Winter ...

It has arrived, Winter, a month later than any other year that I can remembe,r but none the less the long, clawing, sinewy fingers of winter have reached out and wrapped themselves around us

 Over the weekend a cold Southerly blast arrived up from the Antarctic, dumped a small amount of snow in the South Island, made it's way towards us in the North and brought us freezing wind and rain. Yesterday, the temperatures only just got into double digits, morning temps of 6C with the high getting up to 10C, low dark clouds, heavy showers and a hint of sunshine greeted me when I got home from work at 5.30pm.  First priority was to light the fire and warm up.

Forecast for the rest of the week is the same, Southerly cold winds, icy showers..Brrrrrr time to get the gloves, scarves and thermal gear out.  Happy, warm and sunny week everyone in the Northern Hemisphere.

Shadow Shot Sunday..

 Thanks Tracy for hosting Shadow Shot Sunday..

Walking through the gardens at Auckland University today, I found this  fern casting a watery Winter shadow on the outside of a building. Very cold today in NZ as a southerly blast makes it's way towards us from the Antarctic.

Have a great week everyone.

I ♥ Auckland - Wintergardens

The Auckland Wintergardens complex is situated in the Auckland Domain. Part of the complex is the formal courtyard  and below is the  fernery, which has been built in what was an old quarry.
 A few weeks ago, I visited the gardens, the weather was cold and Wintry. After days of rain, the Fernery was damp, wet, and very muddy. 
There were  the last of the golden Autumnal leaves everywhere at the courtyard site, which is above the Fernery. 
I never tire of how different things look, even in the Winter.

Looking through the archway, on the other side is the entrance to the Fernery

The top of the Fernery, around the corner on the right is the path to go down to the quarry

Nikau ( knee-cow) Palm is the only Palm native to New Zealand

Ferns waiting to unfurl ..

The path leading around to the entrance of the Fernery..

The archway that takes you through to the ponds..

Camera Club.. Impressionism Photography

This year I have joined our local camera club, my main  reason for joining was to meet like-minded people, and also to learn more about photography, not only about techniques but also about the creative side of photography. We hold meetings once a month, and  have categories that we can enter our images in, either set ( which is a certain subject) and an open section.

I have been to four meetings, and have only shown three photos, the first two months I went along I was just so overwhelmed by the whole process of having a judge comment on your images, and also on the standard of what people enter. I am slowly getting better at knowing what the judges are looking for, and to taking on board the suggestions that they have for making our images look better. I have picked up so much already and feel I can only get better.

Our set subject for July is "Impressionism" , my first move was to Google the subject to see what I could find. What I found was a website by  Auckland photographer Eva Polak
Her work is amazing, and she has this unusual technique of using Vaseline to get the "Impressionist" look. A few of the ladies at Camera Club have been experimenting with this technique, and I thought that I would have a go too.

What you need is of course, Vaseline, a small piece of glass to smear the Vaseline onto. Don't put the Vaseline onto your camera lens.  Get a very small amount of Vaseline, about half of your little finger, smear the Vaseline onto the glass, going one way. Find your subject, I have been taking a photo of the subject first, and then a photo with the glass lens. When you have your subject sorted, press the camera button down half -way, hold the glass up to the lens, and take your photo. When you hold the glass with the Vaseline vertical it gives a landscape effect, and vice versa. You will need to experiment with how far away you need to hold the glass.

Here are a couple that I took yesterday, still learning, but I think I am getting it:

I haven't done any editing on these, and I know that I have a long way to go, but I am enjoying the challenge.