urban daisy

Owls are spectacular birds!

This variety, the barn owl, is very common in Australia, but you might not know that if you don’t share my propensity for driving around the countryside with spotlights attached to your vehicle.

I thought my joy was complete when we saw a sugar glider swoop across the road above us.  I didn’t get a very good shot of this adorable little creature (he was very, very high up and a little shy!), but I was thrilled just to see one.  It is only the second time ever I have seen one outside of a zoo, and they are the dearest little things!

We saw frogs, nightjars, and some roosting birds.

There were pairs of these birds all over the tree.  When driving past, it looks like a tree with tissues scattered over it.  It is very easy to understand how cats can destroy a bird population.  The birds didn’t stir through all the flash and torch light, or me descending a gravel ditch right beside them, and I could have reached out and plucked one from the tree had I been less polite.

There is something special about observing nocturnal wildlife.  Spotlighting is one of my favourite things to do!

If the skilled and knowledgeable members of the photographic community care to run their collective eye over the pictures here and offer helpful words of wisdom, I’m all ears.  Learning by trial and error is a slow and painful process!

Taking photos of buildings should be easy.  They don’t move or change expression: how hard could it be?

It was trickier than I thought.  Wandering about the place I found a good angle, composed the shot so there was a little more interest than just the actual building and…voila!

Or..not.

See that nasty, no good shadow on the bottom of the building?  Not pretty.  So I tried again.

The afternoon shot was an unmitigated disaster.  The sun was blinding, there was lens flare galore, the beach was in shadow, and nothing at all was right about the picture. Sigh.

Midday had to be the answer.  I failed to overcome the lens flare issue, and in this particular shot the lack of people makes it seem a little bland, but it is something to remember, this not getting shadows all over the subject.  I might also add,  if you are standing in the surf juggling your camera, shoes, and hand bag, don’t wear a long skirt.  Focused on the building, your attention is distracted from the odd killer wave that can sneak up on you.  Everyone say, “Wet, sandy, walk home!”

The observation deck presented further challenges for this novice.  I had read in my big red canon book of things to want that there is a filter that will block reflections.  Thinking ahead to this photo opportunity, and knowing I was desirous of one, my sweetie went to buy it for me.  I can assure you that after finding that Mr Beyondbluestockings had paid a tidy sum for the filter, and that it made not a skerrick of difference (see my favourite white skirt in the picture?) I was grieved.

In the light of day, my unhappiness faded as I learned that the sales assistant, not comprehending what my husband had asked for,  had sold him a polarizing filter.  It’s not a non-reflective filter, but, hey,  sunnies for my camera – cool!  I can use that.

The next day was my last at Q1, and it occurred to me to put the lens hard against the glass.  Why it didn’t occur to me the previous night, I can’t imagine.  But it did solve the reflection issue, though limited the angles I could shoot from. You live and learn.

Some challenges should only be faced together.

Surfers Paradise is the playground of the Gold Coast.

He really had the best vantage point for shooting the service, but I couldn’t begrudge him that, when the image he created was a just compensation.