Snapping my way

I sometimes list Photography as one of my Hobbies  but that's not really accurate. It's just an activity that, since smartphones came into my life, is a part of my everyday life. 

A photo is an aide-memoire to assist my flagging memory - it may be a photograph, a business card, a memorable meal, a book for the reading list, treasured time with family, the changing moods on our Lake, an offer in a Facebook ad, an idea for a blog post.

For the reading list

A meal to remember - not just for the food

A sensational day out

All of these images or snaps are reviewed regularly and either consigned to the trash (not many) or transferred to my image archive, an external hard disk drive, where I religiously catalogue add metadata: the who, what, why, when and where of the images.

When we are travelling my snapping activity goes into overdrive. I add a small digital camera with a long zoom and several batteries to my arsenal so that I have plenty of juice to get through the day. I try to process these each evening before I forget where they were taken. When I forget this task I create a nightmare for my return home

The result is that I have an external hard drive (and another for backup) with several terabytes of images. Whenever a family member needs a photo of a particular event or a selection to show at family event I can quickly search my collection and come up with the goods.  

Recently I came across and joined a local photography group, Lake Macquarie Area in Photos,  on Facebook that issues a weekly challenge or two to its members. I love a challenge so I very quickly entered some, it is an opportunity to share some of my better snaps. As I am mostly sharing photos of Carey Bay the focus of my One Place Study it may help me to connect with people from the local area. 

I have received lots of positive reinforcement from members of the group and even received an honourable mention for my first entry. Since then I've had a few honourable mentions. 

One of last week's themes was "Shimmer", I was overjoyed when my image of the moon's reflection in our Backyard (The Lake) was chosen as photo of the week. As well as gallons of personal satisfaction I was rewarded with my image being posted as the header image for the week on the Facebook Group.

My winning Image "Shimmer at Carey Bay"

I recently discontinued active participation on Twitter and moved my social media activity from that platform to Bluesky (I am @geniaus.bsky.social). While my main focus there is Family History I have been reading unrelated posts. A weekly challenge from a Scottish Lass, Sheena, appealed so I joined her Alphabet Challenge in which one has to post an image related to a them related to the letter of the week. 

Three weeks in I am enjoying this fun activity as it is helping me to meet new and interesting connections who participate. 

In Anno Itinerantur - U is for Up Close

In the past year since  travel opened up for Australians Robert and I have taken several journeys at home and overseas. While I posted many photos of these adventures on Facebook I want to leave a more permanent record of some of our adventures. This challenge provides me with opportunities to share my photos and stories while recording some personal history. 

I plan to share photos and stories from our travels between April 2022 and March 2023.  My theme this year is In Anno Itinerantur. 

On our most recent cruise on the Seven Seas Mariner one of the guest lecturers was English photographer, Benedict Brain. Robert and I were enthusiastic attendees at Benedict's series of lectures and workshops. Ben talked about the Art of Seeing and encouraged us to be mindful of the world around us and the images we record of our environments. We have already taken on board some of Ben's many tips to improve our photography. 

Ben discussed the value of looking closely at the things we see and encouraged us to take close-in shots  of them. I have been doing this for several years, not for any particular purpose other than I find the images visually appealing. Ben's suggestion affirmed my practice. This post is devoted to some of this year's "Up Close" images. 

Rocks - Jar Island, Kimberley Region, Australia

Cliff face - Cone Creek, Kimberley Region, Australia

Eucalypt leaves, Pilliga Forest, Australia

Carpet - Charles Dickens Museum, London, England

Garden - The Swannery, Abbotsbury, England

Garlic in the Market, Millesino, Italy

Chestnuts - Millesino, Italy

Cane chair - Papeete, Tahiti

Coastline, Tahiti

Moss on tree - Teahupoo, Tahiti

Flower - Point Venus, Tahiti

Fabric in market stall - Pago Pago, American Samoa

Flowers in pond - Fiji

Glass screen, Seven Seas Mariner

Coffee connection, Seven Seas Mariner

Pebbles - Norfolk Island

Cactus - Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy

Grapes in a vineyard, Piedmont Region, Italy

Tree bark - Sandstone Caves, NSW

Look closely to see the fish - Alanya, Turkey

Jackfruit - Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Sea - Montgomery Reef, Kimberley Region, Australia

Fossil?? - Edeline Island, Kimberley Region, Australia

Palm tree - Broome, Australia

Flowers - Highclere Castle, England

Outside a florists - Rome, Italy

Paving - Siena, Italy

Roses - Radda in Chianti, Italy

Flowers - Agiosos, Lesbos, Greece

Cliff face - Sandstone Caves, NSW

Choose your own fish - Restaurant, Kusadasi, Turkey

Sea Days

I love cruising for a variety of reasons and have spent more than 500 of my days at sea on various ships.

Most of this time has been spent in recent years on our favourite cruise line. When we were young and single both Robert and I cruised separately around the Pacific. Our cruising today is much more relaxed and comfortable than in last century.

I now find the port intensive cruises where we visit a new site each day are exhausting. I have developed a love of  "Sea Days" that give us a chance to sleep in and recharge our batteries in between our explorations. 

On our recent cruise last month we had about half of our days at sea, we were fully occupied with, games, lectures, leisurely meals and socialising. My favourite activity was a series of workshops/lectures with professional photographer, Benedict Brain who encouraged us not just to take photos but to Make Photos. As well as sharing many practical tips Ben talked philosophically about photography. He made this person who takes snapshots think about taking and making photographs.

I spent much time on those Sea Days experimenting with my phone camera, exploring new apps and thinking about and playing with my photos.

While on board I took many shots of the sea, some of which I put in this collage. Thanks to Ben for encouraging me to try different things.

Zoom in

Don't think our tour guide quite got "Zoom in" when he took our photo at Peles Castle in Romania yesterday.  I'm sorry I didn't pay the $10 fee to take photos inside, it was awesome.