Street art of Charters Towers, Australia
Inland from Townsville is the historic gold mining town of Charters Towers. It takes about an hour and a half to drive there from Townsville. I was surprised to see how lush the town was with lots of trees and streets lined with historic buildings. The visitor’s center is open 7 days a week, staffed by volunteers.
Dining in Australia, 1
My first meal in Australia. Bambinis serves meals and coffee for take-away or to enjoy on the sidewalk, which we did, while trying to blink ourselves awake. This is a poached egg. They must have poached it in a cheesecloth bag. Avocado, spinach, lemon, slivered sea salt and rye toast made it the perfect breakfast.
This is my new favorite kind of coffee. It’s called a Flat White.
Port Lonsdale pier, Victoria, Australia
Leanne broke me through! I now love working with my DSLR. My battery died, so I didn’t work with it a lot on that day, but I’m no longer reluctant to use it after seeing her use hers with as much ease as I use my compact. I just soaked up her photography habits like a sponge. At first I was intimidated and afraid to take pictures because I was with a “real” photographer. But we talked nonstop and almost immediately on the first stop, Port Lonsdale, I felt I was with an old friend and I just started taking all the weird little photos that caught my eye after getting the big obvious ones out of the way! Leanne understands.
Leanne told me about RAW format. I decided to use it with PhotoShop Elements, a light-weight version of Photoshop that came with my Wacom Bamboo. I just started experimenting with it. The first is the original and the second I increased the black. I am missing some features and it was hard to figure out how I saved this, but I’ve seen enough to know I want the software and I want RAW files. And I love my DSLR. I just keep it on auto. One step at a time. At least now I’m pulling out the big guy and not being intimidated by it.
Which do you like more?
I like the soft coloring of the first one and the detail in the sky of the second one.
Manchester Unity Building, Melbourne
This is the Manchester Unity Building in Melbourne. Here is a version with some Nik Color Effex manipulation:
But to see some stunning versions of this building, check out Leanne’s site: http://www.leannecole.com.au/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=12288#page=thumbs.
Nicci Carrera 