Stars and Trees

Taken during a recent trip to The Blue Mountains, and somewhere around four or five hours after the previous photo I shared, though in a different area.

I hadn’t done astrophotography in a long time and it’s something I’ve been meaning to try again so I got around to doing so on this particular trip. However, most of the photos didn’t turn out, but this one did.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-ninety-ninth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Hopeful“.

Seeing the natural, or at least ideas of the natural do make me feel hopeful. I have friends that also leave me hopeful, but the more I see and the more I see not enough being done to preserve and restore habitats and the environment, the harder it is to remain hopeful.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Donna

Egídio

Ritva

Patti is curating this one. Next week Leya is curating.

I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1361: Perpetual Energy Machine

Doing that being tired thing again and I should get on with the getting on, but I’m not, but maybe I will now, but I don’t know if I will and so many other things that are needing worrying about are cropping up, but they’re not, but they will, but perhaps there is a way out, but who knows, really?

So I’m pushing through the being tired and I’m pushing myself along and now I’m moving – grooving optional – and I’m getting on with the getting on and all that, and I need to keep on going as there is a lot of stuff I need to have ready to go on Monday, but I don’t know if I will, but I’m gonna try. There is a strong need to try as I’ve made promises, or at least insinuated dates, and maybe I’ll get there, but maybe I won’t. Who knows.

I’m talking about getting stuff uploaded on Culture Eater.

So I need to get through the being tired and get to writing so I can have things finished, and then from there I can move on and I can relax a bit, but maybe I cannot. I don’t know yet. There still is quite a lot of time to find out if I can or cannot relax, and I do want to relax, but I don’t know if I can or cannot and now all I’m doing is writing in circles and I need to stop that… or do I?

What I need to stop doing is procrastinating and just get on with it all. I need to write and do the things and make sure that everything is good to go so I can relax, but there is no relaxing. There is no sleep; it’s just an eternal state of being awake and forgetting what fatigue is as you push so far beyond and so far through it and stay too hyped up on caffeine and sugar that you then transcend the need to sleep and become sort of self-generating perpetual energy machine of some nondescript type, and it all works out somehow, or it doesn’t and then you eventually sleep, but you wake up tired as it was not enough, even if it should have been enough and you don’t know where to go from there so you go for the coffee and suddenly you’re still tired.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that after this I’m gonna do a bit more writing and then I’m going to sleep. I think I’ve earned my sleep, but perhaps I haven’t. Perhaps I don’t know what it is that I’ve earned. Maybe it’s too early to tell right now. Maybe it’s not early enough. Need to strike that balance, but before I do I should get this done and then try and sleep and then keep on procrastinating, as there is a lot of procrastination to do before I start panicking over not doing much of anything,

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:42:81

I like how this gets worse the longer it goes.

Written at home.

Bright Sunset

This is a photo I overexposed, or at least I’m fairly certain I overexposed. Can’t quite remember how much of this was during processing. What I do remember is thinking that I could’ve done better with what I took and then playing around with it a little bit.

I hope you enjoy.

Lively Drumming

This is Shonen Knife’s drummer doing the drumming thing, which I believe is known as “drumming”. I thought I’d shared this photo here but it appears I did not so I’m sharing it now as I really like it. It could be better I think, but I captured the energy and enthusiasm well.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-ninety-eighth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “To Be Young Again“.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Donna

Egídio

Ritva

Tina is curating this one. Next week Patti is curating.

I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1360: Something Nice

So I’m sitting here on my lunch and it is raining outside, or it was raining, at least. It seems to have stopped, but I know it was raining as I walked through the rain, or in the rain, or immersed within the rain, or something. I’m not now, but I was before. Now I’m inside.

Inside is the place to be but outside is where it was at, but it no longer is, but it will be a bit later on this afternoon, but only for a short time. After that passes I will be traveling in a locomotive vehicle toward my destination of desire, and that destination is a place known as “home”, but it’s not always. Sometimes it is something else entirely, but today it is “home”. In a few days it will be “The Blue Mountains”.

There’s a quiet in here and a bit of noise outside, and that noise seems to be comprised of a multitude of objects and actions, and it all melds together into one indistinct thing that still retains distinction. Here and there is the sound of a motor seemingly bulging out of the noise for a moment. It then moves back in, and all is as was.

The sound of vehicles going by, almost evocative of the sound of a breeze moving through fields or around mountains – a sound I’m concerned we are close to forgetting – repeats itself throughout this pocket of time. It repeats itself throughout the day, and it repeats itself now, and the amount of repetitions in any given moment seem to expand and compress, but right now it seems quite consistent. It seems that way as I’m not paying too much attention. Maybe it is; maybe it is not. I don’t know. I don’t think I care to know either.

I sit here and I wonder if I am going to partake in self-sabotage, but I probably won’t. I’m just wondering, and wondering is okay; well, maybe not about this. I’m sure I’ll be fine, but I wonder. I wonder about a lot of things. I wonder about memories trying to find their way back into the present, and I wonder about my place in the world at large. I wonder about what should and should not be brought forth from the past, and I wonder if I’ll be able to help people when I’m in a better financial position.

I’m sitting here and I can see that it was raining outside, and I’m wondering about what I want to stay in the past, and I wonder if I can keep some people in the past. I wonder about how soon I can help others, and I wonder a lot of things, but the noise in my ears is playing and it’s playing something I like, and it’s different to the blended ambience from outside.

I’m sitting here and I’m relaxing, and I have concerns, but right now everything is alright, and quite frankly that’s something nice.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:48:83

Slow. Not great. But alright. Maybe an easier read than usual. Who knows.

Written at work.

Raised in Celebration

This is one of the members of Shonen Knife. Here’s a photo of all three members, but this one is just one.

Not sure why I wrote that.

Anyway, this is just a nice moment, I think. A fun band to see perform. I strongly recommend doing so if you can.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. This theme for this one comes from Mrs. Claire Gutknecht, and it is “Emotions“.

Participating is pretty straightforward and something I recommend. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1359: What a Week

What a week. What an improvement in environment.

Right now I don’t have the time to type out everything that has happened, but all I’ll say is that what is expected – a movement into a more positive and healthy environment – does wonders. Unsurprising, really.

There was a lot of darkness in my previous job. A lot of heaviness, and a lot of lack of accountability from management, and in a new environment things are already better. I feel healthier, both mentally and physically. I feel as though a heavy weight has lifted ever-so-slightly. I want to do the work that I have, and I think that that’s an awesome thing. Don’t know if it is, but I think its awesome.

So it has been a busy week and I’ve taken it easy. Broke my posting streak, though perhaps that’s a good thing. It’s good to relax and not worry about those things sometimes, I think. Better things out there to worry about and all that stuff. Now I’m here, at home, relaxing. Taking it easy. Trying to scramble to get a bunch of things done before I hit the hay and move into the land of sleep, resting my eyes and getting into a state of nice and heavy rest. It will be where I spend the time resting, and resting is what I want to do. I need it, for it has been a busy and productive time, and rest is good and all that stuff.

So, beyond that, what else can I say? I’m sitting here and relaxing despite being busy, and I look forward to switching off for the night, I look forward to finding more rest and getting into a state of great rest, and I’m looking forward to waking up in the morning, hopefully rested, and hopefully rested well. Yet to see, of course, but you never know, except for when you do, but I don’t know what I am saying at this point.

I like this new space and I like the people I work with, not that I didn’t like the people I worked with before. Just, there’s less pressure and toxicity interspersed among the people I am now around, and I don’t have managers not accepting accountability and breaching out employment codes. Of course it is early days, but I have a good feeling about it all, and I think that’s nice. It’s nice to feel good about something. It’s nice to feel a sense of ease and feel like you’ve more energy to do the thing you’re employed to do.

It’s nice to be in an environment where management doesn’t imply in writing that you’re a liar when you have irrefutable evidence that you didn’t lie about something.

Anyway, it’s nice to breathe. It’s nice to be walking more and it’s nice to not be working from home at the moment. Sure, I have less time to do things, but I’m getting much more done, and I like that I am.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:47:22

Slow, but I’m not fussed. Could be slower.
More concerned about how little I said. I’m fairly certain I could’ve said more.
Alas.

Written at home.

Trail of Moonlight

I went for a drive a few nights ago. I wanted to go to a spot and get some night photos, so… yeah. Drove there.

I wasn’t expecting the moon to be as visible and as bright as it was, but it was a nice thing to have, so I tried to work with it. Got the below long exposure and I think it turned out well enough.

Ultimately I want to redo this as I know it can be much better. There are some issues with the photo that I could probably resolve with better framing, and I think I may have exposed for too long, though I’m not sure on that one.

I do like how the land obscures the moonlight trail. It feels kind of firm and blunt, and I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but I like that hard cut. Makes the trail seem less unlimited.

I hope you enjoy.

Cleaning Motion

Another photo of this ibis.
Different motion, and perhaps this one making the ibis look less like an ibis, or something.
Still, it feels dramatic in a way, and yet not dramatic at all.

I hope you enjoy.

In Morning’s Shadow

It has been a while since I processed a photo in this manner. I decided to try this processing out on this particular photo as I already had processed a a few Sydney CBD ones from around the time taking this one, and I thought it would work here. Personally I think it did, though perhaps I could’ve been less aggressive with the shadows.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-ninety-seventh Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Music to my Eyes“.

A good deal of the time when I’m taking photos I’m not thinking about or listening to music. Gig photography is the main exception to this, but even then I’m not always thinking about what I’m hearing, which might not be a good thing. I don’t know.

Anyway, I’d say that perhaps Midnight Oil’s “Outside World” fits this to an extent. final’s “Dead Air” also fits, as does Infusion’s “Continental Drift”, but again, only to an extent, and for final and Infusion, more in mood and atmosphere than anything lyrically specific.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Donna

Egídio

Ritva

Egídio is curating this one. Next week Tina is curating.

I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.