Scavenger Hunt - One Colour, Home, Reflection, Writing & Water

 It's been such a stressful and hot week, but yesterday we enjoyed a family day in town and I managed to complete the prompts and we all had a lovely time. 

I apologise in advance if I don't have a chance to return visits till later in the week, the beginning is going to be a bit nutty. 

1. Mainly One Colour

 A gardenia flower from my garden

2. Around the Home

Baking is a regular occurrence around our home. We made Anzac Biscuits today, they're oaty biscuits with coconut, we like to use shredded coconut, makes them really chewy.

3. Reflection

 Do you see the reflection of a big tree in my son's eye? Taken with my 50mm and extension tube.

We went into town yesterday and stayed for an early dinner, as we were heading back to the car along the river I saw the lights of this boat reflecting in the water. I didn't have my tripod so I got some lights bokeh.

4. Writing

 My son is learning to write. He loves writing what he's doing in his little notebook.

5. Water

We visited the lagoon and water park in town yesterday. My son loved running through the water features. It was very popular as it's been so hot lately!

A water fountain, I love the reflections and droplet bokeh here.

Journey Around the Sun - Days 130 through 136

 Oh what an exhausting week it's been! These photos are from last week, but Tuesday was the hottest day in 18 months here. Hopefully the whole summer won't be this bad.

Day One Hundred and Thirty

Florabella Shabby Cream and Heirloom textures applied

Day Lilly

Day One Hundred and Thirty One

Florabella Sonata texture applied

Wilting Agapanthus flower, I loved the deeper purple.

Day One Hundred and Thirty Two

Processed with Paint the Moon Silver Spoon and Florabella Heirloom B&W and Vintage Page II B&W textures applied

A macro of my mum's Zeiss Nettar camera from when she was little. Expect to see more of this little baby!

Day One Hundred and Thirty Three

Florabella Shabby Cream texture applied

A white Agapanthus flower

Day One Hundred and Thirty Four

Pixel Lounge Champagne texture applied

A feather with water drops

Day One Hundred and Thirty Five

We went for a picnic in the mountains and afterward a walk through the forest. 

Florabella Shabbyful texture applied

Vines

Florabella Chardonnay texture applied

Fern leaf

Processed with Paint the Moon Macchiato action and Florabella Burnished texture

Wood texture. Earlier in the year we had some wild weather and flooding and many large trees in the area were destroyed. Some of the walking paths have been closed most of the year as they cleared the path and made it safe again. This was part of a large tree that was sawn in half to make a path over the tree. I liked the texture left by the chain saw.

Florabella Shabbyful texture applied

Mossy roots

Florabella chardonnay texture applied

Florabella Stonewash texture applied

 Texture on a wooden railing

 

Paint the moon Macchiato action and Florabella Manhattan texture

My son collecting rocks and leaves on our walk, love his dirty little fingers.

Day One Hundred and Thirty Six

Florabella Shabby Cream Texture applied

 A feather with a water drop

Scavenger Hunt - Before & After, Opposing Lines, Custom Bokeh, Shoes & Little Features

The hot summer weather has hit us this week and my motivation has wilted. I was procrastinating all week and then we went on a picnic up in the mountains yesterday and I finally got back into it. I think because it's a good few degrees cooler up there.

1. Before and After (Processed Image)

 I have so much to learn when it comes to editing. I usually keep it pretty subtle and muted.
I took this photo up at Mt Glorious, I loved the texture on the wooden railing. I think it has opposing lines too, in the texture and colours in the wood, vertical and horizontal.
The left hand photo in the triptych is the SOOC. I processed it two ways, in the middle version, to accentuate the texture and colour variation in the wood I used Paint the Moon Macchiato action to convert to B&W, then added Florabella's Burnished B&W texture 100% on overlay mode.
However, I liked the mix of the blue grey wood and the brown though, so in the right version I processed it with The CoffeeShop Blog Velvet Truffle action, then added the Florabella Stonewash B&W texture. I used the B&W version of the Stonewash texture because I wanted to keep as much of the blue grey in the wood, but I removed some off the brown areas. I also used the sponge tool to desaturate the green areas.
The colour version is my favourite.
I used the Florabella texture action for both edits.

2. Opposing Lines

 Reflections in Water. I was pretty lost with this prompt but I think this fits. The reflection has vertical lines but the water ripples adds horizontal lines and distortion.

Florabella Stonewash texture added

I liked the shadows the railing of this bridge was making on the warning symbols for cyclists.
Both photos taken in town last Sunday, after I went to the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition, loved it, so inspiring.

 Linking up with Kat's Exploring with a Camera

3. Custom Bokeh

 This was actually a practice run but I liked the bokeh in it the best. I used a flower shape for this. I also made a heart and star, I'm definitely going to try them out again. This is just after our picnic.

4. Which Pair of Shoes Should I wear?

 Now, I had a real conundrum yesterday. I wanted to wear a pretty sundress and sandals on our picnic but then we were going for a walk through the forest. I thought really hard if I should bring my sneakers for the walk but they just don't go with a sundress, so I was very inappropriately dressed for our walk. But we still did it and guess what, we met another girl on the path that had even more inappropriate shoes. So this is me with my gold Gisele sandals amongst the leaf litter. I put the camera on the ground on timer for this shot.

5. Little Features

Processed with Paint the Moon Macchiato action and Florabella Manhattan B&W texture

My son collecting leaves and rocks on our walk, love it, dirty fingers and all.

Can't wait to see everyone's interpretations this week.

Journey Around the Sun - Days 116 Through 129

I've really struggled to stay motivated these past few weeks, my son was sick, but we're all better now, but I'm really feeling the heat of summer and it's just too hot to go out searching for inspiration.
I did however go to an exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson on Sunday. It was inspiring and interesting, what great timing and eye for expressive details he had.

Day One Hundred and Sixteen

Day One Hundred and Seventeen

Grevilleas

Day One Hundred and Eighteen

Yellow Trefoil

Day One Hundred and Nineteen

I bought myself some pink roses in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Day One Hundred and Twenty

Rain drops on a Sacred Bamboo leaf.

Day One Hundred and Twenty One

Patterns and ripples in wet sand and water.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Two

Home, my son hugging his globe.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Three

Rain drops on grass leaves.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Four

My Pandora bracelet.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Five

An Agapanthus flower.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Six

A dandelion seed head.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Seven

Baking cookies with my son.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Eight

My son dressed up as Captain Feathersword, taken in front of the bathroom mirror. Captain Feathersword is a character on The Wiggles. My son doesn't actually like The wiggles but he loves this costume, probably because of the feathers. I've mentioned before that he loves to collect feathers.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Nine

I loved these pretty little yellow flowers scattered everywhere.

Scavenger Hunt - Food, Purple, In Disguise, Shapes & Photographer's Choice

My son's been sick this week, started last weekend with a nasty cough and he's been home from school all week. We're all a bit sleep deprived and my husband I are both fighting it off at the moment, the cold that is not each other! So I was glad this weeks Scavenger Hunt over at Ashley's Ramblings and Photos seemed easier this week, at least I could get it all done from home, or I probably wouldn't have posted one this week.

1. Food

 The mum in me struggles to call this food! I had something else in mind but didn't have the time or energy to do it. But on Friday my son was feeling better, but he was still too sick for school, so I suggested we bake some cookies and have a tea party with his stuffed toys. 

My son "helped" to make some biscuits. No biscuits made it onto the tray from his pastry. But he had fun cutting them out with his shapes and then eating them. By the time the cookies were ready he had a stomach ache. Oh well, I promised we'd do it again for his animals.

2. Purple

Florabella Chardonnay texture applied

A single Agapanthus flower, taken with my 50mm and extension tube. I know it's not very autumnal, but we're heading towards summer here in Australia.

3. In Disguise

We didn't do Halloween on Monday because he was too sick but he got dressed up in his Captain Feathersword costume yesterday. For those that don't know he's a character in The Wiggles show, funnily my son doesn't like The Wiggles but he loves this costume, probably because of the feathers, I've mentioned before that he loves to collect feathers. I took this photo in front of the bathroom mirror. I called him in to show him this shot and he couldn't believe there was two of him!

4. Shapes

Florabella Heirloom texture applied

Cookie cutter shapes! I love this heart shaped cutter that my mum gave me. It's for Swedish ginger snaps (thin crisp gingerbread). My mum is a master at these and she gave me one of her cutters. I love how rustic it is, not shiny like mine. I'll have to post about these later in the month as we make them at Christmas.
I love this rolling pin too, it's new but we had ones just like it when we were kids. I still have one that my son uses for play-doh.

5. Photographer's Choice

Florabella Manhattan texture applied

I can't go past a macro. A dandelion seed head.

By the way if anyone has noticed I haven't posted my 365 this week, I've taken a photo everyday I just haven't finished editing them.So they'll be up soon.

Can't wait to see everyone's interpretations this week.