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A new start !

The year 2020 – and time to revamp everything I do.

I have sadly neglected this blog for the last few years.

I have taken up new hobbies, but photography is still a big part of my life.

Moving forward, I will try and post every few days at least.

What will this Blog be about – what will its purpose be ?

To post about my daily adventures, yard projects, travels, photography, wood turning, and the multiple of other interests I have.

The Goal – is to demonstrate you can do anything, you just need to have a go and learn.

Since I last posted, I have actually been using my Instagram account @dave.ais.

I have separated my Portrait from my Wildlife photography Facebook pages.

I hope to also soon update my Working with Wood Page and my Hobby page ( Painting figures, building models).

Hoping my current followers ( if there are any left) will come on this journey with me.

Monday night is Wood Turning Night

I joined a local Wood Turning Club, a couple of years ago, and get down there most Monday Nights.

I use it as a balance, to my sometimes challenging day job. For that purpose, I do quick and and often a little rough ( I prefer the term “Rustic”) pieces. I also turn pieces for projects I have in mind.

Last night I started with this pile of timber ( bought off the club -as I like to support them as much as I can).

A few in progress shots – of what will eventually become the Head of a Carnival Mallet – to be painted up to represent something similar to the one Harley Quinn has as a photographic prop.

The Completed Bowl and the started Bowl are both Camphor Laurel which I have a Love/ Hate relationship with. As it is soft and turns easy, has striking grain patterns, but can often have large cracks and defects through the timber, sometimes making the pieces un-usable – why the second one is unfinished – as I will try and fill the cracks with resin and then finish it next week.

More of my wood turning and other timer projects can be found on my working with wood Facebook page. I will hopefully update it with a lot of pictures soon of what I have been turning over the last few months.

Another raining day on here, hard to believe we were in serious Bush Fire danger, a couple of months back, and now we have a lot of local Flooding – as they say Australia, droughts broken by the occasional floods, and it is being demonstrated yet again.

Stay safe and happy everyone, will post again soon.

Moogerah Dam – “End of the Line”

Leading into last weekend  – it is lunch time Friday and we are on the road – a 2 hour road trip for a weekend adventure  –  our long anticipated weekend away at “Moogerah Dam”  spending two night staying at a beautiful old house based on the banks of the Dam itself   – a nicely secluded (as in the last house on a dead end road with a lot of farm land between us and the closest neighbour) –   sharing the time with some great friends.

On the evening  of our arrival, we were treated to a stunning sunset across the water.

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In summary a great weekend – we photographed, fished, and did a little bit of boating  – there was a bonfire – we will be back.

A link to their website is here for anybody looking to go there – there is also caravan and tent accommodation available separately but you do not get this fabulous seclusion.

If you want to see even more photos from the weekend – I will have these and more on my facebook photography page soon

Cheers Dave

A couple of our local visitors

Just a few of our local visitors – these birds have been visiting for a number of years – and can be here on a daily basis – or sometimes months between visits – we have a Bird Feeder – which I put seed out on a random basis – so the Birds do not get dependent on it.

Mr Fluffy Cheeks thought I was taking too long to acknowledge his request and was threatening destruction on part of the balcony if I did not comply

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And then having a bit of a preen

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Meet Psycho – one of our more regular visitors – he looks innocent enough – but will quickly throw a wing up to keep anybody else from sharing the seed with him as per this video

And this post will hopefully be the start to a return to blogging .

Kangaroo Island – Raptor Domain

We recently had the opportunity to spend 3 nights staying at Kangaroo Island – off the southern coast of Australia – one of the highlights of the visit was going to the Raptor Domain Bird Show.

They had a variety of Birds of Prey from small Falcons up to the very large Wedge Tail Eagle.

One of my favourites was the White Bellied Sea Eagle – it was taken out of its nest as a baby and raised in a shed – when it was rescued it did not know how to fly properly or eat fish. They have put a lot of work into correcting this – but sadly will never be able to be released into the wild.

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Abbey the Barking Owl was also a favourite

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The Star of the show was the Wedge Tail Eagle

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A more complete collection of the bird photos  can be found on my facebook page here

We had a great time on the island – and I will post more photos in the future .

If you want to see more of the wonderful nature of Kangaroo Island there is nice facebook page here that we found useful when planning our trip there.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers Dave

Retro Beach Babes

I had the opportunity to photograph the Gasolina Pin-Up Girls on the weekend – check out there facebook page for more about them.

We had a lot of fun they are great to work with and being on the Sunny Gold Coast what would be better then a Beach shoot.

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We turned one into a “Merry Christmas” Card for their website

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We also took the opportunity while they were still in swimsuits to get some waterfall shots.

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These shots were all taken with a Canon 6D and 100mm Macro lens, showing what a great portrait lens it is as well.

We will definitely be catching up with the Gasolina Girls again soon for some more shoots.

Cheers Dave

History Alive 2013 – Napoleonics

Last weekend, I managed to get to my favourite event. History Alive 2013

I am always thankful when I go there to the organisers and re-enactors who put so much effort into organising the event and make it a great adventure, this year I only got to go on the Sunday, next year will try and go both days.

My favourite period is Napoleonic and will start with a few photos of them.

Possibly my favourite photo from the day is Michelle Spano as a French Cavalry.

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I am always happy to get good photos of the firing Muskets

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Cheers Dave

Skye (the Cat)

We spend a bit of time at our close friends Ivan and Jules (of Jas Photography ) and I always look forward to seeing their beautiful cat Skye.

Skye is always willing to pose for a photo or too, in her Cat way ( which equates to total indifference).

Then we get the “Stretch” as I would rather be asleep.

Canon 7D and 60mm Macro lens (only because it was lready on the camera)

Cheers Dave

Surfs Up – Currumbin Beach

A few more from last Sunday, these were taken from the Viking Surf Life Saving Club at Currumbin, while were having a lovely breakfast of sausages and eggs.

Was a beautiful morning down there, once the clouds cleared,the sun came out, and the waves were huge, with a big high tide pushing through, great for some spectacular surfing displays