One basket or two?

I absolutely adore the market at Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco and would encourage anyone who has the chance to visit to do so with a bag or two.   The stalls are interesting, the fresh food is great (not to mention the hot food you can buy when you arrive – yay for brunch!), and the salami and cheese are probably some of the best I have ever had.  Miss it incredibly!

Couldn’t help myself, I just had to buy a bunch of these!

Who can resist a little ‘take away’ bag of snow peas?

Mmm just a little sprinkle of salt!

Rainbow potato salad anyone?

Some of these I had never even heard of, but the smell was incredible!

I’d never seen bananas that colour before – I thought they had spoiled. Silly me!

On my first visit I didn’t think I’d need a shopping bag; I know, right?

My tip for these onions?  Sprinkle with just a touch of olive oil, salt pepper and a little garlic, wrap in foil and slow roast in the bbq for 3 hours.  Just like butter. Mmmm

I’ve love to go back one day, with a different camera, and take more photos of this market.  It’s just wonderful!

Watching you, watching me.

Before I call it a day (and being nearly midnight that won’t be long!) here are three quick snaps of some animals more interested in me than I was of them.

I discovered, and fell in love with, squirrels.  Moving from Australia to the US I hadn’t given them any thought.  Now I miss them.  I put out some peanuts (no, probably not a good idea in retrospect) out front of our apartment and waited.  Sure enough, the little guy below turned up.  I’ve seen some incredible photos of squirrels but this is special to me because he was looking at me as if to say “I can have this, right?”.

Sitting out the back of my parents home in Victoria, Australia a couple of years ago and a magpie perched just next to me.  I suspect he wanted some of what I was eating :)

We spent the most incredible day at San Diego Wildlife Park during our honeymoon, and was treated to the “photography tour’ where you can get just that little bit closer to the ‘residents’.  What a fantastic day!

What on earth is that woman doing?

Admit it; we all have preferences of one sort or another for what we love to photograph.  I don’t think I realised mine until I saw how many photographs I have of bark and moss.  I suspect it’s the texture.  I simply can’t walk past an interesting tree without taking a photo.  Not of the tree mind you, but up close – just the bark.  Many times I have had traffic wizzing past with curious onlookers who no doubt think “what an odd woman” as I lean in close to the tree.  It never bothers me.  I have a “trust me, I’m a photographer attitude” :)  It took me some time this morning to decide which ones to post, but I have narrowed them down to my favourites.  I don’t know what most of the trees are, but I think they are beautiful just because they are different (and yes, sometimes I see faces in the bark!)  Something tells me I will invest in a great lens for close-ups one day.  Thank you for being patient with my obsession; I understand if it’s not yours! DL

Blink and you’d miss it

A few years ago I was visiting Vancouver and it was my last night there.  I had an interesting view from the hotel window and as the sun was setting I decided to take a few shots as it set over some buildings and a church in the distance.  The following photographs were taken once again with my little camera, no filters, tripods etc and to add to my difficulty I couldn’t open a window so they are through that too :)  I think the difference in colours is amazing as the sun sets.

It’s post, I mean past, my bedtime

Another night that’s left me too little time to post much (now that I am blogging I need to factor this into my routine!).  The following photos were taken in Victoria, Australia, at a very rugged coastline near Cape Bridgewater almost to the South Australian border.  There are a lot of blow-holes in the area but I wasn’t able to catch any photographs.  Maybe next time.

The light was going quickly but I was in love with the colour of the water through the breaking waves.  I love these so much, I made one of them my header :)

Now, where did I put my halo?

Looking through my photos it doesn’t take long to realise the limitations of my little camera, and some of the following are good examples of that.  Undeterred, I snap away regardless.

The following are shots of churches I have seen along my way.  I don’t have a particular penchant for them, but if I pass by them, they are fair game.

I have also started carrying a notebook with me, as I realise that so many of my images of no information or names to match them with.  The learning continues!

This lovely little church is in Arthurs Creek, Victoria, Australia.  I love this time of the afternoon because of the light.

Sitting in a park in San Francisco I was taken by not only the church, but the contrast with modern buildings around it.

A quick walk through Half Moon Bay in California and I spotted this beautiful little church.  There were a lot of parked cars out the front which made a clearer shot difficult, but the trees were wonderful in front of it.

I love this church.  It’s called the Church of Five Wounds and is in San Jose, California.  I spent quite a long time walking around it taking photos.  I might do a separate post just on this church one day.

When I first looked at this photo I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.  It was taken inside a church in San Jose, and I struggled (well, my camera did) with the lighting.  Now I don’t mind it so much, but I do hope I am able to return one day and take more.

Another struggle with light, this time the qandary of “flash, or no flash”.  Obviously I chose flash, but again, I don’t think it came out too badly.  Oh, and this was in the church in San Jose city.

Yet another walk and another discovery.  This church was in Vancouver, and was an orthodox Russian church (I think – ah for some notes!).

Another church in San Jose.  I used to pass this one often as it was not too far from our home.  Many of my shots were taken “en route” and out of a car window. This falls into that category, and although not what I consider a great one, it’s a memory nonetheless :)

My last shot for this post, the large church in San Jose city.  In retrospect it would have been great to get it all in shot, but if I recall it was a busy street of trucks and buses, and I snapped quickly to avoid anything else getting in the way.  I do like the sun hitting the windows though.  Next time, I would love to take a shot from the ‘inside’ when the sun hits it.

Ninety-nine reasons to say thank you.

It’s almost 1 am and a quick look at my stats and I have 99 subscribers.  A week ago, I didn’t even have a photo blog.  Then overnight, after only 3 days of posting some photos I was Freshly Pressed.  What a head spin it’s been.  So as I make my way to bed I make a promise to myself and the lovely 99 people who pressed “subscribe” – I will learn how to improve my little WordPress blog.  I will work out what a widget is, how to put a tab in that says “Home” and maybe even add a gallery.  Maybe :)  I never expected to be Freshly Pressed, never dreamed I would have over 8,000 hits.  But it happened, so I think it’s time I worked on the little things that make a blog look better.

To my subscribers – a huge thank you.  You have made my day….every day. :)

No theme, no reason. Just because I like them.

Tonight is one of those nights when I don’t have a lot of time to blog so rather than post a theme of photos, I will simply put up some favourites that don’t really fit in any particular category, other than I like them :)

This gorgeous lady was dancing at a restaurant in San Jose.  Wonderful night.

Whilst visiting Taiwan some friends assured us the wait would be worth it for the sunset.  They were so right :)

When I looked up and saw the kids playing in the fountain in San Jose I thought it might come out ok.  I was really pleased with the results.

Walking past an abandoned building I noticed the flag.  I’d never seen an American flag look like this before, and found it quite sad really.

As a little girl we would pick these, blow them and make a wish.  I think I am still inclined to do that :)

Down here, it’s only natural to look up

Did I mention that I am short?

I’m not really sure if it’s because I’m not so tall that I tend to look up – a lot.  You never know what you might be missing and looking through my photos, it seems I’m keen not to miss anything.  These are some favourites that I took looking up rather than what was ahead.