TubularBelle

Why thanks Newt, As I was writing that post I was remembering my last trip to the Flinders Ranges, top of South Australia a few years ago with my brother. The colours were incredible but I didn't have a decent camera at the time and my photos did not do the area justice. Michael and I are already becoming a bit obsessive with this photography thing, spent hours out in the rain yesterday, yes it does rain here, while still being 25C, trying to take my 'communications' photo only to pretty much shelve the lot and will give it another try today. Have to start organising that Flinders Trip. They say it is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, very prehistoric. I'm surprised they don't film dinosaur movies in Wilpena Pound which looks like a huge crater hole. Why isn't anyone posting in the new photo comp? Has the novelty worn off already?

Another BB gem from the Aussie show. Tim, who is very quiet and polite after being frustrated by Rita who talks incessantly, doesn't listen, and interrupts. "Talking to Rita is like throwing fairy floss into the surf!" ----------------------------- Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes then you will be a mile away, and you will have his shoes! Censorship is like telling a man he can't have steak because the baby can't chew. A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree - Spike All I'm asking is to prove that money can't make me happy - Spike And I love this one - What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?

While the mirror like reflections are amazing, especially when the water is as still and glasslike as in this last shot, it was the colours that grabbed me in all of your photos. Maybe because I live in another country, the colours are not as common a sight for me as they might be over there, but I'd be hard pressed to find colours like that in Australia. Our landscapes, which can be equally as beautiful, tend to have more of a red or ochre tone in them. We are the driest country in the world, so it can sometimes be hard work to find anything green.

My favourite quote is the one I use as my signature. It is so simple and yet thoughtfull. I love quotes. In the last year or so I have received two beautiful hard cover journals with blank pages in them and thought them too nice to just write in and discard so I have decided to fill them with my favourite quotes and give them to my grand daughters on their 21st birthdays. A few that I have collected are: The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity. Creativity arises from living on the edge of chaos. I do not want to tip toe through life to arrive safely at deaths door. Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.

It's in the Diary section, click on January 2005-2, January 30th No wonder he has made such a big deal about people using or copying his work, oh well, a bit disappointing.

This one is called 'small apartment'. I absolutely love this photo and would love to know if it is real. That's the only thing I hate about digital photography, you never know whats real anymore, and if and when someone does takes an exceptional photo, ie: the barn owl in flight in the fave photo thread, no ones believes that it is real.

HaHaHa, tell me that isn't true! Her mammories are not large enough for her to work at Hooters! Which one is the imposter?

Yeh I was thinking that to start off with, as well as Phils Sycamore, certainly my inspiration was simply to look for a really nice lone tree. Other photos depicted other things such as the weather or water or landscapes etc with trees in them. But it would be boring if everyone had just submitted a picture of a lone tree, it needs to be an equal combination of subject matter and creativity. I remember thinking the same thing in the 'People' comp that the people or person at least needed to be the main focus of the photo and not just a part of it. But each to their own, certainly if this was a serious competition it might be an issue, but the main objective here I think is to have as many enthusiastic contributors as we can get, so I have started to realise that keeping it simple is the best way to go. I noticed that the voting seems to have slowed down to a near halt, but this comp already has more votes than the last one which obviously shows more people are taking an interest. HB and I may not be able to enter the current comp because he got sand in the camera over the weekend and it is going to cost over $100 and maybe take some time to get it cleaned, and if he ends up judging the next one we won't be able to enter that either so I may have to wait a whole month before I can submit another entry, argh!! I really liked my idea for this comp too, bummer,

Great to see people posting, keep it up. n4lly have you got a big fish in your hand? This one is called, wrong place, wrong time.

HaHaHaHaHaHaPlop. That was me laughing my head off Okay, something that the senior citizens can cope with after that embarrassing experience. What did the Nuns do when a streaker ran through the Monastery? They had a stroke! My Mum told me that joke many many years ago and I never understood why she thought it was so funny, until recently, I'm a bit slow. Anyone doesn't get it, let me know.

My kids told me about cow tipping once years ago and I did not believe them. They said that people push cows over because they can't get back up again. Is this true????!!!!! Also Ken did you know you can have 'LIVE' chats with robots online? The one I had a go at was called 'OliverBot', but I don't know how to provide a link to it sorry. Tracy.

Oh definitely Jan you should have kept that photo in if you chose it. I agree with you that it might be more beneficial for the judge to choose the photos not knowing the names of the people who submitted them and then there can be NO feelings of bias if one person does get chosen more than once as is bound to happen with such a small community at this stage. I have also been wondering if two entries from the same photogrpaher can be chosen in the one competition, because if I was judging this particular comp, I would have chosen Both of Steves entries as well as Nurse Judys. (trying not to be biased myself towards HB's entry). Tracy. Do not envy Nurse Judy on the next one, there is going to be a vast variety of entries.

Hi Rob, If you are refering to the bottom photo, 'the bridge', all I have to do is move the bar across at the bottom of the screen to see the full picture. Congrats Nurse Judy on getting in again, that pic was in my Top 3 also. Tracy.

Ooooooohhhh!!!!!!!

Mat are you saying that our Sony Cybershot is old? I noticed that Nurse Judy uses a Sony Cybershot DSC-W12 and she takes really nice photos, I wonder how different that one is to the DSC-P100 that we have have. Now that my other halfs tree photo has made it to the final three, I think there is going to be some intense competition going on between us, which is great for keeping the interest and enthusiam churning but I now have concerns for my where I will be sleeping in the future. I have a great idea for the 'communication' comp but the subject is small so I don't know how it will look on our camera. Although, for this particular subject matter I think the judging might focus more on the idea than the quality of the photograph. I don't envy the judge on this one, there is going to be a vast range of photos. Tracy.

WOW, I thought I had hundreds of funny photos but I just realised that 90% of them are too rude. Tracy.

This one might be a little disturbing for the children but I thought I would start this off with a funny fishing photo. Tracy.

I am so excited, my 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices got in! How cool is that! My first choice was Steves 'Tree with a View', those colours. But I wondered if you would be allowed to pick two entries by the same person so just in case I picked 4. So Steve, are the judges allowed to pick two entries from one person? I also really liked the tree in the cemetary. Struggling with what to do for the next comp though, plenty of great ideas but finding the opportunities to capture them is going to be very difficult indeed. Still, excellent challenge. Tracy. Here is what would have been my second entry if I had had the opportunity to get back there and photograph it again in the allocated time frame but I really wanted to show it as it is my favourite tree. This is a Golden Elm which has been beautifully pruned to have just the one trunk as traditionally these trees have several trunks emanating at ground level and do not look this magnificent. They take a minimum of 30 years to reach full maturity. I absolutely love these trees and am so disheartened to see almost all of them trying to grow in crowded spots being terribly mutated by surrounding trees. If given the space to grow to their full potential they develop this most exquisite bulbous 'mushroom' shape. I have one planted in my front yard which is 4 years old now and if anything has gotten smaller!, I need to find a book or get the appropriate advice to be able to prune it to grow into a superfine exhibit such as this one. I mean, I don't even know if trees grow from the bottom or from the top!? Doh!! Anyway, just wanted to show you this beautiful tree and am very disappointed that I could not enter it in the comp.

I can't believe it, my 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices got in. My first choice was 'Tree with a View' by Steve. Excellent selection Jan. Tracy.

I have loved taking photos since I was a child but know nothing about apperture settings and shutter speeds etc, even did a photography course about 20 years ago that went way over my head. A few years ago I bought my first decent camera, a Pentax Espio 135M for $250 secondhand (sorry, don't know what that is in pounds) and got great pleasure from it but still only used it for family snaps. Then my partner Michael (HellBelly) very recently bought a Sony cybershot DSC-P100 also secondhand for about $380 ($600 new) and for Xmas he got a tripod and has started experimenting with slow shutter speeds. His first ever photo (on the tripod) is in the trees challenge, of our street at 10pm at night. So it has only been in the last two weeks, (kids are grown up, time on my hands now, and with Michaels interest) that I have started thinking about taking photography up as a more dedicated hobby. As I said, our new camera is still new, so it will be a while before we invest in one of those flash big manual cameras. I haven't even read the manual yet and I am relying on Michael to explain to me how it all works etc. Obviously our compact camera has some manual capabilities, but I am wondering if the more serious photographers on this site think you can still get a decent picture out of an automatic or inexpensive camera? Thanks to Finepix's beautiful macro photos and Rabsters extraordinary dragonfly photo, I have realised my area of most interest. Can't wait to get started, if HellBelly ever lets me get near HIS camera, he takes it everywhere.

Yeh but the comps only have a two week window.

Hi All. Tracy here, Hellbelly's partner. This is my entry. Called Ye olde hut. Taken at the Belair national Park. Taken today the 3rd Jan 2006. Taken using a sony DSCP 100.