a before and after image

Top image is the original - totally blown out but I can see what I like....

Week 37 over at i heart faces - Vroom! Vroom!

What a great challenge! The theme is Vroom Vroom over at i heart faces.

My photo features my daughter Bronte and my favourite car, the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. We have one of these beauties in our garage. Still waiting to be restored to her former glory. Never mind that my husband and I bought her many many years ago and he was going to restore her for my 30th birthday. Shhhh - don't tell anyone but I am now 47!

What happened to that idea? Well, life happened actually! Children happened. And  much more. So, now my 14 year old thinks that he would love it. Good luck with that! Our garage would be so naked without her after so many years!

I did this shoot at the end of our street. It was fun. Luckily we live in a quiet area as it looked very strange with both of us lying on the road. Hope you enjoy!

Don't forget to pop over to i heart faces to see all the other fab Vroom Vroom entries!

Week 33 • Got To Wear Shades Photo Challenge at i heart faces

Another wonderful Challenge over at i heart faces that I couldn't resist! This time it is a 'got to wear shades' photo. Love this challenge today as here in Melbourne, Australia it is pretty cold and this makes me think of Summer that is just around the corner!

Here is Zed wearing a pair of his uncles old shades....Such a cool looking dude don't you think?

Head on over to i heart faces to see some super shade shots!

Week 29 • Over My Head Photo Challenge i heart faces

 

This week over at i heart faces, the challed is 'over my head'. Here's a shot I took of Bee, obviously breaking the law and standing in a 'no standing' zone!

Edited to add: A No Standing sign such as this is not actually for pedestrians like Bee but for cars. If there is a No Standing sign, it means that you are not allowed to stop your vehicle or park in that area. Do you have this kind of signage in your part of the world?

Please head on over to i heart faces and check out all the shots that go 'over my head'!

My amazing 'girls' weekend & lunch dining experience....

This weekend was fabulous. I went away with 7 women to Point Londsale - a gorgeous seaside town here in Victoria. 

It was a last minute decision to go and I am so so glad I did. Some of these women I have known for 11 or so years - a couple were just new to me. I went with the expectation of having a 'rest' from my family and maybe a laugh or two. Can I just say, I don't believe I have talked or laughed so much since oh another weekend away I had a few years ago now Sydney with a completely different group of women who were equally as fun. What is it about women and freedom I wonder?

Anyway, we rented a most gorgeous house in Point Lonsdale called Illoura. It was stunning!

Friday night, we stayed up chatting, giggling, guffawing, drinking until about 2.30am. Saturday morning some of the women made a gorgeous hot breakfast then we all went out to explore the town. Some went to a Day Spa and others (like me) wandered the town, had coffee and shoppped.

Back to the house and we prepared dinner - I had already prepared a Chicken Curry, another woman cooked us Tandoori Chicken and Spinach Pizzas. We had Vegetable Curry and rotis. We were stuffed full by the end but not too stuffed that we couldn't enjoy the delicious Apple Crumble and icecream that another friend made.

We laughed and shared.

We left our lovely rental home and on the way back to the real world stopped at a superb restaurant called Loam. An amazing and wonderful dining experience. 

Loam is not a 'normal' restaurant where the menu has a list of meals from which you choose. In fact, the 'menu' is a list of ingredients. The waiter, instead of asking you what you want, asks you to look at the list and tell what you don't want to eat. I opted to not have Roe, Beef Tongue, Mussels and Squab.

Our wonderful waiter told us to treat this as a dining experience and as if we were going to dine at a friends place - you get a surprise in what you are served. Great idea!

We had delicious sour dough bread supplied by Zeally Bay Sourdough from a local town, Torquay, accompanied by burnt, twice whipped home made butter. So, so delicious!

First up was fresh, whole radish served with coffee 'soil'. The coffee 'soil' was made up of coffee grounds, sugar and salt I think. Certainly something I would never ever select to order but it really was amazingly delicious!!! Who woulda thunk it? lol

Next was a selection of fresh pine mushrooms. Lightly sauteed with fresh garden silverbeet laid on a bed of pine needle yoghurt. Can you imagine? Again, no way I would order such an item but so tasty. 

Next, all but two of us had Veal Rump, Spinach, Pearl Onion, Wakame and Black Garlic. I loved loved loved this!

Two of the others had the Beef Tongue, garlic puree, tomato and quinoa and they said it was delicious but I was having none of that! (It did look so yummy though)

Finally, dessert - Quince Parfait and oh my goodness!

Ingredients were Quince, Honey, Lemon, Spices such as ginger, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon. So unusual yet absolutely sublime! Crunchy, home made honeycomb - yum!

We finished our meal, 3 hours later. The service was amazing. The food was stunning. It was a terrific experience.

So, I arrived back home after 6pm - a wonderful, fun and food filled weekend. Tired but relaxed.

Facebook: July Challenge - Deterioration: first 6 submissions

The theme for July is DETERIORATION - meaning: anything that has worsened in condition or quality over time. Some examples you might like to consider are - rusted items, objects needing repair, abandoned buildings/cars or even old age!!!

I have joined in the above challenge and it means that I have to take one photo a day to represent the above.   

Below are my first 6 days submissions:

1. My daughter's bicycle that sometimes gets left out in the rain...

2. Our upright piano that lives on our patio....the ivory is lifting off the keys but gosh, it still sounds great!

3. An old bottle collection that sits out in the unused cubby house

4. Old Wheel Barrow sitting in our backyard - rusting away but still gets used.

5. Tarpaulin Shelter that has frayed to shreds - this is meant to be protecting a couple of lawnmowers. I think our cats had something to do with the way this looks!

6. An old fence experiment around our little vegetable patch. When our dog was very young she was a super digger. She would dig everywhere, we couldn't stop her and she most loved to dig in the lovely soft dirt amongst our vegetables. My engineer husband came up with the idea of mildly electrifying the top wire of the fence. So he attached a car battery to the wires. He failed to take into account that in order for it to shock, she needed to touch it with her nose as her fur acted as a marvellous insulation. Needless to say she continued to dig and there was no shock to be had! 

(Side Note: Our gorgeous dog Kiah, lived to the ripe old age of 15 and this fence was installed before she turned 1 - she passed away in 2007 so that means this is around 17 years old!)

Week 26 - "Pets" over at I Heart Faces

Well, looks like I am on a roll! I posted an entry in I Heart Faces last week and now another this week - don't faint now!

Pets, (read any kind of animal), is the feature this time and while you I know that we have the most gorgeous looking cat in. the. whole. wide. world. I am sure that there will be many almost as cute moggies entered - so I have decided to enter this shot I took about a month ago at the Melbourne Zoo.

Mr. Gorilla (as he will now be known as he is a massive beast and deserves a LARGE amount of respect) was just lounging in the winter sun with his foot up against the glass window, eyes closed, arms folded. I'm sure he was saying that he was bored of us and that we were of no consequence. That's how I felt anyway.

You really do need to click on this image to view it larger - the detail in his foot is just wonderful - plus you also get to see the lovely scratches and scrapes on the glass in their full glory.

After you have finished viewing here, please head on over to the I Heart Faces Blog and share your commenting love - we all love to get comments - plus you will get to see some seriously gorgeous and funny animals and some seriously gorgeous and talented photogs!

ahem - here I am - back to I Heart Faces week 25

I have lost my photo mojo or as some say my phojo.

Lots of things have been happening over the past few months besides the fact that I treated myself to an iPhone and have been taking most of my photos with that using the Hipstamatic App (see how cool I can be using the word app? ;P )

Anyway, my fav photography blog, i heart faces has the theme of TEEN this week so, after prompting from my gorgeous friend Hayley from over at Heller Ritz Photography, I took my one teen left (the other is on a school camp to the centre of Australia!!) and shot him! lol

When I asked this said teen, my 14 year old Zed, if I could please take photos of him over at our park because the theme this week is teen - do you know what he said? He said 'just take a photo of me here, lying on the couch because that is what us teens do'

Well yes, it is exactly what he is good at but it is not what I wanted! and I only had 10 minutes of that divine late afternoon golden sun left and I was having none of his teenage silliness! I got my own way and in the end it wasn't painful for him or for me. I love him for being so un-teenlike and doing this for me - he truly is a gorgeous boy inside and out.

(you can click on the image to view the larger version - you know you want to!)

Don't forget to head on over to iheartfaces and check out all of the wonderful teens there are!

Dobbin Squared!

Walking around my neighbourhood the other day, I found these two rocking horses on the nature strip as it is Hard Rubbish Collection time. These two, having served their purpose for who knows how long, were abandoned on the side of the road. I saw a photo opportunity!

So Dobbin and Dobbin came home to our place. They sat outside on our patio for a few weeks. Then, late yesterday afternoon - the light was beautiful!

I quickly organised my oldest and youngest children to carry them over the road to 'our' park and started to take photos.

While snapping away, a little boy, aged about 4, came over and just hopped on Wooden Dobbin. How cute is that? See the photo down below.

Then, of course, Sam and Bronte got in the act - now that is cute right there. Big kids on little rocking horses. Sad in a way too as it shows just how grown they are now. So, here are my photographic offerings. Hope you enjoy!

Week 17 - “Smiles” at i heart faces

Another great challenge over at i heart faces for Week 17 - this time the theme is Smiles. 

Well, fortunately I have tonnes of smiling shots - the hardest part was choosing which to use. Then I remembered this one that I took of my very good friend Simone's two sons.

I love these boys. They have been through a lot over the past two years and have not had a lot to smile about. 

You see, Simone, at the age of 41, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I will never forget the day that she found out. It almost blew my mind and turned her whole family's (and my family) lives upside down.

These two boys had to deal with stuff that boys of 11 and 14 should never, ever have to deal with. Hard enough for us adults let alone kids. 

Thankfully, they have all come through the other side - not unscathed - but there is now laughter being heard from them all again. 

When I took this shot, they were uncontrollable in their giggling - so while not a technically perfect shot - when I see this I see so so much.

I see love, laughter, good times, bad times, weakness, strength, knowledge, bewilderment, fear and courage. I see life and light.

Processed using the following actions:

Totally Rad Actions - P.O.S. Lens, Dirty Lovin Texture, Dirty & Used Up Texture - all tweaked to my liking.

Eye Candy Actions by Sheye Rosemeyer - Toy Camera - twisted and tweaked. 


Don't forget to pop over to i heart faces - it is sure to bring a smile to your dial!

i heart faces - week 16 - "Collages"

So, I did this shoot with my oldest and youngest some time ago. It was the first time I tried to do a themed shoot and I really like quite a few of the images. Like 99% of my work - it never really sees daylight but I have always liked this series. I should try and do another I think.

When I saw that the theme for this week over at i heart faces was 'collages' I almost gave a little squeal.

Firstly I thought - yippee I can use my moirai compositor (as I love it!) and secondly, I thought this was an ideal time to share some work of mine that I class as a little different from what I would normally share.

Would love to hear what you guys think of this 'themed' shoot.

Head on over to i heart faces and check out the most amazing array of collages that you've ever seen! Don't forget to leave people some blog love - we all love it!

PS (don't forget to click on the image to see it in full size - oh so much better that way!)

I am on roll - 2 posts in one day - ridiculous!

actually 3 posts - 2 over at my k8tography blog and 1 here....(technically 2 here but 1 is the same here and over there) have I confused you yet?

I took some photos the other day - well I take photos every day - but I took these on the famous Beach Road in Hampton Victoria. I was after a silhouette but it didn't work - story of my life!

This is a gorgeous bronze statue that is on the beach front. Love the texture and the toes! Oh, and of course the sunflare.

Any thoughts from you all?

(don't forget to click on on the image - twice- to see it larger - it is so much better)

I wanted to share a little something here

something that I am excited about.

My new DVD Packaging!

What do you think?

Wow - I came 3rd in i heart faces 'dramatic black and white'

last week and have just found out! From memory, I think there were over 1000 entries so isn't it just fab?

This is the photo that I entered.

I am so excited - thank you to the lovely Tara Whitney!

I know I am a bit late with this excitement but we have just arrived home from 5 days of camping without electricity, without deecent toilets and without showers (eeewww). Had a lovely time away though and coming home to this news has made it all the better.

(Besides the fact that my washing machine just 10 minutes ago completely overflowed and flooded our back room!)

Anyway, just wanted to share my news - check out all of the other winners here.

Oh, and I hope you all had a lovely Easter!

{Week 13} Dramatic Black & White over at i heart faces

I don't often 'do' black and white. Not sure why, maybe because I love light and colour - seeing as there is plenty of that available where I live here in Melbourne. But this shot below that I took last month, well, I love it as black and white.

A little question - how old do you think the subject in the image is?

Don't forget to head on over to the wonderful i heart faces so you can check out the all of the fabulous dramatic black and white images from so many talented people!

Oh and guess who is judging this week? The super talented Tara Whitney - how exciting!

Week 12 - "Focusing on Angles" over at i heart faces

Before I show you my entry - I just wanted to let you all know how excited I was to find out that I was i heart faces 'fan of the week' last week! How cool is that? 

I have found i heart faces so very inspiring - thank you all who enter week after week.

This week is all about focusing on angles. Here is a shot I took of Bronte when she was upside down and I was standing over her kind of and then I flipped the shot around 180 degrees during processing. I really like this finished shot.

Head on over to the wonderful i heart faces to see everyone's weird and wonderful angle shots!

Week 11 - “Bundled Up” Photo Challenge

Over at i heart faces, it is week 11 and ...

For this week's theme we are going to try to celebrate the cold weather that many of have been experiencing (we need to find the good in the freezing temps, right?) ummm, not for us. Lately it has been around 30 degrees Celsius which I think is around 85F!

This week's photo should be all about snow, the cold, being bundled up, etc. Any way that you can show off the concept of cold and being "bundled up" will work for us.

Now, obviously they hadn't really thought of us over here in Australia where we have just had Summer and are moving into Autumn. The only snow shots I have are from when my oldest turned 9 and he is 15 years old now! So, I have done the next best thing...trawled through my hard drives and found this image of my daughter and her friend (with the blue eyes!) from last year.

We were at a lovely little seaside town called Inverloch and decided to go fishing at the beach on a windy, winter's day. I remember that the wind was so icy, I set the keen kids up with their fishing gear and then I went and sat in the car and read the paper! Good mum that I am.

Here they had on waterproof coats that are lined, two hoody tops on underneath - really what we call 'rugged up'!  (I have overlayed a rain texture on top although it did rain while we were there!)

Don't forget to head on over to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/  and check out all of the wonderful snowy, freezing, bundled up shots!

A favourite image that I took recently....

{13/3} Lane's End

Lane's End. Cycling along Beach Road in Melbourne is a very very contentious issue as often, on weekends, cyclists ride in 'packs' of 20 or more and up to 5 abreast. Other road users find this dangerous and tiresome. 

I was happy with this capture as I was really after a nice bit of sunflare and happily a cyclist popped into the frame! Yay me! lol

{12/3} shiny

Shiny, golden afternoon light. Love it. Love it so much. 

So, the March Challenge is Signs. I know you can't read this one but I couldn't resist the light and texture. Plus, a friend kindly pointed out - it does have my initial 'K' on there (I swear I didn't do it officer!)

{12/3} New Street Old Gates

These are the New Street train gates in Brighton, Victoria. 

The New Street railway gates are of historical significance for their rarity as the last remaining functioning hand operated railway gates in the state.

There has been a big furore about these as there was an accident - a train hit the partially opened gate. As a consequence, they are currently not in operation which means that cars can't access the famous Beach Road from here. 

There is still a guy on duty though as he has to monitor the pedestrian gates....

{11/3} notes

This notebook is on the dashboard of my car. It is upside down because I am a left hander and need it to open 'back to front' for quick easy access. Snapped this while I was driving out to Berwick (big drive!) Love the window reflection where it says 'notes' up the very top in reverse. Of course, I totally meant that!

{10/3} coin laundry

One of my favourite songs at the moment is a song by Australian Indie Pop Artist, Lisa Mitchell called 'Coin Laundry'. Love the song and love a nice old looking coin laundry too! This is about a kilometre from my home.

{9/3} "no! no! no! Thank Q!"

Snapped this through the car window- spotted the number plate and thought "cute". Wasn't until I uploaded the shot into Photoshop that I saw there was a Geelong Cats sticker involved. Means that the ThankQ was thanking the AFL footy team, Geelong. Not really into footy....

{8/3} Yes, we do!

Well I was feeling a little risque when I saw this!

{7/3}

It was a long weekend here in Victoria so our whole family decided to take a 2.5hr drive to see Stan's uncle in a gorgeous little seaside town called Inverloch.

{6/3}

 

While stuck in traffic for FOUR hours on Saturday in the middle of Melbourne, I snapped this. "Own the Moment".

Well, I WAS trying to own the moment but flood waters, hail, police, ambulances, fire engines, drenched pedestrians and rain would not let me!

{5/3} Not far away.....

{4/3} I need some of this.....

I find that I often need Inspiration in all aspects of my life and I also often need inspired communication! Now more of that around here would go a long way!