Jacaranda Trees in Bloom - Oct12

Every October we are treated to an explosion of purple as the Jacaranda trees come out into bloom. The flowering season is very brief though.

The Jacaranda are native to tropical and sub tropical parts of the world. Much of east coast Australia (lying within the sub tropical belt) is lucky enough to experience the colour fest at this time of the year.

It is also a reminder for me that Xmas is not that far off!

These photos are a joint venture between my IPhone and the Hipstamatic app and my Canon 5 Mkii digital SLR. Hipstamatic can do some pretty cool funky things to your images so a few have been deliberately over cooked and cross processed.

Brisbane Festival of Lights - Sep12

Every year as part of the Brisbane Festival, the council puts on a spectacular laser light show on the river. This runs for three weeks. We went down one night to capture the action and it did not disappoint!

We also took a few of the Chinese lanterns and the ferris wheel. Enjoy the shots.

Cookie in Action - Aug12

We've been going down to this excellent local dog park a lot since we moved up here, but I finally decided to capture Cookie's energy and enthusiasm.

As well as being a good collector of sticks and poo bags, she also loves playing with the other dogs.

I've also been wanting to best capture her flapping ears in motion - of that I nailed it a few times!

Teneriffe Festival - Jul12

This is my first Brisbane post! It has been a busy last couple of months settling into life in our new city. So far we are loving it and realising how much better the quality of life here is.

My camera has been largely in hibernation since arriving but I thought I'd take it for a walk and take some shots at the annual Teneriffe festival. Teneriffe is touted as "Brisbane's Newest Suburb" and the festival has only been around for a couple of years.

We met our friends Francesca and Sasha (Sasha is Francesca's daughter) - they also have a beagle (called Ciel) and it was a great opportunity for the dogs to play together and burn some energy off.

Cookie also met another beagle called Alfie who is just four months old. To enlarge each shot, just click on it. Enjoy the shots!

(Above) Wool stores adjacent to the river have been converted into apartments now

(Above) Cookie in a rare state of composure!

(Above) Vintage cars were part of the festival - I loved the contrasting colours on this old Austin

(Above and below) Cookie playing with Alfie

(Above) Ciel down at the doggie park in New Farm

(Above) Cookie and Ciel posing

(Above) Ciel at the dog park

(Below) Various shots of Cookie playing with some other doggies

(Above) Ciel again

Clovelly Rock Pool - Apr12

This will be my last rock pool shoot for some time as we are moving up to Brisbane for a new life! I have not even covered half the rock pools around the NSW coastline so this will be a long drawn out (but thoroughly enjoyable) project.

We hope to make frequent visits down to Sydney plus at some point, we'll hire a caravan for a week or so and I can cover quite a few at once.

Anyway, Clovelly is the latest rock pool to get the early morning shutter treatment. The small pool sits near the Clovelly Surf Life Saving Club (founded in 1907). The beach itself is excellent for snorkelling- I've been down there numerous times and even taken a few underwater shots of the fish.