Australia, Photogaphy and Some Baking

Wowza, it has been a long time since my fingers have been tapping away for a TFoil blog. I think I was so burned out after graduation that I imploded. I tried to kick start the blogging again but I just couldn’t get it to stick. Can’t say that it’ll continue, at least on a regular basis of course. Blogging was put on hold, but life wasn’t. I dove back into the real estate market here and got busy with a few sales. Now that the holidays are approaching, things are slowing down a bit….enough to take some time to write.

Photography class – I enrolled in a beginning digital photography during the fall semester. I was kinda not impressed with the instructor. I started at a teeny bit of a disadvantage. I used my 5 year old Canon point and shoot, while everyone else had fancy DLSR camera. I held out for a few weeks but finally bit the bullet. I had a friend who was kind enough to loan me her Canon Rebel T3. Once I started taking photos on that camera, it was all over. I then took the plunge and bought one for my very own. I’m not going to bore you with tons of photos. I am going to show you a few that I really liked. By the way, I did manage to squeak out an A for the class.

Coco, one of my wiener dogs. This was for our pet assignment.

Using available light to photograph a sunset at Ulua Beach in Wailea.

I used a macro lens to get close up to the flower. As I was shooting, this honey bee landed and became the new subject of my shot.

Perfect example of foreground (fence), midground (corn) and background (sky)

I’ve been getting into clouds lately. I love the texture, shapes and tones.

Why did I not like the teacher? He never really taught us what to do. He told us what to do without explaining why and showing us how. I must admit I was pretty disappointed. I do know more now than before I took the class but I could have really learned a bunch more. Photography is pretty technical and I didn’t realize how much so.

Australia – Yes, I took a trip down under and stayed in the Surry Hills neighborhood in Sydney. It was their version of a bohemian area. I liked it because there were a bunch of things within walking distance. Bondi Beach really rivals some of the best beaches on Maui. I took this wild pic of a  swimming pool at the edge of the ocean. Check it out.

I love the action of the surf, the lines of the pool, the lane markers and the randomness of the swimmers. I would have love to swim here. I loved the varying textures of the foreground rock up against the ocean then the smooth background rocks.

You can’t go to Australia without a trip to the Sydney Opera House. I’ve taken some cool shots using available light and playing with light. What do you think?

Slow shutter speed. Should have had my tripod but didn’t know I’d be shooting this.

Large aperature setting, snap a shot, then move camera before shutter closes. Really interesting effect whenever there are lots of different kinds of lights. I love the ghostly image of the Opera House.

I must say that I look at things differently after this class. I’m constantly looking for how something could be a perfectly composed shot.

In terms of baking, I did manage to do a few things. I made some chocolate cream cheese cupcakes.

I made a wonderful flourless Dark Chocolate, Prune and Dried Cherry Cake. It was such an adult chocolate cake with smoky chocolate flavors. It wasn’t sweet at all. There was only 3 tablespoons of sugar in the whole cake.

I served the cake as one of the many desserts at my Christmas tree trimming party. I also made these Coconut macaroons.

My favorite hors d’oeuvre is the Mousse in Barquette. The flavor of the day was Butternut squash.

I served a buffet style dinner which didn’t look good enough to photograph. The food was good though.

A few interesting tidbits before I leave you. First, I have decided to go refined sugarless and gluten free. Call me crazy but why not do both cold turkey since they are both so intertwined. Also, I have enrolled to become a Master Gardener. I’ve been having so much fun in my garden that I wanted to learn more about it. It’s a 4 month course, then I have to give 50 hours of volunteer time before I can be called a Master Gardener. You can bet that future blogs will be about those two topics. Have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! Here’s to the best 2013.