Sarah Donoghue – macro photographer from ABC Open Central West NSW on Vimeo.

The first night, rain was threatening again. Grr. But it didn’t rain, instead was overcast, blowing a gale and generally miserable. No magic hour of the perfect light I wanted, but I did get a few good photographs including this one-

The next morning, I’d accidentally slept in, but when I stuck my head out the window when I finally woke up it was still overcast. Oh well, maybe I’d it’d clear and I’d get some good light in the evening. The plan for the day was to do some sight seeing, eat some good food at the local cheese and chocolate factories and head back in time for the sunset. Turned out that our drive didn’t take us anywhere near as long as anticipated, so we were back at Port Campbell in time for lunch, and the sun was now out in force. I’d also wanted to go to Gibson’s Steps last time, but the rain ruined that idea. So that was the plan for the afternoon, to tackle Gibson’s Steps.

Got to the top of the steps, and there was a good view of the eastern side of the Twelve Apostles. There were only a few people on the beach, which was lots of steps below me. Ah well, never been here before, might never come back. Going down was ok, not as bad as I thought it would be. The beach was long, one end was a cliff and some rocks whilst the other end there were two Apostles. I headed that way, and found a big chunk of wood being tossed at the edge of the ocean like a toy. It had to be a metre long and looked like a part of a wooden pylon.  Here it is in the photo-

I didn’t realise how hot the sun was, and I hadn’t bothered to put sunscreen on, and could feel I was getting burnt, so headed back to the car. Those steps that I said weren’t bad on the way down, were killers on the way back up. Reminder to self- get fit asap! But I was happy I went to Gibson’s Beach, got some good shots and got to see a few of the apostles up close. Again, this would be a great spot to be at sunset or sunrise, but that didn’t happen. The sunset that night was again not suitable for photographing, ah well, looks like I’ll just have to go again! lol

I hope you enjoy these photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them. They are available for purchase in many different forms at my Redbubble site. Just click on the image to be taken to the page.

Have a great day
Johnah

At my recent holiday, I stayed at Hamilton in Victoria.  In a few of the brochures I got before my trip, it kept talking about two waterfalls close by.  Sounded interesting.  Then when I checked into the caravan park, the owner there also told me about the waterfalls (amongst other tourist destinations), and he said one was only a few minutes from town.  He also said it was easy to view with a platform only a few metres from the carpark.  Well that would keep mother happy!

The next day it was a little overcast- good light for waterfalls.  I packed the camera and tripod up and headed to the first of the falls- Nigretta Falls.  The guides weren’t wrong when they said it was only metres from the carpark to the viewing platform.  But not the best view.  There were a short set  of stairs that led to a better vantage point, so off I went.  I ended up nearly in the river trying to get the best spot, but even though it was overcast, the light was harsh and too bright to get the lovely flowing water I wished for. 

I liked the composition of this photograph, and the colours of the rocks, but really wanted to have ‘soft’ water falling into the pool below.  In order to do that I needed to photograph the falls either early in the morning or late at night.  However, it seemed the weather was not going to be kind to me- it was raining most mornings and storms came through of an evening, so here I was thinking I’d missed out on getting back to the falls.

The second last night of my stay, the weather gods looked favourably upon me and gave me clear skies.  I packed my gear into the car and headed back to the waterfall.  The light was bringing out the colours of the rocks behind the falls and it was just getting dark enough to take a long enough exposure to get the effect I wanted.  I took numerous shots that evening, up to two minutes long and was so pumped to get back to my cabin and upload the pics to my computer. I was sure there was a good photo in amongst them all.  A couple of the photographs I had taken from half way down the stairs were looking promising, and after HDR processing  three images, I was surprised to see a swirl emerge in the pool of water below the fall.  I never noticed this whilst taking the photographs, but was happy I’d composed the photo to include it. I was also impressed by the colours of the rocks and the water falling is silky smooth.  Here is the end result-

I hope you enjoy my photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them.  They are both available to purchase, just click on the images to be taken to my RedBubble portfolio.

Have an awesome day

Johnah

Spoil yourself or someone special this New Year.  Purchase this affordable original painting for your loungeroom wall, your office or even your bedroom.

I saw a tutorial for Japanese origami kusudama balls on a website and decided I’d make one. I used newspaper and folded the individual petals for the first flower and then glued them together. It looked good, so I continued and made another eleven, the amount required to create a complete kusudama ball. It wasn’t until the last one that I realised I had put an extra petal in every one of my flowers, so they wouldn’t fit together properly to make the ball I had intented to create.

No worries, I actually liked them as single flower anyway. But I wasn’t a big fan of the newspaper look. Nothing a bit of silver spray paint wouldn’t fix. I tested it with one, and liked the result so sprayed the rest. I then used some wire and black raffia to make a stem for each flower, put it in place and was happy with the end product. Well that was until I saw some black and chrome coloured rhinestones in the craft section at a local shop. Bought one packet, took them home and tried them out as the flower centre. Perfect!


I am very happy about how they turned out. I’ve got some to sell at the markets and have also put them up for sale on my etsy store as well- Kusudama Flowers. I think they’d also look good in gold, and I’m open to custom colours, if you have a different preference. Just send me an email to wawabyjohnah@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do. I hope you like these flowers as much as I do.

Have an awesome weekend. Catch you later

My prize winning and most popular painting Sunset After Storm has a textured bottom half. I watched a tv show where the artist used modelling paste to created a textured canvas to paint on. I was only working casually at the time I saw this, money was scarce so I did some thinking and came up with an idea. (I happened to also come across the same technique at an art shop I visited around the time too- Must have been a sign!).

So here’s what I used. I mixed PVA glue and plaster of paris powder to a consistancy similar to modelling paste and off I went. I spread it over the bottom half of my canvas in a rough, lumpy pattern and let it dry. Then I painted over it. And wollah, you have the finished product

Beware- the mix dries really quickly in contact with air, so make it in small batches. Make sure you create your texture or pattern in the plaster/glue mix quickly also, otherwise it will harden wherever and however you put it on the canvas. Also be aware of what container you use as the mix can stick to it and become a pain to remove. I use old yoghurt containers or such that I can just throw them away afterwards.

If you use this technique, I’d love to see your end results so feel free to link a pic of you work to this post. Happy creating.
Have the best day ever
Johnah

and Autumn by the Lake

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It’s very humbling to know people enjoy my photographs enough to buy them. Thank you very much to the buyers.

I’ve also decided to sell my photography and art at a local market in a couple of months. I’m getting together some more framed prints, some calendars and blank greeting cards to sell, as well as taking along some of my artworks. This will be the first time I’ve had a stall at a fete so will be interesting to see how it goes. If you’re in Orange NSW on Sunday 18 September, be sure to come and say g’day
Have a great day
Johnah

From their website-

What Is Etsy?

Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.

Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice:

Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.

So far I’ve got my framed photographs in my shop, but am planning to put on my art, paper crafts, upcycled works, and maybe even some of my Nan’s knitted scarves.

The site looks good. There is a huge variety of items for sale, from jewellery to light shades made from vintage vases. There are some very talented people around. Here’s hoping my talents don’t get lost amongst the rest and that someone decides to purchase one or more of my items

Here is my shops address. Feel free to have a look around and share with your friends. WaWa by Johnah- http://www.etsy.com/shop/wawabyjohnah.  I am still keeping my RedBubble site, the etsy one is more for my work I make at home or get printed locally.

Have an awesome day

Wawa by Johnah

Did you know that lambs play together? I didn’t. I don’t know what I thought they did all day long but watching the lambs grow up, I noticed that they all played together and when it was feed time, mum would call them and they would run to her. It was like they were at school- frolicking around carefree with their mates, until home time when they went with mum.

I found a page on a photoblog dedicated to sheep that brought back those memories of living on the farm. I thought I’d share it- Magnificent Sheep. I like ‘A chorus line’ by Nico the best out of all of them. Reminds me of my time on the farm and how the sheep looked at me whenever I tried to take their photograph.

Have a great day
Johnah

There is also a weekly photo challenge, photoblog ranking system and photoblog awards. I have registered, waiting for approval, so will check out the weekly challenges too.

Hope you enjoy looking through the blogs as much as I am.

Have a great day
Johnah