My Garden Haven...A Fine Romance

Friday, February 3, 2012

Ushering in the Year of The Water Dragon

My garden has a new look to usher in the new Lunar year. It is the year of the Water Dragon, and my fish pond has a fresh new look, as the water element plays a prominent role, I think, this year. No, I'm no Feng Shui expert, I'm just showing off my pond which has had a spring cleaning!

The bed of mixed perennials which I had last year has now been replaced with a long, wavy flower bed reminiscent of the curves of the dragon, winding its way from the Eastern wall at the entrance, towards the pond! Now that sounds quite professional, but that's just my imagination at work.

It is a good time in my garden, with the bright yellow, orange, lilac and mauve of other blooms adding to the festive cheer!

The reds were putting on a show, too!

And the canna lilies were just so obliging, turning up in all colours! Each time a new colour blooms, I feel like giving the flower a huge hug.

On my patio, the flowers were bursting with a joyful, springtime spirit!

And the view from my sunroom, mostly mellow...

with some brilliant accents!

Inside the sun room, some vandas make their presence felt.

More blooms to flaunt when I post another feature of my garden all dolled up for the festivities.
But a peep at my grapes in the backyard...they've nicely ripened, for the new year. Sigh...

my garden haven

malaise's relief,soul's music

rapture to my heart

Linking to:

Outdoor Wednesday
Watery Wednesday
Share The Joy Thursday
Skywatch Friday
Sensational Haiku Wednesday
Poetry Picnic
Poets Rally
Haiku My Heart

Fertilizer Friday

Macro Friday

Weekend Flowers

Macro Flowers Saturday

Today's Flowers

Macro Monday

Mosaic Monday

Weekend Reflections
Haiku Heights
Scenic Sunday
Shadow Shot

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Thursday, January 5, 2012

A Photography Field Trip in Melaka

While out on a field trip recently during a photography workshop on "Aperture", I took the opportunity to shoot more than just photos with a small depth of field, though that was what most of us were more interested to do to show off our skills. For someone like me who has been relying so much on Intelligent Auto, this course was an eye-opener, so to speak. I actually gained some confidence in using the manual functions of my camera. It is indeed necessary for me to make a resolution not to rely on all things 'auto'. I need to give my brain something to work on!

resolve to learn all
scour the scale from rusty brain
till mind shines brightly

It was a fun field trip as we went to the public garden of the Town Council Complex. The marigold-celosia-periwinkle combination worked well in the garden design they had there.

Here are some of my favourite shallow depth of field shots...

These shots with a greater depth of field, using smaller aperture settings allow us to see the photo in focus from the foreground, all the way to the horizon. See, I was paying attention. Don't ask me about shutter speed, though. Haven't learned that yet.

These other photos sort of came out crazy...definitely not to be assessed as assignment photos. Some were focused on the background, some did not have any focus at all and many were out of focus! Despite all that, I sort of like them.