Winter Morning Sunrise - Sky Watch Friday

"Welcome to Winter!"
Sunrise on a cold, clear morning
Sky Watch Friday

We're really into Winter here in Australia. The sun isn't rising now until about 6:20am, which means that I'll often get up when it's still dark. This is great for capturing sunrises, although it's not too conducive to getting out of bed!

Another benefit of capturing sunrises during Winter is that the atmosphere is usually very clear. Often when the sun comes up there will be no clouds or haze in the sky, just a clear, cold morning. Of course, this means that the sunrise will look very different, and it is sometimes harder to get a good sunrise without any clouds. I'm hoping to wake up early enough one of these days to get the sun rising over the valley - landscape shots tend to work best on clear mornings.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Dandelion "Clock" - Wordless Wednesday

Dandelion "Clock"
Wordless Wednesday

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

"It was a dark and stormy night..." - SWF

"It was a dark and stormy night..."
Trees silhouetted by the purple
clouds, with lightning back-lighting
Sky Watch Friday

I know, you've probably heard that title too many times already. It's one of the most under-rated and over-quoted verses in history. But I couldn't think of a better title for this picture, which was taken late one stormy night. The trees are back-lit by a flash of lightning, fading out as it reaches the top of the picture to reveal the dark storm clouds.

You might also have noticed something familiar about these trees. Yep, you guessed it, this is the same easterly viewpoint seen in many other photos. Somehow, whenever there's an interesting sky around, it has to sit behind these trees. All I can really do is change the angle!

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

"A rose by any other name...." - Wordless Wednesday

"A rose by any other name...."
Pink rose flower blooming
Wordless Wednesday

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Time to take a break! (Monkey Relaxing)

"Time to stop 'monkeying' around!"
Monkey taking a break

I caught this monkey taking a break at the Dubbo (Western Plains) Zoo last year. It seems an appropriate photo for today's post, as I've just finished a hectic week of playing at the Eisteddfod (along with younger siblings who were in other sections).

One of the pieces I played in this year's Eisteddfod was Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", Opus 27, 3rd Movement ("Presto Agitato"). This is a quite an "agitated" piece, and certainly makes for a great performance, if you can play it well. Recently I found a video of Rowan Atkinson (better known as "Mr. Bean") miming this piece, along with the first movement of Beethoven's "Sonata Pathetique". His performance is quite clever, and very amusing for anybody who's played either of these pieces. I've included the video below, and highly recommend you check it out. This guy is really amazing!

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

A different view of things.... (Sky Watch Friday)

"A New way of looking at life"
Moon and gum trees at twilight
Sky Watch Friday

You've all seen these trees before. You've even seen these trees with the moon. But have you seen them at this angle before?

Sometimes it's good to step back and take a different view of things.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Curly Vine Tendril - Wordless Wednesday

Curly Green Vine Tendril
Wordless Wednesday

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Mother's Day

"Happy Mother's Day!"
Native Australian Bee with White Flower
Mothers Day

Today is Mother's Day, as you probably already know. People across the globe are honouring the dedication and value of mothers by giving gifts and other signs of appreciation. And with good reason - after all, without mothers none of us would have ever been born!

I'd like to share with you today a little bit of history about Mother's Day that you might not have heard before.

Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, whose mother had organized women’s groups to promote friendship and health, originated Mother’s Day. On May 12, 1907, she held a memorial service at her late mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia. Within five years virtually every state was observing the day, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday. Over time, what had originally been primarily a day of honour became associated with the sending of cards and the giving of gifts, however, and, in protest against its commercialization, Jarvis spent the last years of her life trying to abolish the holiday she had brought into being.

I'd also like to say a big "Thank you" and "Happy Mother's Day" to my own mother today. I know you are reading, so thanks for all you've done!

Information from Britannica Online: Mother’s Day
This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Sunset at Brisbane Golf Club - Sky Watch Friday

Sunset at the Brisbane Golf Club
Sky Watch Friday

I was at a baptism in Brisbane this week, and the service ended with refreshments available at the Indooroopilly Golf Club. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, and in the "Jacaranda room" I had an excellent view out to the west, where the sun was setting over the golf links. Somewhat surprisingly, the best framing I could find for the sunset was to zoom right in to 300mm, excluding the golf links entirely and silhouetting the mountains in the distance.

Mountains in the distance with
the setting sun

The photo above was taken at about 4:30pm, before the sun began to set properly. I was walking through a doorway, and caught a glimpse of the mountains through the leaves of this plant. So, out came the camera for a quick shot! The leaves give an interesting tilt to the image, framing the mountains and drawing your eye along a diagonal path.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Watchful Otters - Wordless Wednesday

"Watchful"
Two Otters out of the water
Wordless Wednesday

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger now schedules future-dated posts

I know some of you are have been using Blogger in Draft to schedule your posts recently. This functionality is now available in the standard blogger interface. Simply create a new post, and click "Post Options" to access the date settings for your post. Set a date in the future, click "Publish", and your post will automatically be scheduled for posting on the date you chose.

This feature can be very handy when you have "writer's block" and can't manage to write to a deadline, or just want to take a break for a while. I encourage you to give this feature a try - you might find it comes in useful some day.

Glowing Orange Sunrise (Silhouette) - Sky Watch Friday

"Don't worry about the future...."
Sky glowing orange as the sun rises
Sky Watch Friday

On Wednesday I got up around 6am, just before the sun rose, and was able to capture this shot. Once again, this sunrise is different from all my previous shots. Watching the sun rise helped me to stop and forget all my worries of the future, just take a moment to relax and enjoy the present. I hope you can also take some time one day soon to watch the sun rise. Each one is different, so you'll be guaranteed of a fresh show every day.

This Sky Watch Friday photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Related Posts - New Feature

I'd like to point out a new feature that I've added to this blog recently - related posts. If you click on any post, you'll find a list of related links at the bottom of the page, just below the comments section. You might like to check out some of these - the photos go back to late 2006.