Welcome 2012!! Happy New Year! Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year break. How quickly did 2011 go? And before you know we’re already racing through 2012! Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous and great 2012. May all your dreams take flight and may this year bring you lots of joy, happiness & health.

I did take some photos during the break but nearly not as much as I did in the past few years. As the year picks up am sure to though. Here are some Hydrangea shots in colour and black and white from the front garden around our unit. Click on the photos for a closer look.

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Can you tell am running out of ideas to post? Well here is the salubrious view from the potty The young lucky bamboo plant was an addition to the family today. Isn’t it a nice view even though its right out our bathroom window? Both in summer and winter this window offer beautiful soft filtered natural light that streams through our place not to mention the lovely birds and the greenery.

It isn’t exactly summer yet, but when the rain descended on us this afternoon I was really thinking of Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Summer Rain’. Oh how I love that song. Homeward bound this afternoon there was a bit of traffic delays following a 95 year old man who drove his car into the rail tracks accidentally crashing down about ten metres down an embankment on to train tracks at Pymble! Luckily unhurt. As we stood in a little traffic I took the opportunity to shoot lazily and amuse myself with the rain droplets on the window and mirror.

Remember that famous line from “American Beauty“:

[quote]…Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.[/quote]

– Ricky Fitts

Remember how I constantly bitched and moaned about Canon’s less than perfect imaging on the DSLRs? Well the moment of truth for me arrived on Wednesday the 9^th of November. I got my first Nikon body a D7000 with a AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G Lens to boot! (Thx Kreeson for organising the lens) I know the D7000 is less than perfect and a crop sensor. Still, by gee, it seems to deliver picture perfect pixels right out-the-box. Quite impressed!

Melissa and I went out to the local hideout Peas in Alexandria. These shots were taken at ISO 6400 on a cloudy(not overcast) but day. In other words Canon would throw in miles of Red, Magenta and green luminance noise and halo if shot at that ISO. See what the D7000 delivers in Auto mode set to ISO 6400! Sorry for the geek talk. It means Nikon you’re starting to rock my world! BTW Melissa that top looks very nice on you.

Kiley’s gorgeous cat Sochi posing for me. Can you see me in the photo?

Things have been busy round here… and no matter how much I burn the midnight oil twenty-four hours seem such a short time to chase all your dreams and hobbies. But I do try.

On June long-weekend we up to the Blue Mountains with the family to spend some good time and that we sure did except for the constant downpour and the almost sub-zero temperatures. Brrrr! As you’d have guessed the camera almost didn’t get out the bag. Somehow out of sheer guilt I did manage to take just about ten odd photos! Here’s one I shot standing on the threshold of the shivering cold balcony after the thick fog had left us! I love the mountains but that hideous gloomy weather would drive almost anyone batty!

It has been a little quiet here lately but some nice travel updates are due soon. You’d have to wait till Saturday morning for the next installment, but in the mean time I thought of sharing some colourful moments of 2011 I’ve shot so far. Yes, all in 2001

Make sure you click on the thumbnails.

Pillow talk is exactly what Doris Day would have in mind if she was reading this from her beautiful paradise in Carmel… These are Robyn’s cushions. Aren’t they gorgeous.

One never has to go far to shoot a good (subjective, I know) photo. Inspiration is all around us. Whether one choses to see it is yet another question!

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When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been too long
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the sun’s love
in the spring
becomes the rose

– Bette Midler

D and I went to try out a new little restaurant today down on Blues Point Road called Blue Ginger. The food at Blue Ginger has had some good feedback and having tasted just our entrees I can see why. They do take their own sweet time to prepare the dishes but when it hits the table its ready to tantalise your taste buds. We had the Palak Patha Chaat and it left us wanting more! For mains we shared the Goanese Prawn Malibu which is prawns marinated in ginger, garlic simmered in coconut milk finished with a shot of Malibu, I love my Goat baaa — so there, we had Goat curry (tender goat on the bone cooked with North Indian recipe) with Basmati saffron rice and Roti(flattened bread made with whole meal flour). We were also up for Pistachio Kulfi and Masala tea but service was hard to come by, yeah you guessed it, service was average to poor. But that wouldn’t stop us going there for the food was to die for! Literally.

We went down for a little walk to Lavender Bay with all that Goat, Prawn, Malibu tucked in and shot some photos along the way. Such a pleasant evening.

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