At the end of a beautiful clear windy day in Melbourne... these photos were taken of Port Philip Bay at 6:25pm. Settings for both were 1/60 with focal length of 55mm. The first one had an f.stop of f5.0 and the second was f4.5 but was taken with a polarising filter. I really like the colour saturation of the second image.

These images of the roots of a fig tree were taken last Saturday at Queens Park. The background of these images was so overexposed I decided to play around in Photoshop to see what I could do. I have limited ability using Photoshop but I like the way these images turned out.

These photos of white Magnolias were taken on my trip to Queens Park last Saturday. It was a beautiful morning and these flowers were really beautiful in the sunshine. I hope you enjoy.

At lunchtime today I took my camera and went outside to an area where camelia flowers were growing. There were blue skies but some clouds were starting to move in. The area the plants were in was shaded. The first flower was taken on a tungsten white balance setting just because I forgot to check the setting. The third image of the same flower was taken with auto white balance... what a difference! The second image had a bit of colour saturation adjustment but is otherwise the colour the flower was. I'll post some other photos which I took during my break over the next week or so.

Well, this morning seemed like we were back to the beginning of winter in Melbourne with very, very heavy fog and an overnight temperature of 7 degrees C. This photo was taken at 8 am this morning on my way to work. The fog stayed around Melbourne until the sun broke through at lunch time (around 12 noon). Hopefully this is not an indication of more to come over the coming weeks. Then again, I'm going on holiday to Queensland in 3 weeks time so I can dream of the sun I will be able to sit in very soon.

I spent an hour or two this morning at Queens Park in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne. We had blue skies and lots of sun (for a while!). Mother black swan and her three baby cygnets were lounging in the sun on the grass beside a pathway. Mother swan loudly hissed at anyone who came too close to her babies. The lake with the fountains is the place these babies, and many other birds, live. There are breeding grounds on the islands in the lake. A very pleasant few hours well spent!

On my way to work this morning, I had another adventure with hot air balloons. Anyone who knows me knows that I get very excited and feel uplifted when I see these monsters floating gracefully across the sky. As I was walking to the tram to go to work, I turned the corner and there they were, hanging in the still morning air (this is when the first photo was taken). There were six of them altogether, the most I have seen in the air at the one time ever. I followed their flight while travelling on the tram (and took the second photo) and discovered they were heading in the same direction as I was going. They were heading for a landing in Royal Park. The tram travels through Royal Park so I got out and madly started taking photos. The third photo shows the house balloon already on the ground and the Sunrise balloon coming in to land. As I was already late for work, I figured I didn't have time to go closer to all of them who landed in the park ... pity! I'll post other photos of these balloons to my website tonight (http://community.webshots.com/user/chrisfry54 ) in case anyone else loves them as much as I do and would like to have a look.

It just goes to show that Melbourne can have blue skies in Winter! After a freezing night that left ice on cars left out of garages overnight, the sun shone with not a cloud in the sky. The photo of the QANTAS jumbo jet was taken at 7:40am this morning on my way to work. It flew straight over my head and I wished I was on it instead of on my way to work!

The other two photos were taken at 3:00pm this afternoon from The Royal Women's Hospital, 9th floor. I used a circular polarising filter for these two shots but the one this morning was without filter. The weather looks beautiful but going outside requires a jacket and coat as well as scarf and beanie if you have them. If this weather holds for the weekend, I may get to go to the zoo or some place interesting to get some more outdoor Winter photos.

I was looking through my photos and realised I had two photos of this ferry ... one taken at Docklands a month or so ago and the other taken at Williamstown last Sunday. It is after all the Docklands to Williamstown ferry! :-) And it's a sweet looking boat. I must go for a cruise sometime and take photos from the ferry... maybe when it gets warmer!

Yesterday afternoon, my son let my two dogs escape from the house to have an adventure by themselves. He left the front door open which invited them to take a stroll. Needless to say he was devastated and got quite hysterical. After searching for many hours into the night, this morning one was found at the Lost Dogs Home and the other one was on the way to the Home in a Council vehicle when my daughter rang the Council. Thankfully, that one was brought straight home and the other one had to be liberated by my son (he had to pay the bill).

After an emotional night, I decided to reflect my mood by posting these images of sculptures at Docklands. There has been many a conversation had about whether or not the 'rails' are in fact a sculpture or not. It is also thought they might be a bike parking rail. Given the location of these sculptures, it was quite difficult to photograph them and not have a lot of busy background in the image. They are certainly weird structures!!

Today I had a lovely time catching up with some friends at a Cafe in Williamstown. After lunch we had a look at a Sunday market in a park which is located on the water. Williamstown is on the mouth of the Yarra River where it meets Port Phillip Bay, across from the city. The first image today is of a navy cruiser that is open to the public. The second photo is of some of the yatchs which are moored at Williamstown. The third image is of cargo ships, one coming and one going from Melbourne, watched by a fisherman in a run-around boat. You can see from all the photos that the weather was terrible. The city skyline behind the navy cruiser and the yatchs is very difficult to see. With the cargo ships, you can hardly tell where the horizon is. It was a grey, grey day in Melbourne town.

I had a great morning this morning photographing my friend Ylva and her partner Markus. Ylva is due for her first baby next Wednesday so we decided on a photo shoot today to mark the event. All week I was wondering if Ylva would still be around today but she arrived on time and we had a great couple of hours.

The above photos were taken a few weeks ago from the 9th floor of the Royal Women's Hospital. The first image is looking south over South Carlton across the city centre. The second image is looking further to the west across North Melbourne and the North Melbourne rail yards towards the docks near the Bolte Bridge and further west to the western suburbs. A strand of lights from the Westgate Bridge can just be seen in the top left of image beside a tall apartment building.

More images from the archive ... from my Docklands shoot a month or so ago. Even though the sky is blown out in the Telstra Dome and cruise boat image, I really like the way the boats are lit by the very early morning sun. The second image is pre-dawn.

These pictures of my daughter were taken a few weeks ago. The first one was taken with auto white balance with ETT-L flash off-camera with a floor lamp light on in the room. The second one was taken with tungsten white balance, ETT-L flash off-camera with floor lamp light on in the room. I learnt so much playing with white balance settings during this shoot and my daughter and I had such a good time for an hour or two.

As nothing special has crossed my path today, this is another Docklands image from the archives. Taken very early morning (just on dawn), the view is of a row of cruise boats moored across from one arm of Docklands just next to the Bolte Bridge.

After another grey winters day in Melbourne, I felt like seeing some colour. These flags were on top of a cafe at Docklands. Taken in my photoshoot at Docklands about 2 months ago.

After being not very well this week, I thought I'd get out of the house and go visit a friend. Needless to say, I took my camera and managed to get two worthwhile photos of my friend's daughter, young Rossa Eilidh Mitchell. Rossa is just over 7 months old and, as anyone who has had anything to do with babies can see, Rossa is teething. Everything goes into her mouth. Her mother distracted her while I took the photo without fingers in mouth.

One of the many cruise boats that ply their trade up and down the Yarra River in Melbourne. This photo was taken very early in the morning and gives a lovely reflection.

Last weekend when I did a series of photos at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, I stopped off for a coffee at the restaurant/cafe. Sitting on the counter were these lovely strawberry muffins beautifully lit by overhead lights. They looked so good I asked if I could photograph them. I'm sure that was the last question the staff expected to hear. That's my coffee in the bottom right of the picture. And, nooooo, I did not buy a single muffin although I was tempted!

I was sick today and off work. While I was lying in bed I looked at a candle I have on my bedside table. This reminded me of a series of photos that I took of candles one night when I was home alone. I had a look and chose these three to post today.

The last two images are macro's of a candle cover that I made out of sheet copper, a drawing of an orchid, a nail and hammer. You can see the cover in the first image. They look very effective in a room when all other light is out.

Another grey, cold day in Melbourne city sent me in search of something colourful once again. This photo of a fire engine, which I took last weekend outside the Botanic Gardens, made me smile because, not only is it colourful, but it reminded me that when I took the photo the fireman in the drivers seat gave me a very big smile. I like to think he was pleased I was taking a photo of his fire engine!

The photo also reminds me of all the times when I was a kid that we went to visit dad at work and got to play on the engines. Dad was a fireman for 28 years and my youngest brother is also a fireman. I tried to talk my son into making this his career but he's just not interested. Pity!