Full Moon and New Tech

I started this weekend with no plans other than to relax which of course means that something happened! Firstly it was full moon which always seems to up my energy levels and it was apparently a blue moon although it looked the same to me. I took my camera outside to try and get a pic of it, not expecting much and was pleasantly  surprised when I got a pic as good as this. My previous cameras could never focus on the bright orb in the sky. This has made me even more excited for summer though as I would love to get a full moon rising pic at the beach!

Onto the animal section of the post and first up Pigs! One of the places that we mow has three pet kune kunes called Gerty, Gus and Gromit! Gromit is a new addition this year and we hadn't seen him for 6 weeks so he had grown a lot. We always take a little something up for them to eat so the older pigs have learnt to come running over to greet us when the ute arrives now.

Also on the subject of feeding animals, we are running low on grazing at the moment just due to the cold weather and lack of growth so the sheep are getting a bit hungry. Well not really because we give them hay daily and also bring them home all the weeds that we pick from the gardens but they think they are starving. Luckily we leash trained them when they were younger so we can take them out into the village to graze some of the neighbours lawns (the ones that agree of course) and the road edges. They haven't been on leads for 3 years or so but when Mum brought the collars out from the garage they knew the drill and stood calmly while we got them buckled in, it's amazing what they remember.

On Saturday Troy invited me to go to Palmy to watch the boys play turf hockey. I'm always keen for any excuse to get out of town and watching (in some cases quite attractive men) running around a field trying to politely hurt each other seemed as good a reason as any. I took my camera and practiced taking action shots which was super hard when I had no idea what was really going on but I got some practice and that was the idea.

 Last but not least, check out this beauty! So I just happened to be in Dick Smith today and I just happened to look in the laptop section and what did I see but the very model of comp that I have been wanting, super reduced to $470. So I may have just happened to buy it...
I can't even begin to describe how much of a joy it is to have a responsive laptop again and also it's so small and cute! Now bring on windows 10 so that I can upgrade away from horrendous windows 8 and I'll be as happy as a pig in shit.
So that was my weekend. Nothing that I had hoped to do got done and lots of things that I hadn't even considered happened so it was a pretty good weekend!

Photo challenge Part One

So I have been half arse doing this photo challenge. I was meant to be taking a photo of something every day of July but I didn't actually start it until about the 10th and most of these pics were taken on the same days so it's not quite the right idea... No matter it's still good to practice with ,y camera.

Flower In A Window

Ok so it's not really a flower but it's a plant. It's a succulent that I put into a tea cup because I thought it'd be cute and because I wanted some plants in my room that hardly need to be watered. These little things actually die if you water them regularly so they are perfect for my casual/forgetful approach to looking after things.

Free Shot

 I just really like this pic and it shows how cold it's been lately.

A Pet Outside

This is a bit of a cheat perhaps since sheep are always outside but they are also my only pets. Perhaps I should have brought one in to make it a contrast XD

An Item You Recently Acquired

I made a special trip to Typo while I was in Wellington as I always like their notebooks. This is one of the three that I bought.

Something Green

Me and Mum had a pretty serious day of work last week and we had two truck and trailer loads of green waste to take away.

Free Shot

 For some reason I have never noticed this house before but I really like the shape of it.

In The Sun

Winter sun at the beach.

A Statue Of A Dog Or A Horse

This is in Feilding and the dog has a man with him but I figured most statues of horses would have a human on their back anyway.

So theres my first 8 pictures. If you like the sound of this photo challenge head on over to the original post on my sisters blog.
http://tomorrowsheretoday.blogspot.co.nz/2015/07/photo-day-challenge-july.html

Photography Fun

Today was unusual for me, a theme this weekend that I feel I've really needed. Today I went to my first bloggers brunch club and I was pretty nervous before I left but everyone made me feel really welcome. I was very impressed, the other girls seem so much more accomplished than me, working with suppliers and businesses while I'm just over here writing to myself. It was nice to hear their views though and to hear that blogging doesn't have to take over your life and small is nothing to be ashamed of. We all start just for the love of it and I don't need mine to pay the bills so I'm happy to let it roll along quietly. I got so wrapped up in listening and talking that I forgot to ask for their blog details and instagram names! Duh! Oh well I guess I will just have to go to the next brunch and ask then.

 After brunch club I decided to take the long way home as the sun was shining and I wanted to take photos. I had seen a road sign on the way down pointing to a town that I couldn't remember visiting so I decided to travel back via that way. As it turns out the town wasn't really a town at all but about 6 building around a round about which I guess is why I can't remember visiting it before.

Next stop was Marton where I found a cute park that I've never seen before. It didn't look it's best really but you can just tell that it would be beautiful in the spring and summer so I plan to go back when the leaves return.

There were loads of ducks on the pond but there was a trio that really caught my eye because they had funky hair do's like this guy! They started off on the pond as they were a bit nervous but once I crouched down to take photo's of other things they got a bit cheeky and came up on the bank to see if I had any bread hiding in my pockets. Unfortunately I didn't but I will try to remember to take some when I go back.

On my way out of town I saw this nice church and played about with the sun behind the cross. It didn't come out quite how I planned but I still like it.

I headed home and picked up Mum and convinced her to come out to Kai Iwi beach with me as neither of us had been out there since the floods. We knew the bridge was broken but it was still a bit of a shock to actually see it first hand. I of course had to test it out and walked over the broken bits to stand on the end.

There was a lot of rain last night so the rivers where all running dirty and have made the sea a strangely appealing muddy colour. You wouldn't catch me swimming in it but it was interesting to watch.
I'll leave you with one final photo of a shell that was on the beach. It caught my eye because of the strange worm like patterns on it.

Photography Lessons - Day 1

It's day one in my self training for how to use my new Canon SX530 and things are going pretty well considering I have no idea what I'm doing! Jack was keen to help this morning, he's not a very good model though as he was too busy trying to press all the buttons with his teeth.

He did round up two of the girls for a group shot though. Dusky, on the left, takes these things very seriously and made sure her pose was just right before I took the picture!

I had a bit of a play with the settings too and had a go at depth. I think it turned out rather well but I'm not sure what setting I was on when I took it so I guess I'll be doing some more practice.

I never realised that shutter speed could make such a difference. These three pics have no filter on them and they were all taken within minutes of each other. The only thing that I changed was shutter speed!

Also while playing around I found out that I can remotely control my camera while in a wifi area . This one was taken while my camera was sitting on my desk and me and Mum were warming up by the fire. It's a cool little trick but only works in wifi zones I think so I'm yet to determine how useful it will be.

I just had to stop in and visit Rush of course and he is such a good poser when I ask him. He was a bit confused about the size of my new beast though I think, it's rather larger than the phone he is used to.

Last one for now and I really like this one. I actually took this at the gas station. I was being lazy and didn't even bother to get out the ute to take it which is perhaps why I like it so much.
It's quite hard to find subject matter at this time of year with the weather so bleak but if today was anything to go by then I guess I'll find enough to practice on before my holiday.
Do you have tips or tricks for taking great pics that I should know? Let me know in the comments.