What do you reckon my cat Harley was thinking?

Had a great weekend – was sunny long enough to mow down my own private Amazon rain forest, played with the cockashit and groodle outside and took a few photos. ON the down side, I’ve lost my canon camera battery charger and have turned the house upside down looking for it … no avail. I eventually ordered a new one off Ebay yesterday. In the meantime, I used my old Canon Powershot. It’s a neat sturdy little point and click but it’s cantankerous at times. Most of the shots this weekend have too much grain or noise in them even though it’s a 10 megapixel camera and I purposely don’t use the ‘zoom’.  If anyone can tell me why this little camera does this … please advise (you can see the EXIF data on the fickr link).

This is a shot of Indy (the Groodle) after he had fetched the tennis ball a few times. I edited the photo in the GIMP to try and reduce the grainy appearance by use of an alpha mask and posterising the print.

Below is the cockashit, Mojo. She’s much more difficult to photograph cause she doesn’t stay still and the camera does not like her all black features. She’s begging for me to throw the ball here.

Willow and I went to a local park on Sunday and met up with a Kanga family. This is the Mom of an older Joey.  I think she was expecting a hand out from us cause she began hopping straight for us and veered to the side once she realised we were san goodies. I took this photo as she was approaching Willow.

Pelican feeding, The Entrance, NSW Australia

Creative Photography submission.

Creative Photography judge’s submission

The Pacific Black Duck, Anas superciliosa is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the Grey Duck or Pārera in New Zealand.

EXIF DATA

Camera:      Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure:     0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture:     f/5.6
Lens Type:     EF75-300mm f/4-5.6
Focal Length:     300 mm
ISO Speed:     400
Exposure Bias:     0/3 EV
Flash:     Flash did not fire

This is our new pup Indy. Indy is half Golden Retriever and half Poodle, otherwise known as a Groodle or a Golden Doodle. Whatever the name, he’s an adorable pup. I’ve taken many photos of him already but I wanted to show something of his nature. I like this shot cause it captures his playfulness and his oodles of shaggy hair.

EXIF Data

Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 130 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Lens Type: Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6
Lens: 75 – 300mm
Max Aperture: 128
Min Aperture: 320
Flash Activity: Flash did not fire
Focus Continuous: Continuous
Photo Effect: Off
Color Tone: 0

Editing

None

I’m so proud of my little gal Juniper. She’s 10 years old and is a creative genius. About a year and a half ago, she asked me to set up a website for her, juniper’s tree house. She likes to write and often she’ll sit at her computer and write little essays for her site.

Last night, I had a look and noticed that she had posted a couple of essays. The essays tell a story about our two cats, Harley and Banjo. In Banjo’s Narrative, she tells the story from his perspective. In Harley’s Narrative, she re-tells the same story from Harley’s perspective. I am very impressed with her narrative concept and feline insight. At 10 years old, I think she’s a brilliant writer. If you get the chance, pop over to her site and say hello.

Yes, we have a new addition to the little red planet zoo. Meet Indie, the 14 week old Groodle. What’s a Groodle you say? A Groodle is a mix between a Poodle and a Golden Retriever. Indie has been with us for almost a week. He’s settled in very well and has already made his mark (bite mark!) on a large selection of furniture. He likes to chew house shoes, socks and all the wooden furniture including the stairs.

He’s getting along with the rest of the family very well. He even tolerates little Willow! Over the weekend he became better acquainted with Harley, our cat. I can see Harley sleeping on top of Indie in the future but, as for now, they prefer to admire each other from a distance.