Day 256... building

Living a life is like constructing a building: if you start wrong, you'll end wrong.”

Maya Angelou

Day 236... Day's end

Yesterday my holiday came to an end and today I headed back to work...

it had been a long day and I did not pick up my camera all day but as I walked to my car I turned and saw the last of a gorgeous sunset

Day 223... crossroads

This is the intersection of North Terrace and King William Street, looking towards Parliment House and the Adelaide Railway Station.

Parliament House, on the corner of North Terrace and King William Road in Adelaide city centre, is the seat of the Parliament of South Australia. It was built to replace the adjacent and overcrowded Parliament House, now referred to as "Old Parliament House". Due to financial constraints, the current Parliament House was constructed in stages over 65 years from 1874 to 1939.

Adelaide Railway Station is the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. It is on the north side of North Terrace, west of Parliament House. The Adelaide Casino is in part of the building that is no longer required for the station.   

Day 220...

The rare Amazon Waterlily (Victoria amazonica) flowered this weekend – 6/7 August – at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

The Amazon Waterlily does not flower frequently, however, when it does, it creates a visually spectacular site for approximately 72 hours.

The flower opens during the day with white petals, closes overnight and reopens with its petals a beautiful shade of pink before dying.

The Adelaide Botanic Gardens is one of the only places in Australia to see this natural marvel, so is not to be missed.

The Amazon Waterlily Pavilion was purpose built an opened in 2007 to replace the lily’s original home, Victoria House, which was constructed in 1868.

The Gardens have been growing the Victoria amazonica for the past 140 years after the Gardens second director, Dr Richard Schomburgk, brought seeds back from an expedition to Guyana, South America.

The lily in the Adelaide Botanic Garden is a result of genetic material collected from the 2005 Guyana Expedition, which was lead by the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide Director Stephen Forbes.

My plan was to use the HDR function in Photoshop (elements 8) so I took bracketed shots, when I got home and went through the process I was not happy with the end result so I played... this is three bracketed shots that I mixed just using the blend tools in Layers... I am happy with it

PS managed to get my shot before going to work so no wandering the streets at 11:30 looking for a shot    

Day 219...

Elder Park is a public open space in the city of Adelaide, South Australia on the southern bank of the River Torrens and that is bordered by the Adelaide Festival Centre and North Terrace.

The park is named after the Elder family who were early settlers and developed the company Elder Smith (previously known as Goldsborough Mort).

The Elder Park Rotunda was erected in 1882.

Yesterday's photo was taken at 11:54 and today's at 11:56... starting to really leave to the last minute or so. New goal for tomorrow... take the photo before going to work.    

Day 218... City of Churches

I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.
Robert Louis Stevenson

St Peter's Cathedral is an Anglican Cathedral in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide.[1] The cathedral is situated on approximately one acre (4,000 m²) of land at the corner of Pennington Terrace and King William Road in the suburb of North Adelaide.

Day 211... postcard shot

Another busy day, I had the pleasure of being the photographer at a 70th birthday in the afternoon and then a 21st in the evening... this shot was taken as I headed to the 70th, yet another beautiful winter's day in Adelaide.

The "Popeye" boats are privately owned recreational ferries that operate on the lake between Elder Park and the Adelaide Zoo. The first boat was launched on the Torrens Lake by Gordon Watts in 1935. It was a 25-foot (7.6 m) boat, built on the banks of the Torrens to hold up to 20 passengers and named Popeye 1. Watts purchased a former Glenelg cruise boat in 1948 and placed it in service as Popeye 2. Over the next two years three new jarrah hulled boats were built at Port Adelaide; carrying 40 passengers each they were numbered Popeye 3 through Popeye 5. Trips on the Popeyes from Elder Park to the zoo became a treasured family outing and the boats hosted weddings and other events    

Day 209... in the dark

Yet another busy day, it has been a busy week...

I promised more shots from North Terrace and here is a silhouette of a statue of Sir Walter Watson Hughes, One of the founders of the University, and its first donor.    

Day 199... law

Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm living public opinion. ~Wendell Phillips

Another afternoon shift and another night with me wandering the streets of Adelaide at 11.30 looking for my photo of the day... lucky for me we have some beautiful buildings around the city.

The Supreme Court, corner of Gouger and King William Streets, Adelaide



Day 198... bench

Law: the only game where the best players get to sit on the bench. Author Unknown

Adelaide Magistrates Court, 260-280 Victoria Square, Adelaide



Day 196... Mortlock wing

The State Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia.

The building now known as the Mortlock Wing was opened on 18 December 1884 as a Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery for the colony of South Australia with 23,000 books and a staff of three.

Construction of the building took over 18 years to complete after the initial foundations were laid in 1866.

The foundation stone was laid on 7 November 1879 by Sir William Jervois and the building was constructed by Brown and Thompson at a total cost of £43,897.

The building is French Renaissance in style with a mansard roof. The walls are constructed of brick with Sydney freestone facings with decorations in the darker shade of Manoora stone.

This is just one of many beautiful buildings along North Terrace and I hope to showcase a few more of them as we go

Day 149...

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

 

Today I thought I would go capture the beauty of a Autumn landscape,

so I travelled to the Adelaide Botanical Gardens

but even the best laid plans don't go to plan...

 

I can't help to get in close and capture the detail... I did get a landscape,

a panoramic landscape...

 

as I was leaving this guy landed on the ground right in front of me and of course I had to capture him...

Day 129... late

It was late and it was cold and I needed a photo so travelled the streets of Adelaide when I finished work and this is what I found...

It is the exterior of the Hilton Hotel, Victoria Square, Adelaide

Day 119... downtown

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city,

Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty,

How can you lose?The lights are much brighter there,

You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go,

Downtown, things'll be great when you're,

Downtown, no finer place for sure,

Downtown, everything's waiting for you,

A busy day and no shot had been taken so it was on my way home that I made the decision to take this shot... night photography and movement. The camera was placed on the dash of the car and the photo taken as I drove along

Day 116... light as a...

It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.

Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

I wandered down to the River Torrens today, such a beautiful Autumn day in Adelaide and thought I would get that postcard shot* as I sat on the bank the swans came right up to me and the lightness and texture became my photo of the day, the postcard shot will have to wait until another day (maybe tomorrow)

Postcard shot: those shots of our hometowns that we avoid because they are on the postcards in the tourist shops but as soon as we are in a different city we look at taking those very shots.

(Maybe we need to look at our hometowns as a tourist would?!?!?)

 

Day 115... Lest We Forget

A Tribute to ANZAC Day

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure

Still they march on proudly as they did the year before

Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way

Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today.

From Gallipoli's rugged hillsides, to the sands of Alamein

On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain.

Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay

The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day.

They fought their way through jungles, their blood soaked desert sands

They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands.

They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail

Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail.

To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam

And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan.

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died

That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried.

When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide

Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side.

Ken Bunker

Day 113... WICKED

Fiyero: What is it?

Elphaba: it's just, for the first time--I feel wicked.

I went and experienced Wicked... and loved it.

PS is it wrong to be so WICKED at Easter?!?!?