Love this church
There’s something about the light this time of year.
It’s softer.
More dreamy.
Imagine the wedding photos.
Yes there was a wedding going on.
It’s a very popular church for that.
Photos
It's iconic
Gotta love Sydney.
Well I do.
I guess it’s because I spent a couple of months at a critical age in this fair town… and because I consider Sydney to be to Perth’s somewhat brash teenage self an…
Older, gay uncle?
Worldly, confident spinster aunt?
Or is that Melbourne?
Whatever… I love Sydney.
I love the water, the casual confidence of its inhabitants, the fact you can find scrambled eggs and toast for $7 on a Sunday morning.
I know that Perth people are weeping into their $4.50 coffees right now.
Seven bucks.
Perth prices are outrageous.
But I digress.
What was I saying?
Oh yes, Sydney.
City crush.
Loved this
Gotta love a city with grafitti like this
Loved this memorial to women who came out because of the Irish famine
She looks determined doesn't she... the new St Mary...
So I’m completely in love with Sydney again and I stay with my friend who I lived with way back in the day when I lived and partied in Sydney.
She lived in Greenwich and she still does so I figured I’d catch the ferry over for old times sake.
Those following me on twitter would have seen how the story unfolded:
Cellobella At circular quay waiting for the greenwich ferry. Life is good. 
Cellobella Forgot how much I love the ferry service in sydney. #wanttoliveinsydney
Cellobella @deeleea totes. It’s such a nice way to get around. Feels like a treat not public transport.
Cellobella Lol just discovered I’m on completely the wrong ferry. It’s back to circular quay for me. #whatanidiot
Cellobella Bored of being on ferry now #navigationfail
My friend had texted me and when I said oh I was just at Watson’s Bay, rang me to tell me I’d caught a ferry going in completely the opposite direction.
It’s been twenty years since I lived in Sydney.
So I changed ferries…
Me on the RIGHT ferry
And I spent the night in Greenwich and we reminisced about old times…
Going to Rogues…
On our way out to Rogues back in 1991...
OMG yes… check out those clip-on earrings… oh dear me… such glamour.
We drank wine and discussed how we met the drummer of Air Supply and he told us that Mariah Carey was the next big thing.
We talked more about Rogues… well it was our favourite nightclub.
Hey that was a designer dress... stop laughing!
Thought you might like to see the full look.
We haven’t changed a bit!
Okay maybe a bit.
Don’t you love the tassles?
Not enough dresses these days have tassles IMHO.
This was my outfit of choice for going to the casino back in Perth – but I wore it with a waist length wig.
And then it started raining.
And I fell asleep to the sound of rain on the roof and actually I didn’t sleep well because it was soooo noisy.
Such a novelty to hear rain though.
*slaps self* This is not going to be a weather post.
Next morning I waited patiently for the rain to stop.
But it was torrential.
And, with a coffee date in the city I had to get going.
‘sif a Perth person is going to have an umbrella!
Monday morning was... wet.
I could feel the rain slide off the back of my jacket, through my top and slip down the back of my jeans.
Cl-assy.
I was wet wet wet.
But still happy to be in Sydney.
Even though I was a little over the rain.
I dried out about 3pm.
Ahhh my dear Uncle Syd.
See ya next time.
Peeps… Gay uncle? Worldly older cousin? What do you think?
I don’t normally take photos of hunky blokes down the beach.
Surfee dude types
Especially not ones who – lets face it – could be my sons.
I’m not the cougar type.
But when I spied that tattoo on his back… well!
Smiley face tattoo
My first thought was… are you kidding me?!
Who gets a smiley face tattoo.
My next thought was… have I missed a “cool” lesson somewhere?
So tell me internets – cool or uncool?
And then we went for a walk.
It had been a hot day. Bushfires. Windy.
So I thought an evening stoll en famile would be nice.
Cottesloe Beach
Fishing from the groin
When we got to the beach it was COLD!
Really windy.
A little… unpleasant.
So rather than a longer walk towards Swanborne – we headed for the groin.
A bit pathetic really.
The pylon with the smog of the fires on the horizon
Of course you can’t keep a teenage boy out of the water no matter how much you talk about shark weather…
Fun in the surf keeping an eye out for sharks
Yachts in the foggy sun
I love the dreamy light in this photo.
In real life the sun glinting on the water and the fog was blinding and without sunglasses, painful.
But it was a beautiful morning to walk along the river and think of nothing except for camera angles.
Father and son
I boosted the contrast on this photo so you can see the figures a little more clearly… but it loses the dreamy quality.
What do you think?
Less contrast?
The unedited version
So I was on my morning walk (to the shops, not really for exercise) looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary as is my want, and I saw a row of marigolds up against a fence.
But look what I caught on film!
Bee in the Marigolds
Bee in flight
My other photos are a little more prosaic.
The ordinariness of a weed
One day though it would be nice not to have to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary but to have the extraordinary happen!
Or maybe not.
A float beached on a verge
Cottesloe Beach in Winter
Oh I know we need the rain but there is something glorious about Perth when the winter sun shines across a barely populated beach.
When the sky is bluer than a summer’s day, uncluttered by leaves and verdant green.
Sure it’s a bit chilly in the morning, but the light my friend, the light!
I went to a photography course today at work.
There’s also something delicious about voluntarily going into work when you’re on long service leave…
“What are you doing here?”
“I thought it was you but then I thought no… she’s on leave!”
The envious rueful smiles, the smug smiles of others knowing they have LSL sitting there waiting to be taken.
It was good to be back at work today, firstly to see old friends and secondly not to do any work!
The course was fun and distracting, about a subject I am passionate about.
I love taking photos, and learning how to take better ones makes me more enthusiastic.
It has also inspired me to add to my growing lists of “presents I will one day buy myself” – yes I need a camera with manual controls… just in case, you know, I might actually want to experiment with aperture and shutter speed.
In the meantime, me and my trusty point and click will concentrate on composition, leading lines and angles.
(taps nose in a knowing way)
Oh yes, I am a photographer now.
Just photos today – some things that caught my attention as I walked along the Nedlands foreshore.
Perth city
Nice view if you can afford it.
Flotsam along the shoreline
A line of algae
Foam on the water
More foam
The moon
Down the Dalkeith end.
Photo taken by Google phone
This is a photo of some lovely flowers Groover gave me last week.
They have opened so beautifully, so slowly that we really have enjoyed them but the reason for the post is to show you the capability of his new Google phone.
I think it has some fancy filters applied but even so, pretty impressive hey?
By comparison this is from my camera with no filters applied:
This photo taken with my little Canon Ixy
Frankly I’m blown away.
The blackberry I use for work also has a 5MP camera and the photos aren’t nearly so clear.
And maybe there are filters I can apply but they are not so easy to apply (or find).
It’s been a bit cold and wet in Perth over the last few days and truth be told it does feel like winter.
In East Perth autumn leaves pile in drifts and then wilt flat against the pavement.
Today there are blue skies and if you hadn’t been outside you might even think it was quite warm.
20 degrees celcius.
For us, the thin-blooded natives of this fair city, it is cold.
No central heating, coats designed for a light chill in the air, gloves and scarves?
What are they again?
Winter is officially just 4 days away.
I’m getting out the ski gear.
I took this photo down at Cottesloe beach.
You know the usual fifty photos of a seagull and then it takes off and you get lucky.
I love the feeling this photo evokes for me.
Taking flight.
The energy.
The upward momentum.
How good must it feel?
