f365: Day 273

Expect a few more jacaranda shots over the next month as there is purple colour everywhere. I went for a walk around Newstead Park today and took this shot near the park.

A guy I spoke to correlated the annual appearance of the jacaranda flowers with "exam stress" as most students are starting to stress about upcoming exams...

f365: Day 272

Have a guess where we were today....No, not the beach (as it was hot again). No, not down at the park. Still haven't figured it out yet?

..(drum roll)..

BUNNINGS! Not content with a couple of hours down there on Saturday, we popped back again today for some flooring stain/varnish (which so far is looking great).

Today's shot shows part of the extensive bolts section. It reminds me of the symmetry related to Hong Kong apartment blocks. I guess if you cannot get your bolts here, you'll struggle to get them anywhere!

f365: Day 271

Our place is like the outskirts of a warzone at the moment! But we are addressing this - we did an IKEA shop today and joined about 50,000 other Brisbanites meandering aimlessly through the store, methodically following their arrow system.

We came out with shelving components, rails and containers for our herb garden, storage boxes etc. We also picked up more stuff from Bunnings (we would have about 1.5m points with these guys if they had a loyalty scheme!).

Today's shot gives an idea of how busy the food court area is - we were tempted by their meatballs (well at least I was) but ended up just taking time out around here.

f365: Day 270

We got up early this morning and took the dogs for a walk. Not far from home we passed this rusty skip bin - the morning light shining on it brought out a lot of colour and texture.

f365: Day 269

Finally...(drum roll)....the new kitchen has been installed! It went in yesterday so I took a quick snap of it this morning.

There are still plenty of elements that need to be done including getting all the electrics and plumbing sorted, installing the caesorstone benchtop, tiling (including tiling the inside of the butler's pantry), installing the appliances and some painting touch ups as well as us putting in shelves etc.

But it is fantastic to finally see it and we have acres of storage including cupboards up to the ceiling.

f365: Day 268

It has been very warm in Brisbane lately - today topped out at around 32C.

I was in the city for an hour after work and shot this as the sun was going down. It was done very quickly, just after I'd crossed a pedestrian crossing.

f365: Day 267

The new Gasworks complex that has opened up near work not only provides a place to wander around in at lunchtime, it opens up opportunities for better food options, plus photography.

The deli that has just opened is a decent size. Today's photo was staring straight down one of the aisles. I've tried to make the most of "lead in" lines to draw attention down the aisles (an old photography trick). I also applied a cross processing effect to jazz the colours up.

f365: Day 266

It is Jacaranda season again! The blue/purple flowers usually bloom around October time, but I imagine our warm winter has sparked an early flowing season.

They bring welcome colour to the landscape, but the flowering season window is short.

Today's post is the view past our backyard - we are lucky enough to have a large Jacaranda tree just outside our property, in full view from our veranda.

f365: Day 265

With our place being in complete upheaval (the new kitchen going in being the primary reason), rooms have either been emptyed, or converted into temporary storage areas.

Our front room being one of the latter. Today's shot shows some of the contents of our front room - a new baby chair we picked up a few day's ago, a drawing table that'll eventually go into Jenn's office and a rocking chair we picked up from an EBay seller last night!

f365: Day 264

Another weekend renovating! Today we used a couple of commercial sanders (one a drum sander, the other an edge sander) which were hired from Bunnings to sand back the new kitchen and dining room floors - next weekend we will stain them both a dark colour.

It was a pretty full on day and large quantities of the house have dust (even with doors closed!). We also managed to sell the car today as well. Time to relax I think...

Today's two shots show the area we sanded - hard to believe it was that colour in the bottom part of each image 12 hour's prior!

f365: Day 263

The light on the "urban wasteland" near work made for some interesting shadows and patterns. This disused space near work did act as a car park, but now it acts as a weed growing centre.

Not sure what the plans are for this space but amazed nothing has been done yet!

f365: Day 262

Today's shot shows how we've been doing dishes (or the "washing up" as we used to refer to it when we lived in the UK) for the last 4-5 weeks.

We have no kitchen so our old bath has been doubling as a repository for doing our dishes. It is not as bad as it looks, but will not miss it once we have the new kitchen, decent sized sink and dishwasher!

f365: Day 261

I've been taking the car into work lately (the old Corolla, not the new Rav4) as it has been on the market for awhile and we still haven't sold it (although have had a few nibbles this week).

There is a very handy car park close to work that I featured as my daily shot a couple of weeks ago. The last part of the walk involves walking down the very busy Kingsford Smith Drive. My shot today is of advertising flags catching the late afternoon light along the drive.

f365: Day 260

Our house is currently a clutterers fantasy. Our third bedroom (which will soon be converted into a baby room) currently houses all our kitchen appliances, cutlery, plates etc etc. It resembles the outskirts of a war zone!

Today's shot just covers a fraction of the mess that we currently navigate around to find things! But I'll post an after shot once we have cleared and renovated the room.

f365: Day 259

A couple of noteworthy things happened today. Firstly, after about two months of near drought, the heavens opened this evening and it poured down, along with an intense thunder and lightening storm.

Secondly, it was our friend Francesca's birthday. Her partner and daughter (Matt and Sasha) did a terrific job in surprising her with a meal out at Montrachet, a (very) French restaurant in the suburb of Paddington.

Attendees also included their friends Clint and Trish. As the rule with my one-photo-a-day blog states that I must take the shot, I have included one I took of the happy couple plus a group shot taken by the friendly waiter.

f365: Day 258

We pretty much finished the painting of our kitchen this afternoon. The VJ walls were a problem prepping given all the cracks, holes etc. But today's shot shows the (almost) finished product. Note there are areas we have not touched as cabinets, appliances etc will fill these spaces (and why waste paint and labour?).

Next weekend we are hiring a couple of commercial sanders to sand the floor boards. Then the new kitchen gets fitted on the 25th Sept!

f365: Day 257

I haven't done too much in the way of self portraiture in this one-year daily photo project. I was up at 6am working on the kitchen - sanding, filling gaps and painting - exhausting but rewarding stuff!

Anyway, I took this shot of myself around lunchtime. To make it more interesting, I converted to black and white and applied an HDR (High Dynamic Range) filter across it. This brings out loads of detail in the face. It is certainly not a flattering look at all and makes me look 10 years older, but equally it is kind of cool!

So....this is me after 6 hours battling through the dust and paint.

f365: Day 256

Once again I had little time or thought to dedicate to my daily photo, but I did see some nice light and reflections off Breakfast Creek of the Breakfast Creek Hotel as I was crossing the water.

We've had sunny conditions for weeks now, so it made a change to see some cloud in the sky (not that I am a fan of cloudy conditions, but interesting none-the-less).

f365: Day 255

I was down in Sydney for the day for work. It was the first time I'd been inside the Virgin Sydney office - the views of Circular Quay are amazing. Unfortunately I didn't get much time to stroll around my old haunts, but it was nice to be down there, even if just for one day.

Today's shot is from the office.

f365: Day 254

Bruce was photographed yesterday so today was Cookie's turn. She was surprisingly still when in my study tonight and staring at me intently (probably because she hadn't been fed yet!).

Anyway, today's shot is an intense stare from our (soon to be) two year old.

f365: Day 253

One of the best parts of the day is arriving home and seeing Jenn, Bruce and Cookie. The two pups are always delighted to see me and both want to play tug.

Bruce also loves trying to grab my bag upon arrival home!

I was having a wrestle/tag game with them on the ground and caught this shot of Bruce from a ground point-of-view. I have to be watchful as a 50kg Bullmastiff puppy stepping on the nethers is not much fun...! Note the renovation ladder in background.

f365: Day 252

A new shopping complex has opened up recently in Newstead, near work called "Skyring".

The best part about it is that it is close to work (well a 15 min brisk walk). Currently our only food options are over priced sandwiches from a few cafes so having a large Woolworths in the complex is a boon.

It is still a construction site though so I reeled off a couple of snaps during my lunchbreak, including one showing part of a newly painted traffic signal box.

f365: Day 251

Spent a considerable amount of time DIY'ing this weekend, trying to get our kitchen space ready before the kitchen goes in. VJ walls, a predominate feature of Queenslanders, need a bit of prep work.

I went made with the gap filler this morning and filled most of the gaps. Still a huge amount of work to go and Jenn has been busy as well.

Today's shot is a top-of-the-ladder self portrait.

f365: Day 250

The 250th day of my blog and of course the 250th day of the year!

It was election day in Australia today. As I am not a citizen, I am unable to vote, but I did accompany Jenn down to our local polling booth in Ashgrove (plus the dogs came down with us).

I must admit I do not properly understand the way the Australian parliamentary system works with the two houses (the Senate and the House of Representatives), but we did some information gathering tonight to understand the preferential voting system - fascinating stuff.

At this stage it looks like the Coalition will win and oust the Labor Party.

Anyway, shots were taken of both the ladies selling the "gourmet" sausages at the polling station, plus a sneak look inside the voting area itself. Oddly our station was a split station with both the Brisbane and Ryan setas being able to be voted for.

f365: Day 249

I brought the car in again today as had intended to do some photography of the guys at work (the camera gear is heavy to lug around).

The shoot ended up being postponed until next week, but at least it meant a speedy journey home.

Anyway, I was told of this great little car parking space close to work which didn't cost a dime, or a penny, or any other small currency amount.

Today's shot shows the Corolla safely ensconced in the far right corner of the frame.

f365: Day 248

I've walked past this wall a number of times - well considering it is opposite my gym, probably less times than I'd like.

Anyway, once again a cross processed graffiti shot!

f365: Day 247

Today was quite an interesting day. Within our Velocity team at work, we have decided to take "Superhero" shots of the group as part of a means to introduce us to other business areas.

I did the shoot this morning with 5 or so colleagues. It was loads of fun and I'll photograph most of the rest on Friday afternoon.

I wont post any photos yet (and may not until the group have at least seen them), but I did get a quick snapshot with the Canon 5d Mkii of Bruce lolling his tongue at the camera just after I got home. Cookie looks on in the background unamused.....!

f365: Day 246

I was waiting on Waterworks Rd for awhile tonight at Ashgrove (Brisbane suburb) as had just withdrawn some cash from a nearby ATM and was watching the traffic flows.

While I want to do a more "professional" traffic flow before the year is out, this one I added a cross processing filter to pop out the redness of it.

f365: Day 245

I spent my lunch break scoping out some locations for a work photo shoot this week (us Velocity guys are doing a creative profile!). My job is the photographer so I wanted to find some urban scenes that could work.

James St and Fortitude Valley is one option. Today's shot showcases the modern architectural style that is popping up all over the area. While no architecture boffin, I do like the modern style (reminds me a bit of Canary Wharf in London).

f365: Day 244

Today's post has taken a bit longer than expected as I had a major PC failure tonight. My hard drive has  died, along with a month's worth of files, data and pictures. Annoyingly, my monthly back up was supposed to happen this weekend but I forgot to take my hard drive home...!!

I am also going to never buy a PC online again. This Melbourne based online retailer I purchased from have been appalling - this latest failure will invariably be less painful sorting out myself (although fairly costly).

But such is life. Apart from that end of day mishap, we remembered Ness this morning - she would have had her 43rd birthday last Wednesday. Keeping with tradition, balloons in her colours were let off.

This year Jenn and I let balloons off down at Nudgee Beach here in Brisbane. It was a beautiful day, but very breezy. The balloons I was not able to separate due to the intense wind plus they were well tangled. It seemed appropriate to let them all fly off into the distance. We loved the backdrop and they soared over the ocean - possibly they may have made it back to land, but we'll never know.

Note that Jenn and I both took photos so credits to her for her excellent shots of myself sending the balloons off.