A virtual forest!

Tori , came to visit last weekend and amongst other things we went for a bush walk to
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Both of us enjoy bush walking and I think would agree we don't get to do enough of it these days!

During school holidays National Parks and Wildlife use to run organise walks and adventures which we used to do as kids. They were great fun, educational and informative. Mum, Tori and I also did our fair share of bush walking, mountain climbing and adventuring while growing up.

There is nothing quite like rambling through the bush, hearing the cicada's, watching for birds of prey, looking for new life and interesting natural phenomenons. My husband, Mike the Pom, finds the Aussie bush a tad more intimidating than a ramble in the English countryside. It is harsh, rugged, threatening and demanding but that is part of it's beauty as he is beginning to find.

The macro queen has returned! These are some of the things we found along the way. I promise to show you shots of the pinacle next time round.

Lemons

I have lemons on my lemon tree!!! Well .. they are growing .. they're not quite fully formed lemons yet. But they will be!

Trees

So, if my damned computer doesn't crash then I may actually get to blog this time!

A new theme. 'Trees'. I must say in the last few days I have struggled to look beyond the obvious. A tree is a tree is a tree.... so I have tried to start looking at perspective. Stretching skyward, strong and tall.













I also find myself honning in on the macro. I start to notice now that the spring has sprung and as we edge toward the heat of summer the flowers and colours of spring fade and die. The spring does not have the brilliance or exuberance of the long awaited springs of Europe and the UK. The are much more subtle and as with many things now it is gone you appreciate it all th more.

Tag

I would have liked to have done more with this theme, time, legs and baby allowing. However I think it is time for something new. I don't think that my images have actually represented texture all that well and I have struggled to find stimulating material.. ho hum. Onto the next one. Tag.

In Da House

So having had a busted knee has given me a sore back ... trying to do the right thing and stay off the knee I have been favouring the leg and as a result I can hardly walk at all! I would just love to stay in bed but little Jasmine is just having none of that! Therefore I have been pretty much housebound. So texture this week is 'in da house' so to speak.

I think I probably have another day of texture left in me and then it will be time to tag...

Bed Time...

Just dandy..

Still on the nature trail.... not for much longer as I now have managed to tear a hamstring and am under strict (yes Tori I know!!) strict instructions to stay off it.




















I was photographing this dandelion the other day; baby asleep slung to my chest; and some random stranger marched up to me and said, quite confrontationally, ' What are you photographing down there?' I managed to mumble, out of fear of waking the baby and also gentle humiliation, 'Oh, just the dandelion.' He looked at me quisically... I looked for some justification - 'It's for a project I am doing'. I felt like saying ... 'as if it is any of your goddamned business!' Why can you never do strange things in peace?

Textured

Time for a new theme.

We were all striped out and so now we are looking for 'texture'. My main source of inspiration seems to be nature. It is the only time I really get to get the camera out without the baby demanding my attention. However, I may now be restricted in my little outdoor jaunts as I have done my knee in tonight at the gym... confined indoors with a overactive 5 month old could be a recipe for disaster!! or insanity!! watch this blog to see which comes first!




















I have never liked cacti. Never really understood those people who collect them and always thought that they were one of the most ugly things on the planet!

Well, in the last few years my opinion of cacti has changed somewhat. First of all I went to a cacti garden on Monte Carlo which was a massive public garden of flowering cacti. It was incredible - overlooking the harbour and the grandprix raceway it really was something quite extraordinary. Unfortunately I forgot my camera that day.

More recently, on the salt lakes in Bolivia, I came across some extremely old cacti... they only grow something like a cm every 10 years!! in one of the most incredibly remote and challenging environments on the planet. An island of elderly cacti... new found respect.














The yellow cacti above were found in the park near my house. They present a variety of texture all in one talented little plant!

Inner stripes..

It is funny how you can walk the same road a million times but if you are looking you can always see something different. Today on our little walk we found these beauties. I love the simplicity of the leaves with the sun shining through. Flowers are always so pretty.

Naturally stripey

Tree stripes...

Hard Days Work...

Having been a bit of a workaholic and career Nazi in the past I now find it quite odd to be a kept woman as such. Being Mum is my new occupation - don't get me wrong it is a full time job - more than full time really 24 hours, 7 days - but it doesn't pay. Not in $ anyway.

I have always been fiercely independent. Have always done what I wanted to do and worked hard to get there. Now suddenly I find myself completely reliant on someone else. That someone else is my husband, who I love dearly. But still I struggle with this. I have lost my autonomy, lost a huge part of me - the driven career woman who people were motivated by and relied on; lost my independence in many ways.

Make no mistake I have also gained. I have a beautiful daughter, who is the light in my eyes and the joy in my heart. But this does not replace the part of me that is no longer. While I love my life at the moment and would not have it any other way I do miss feeling empowered and strong in my own person - proud to stand on my own two feet.

Day care is just not an option. I am the kind of person that if I do something I do it 150%. Right now I am being Mum. You only have this time once. They grow so quickly and they need you and as much as you can give them.

And so I hang up my shirts and my suits and watch my husband walk out the door to work each morning. He works hard and I know he feels the pressure of looking after his young family. I feel grateful that we are in this position and I don't have to go to work; that I can be at home to take care of our baby. It doesn't mean I don't miss that part of my life.

Expensive stripes!

Store Detective to Ilse 3 please! .....

Stumbling across Christmas candy canes in the supermarket yesterday I just could not help myself! The ultimate Christmas stripe - and it is only just November!

I didn't buy them. I just photographed them! There is something about candy canes. They symbolise Christmas. Every year I end up with at least one. The thing is... they look great but they taste awful. So no, I am not buying any this year. Just like so much else about Christmas - lots of frivolity at so much expense! Ba Humbug! Anyway I have decided it is definitely the stripes I like.














By the way, I am sure that they must have put a call out for the in store detective to come to Isle 3 just to watch the weird woman in taking photographs of the merchandise! Ah, no matter...

Reckless Abandon

I have started carrying my camera around with me again. For an entire year while travelling my camera was permanently attached to me; like another arm, my way of viewing the world. I left it in a bar in Tibet once. I camped outside the entire day in tears until I got it back! I think at times it meant more to me than my husband! Not! However, since having a child, I haven't been taking it out. Well! Once you have packed the pram, the nappy bag, the bag with the toys, the picnic blanket, the sicky cloths, an entire change of clothes for you and her! and finally managed to walk out the door .... oops I forgot the baby! You really do already have your hands full!!

So, now that we are in a bit more of a routine and I am slightly more competent as a Mum I am starting to take it out with me again. What I do seem to have lost slightly is the reckless abandon with which I used to take photographs. Is this because I am not a tourist here and therefore do not have an automatic licence to shoot whatever I like wherever I please? or is it because I am out of practice? Am I just self conscious? We shall see as time goes on.

Playing with shadows. I got a few funny looks as I parked the pram and fiddled around with angles with this in the middle of nowhere!

Contained ....

A quiet moment with a contained baby! A rarity! Abstract stripes in everyday life.

I see stripes!

I love taking photos. We went travelling for 13 months as I got right into it... I mean 1000's and 1000's! But since coming back to reality, home and normality I have found it hard to be stimulated.

My sister Tori suggested we have a photography theme week. I really have not been photographing anything other than my new little daughter recently - and a beautiful subject she is too! I thought this quite a good idea to bring back some creativity and to look at the world differently again. Not to say there won't be a few pictures of her on here as well.

This weeks theme to start is 'STRIPES'. So let us begin...

New nickers this week - came in handy!
Till tomorrow!