242: Sweet shop

We stopped by a picturesque village called Broadway this afternoon. Mum and I couldn't resist stopping in to have a look in the little shops that lined the main high street. Lots of lovely things we saw but the traditional English sweet shop was a favourite. These wonderful big glossy jars entice everyone in with their colourful varieties of sweets and hard boiled lollies, to suit all palates. A few licorice pieces and some caramel bon bons may have been purchased!

241: Flower power

Found these gorgeous flowers on a late afternoon walk today. Haven't seen many flowers like this before! I have no idea what they might be called? Ideas anyone? I love the way they all cluster together at the top of the stem. They are so white and clean, it's pretty how the newer buds above aren't as open yet and a slight tinge of green and this gradients down into the white ones that are in full bloom. The bumble bees were zooming around collecting pollen from inside these little flower caves.

240: Rain, rain go away

Rain, rain go away...come again another day (once my holiday is over please)!

239: Banksy out and about

I've just gotten home from visiting Bristol today. Home of Banksy himself. Terribly excited I was, like you wouldn't believe. For those of you who may not be familiar with the man he's a somewhat anonymous English graffiti artist, who's street art (graffiti combined with a distinctive stencilling technique) can be found all over the world. His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics.

His biggest exhibition to date (Banksy versus Bristol Museum) is just finishing up after 3 very successful months and over 300,000 visitors. I was thrilled to find out it was still on while I was over here and jumped at the opportunity to check it out. Unfortunately over the summer it's become so popular I had to wait in a queue for 4 hours to get in, but it was well worth it. Out of the many photos I took today I found it too hard to choose just one from the exhibition. So an album can be found on my facebook page and I chose instead to post the one pic I got of a Banksy piece out in the real world. This sniper sitting high up above the shops has a little boy holding a blown up paper bag behind his head. Cheeky! We noticed it on the way out of town, it was a great note to end the day on.

238: Quiet moment

I've had a simply lovely day today catching up with family over lunch, tea and supper (so much food!). Plenty of extended cousins of all ages, it's been a loud but fun filled day. A long time ago, when I was only about 6 I was bridesmaid for my cousin Naomi. Now Naomi and her husband Justin have 2 gorgeous girls, Madeline and Sophia. It was great fun getting to know these girls a bit more and playing lots of made up games. Amongst all the madness though I managed to capture this very cute photo of Sophia. She looks just intrigued in something that's going on across the room.

237: Hilltop garden

Out visiting family and friends around the country side at the moment. This garden is so steep and goes on forever, but all the steps are worth it for this kind of view! There was some pretty amazing sky around this afternoon. It's made for a great shot.

236: Ahhh England

Ahh England, everything about this shot reminds me of my childhood here. Peeping through the white window into a garden filled with summer light, still, at 9pm in the evening! The garden green, dotted with flowers and in this case a big yellow sunflower. I was supposed to be asleep, but the sunlight still shone into my room, filling me with desire to be outside playing like the older children I could hear. But today sleepy time has come my friends, as I am still catching up on sleep from my travels. I must snooze, but will be back tomorrow with more overseas delights!

235: Warm birthday wishes

So today has been Aunty Penny's birthday celebrations and thanks to my Uncle we have been treated to a culinary feast (with a little help from Jamie and Nigella)! A delicious, warm and exciting family occasion round the dining table and all the decorations and settings to go with it. I didn't know where to point my camera first. But this angle caught my eye and with the wine glasses merrily filled and the beautiful china it made for a fabulous shot. Happy birthday Aunty Penny, it's great to be here. 

234: SURPRISE

This is what 30 hours of international traveling has done to my ability to take a photograph!!! Haha yes guys, surprise....I'm in England! I departed Brisbane late on Friday evening and have flown half way around the world with my family to surprise my Aunty (loosely pictured - apologies Aunty Penny for the quality of this pic) for her birthday. It worked a treat and now we have a wonderful month here to relax and hang out. All terribly exciting!

It was very hard for me not to blog about the holiday in the lead up to the departure date but I couldn't risk Aunty Penny seeing it before me arrived, so it remained top secret! As we arrived quite late on Saturday evening and after all the excitement had subsided this has ended up being photo of the day. Not quite what I expected but sort of has the right feeling of excitement and exhaustion that accompanies such an adventure. The photos will pick up from here folks. I promise. England (and a mini break to Switzerland) what a photographers dream excursion! I promise an exciting month to come for the 365 project.

233: Morning fog

I've passed this park on many mornings and always wish I had my camera there on the front seat so I could just pull over and get a snapshot. This morning I did! It's like the bleary eyed world still waking up. Such soft colours, the sun peering through the trees and the fog.

232: Chook-tastic

Bentley eyeing off his favourite plastic chook toy at Ben's house! Love the colours in this pic. Puppy was sitting very patiently waiting for me to tell him it go for it. Although we did have to do a couple of takes.

231: Disguised

Inspired by my little brother's crazy art I took it upon myself to put Nicko (pardon the pun) to playing card this evening and make a little modern art of my own. Or at least something wacky to photograph. What I love it that every time I make something like this for a shot and pin it up somewhere around the house, that it stays there. So ever so slowly I'm decorating the place with quirky little art installations. Now this queen looks like the Where's Wally of the deck of cards!

230: Dancing feet

Practicing my dancing feet outside Black Dove this evening, warming up for class. Having a great time and loving my classes. Thanks Lindsey and Claire. 

229: Italian tastes

MmmMmm check out the topping on this mamma. Home made pizza always tastes so good. Thanks Nonna for the base - thick italian bread - yum!

228: Photo shoot

Had a great afternoon with the boys from Rise for November today. They asked me to take some band shots which was super exciting as it was my first chance to practice pulling of a semi professional shoot. Source location, scout out a few backgrounds, people composition, light sources etc. The boys were very patient and gave me some of their best moves. Check out their myspace for a sound sample and I'm sure some more of the pics will be posted there shortly. This was one of the more creative shots of the day. Not so appropriate for what they are after, but arty enough for me to use in the 365 project.