Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

Have you seen the time lapse on the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Shows website? Mesmerising! http://melbflowershow.com.au/
I'll be heading there next week when my big brother comes to visit. He's an award winning gardener from Toowoomba so we'll be visiting lots of other gardens too. 

There's an interesting story about how this day with the crutches and the flowers in the hair  (taken at last years flower and garden show) ended up being the start of the inspiration for my current work about to be exhibited. I'll get back to tell you about it soon but I've just looked at the clock and it's 2am. I better get some zzz's. 

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers - Photography

Do you love flowers and nature and parks and gardens? Do you wish you could take better photographs of all the things you love? Well, I've got just the thing for you!

Come away to Toowoomba, the Garden City, at the best time of year (Spring!) for a festival of flowers, fun and fantastic photographic opportunities. If you've never been to the Carnival of Flowers you really have been missing out. Come with me and my brother to show you around the best of our home town and teach you how to take better photos. Opportunities are chosen to provide a wide range of situations to inspire and challenge you photographically. You'll receive tips and support all along the way.  As well as the wonderful parks and gardens, we'll try our hand at photographing fireworks, the night carnival, the street parade and much, much more. We'll stay in historic accommodation and travel around with ease in a mini bus just for us. We'll have a small group (maximum 10) so there's lots of time for one on one guidance with your photography. 

You can find out more about the Carnival here and more about our tour here. 

The new Toowoomba Airport has direct flights from many locations including Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns. We can pick you up from the airport or bus station.

I'd love to talk to you about this great get-a-way and answer all your questions. Drop me an email or give me a call on 0417 768 318. I hope you can join us!

Here's a photo of my brother and I on Mt Kosciusko in 2015. Stew is an award winning gardener who can answer your horticultural questions, especially when it comes to growing vegies (he has a blog here). He will also double as our bus driver and teller of bad jokes. 

I get by with a little help from my friends

I've been so busy making sure everyone else is on track with their exhibition planning and printing that I've kinda forgotten about my own work. Fortunately, I have a wonderful friend who lent me his house, his printer and his cat for an intense weekend of printing. 

Printing party supplies for me and the cat. 

Test Printing

Decision making time for which paper looks best. 

Pretty happy with the progress here.

My Matisse and Henson inspired blue nudes. 

With help from Chyna the cat. 

Show of Hands - Group Photography Exhibition

A while ago a few of my past students from RMIT short courses expressed an interest in taking the next step with their photography and exhibiting their work. I asked for a 'show of hands' to see who was serious, and now we're about two weeks away from opening night and I think I can officially add 'herding cats' to my CV. There are 11 of us - two photography teachers (myself and Bryce Dunkley) and 9 past students. If you're in Melbourne you might want to call in and check it out. Opening night is April 5 and it runs for a month. 

Me, my Fuji, and the Melbourne Botanical Gardens

I'm loving my new Fujifilm X-T2 Mirrorless Camera. When I was a teenager I carried a compact camera with me everywhere but the slr is a bit heavy and bulky to do that. The iPhone has been a stand in for a few years but, while it's better than nothing, it is a bit limited. So I saved my pennies (tax return) and bought myself a birthday present last year. My first slr was a Fuji, so my choice was swayed slightly by nostalgia. It goes in my handbag and when I go for a walk I can whip it out any time I see a flower or garden I want to photograph. If I'm on a dedicated garden walk I'll take the Canon with the 100mm macro. I might save up for a macro for the fuji but I'm pretty happy with what I can get with the 18-55mm lens. 

I had a meeting on the other side of town last week and I walked back to the city afterwards via the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. Good thing I had the fuji in my bag so I could snap a few photos along the way. 

My favourite pic of the day. See below for the 'before' shot. I had a class coming up on composition and design at RMIT and I wanted to add another example of 'filling the frame'. This one will do just nicely. I also like the lines and the colours. It just has nice 'feel' about it, don't ya reckon? I call it 'Shark Fin'. 
It's an Agave. I initially thought it was a kind of cactus (cacti?), so I can show you how to photograph it but I'm not too good at plant identification. That's why it's handy having a horticulturist in the family to correct me. He's my big brother and you can ask him questions too if you have any. Here's his blog. He'll be our bus driver and resident green thumb on the Carnival of Flowers tour. 

This is the 'before' shot of the one above it. A clump of agave with a playground on one side and the loo on the other.

Below are a few other shots from wandering through the gardens. And this was only a small section as I was passing through along one side, and it was the middle of the day, not exactly ideal for photography. I discovered a little Craft Cottage (no photos of it this time, the light was too harsh) and talked to the lovely folk about maybe running a photography group there. 

Colour Combinations

I was flicking through some recent photos, trying to keep my Lightroom keywords up to date, and started to notice some nice colour blends. Here's a couple I put together, all shot from wandering around my neighbourhood in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. I might have to go back through some older photos and look for some more as I quite like these. Or maybe I'll just grab the camera and go for another walk to see what I can find.

Don'y you just love the different colours, shapes and textures of flowers?