shadows from these blades of grass. 

Some bold shadows from a marshmallow weed falling over. 

And some gentler ones on the wooden fence. 

To see other people's shadow shots go here.

A fabulous view to enjoy today

I'm back with six words for Six Word Saturday after a rather long break! 

A fabulous view to enjoy today

Today I was lucky to have time to sit and appreciate this stunning view. 

As well as having the time to sit, chat, relax and take it in there was also time to spend enjoying trying to capture the beauty in a photograph. One of my favourite things in the world are bare trees and there were a couple that I enjoyed taking photos of today. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - September 21st, 2014

It's been a long time since I participated in Shadow Shot Sunday. It was over 2 years ago on August 12th, 2012. I was very pleased to see it was still going when I returned to my blog a few weeks ago.  Today is such a fabulous day for shadows here and here I am once again. 

I ventured down to the back of my backyard earlier today and discovered lots of wonderful shadows. 

I love these shadows on the leaves - 

 and then I discovered they also look great from underneath and with the sky as background. 

I had been avoiding getting the sun in the shots and then I took one quickly before heading back inside. Wow! I love how this one turned out. 

To see other people's shadow shots head over to Shadow Shot Sunday. It's really good to be back!  

A brief beach break

I love living really close to the beach. It's only a couple of minutes drive away. Alternatively I can walk there in about 30 minutes. Sometimes I like to pop down in the middle of the day to take a few photos (usually using Hipstamatic, my favourite app) and get a dose of Vitamin D. Today was warm enough for a quick paddle and, as often happens, the bottom of my pants are now rather wet.

Lens: Vincent
Film: Rijks
The view from a rock I sat on

Lens: Vincent
Film: Rijks
One man and a dog were there at the same time as me

Lens: Matty ALN
Film: DreamCanvas
Reflections are one of my favourite things to photograph.
I love how this Hipstamatic combo really makes them stand out as well as the texture from DreamCanvas

A small surprise can brighten a day!

A couple of weeks ago I was enjoying a fairly ordinary Tuesday. I often get a box of fruit and vegetables delivered on Tuesdays from fruit en route. It's a great way of getting more fruit and vegetables into my diet and I like the fact that someone else gets it fresh that day from the markets for me. I was surprised to find a little note in the box that Tuesday.

50 orders - wow! That was a bit of a surprise in itself but then I opened the note.

and so I began searching for the treat. I found some strawberries which I was fairly sure weren't part of this week's order and was very happy with that. Then even happier when I found some dipping chocolate! Not surprisingly they didn't last long but certainly added a bit of extra delight to my day. Thanks fruit en route! And especially thanks for the surprise.

Some were eaten before I thought to take a photo!

Look at the size of that strawberry!

more August Break 2014

...and here I am again. Back before the end of August! I am taking a very relaxed approach to the August Break challenge as well as being reminded of how good it is to take a short break to really notice something and enjoying the pondering that is created by the prompts. I've thought about the prompts more days than I've actually taken photos. Here are the latest two photos that I have taken in response to the prompts -

15 BLUE
Lens: Wonder
Film: Rasputin

16 LOOK DOWN
Lens: Madalena
Film: Estrada83
Flash: PurpleRaindropsGel

August Break 2014

... and HERE I AM! When I posted in November last year about my intention to blog again I imagined it would be sooner than August. Enough of that though, I'm here now. 

I am participating in a fun challenge during August. Started by Susannah Conway, many people all over the world are joining in and also getting fabulously inspiring emails. Here are the prompts - the idea being to take a photograph each day in August. 

It's a gentle challenge with no real rules. As Susannah writes, "You can use any camera. You could shoot every day or every other day or just on weekends. You can share your photos or just enjoy taking them without sharing. You can start and not finish. You can join in at the end." 

Originally I planned to post every day over on my other blog Pausing to pick up small stones but well, that hasn't worked out and I think this is actually a better place. I can write a bit more and post a few at a time if I want. 

I'm posting the photos I take (which hasn't been every day but in line with the essence of the challenge that hasn't stopped me from continuing) on instagram. If you'd like to see them there my username is lionswish. I have made up a little rule of my own in that I am using Hipstamatic for all of my photo taking. I'm still obsessed with that app! 

Here are the three photos I have taken so far - 

03 WINDOW
Lens: Burke
Film: DTypePlate

05 THREE
Lens: Chunky
Film: KodotXGrizzled

06 REFLECTION
Lens: Tinto1884
Film: DreamCanvas

and my intention is to be back with more photos before the end of August!