25 April - Anzac Day - we will remember them - 2014

25th April - is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand - and this Anzac day is the 99th anniversary of the landing in Gallipoli.

"ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day we remember all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity".

 To read more please for to the Australian War Memorial web site - click here - www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/

This image is from the Shrine of Rememberance in Melbourne....
 

 All across Australia and New Zealand in cities and towns, overseas where servicemen are still serving, where Australians and New Zealanders gather, at memorials in France, and on the shores of Gallipoli  where thousands go every Anzac Day to honour and remember, even at the Australian base in Antarctica, there are Dawn Services, parades and ceremonies to remember those that gave the supreme sacrifice.

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Peace in a country church - Mourambine, Western Australia

There is a peace and calm that seems to surround small country churches. They are a place of sanctuary. A place to sit in quiet contemplation.

Over the Easter weekend we visited the St Patricks Anglican church in Mourambine during our return drive home from a few days staying with our family in the central Western Australian wheatbelt.

This church holds a place in our family history.

It sits on a small rise overlooking undulating grain fields which are drying golden in summer and sprouting green and fresh in winter.

The town of Mourambine developed around 1860 and the townsite gazetted in 1884, but it has disappeared over the years - it's fate sealed when the railway line came to nearby Pingelly in 1889. All that remains of Mourambine now is the church and its small cemetery, the rectory (now a farmer's home), the old inn (also now a home) and the house where my father lived between 1939 and 1942. He has told us many stories of his life there. 

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Secret Garden Affairs and photographing cupcakes!

I am late blogging this Monday. We have had a busy few days starting with my Saturday morning when I went to photograph cup cakes for a lady who is starting up a new home based business making cupcakes. Her son is producing her brochure and starting up a Facebook-blog. 

Visitors to my blog will know that I have been playing around with food photography for a couple of years. I did some childrens' recipe pics a couple of years ago for a friend who had a blog for young mums. 

But these cupcakes were my first official paid food photography work! Very exciting. I would be interested to know what you think of the result....the brief was to photograph the different sample varieties she had made with packaging.  The room wasn't particularly well lit, so I was glad I brought along my lightbox to photograph the cup cakes in.  Minor post-processing in Lighroom for exposure, sharpening and straightening.

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Playing with food - a food photography journey

I have been playing around with food photography for a couple of years now, practising at home, scrolling through foodie blogs and Flickr pages, and reading books. My husband says he always knows when I have been playing around with food photography on my day off because I cook him something a bit different for dinner.  I don’t exactly know how it all started….I think I can blame the Digital Photography School - Digital Photography School - and my Flickr friend “Lindyannajones” for her “still life” series where she invited people to post still life images for critique. 

One of my early attempts - 

 A couple of weeks ago I made these two dishes…………A Mediterranean pastry and a Pumpkin and Caramalised Onion Quiche - delicious.

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