Week 12 Golden Hour

What an odd week it's been.

And thank goodness for something to focus on with the photography challenge!

Golden hour is such a magical time of the day and I love that it happens 

TWICE a day, 

not just once.

I downloaded the SunTracker app and it's been so useful.  

Especially as with lockdown restrictions, I'm not walking where I usually do.  

You get quite used to where the sun's likely to rise and set in a specific location.

 With the lockdown restrictions though I've had to walk local.

The closest natural areas to me are the Panmure Basin and the Tamaki Estuary. 

 Both are about 2.5kms away so it's a nice brisk walk to get there before the sun rises each day.  

I don't mind walking in the dark. 

It means I hear all the birds wake up.  

I have fun trying to identify them by their calls.

  Some of the images I've used this week are from the archives.  

"It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world." 

~ Mary Oliver

Week 10: Analogous Colours

Nature's full of them!

In all sorts of guises.
From the reds and oranges of an early morning sunrise

to the reds and oranges of this gorgeous rose.

Analogous colours, as described by Google, the arbiter of all things inane, 
are usually 3 colours that are positioned next to each other on the colour wheel.  
They're best used with either warm or cool colours, not only creating a look
 that has a certain temperature to it, but proper colour harmony too.
 

They're always beautiful, sometimes bold, but NEVER boring 
even when they're in the more muted shades.

I experimented this week with trying to find analogous colours that created a mood.

Warm rich reds and oranges

Light and bright greens and yellows

Cool and calm blues and violets.

I couldn't resist including this little Sparrow. 
She has such subtle colouring and the most delicately nuanced plumage

"Taking pictures is savouring life intensely, 

every hundredth of a second." 

~ Marc Riboud

Week 9 - Prickly

Hmmm ... prickly opens up a whole gamut of possibilities, 

not all nature based.  

I work in retail and we get our fair share of 'prickly' customers.

But back to nature.

Over the past few weeks I've had a prickly nocturnal visitor 

meandering across my lawn in the early hours of the morning.  

I think my lawn must be part of the 'hedgehog highway' as there's 

often rustling in the bushes where I photographed this particular individual.

Last year I photographed a Mrs Hedgehog moving her babies along this highway too.

She would pick one baby up in her mouth, 

shuffle halfway up the garden with it, 

deposit it on the ground then rush back down to get the other one. 

 She'd then repeat the process to the top of the garden 

and into the grounds of the school next door.

Fortunately for her she only had two babies.  

It was exhausting just watching her!