Weekend Reflections

Haven't had a lot of time to look for photo opportunities this week, so I decided to have a quick look through a couple of folders on my computer and this is what I found.

I rather liked the patterns made by the sun reflecting on the bottom of the pool.

Then last week I was sitting at some stop lights waiting for ther green light when I happened to glance up at the shop across the road. Luckily my camera was on hand so I took a quick snap and then drove off - with a bit of honking from the car behind.

Next week I'll be relaxing  by the pool in Bali with a long cold drink in hand. I promise to look out for Bali reflections.

Liz Needle

Sepia Saturday

This week's photo shows two men hanging out in front of a shop - and that gave me the inspiration for my theme hanging out in front of shops.

It seems that it was a very popular thing to have your photo taken in front of your shop - a form of advertising I guess.

I got my inspiration from two old photos I have in my collection. The first is a photo of my great grandfather's seed and florist shop in Rundle Street, Adelaide, at the east end where the old East End Market was. He also had a plant nursery about 2 kms out of the city. I have mentioned my gr grandfather in earlier posts and this was his shop. I'm not sure if he was hanging out in front, but I imagine he may have been. I like the very large dog in the photo. Probably belonged to the boy. You rarely see dogs in the city these days. This is now a very busy main street in Adelaide.

The next photo, also in my collection came with the family photos, but is a shop in Melbourne, so I'm not sure of the family connection. The advertisement on the shop are interesting, but the photo is very faded.

Having been hooked I went online a discovered a plethora of similar photos, most of them portraying old shops in English towns, always with the shopkeeper  proudly showing off the shop..

Cowley's Hardware. Wouldn't a collector love to get hold of some of those old pieces now.



 

a Grocery, Drapery, Fruit and Provisions shop.

Produce shop - fruit and vegetables.  The ad for Rinso washing powder reminded me that my mother used Rinso for her wash too.

a Hosier and Draper. I wonder if those are the proprietor's children.

And this one with women outside. Perhaps it sold women's clothing or hats. Quite an affluent looking building for a shop. It was the only one I was able to find with women  in it. Maybe a front for an ancient profession?  LOL!!

Agents for the famous James Cycles.  I had never heard of these cycles so a bit of research was in order. James Cycles started in 1880 and finally sold the business in 1967, having indeed manufactured a famous brand.

I rather liked this ad for a woman's bike.

Liz Needle

Skywatch Friday

Very excited. I'm off to Bali on Sunday. Hopefully next time I post I'll be able to bring you some bali skies.

These photos were taken on a school trip to the Flinders Ranges - to the little aboriginal community I mentioned last week.



This one taken on the road. I loved the spiral effect of the clouds.

We gave each group of kids a digital camera and let them snap away. The first two shots were taken by a couple of the kids. They got a bit much foregraound and not enough sky, but hey, the skies are very pretty.

Sunrise

Sunset

The last shot was taken by me at sunrise. A bit fuzzy, but I wanted those pink peaks.

Liz Needle

Friday Fences

I'm early this week because I have a big weekend coming up.  Guess what?  On Sunday I fly out to Bali for 10 days. So exciting. I've only ever been overseas once before - to New Zealand, so this is a big adventure for me.  I've bought a Toshiba tablet so I can keep everyone updated on my trip - I hope.

I love old houses and these early colonial Australian houses are my favourites. We were lucky here in South Australia that there was plenty of beautiful stone for the early settlers to build with, so our lovely houses have stood the test of time. Unfortunately in a lot of cases they could not withstand the pressure of developers and many of them were destyoyed before the National Heritage Council stepped in. Now many of the remaining buildings are protected and the plaque below attests to this.

I guess for any of you living anywhere other than Australia our 'old' buildings don't seem all that old, but you need to remember that Australia was only settled by Euopeans in 1788 and South Australia wa first colonised in 1836.

These houses are in North Adelaide which was where the wealthy colonists built their permanent homes - some few years after the huts they originally lived in. North Adelaide and this area in particular is a very exclusive and expensive suburb.

I love the balustrade around the balcony on this house and the gates are quite grand too.

There were a number of foundries that produced the wrought iron fences and gates in the early days. Also popular was the iron lacework that adorned the verandas of many houses - I don't have any examples here.

This photo I couldn't resist. These houses face the parklands which surround the inner Adelaide area.  This old lawn tennis court was built for the express use of the local wealthy residents. As you can see it is far from a modern facility, but is still well maintained.

Liz Needle

Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday

Not only is this a watery photo, but it's actually watery outside too, though not nearly as much rain as we were led to expect. So what's new?

Liz Needle

And these little New Holland Honey Eaters are certainly enjoying the water.

Liz Needle

Weekend Reflections

This weeks photos were taken at the Nepabunna waterhole. Nepabunna is a small remote aboriginal community in the far north of South Australia in the Flinders Ranges. This is the Australian outback and water is a really precious commodity. This lovely spot is only accessible if you are there with community members, so we were very privileged. Follow the Nepabunna link if you would like to see more about Nepabunna and our wonderful week in the Community.



The township of Nepabunna, South Australia



Liz Needle

Sepia Saturday

 I couldn't find any photos in my stash that I could make fit this week's topic, so I cheated a little and browsed the web for a bit. You'll have to excuse me this week. I'll do better next week I hope. I found a few shots I liked for the topic.

This week we are celebrating photographers and artists - anyone who records aspects of life pictorially.

So my first find was of an old photo studio sign. Judging by the various names on my sepia collection there were many photo studios around at the end of the 19century and the beginning of the 20th. I guess photography was new technology and we all love that. It was a cheaper way of getting portraits done than  having a portrait painted and people generally didn't own cameras like they do today.

And so to cameras. Here are a couple of pretty ancient ones, particularly the folding one on the right. I'm sure some of you could put an age on them. I remember getting a Box Brownie in 1950. Mine was a Kodak. This appears to be a Conway? 

Standard Cameras Ltd. were a manufacturer based in Birmingham, England. They made a cheap camera range branded Conway. Most (if not all?) of these Conway Cameras took 6x9cm images on 120 film.

And then of course there were the photographers . 



Obviously it was important to wear a cap and sport a moustache.



Or a hat and a moustache

Or just a moustache, but why the picnic baskets?

Or maybe a top hat without the picnic basket?

And of course the famous landmarks like The White House

Big Ben

And the Eiffel Tower
 

Liz Needle

Skywatch Friday

 I didn't realise that I had captured the sky so well in this photo. I was taken with the old fence post.

This photo was taken in the far north of South Australia in the Flinders Ranges. The area was originally an area where a group of  Aboriginal people were resettled after they were removed from theirtraditionalland.

It is called Ram Paddock Gate and is now a protected area and can only be visited with the permission of the local Aboriginal people. There are many relics of the Aboriginal people in this area, although a lot of artifacts were removed/stolen before the land was protected.

So much we have to say sorry for on behalf of our ancestors

Liz Needle

Fridays fences

A few weeks ago we took a drive through the local area looking for fences! My husband quite got into the swing of things and made a number of suggestions - not all appropriate to the theme, but at least he was interested.

One of the spots we visited was the site of a very old German settlement called Friedensberg- a few weeks ago I showed you the old tree where one of the families lived for a while. There aren't many original houses left there now except the old schoolhouse, but there is a fascinating old cemetery and some nice old stone fences.

The remains of an old strainer  post



These old stone fences can be found all through our hills area. It was one way of using the stones collected from tyhe paddocks



There are many old graves here - mostly of German settlers. I loved this one with the old iron fence.

Weekend Reflections

This week I have a photo taken in the north of South Australia in a town called Orroroo which is situated in the Flinders Ranges. It is a small outback town of just under 600 people, but travelling through, we stopped for lunch in this pretty little park and spent a peaceful hour sitting on the fallen log watching the water.

Sepia Saturday

Not really sepia and not really all that old, but certainly famous. This photo is one taken by my daughter when she was the PR person for Sydney Airport management. She saw many well known people arrive, but this is the celebrity she was most excited about  and for whom she felt the most awe and respect.

Nelson Mandela arriving at the Sydney airport in 1990.

Liz Needle

Skywatch Friday

I don't usually post sunset pictures because there are so many on Skywatch, but I decided "What the Heck" - it's my turn, so here goes.

Some of the brilliant sunsets I get from my veranda.

So lovely to sit out there with a gass of wine and NO company. Just me and the sunset.

Liz Needle