A few B&W's. HHCC Please

These certainly aren't technical perfect (or even that good), but i'm kinda going more for atmosphere and feeling rather than technical excellence. They are pretty grainy and the burning is less than subtle. But please let me know what you think. ALL HHCC WELCOME AND APPRECIATED. Thanks. The first one is my kids and second one is my DD's soccer team and the coach.

I love this time of night

I love this time of night when the sky is really dark blue, just before it goes black. I went down to the beach tonight to take some photos of the town lights reflecting on the bay, but I was too early and the sky was just pale bluey grey. This is the last photo I took, facing the other way (out to sea). I should have been more patient and stayed and took some more facing town - oh well next time.

iso 400, f 11, 13 sec

Lunar eclipse

The lunar eclipse was at about 7-9 pm here so I thought I'd have a go at photographing it. They turned out okay, but not great. I really need a more stable tripod. I used my 70-200 f4L lens.

iso 400, f 5.6, ss 1/800

iso 400, f 5.6, ss 1/800

iso 400, f 4, ss 1.3 sec

iso 800, f 4, ss 2 sec

White faced Heron

Sometimes it just works. I wish my focus was always this sharp.

Soccer practice

So this isn't a very good photo - the focus is all over the place, but i love it anyway. It says so much about my little girl. She really likes playing soccer, even though she isn't very good. She has a ball and gives it 100%. Wherever she is on the field you can hear her laughing and talking.

A couple for Nana and Grandad

I keep getting into coz i don't put enough photos of the kids on here. Well Nana and Grandad here are some just for you. Yes I am such a bad mummy that I made the kids wash the car just so I could take photos of them ( I needed a photo about using water in the home), but hey they really enjoyed it and I got some nice photos and a clean car. Unfortunately Erica was at dancing so maybe I will have to get them to do it again next week.

The Brodie brothers

Last weekend I went out to the Brodie brothers farm with the local camera club. This men are 82 and 89, they have lived their whole life on this farm and they still milk a few cows. The car was there father's before he died about 60 years ago. They have so many old vehicles in various states of disrepair, some they still use (like old cars cut down into trucks and tractors) and some is just junk. It really was a photographers dream.

I hav been thinking about trying to challenge myself to take more photojournalistic shots - kinda like people in their environment. This isn't something I have really done before and the thought of taking pics of strangers is a bit daunting, so this was a nice easy way to start. All CC appreciated.

You say barrel distortion like its a bad thing.

I'm finally back. I have been very slack updating my blog, so I have a few photos to add tonight. This is one I took a few weeks ago of the local bay. I really liked how the curve of the boardwalk matches the curve of the bay. Oh yeah, and the barrel distortion of my lens helps add to the effect - who knew it could be a good thing.