This week we went to see the Andy Warhol show here in Brisbane. Andy created a pop art style using silk screen and vivid colors. His Marilyn Monroe pictures are icons. He also loved television.
This ant is surveying his kingdom. He is about 5/16 of an inch long (8 mm).
There is almost always something interesting on Queen Street. I don't know exactly what these two were doing but they were getting attention as they strolled along. Click on the picture and look at the expression of the girl in the background on the right.
I spotted this eel in the duck pond of the botanical gardens and believe him to be a Longfinned Eel, one that is found along the eastern coast of Australia. Handsome fellow, isn't he? He is about a meter long.
This is a view at dusk from on top of the bluffs at Kangaroo Point where the bats cross over to the park.
Flying bats are hard to photograph - they are moving fairly fast, they are moderately far away, they are black, and they only fly at night. Moving black things are hard to photograph at night. But tonight we went up to the place on the bluff at Kangaroo Point where they cross the river to the park. There are thousands of them. This is the best picture I got, taken right at dusk. Click on him and you can see some detail in his wings. I like his pointy little ears.
Today I played golf at a golf course that had a lot of kangaroos. These three were lining up to carry bags but we rented carts instead of getting a caddy. They were thick though. I hit about a 300 yard drive right into a bunch of them and when I yelled "fore!" they all looked up, covered their heads, and gave me a look like I was the 9th yahoo that day to hit into them.
Tell me this isn't good engineering, not to mention nice design. I like the way the colors of the trailor have been perfectly coordinated with the pontoons. At first I thought it was a store bought boat but when I saw all the custom features I knew this had to be the work of a home craftsman.
This python was basking in the sun just next to the walkway through the park at the bottom of the cliffs on Kangaroo Point. I am no snake expert but believe it to be a carpet python. If you are good at snake identification, post me a note below.
As I have written before, there are lots of street performers in Brisbane. This fellow makes balloon animals on Queen Street. Just after I made this photograph he sold a balloon dog to a little girl with her father.
This aborigine man is playing the digeridoo on Queen Street just up the street from the baloon man. If you want to know more about the digeridoo here is a site: http://www.didgeswedoo.com.au/digeridoo.html
For the last few days I've seen lorikeets in a eucalyptus tree in the park. Getting pictures of birds can be hard because 1) most don't like people getting close to them, 2) they frequently are in trees or shrubs where it is hard to see them, 3) they often blend in with their surroundings, 4) many are relatively small, 5) their quick movements make them blur, 6) the light isn't good a lot of the time, and so on.
I've been seeing bats as I walk home through the park lately. Yesterday I followed them to see where they are going. Here is what I found...
It is time for me to write about fashion again. Actually, I never thought about fashion at all when I was growing up. But since I have gotten a bit older, and got outside Texas, I have started payin' a bit more attention. And I have developed my own ideas about which places are fashionable and which are not.
We don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia. One of the guys and I went looking for a turkey sandwich at lunch but all we could find was chicken. I was able to spread cranberry sauce on my chicken though.
The Japanese Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha were built for the World Expo '88 that was held in Brisbane. Locals like to say that the Expo put Brisbane on the map. The style is a traditional one in Japan that has mountain, stream, and lake. It looks pretty authentic to me but the buildings don't appear to use traditional methods of construction.
This chair was in the fern house at the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens. It is essentially a bronze sculpture.
This is the view from Tumgun Lookout on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane. The lookout is on Burleigh Head, a rocky headland formed of lava. North is Surfer's Paradise and south, the direction of this photo, is Coolangatta. The stream in the foreground entering the Pacific is Tallebudgera Creek.
I haven't put up a picture of the city from our balcony in a while. This one was taken just after the sun went down and the city lights came out.
This spider is about 5" long and lives down the street towards the university. I left him alone - if you don't know Australian spiders you leave them alone.
I have seen this curlew a number of times at night but today I saw it in the daytime and got a good picture. It was with it's mate and two chicks. It is a shy bird but can become tame in parks. This family lives across the river from us in the arboretum.
The Pacific Black Duck is the common "wild" duck in Australia. But around parks and such it is common and quite tame. It has a black mask and a beautiful blue or green speculum on the wing.
The Roma Street Parklands is really nice right now. The rain (and a little recycled water) has really made the park beautiful.
We are back in Brisbane and this is Queen Street in the Central Business District (CBD). Queen Street seems to be the daytime place to be. The Valley is the place to be at night and is edgier.
This last week I was back in Japan for the first time in over a year. There wasn't much time to take pictures since it was a business trip. But we were lucky enough one morning to see Fuji clearly from the hotel and I got this picture. Of course it instantly brings memories of Japan for anyone who has seen it. But when I lived in Japan I used to look for it first thing almost every morning. The view from my apartment was not too good really. Fuji was small and distant even on a good day - and most days there was no view at all. But from Yokohama it is much closer. Beautiful...
This is a view from the Yokohama Intercontinental Hotel. Japanese cities always seem prettier at night to me - even new areas like this one in Yokohama. The city and the people seem to come alive. This area has been built out into the bay and is popular with Japanese tourists as well as foreigners (usually on business).
I am posting this picture for one reason - I like the reflection at the very bottom of the picture from the Landmark Tower. It kind of looks like Japanese Kanji characters written in the old style with a brush.
And now for something entirely different. Here is the mens room in the Brisbane Powerhouse. The powerhouse originally was built around the '30s and among other things supplied power for the tram system. The grafitti on the wall is from when the building was derelict and inhabited by the homeless and street kids. A lot of the grafitti was left and made part of the decoration when it was converted for public use.
This is a artsy shot from inside the Brisbane Powerhouse at New Farm. The building has the simultaneous feeling of early 20th century industry, urban decay, and updated trendy hangout.
One of the best things about Brisbane (there are many) is the river. It is still widely used for transportation and of course recreation. The river became somewhat polluted for a while but has apparently cleaned up from what I read. A 100 years ago it apparently ran clearer with less silt - I am guessing that is due to the deforestation and farming that has occured since early days.
The Noisy Miner bird is also known as the
It was such a nice day today. Cool and clouds at times. This picture shows the cliffs at Kangaroo Point from the balcony in the late afternoon.
Black and white photographs are considered "artsy" these days. I shot this one in color and converted it to B&W. I used a polarizer to increase contrast in the clouds and then bumped it up even more during the conversion. B&W can definitely change the mood of a picture - this one was pretty boring in color.
Here is the Story Bridge at dusk just down from Eagle Street Pier. It has been cool, overcast, and rainy for the last few days. When the rain stopped, the sun came out, and this is what it looked like as it set.
The crow is another common bird in Brisbane. I like the white eye on this one. Crows are smart birds and learn how to live with people easily.
This ibis is pretty common in and around Brisbane. They get into the trash and grub around the parks and such. Ibis are striking, but not particularly handsome birds.
This is one of the great sights of October. These geese were in a flock that was five to six times what you can see here I am guessing. Maybe 150 birds. Cody said they were blues when they flew over but on blowing up the picture, the chest looks light with black markings to me. The head seems too dark for a blue goose. I think they are the white-fronted goose, Chen caerulescens. I am ready to be corrected though.
Some day I would like to have my own pond. Waterlilies have to be among the most spectacular flowers and of course some fish would be nice. It is a lot of maintenance though. If nothing else, it would be nice to be near a park where you can see them.
Here is a bee in the bottle brush in front of the house in Houston. I have decided that bees can be hard to photograph. They move a lot, the wind blows the flowers they are on, and they are kind of small. They are busy little critters...
Why is it at times we have trouble thinking of something interesting to do, something to photograph, something to write about? Can a rerun of a hospital drama or the latest reality show on television really be the most interesting thing available day after day? I know there are lots of interesting things if I can just get myself going...
I bought a new camera lens for taking pictures of small animals and things outdoors. So far, I haven't been able to use it outside because it has been dark when I get home. But here is an example of what it can do.
I took this picture a while back but it is getting close to Halloween so I thought I'd post it. This fellow lives in Round Top, Texas and is pretty spooky if you are a small insect flying around.
It is true that I have been taking a lot of wildlife pictures lately. My new camera is better suited to it and pictures of furry critters and things that fly are usually interesting. They are all around us, even in the city...
Here is the little bluebird of happiness being patriotic on a barbed wire fence near Round Top, Texas.
I like kookaburras. They are handsome, quick to adapt to people, and have lots of character. They can sound like excited monkeys. They remind me of my kids.
I was trying to get a picture of the rainbow and this silver gull spotted me. I guess he thought I might have food. He kept walking closer and closer until I got this picture. On the left hand side, at the end of the rainbow, is the Cape Byron lighthouse.
