A study of an arum lily

I love taking photos of Arums, and they're looking so lovely in my mom's garden at the moment.  I took these with an ISO setting of 1600 because they were taken at sunset today, which is why the background is slightly grainy.

Arum torn

This one was taken with the flash, and I quite like the effects of the shadows.

In the shadows

Spot the insect

I'm fiddling with my actions again, I'm a bit tired of the black frames.

Weekly Winners 2 Aug

I have taken photos all week, like usual, but my week was ALL about yesterday, so I'm only going to show you some that I took yesterday.

My dad, sister, brother, me and the boys flew to Cape Town yesterday for the day so that we could visit my grandparents in Hermanus.  My grandad is very ill, and when my dad said he was going to see them, we all said we HAD to go too.  I wanted him to meet Connor and see Bradley again.

It was a VERY long day.  In a nutshell... 2 hours flight there, 1 hour drive to Hermanus, 1 1/2 hour drive back, and 2 hour flight again... with 2 kids... it was a looooong day.  But the 2 1/2 hours that we spent with them was more than worth it, and in fact, long enough for him (but not for my grandmother).  By the time we left we all noticed how tired he'd got.  Anyhoo, here are some of the photos I took.

This is by far my favourite photo of the day. It's not the best ito photographic skills, but I love it. Connor relates to people so much faster than Bradley ever did, and he was sharing chips with my grandad (which I think meant the world to him because they had a "moment")

Sharing

And here's more for you

Connor with his great grandparents

Grandpa Roy

Granny Marie

Hermanus is the most beautiful town. It's on the coast close to Cape Town, and is known for the whales that come to the bay every year. It's not quite whale season yet but that didn't stop us walking to the cliff path to see if we could spot one (And I had to get some of the energy out of the kids before we headed off for the airport again).

Daisies on the cliff

Bench

Elaine on the cliff path

Trying to spot whales

Connor walking through the fynbos

The end of a long day

My only regret was that I didn't get a photo of my dad with his parents. I only thought about it last night when I was proofing the photos.

Check out Sarcastic mom's blog for more

Remnants of a rose

The sky was so blue today, so I tried to do something different and lay on the grass under the remnants of an old rose, and took a photo from underneath it. I quite like the effect!

Check out the Skywatch Friday blog for more

The present and the past

Check out more Wordless Wednesday participants HERE

Macro of an iris

I finally played with the remote switch that I've borrowed from Tanya.  It made quite a difference with the macro shots, but I found that the lens still shook slightly... it might be the tripod that's not sturdy enough.

Purple Iris

It's been such a mild winter, that the garden is starting to bloom already. It's so nice to see colour in the garden again... but I'm sure we'll have another really cold spell... it's too early for Spring.

Weekly Winners: 20 July - 26 July

Fern leaf

Shrimp Flower

Ballerina in the making

And the rest are all about parties!
Bradley went to another girl's party last Sunday. I'm really really struggling to find gifts for girls now, and he keeps getting invited to girl parties!

The birthday girl

Fairy cake

A jumble of paper

and then yesterday was Jason's party (Sarah, I'll email you small versions of all the pics, got some lovely ones)

Jason, still looking clean

The blue sucker

Connor's dirty face

The birthday boy

Check out the fabulous Sarcastic Mom for more Weekly Winners

Rocket flower

My mom has let her rocket plants grow wild, in order to seed them. Aren't these such pretty flowers?

I took the photo in the early evening, so I set the ISO to 1600, which is the reason for the speckly background.

I need to raise my game

I went to camera club last night, and got slated!!  OK, the judges did seem to be stricter than they have been the last few times we've been, but still.  I'm very disappointed in myself.  I really need to raise my game.
Thinking about it over night, and in the traffic on the way to work this morning, I feel that maybe it's because I take photos every day... I'm just taking photos for the sake of taking photos at the moment, and not really trying to improve. 
But then, thinking about it... no, I do try.  But I'm really not taking quality photos at the moment with this camera.  I need to learn more about it, and try harder.  Anyhoo, here is what the judges said...

Bee - Bronze

They said there wasn't enough focus on the flower and the bee, it was blurred. Which it is if you enlarge it to the n'th degree. Apparently I should have used a tripod... funny that because I did ;) I didn't use the remote switch though, because the bee was moving so much.

Pineapply lily - Bronze

It was over-exposed. They liked the idea, and the way that i saw it though. But they thought that there was too much space on the right of the flower.

Sunset and scaffolding - Silver

There is too much sky on the left of the scaffolding. It apparently would have been better if there was a man on the scaffolding, and if I'd used a longer lens and the sun was bigger! OMW! Personally, I think that's a bit of a tall order.

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards, I'll have to do better next month!

Black and White feathers

PROJECT BLACK : TAKE THREE

This is a guineafowl feather from Bradley's collection of feathers. He's always collected arb feathers since he was tiny and they're kept in a silver container in his room. I thought the black and white of his favourite find was perfect for the project. I've posted some pics of the actual bird before.

More Project Black at Anna's blog.

Cymbidium

I didn't manage to take any photos today I'm afraid. So instead, here's a photo of an orchid that I took in Madi's garden on Sunday.

Hydrangeas in winter

I can't resist posting these as well.
My mom's hydrangeas still have flowers even though it's the dead of winter here, but look at the amazing colours!

Inside a Pink Lily

Taken tonight in my kitchen. I used the kitchen light to light up the lily, even though the judges at the camera club said it was the wrong light to use... but beggars can't be choosy... I got home after dark!

Oh and I got these lilies last week from my mom for my birthday  :)

On the inside

All about me!

Yip, this post is all about me!! It's my birthday today, and even though I was at work, it was quite a good day :) My only complaint is that I haven't managed to take many photos! LOL!

So, I thought I'd show you a photo of me and the boys taken by my mom last week. I have very few photos of myself, and it's even more rare to find a photo of me with my boys. In fact, I think this is only the 3rd time in history that this has happened!

I do have one more photo to show you, just to prove that I did in fact take some shots today ;)
I got a MASSIVE basket of flowers from the guys at work today, and I tried to get some shots of them, but the light was too bad. So this one is the best of the lot. I'll take more photos in the morning light, and post them in Weekly Winners on Sunday, I think.

Photohunt: Water

When I heard the rain outside this morning, I was pleased (even though the weather is freezing now)! I'd figured out how to get my water shot of the day.

Rain drops on the aloe

I'm still struggling with the camera, I'm using the manual functions now. But I think this is the best photo I've taken ito light this week. I did have to sharpen it though, I should have used my tripod.

More photohunters at TnChick's blog

Torn

I left work in the dark again, so I couldn't take a photo. I took this photo on Tuesday evening in my garden. It's the top of a strelitzia leaf.

Macro of an Aloe Flower

The aloes are flowering at the moment, and they're so gorgeous! I just had to stop on the way home this evening at take a few pics of some flowering in someone's garden.