and so a new year begins

One year ends and another begins, and the circle of life begins anew. A time to reflect on the past year - both the joys and the sorrows, and a time to plan and look forward to the new year and the promises it holds for those who dare to dream.

As I look back over the past year, our aging parents have dominated our year (offset by the joys of our two grandsons), but we still managed to make time to get away for a few short trips. So here is a collage of our travel Western Australia 2011.

Across each row starting with top left - Row 1 - Greens Pool-William Bay-Denmark on the south coast, walking amongst Karri trees in the Shannon National Park, my grandson Owen exploring a pine forest near Balingup, leaving Bruce Rock in the wheat-belt on a trip after Easter, view of camp and beyond from John Forrest Lookout near Perenjori in the mid west.

Row 2 - the Pinnacles north of Perth, early morning mist over the ocean at Yallingup, coastal views from Cape Naturalist, vineyards near Yallingup, Hopetoun on the south coast.

Row 3 - Misty early morning view from McDermid Rock - east of Hyden, Cape Leeuwin lighthouse on our far south west corner, Jewell Cave near Augusta, harvest at Bruce Rock in the wheat-belt, and a small bush block near my home (if I want to go walking in the bush I just go there!).

If you would like to see more of of my incredibly beautiful state, Western Australia - then click on the link and go to my 52 week Tour Western Australia - tourwesternaustralia-lifeimagesbyjill.blogspot.com/

Some of you who come to my page regularly might know that photographing food has been a personal project of mine during 2011, so I thought I would put together a collage of some of the pics. Such a lot - so if you would like to see any of them in more detail, please go to my food file on Flickr - see the link below.

For those of you who have visited and encouraged me during the year with my food photography - a huge THANK YOU for your support. You have really helped my confidence and spurred me to continue, learn and grow.

A special thank you to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday where I have been able to join the amazing work of Mary and other photographers from around the world, Lindyannajones for inviting me to join Flickr at the beginning of 2011, to all my Flickr friends, to "Tartelette" for her truly inspiring book and food photography, and other foodies I have "met" and who have inspired me through blogland all over the world. Thank you all! I have learnt such a lot over the year. I have no idea where the food photography is taking me....it is a work in progress....ps - I am sure my husband wonders too!
thank you all!

Here is a "little" collage of some of my food photography this year. If you would like to see more please click on the link which will take you to my Flickr food page -  Jill's Flickr food page

Thank you to my new friends at South Side Quills. Thank you Jo for inviting me to join. I have learnt so much from all of you, and you have helped me grow and extend my writing. Our monthly group meetings are a highlight of my life.Thank you.

And thank you to "On the Road" and "Go Camping" magazines for publishing some of my articles this year. Writing has again this year taken us to a few places new to us, and I look forward to exploring more of my country in 2012.

Thank you to my wonderful family for putting up with my photography obsession! especially to my husband who is happy to drive me, carry my tripod when required, and stand patiently while I take another photo!  and my son who travels with us with good humour - well mostly!
Also my family and friends and all of you who have visited me here on my blog and on my Flickr page during 2011. Thank you for your support and encouragement and caring.

I look forward to your company in 2012, and I wish you and your families all a wonderful 2012.

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday. Thank you to Mary and the other wonderful contributors who make this site a joy. Click here to visit Mosaic Monday at Little Red House - Mosaic Monday

I look forward to hearing from you and sharing with you in 2012.

Foodie Wednesday

This week my day off from work was Wednesday, and I spent a lot of the day playing around with food photography. It has been my project this year to learn as much as I can about food photography and it has taken over my days off work. I don't know where it is taking me but I am certainly enjoying the journey, meeting up on the net with other foodies and learning a lot as I go, especially about lighting and styling.

There are lots of resources and inspiring photographers on the web and you can hook up with a lot of them through Flickr and Digital Photography School. Go to my links and check them out.

Here are my efforts from Wednesday.

First is Chai Latte - taken back lit by morning light, this is my first attempt at capturing the steam coming off a hot drink. You need to have a darkish background to capture the steam. You need to have everything ready and pour in the boiling water at the last minute. In the foreground are some chocolate stick biscuits and a piece of cinnamon stick.  Originally I was going to have the cinnamon stick in the glass, but the drink is not thick enough to support it.

 Next is coffee beans - just poured onto a white plate. Again back lit by morning light.  Some friends on Flickr say they can almost smell the coffee beans in this shot.

 Coffee beans again - this time tumbling out of a cloth bag with an old metal scoop that I found at my mother-in-laws house.  This was taken in shade on the patio, so I used a gold reflector to try and throw in some warm light.

Chillis - I would have liked the background to be whiter in this image. I have played with it in pp but this was as white as I could get.

Playing with food photography doesn't always require really expensive dishes - this is two minute noodles.

and a different angle -

And then I read on Dario's food blog about using light from a south facing window - I have always been using a north facing window - but of course it depends on which hemisphere you live in..........so out with the coffee cups for a simple experiment.....the lighting looked pretty good, but I didn't have any time to play around with something more elaborate. That will have to wait until another day.

 Time to cook tea - I had been so involved in my foodie photography that the whole day had gone.  But just one last photo - this is lemon meringue pie - it is my speciality - but you wouldn't be able to see that from this photo - it was probably because I was in so much of a hurry that the meringue wasn't as good as it was supposed to be. It still tasted delicious! And shot again here in my south facing window!

So there you have it. A day of food photography. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing from you!