Farm Photography

When I was up at my parents' place a few weekends ago, I got out the Nikkon and went around trying to find some new things to photograph. I particularly wanted to try small things - macro photos if you will. Well, it is hard. Clearly I need to do some sort of reading on the subject!

Ick alert: there is a photo of a daddy-long-legs spider below. I've put it at the bottom so you can skip if that freaks you out.

I am so proud of this one. Have you ever tried to take a photo of an ant? They never stop moving!

Do you see the bird? I have no idea how bird photographers capture anything. Talk about flighty subjects.

The moo-cows weren't being particularly friendly. But this shot does show quite well how horribly dry it is out there at the moment. Farmers need rain!

My mum has managed to successfully grow frangipani, despite zero-degree winters. I'm so impressed!

Tail light on an old car my brother keeps in the dairy. I'm not sure, but I think this may be the Falcon ute that I learned to drive on!.

Daddy Long-Legs Spider

Do you do any macro photography? Or animals? Any tips?

The Windows

The first few spits would spatter loudly against the window pane.

"Check the windows!" my mum would shout a second later.

We would race around the house, searching for windows with tell-tale rain already splashing against them or putting our hands up to each flyscreen to detect any drops. Western and northern windows would be shut. Southern and eastern windows usually stayed open.

I never thought about this strangeness until recently. Why not shut all the windows? This afternoon I realised why - it's stifling being shut in. Having half of them open let in the blessed breeze that the storm brought with it. Clever mum. No air conditioning back then.

The cool breeze lifted the hair on our hot necks as we watched the lightning storm flicker around the horizon from the sunroom. If the rain changed direction, we would squeal and run around the house again, closing and opening glass panes.

Tonight, I'm here at the farm house all alone. It's kind of spooky. But at least if the rain comes, I know what to do.

Weekend

{image: mine}

What a weekend! Every time we drive to my parents' farm it always seems like a huge couple of days. I would really love that extra day to stay another night and just relax, but it never seems to happen.

This time we had a joint 21st/50th birthday party as well as Father's Day. The party was pretty standard except for the food (campoven cooking, amazing!), we went home early. I got my dad a bottle of Penfold's port for Father's Day - not an expensive gift, but it LOOKED expensive. He was really stoked, confessed to always buying cheap stuff for himself. Hope it's a good drop, and hope to sample some next time I'm up there.

C and I also went on a photo walk down the barn and into the cow paddock. Except for one moment when I thought some young bulls were going to chase us, it was a success. I hope to post some photos soon. At the same time I was getting ideas for our wedding photos. I think we have some nice locations there. Lots of wooden posts, corrugated iron, hay, wire, and grass. Just the look I want.