Ballarat Swap Meet: Fairlane 500

Classic cars have such lovely details that you don’t see these days.

Ballarat Swap Meet: 4WD XY Falcon ute

Only around 400 of these four wheel drive Falcon utes were made, so they’re a rare sight these days. It’s one of my all-time Aussie favourites.

The Tatty Afterlife: taxidermy birds

I visited an art gallery today, where part of a taxidermy collection was being exhibited. Most of the birds look tatty – a sad reality of the afterlife – but I was pleased with how this smartphone photo turned out.

Waiting Room Beauty: still life with proteas

Sitting in a waiting room recently, I looked over and noticed the light coming through this vase, and took a couple of shots to tinker with on my phone while I waited.

Ballarat Swap Meet: Mainline ute

Ballarat Swap Meet: chief

As I leant in to see the dashboard of this lovingly restored Pontiac, I noticed the door lock pull chief glowering at me!

Flash Past Glimpse: Mount Cole

Taking a planned detour around Mount Cole, south east of Ararat in Victoria, I held my phone up at the car’s passenger window and snapped a few shots, trying to get one with somethinginteresting in the foreground to complement the mountain rising up from the plain. Isn’t it funny that the photo I like best obscures all but the mount’s tip?

Here, nothing is really in focus, but I couldn’t stop looking at it – my eye kept being drawn around: firstly to Mount Cole, then to the trees at the left, down and along the undulating fence back to Mount Cole again.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, edited with Snapseed app.

Pinned Butterfly Collection: Buick purple people eater (4 photos)

While on a trip into Ballarat I spotted a big, purple beast with long fins, and naturally had to cross the road for a closer look. It resolved into a left hand drive Buick Century, a new species for my collection. As an added bonus, the nearby flowering gum had strewn its petals prettily into the road.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact phone, Vignette app.

Ballarat Swap Meet: the ending before the middle

If you’d asked me this morning if I’ve had an awesome time at the swap meet, I’d have grizzled about the infernal weather – too much sun for photography, too much heat for me.
But tonight, wandering around with my bestie and my Olympus XZ-2, through the remains of the day with only an eighth of the site holders remaining, I felt refreshed by the cooler change in the weather, the improved lighting situation pre-sunset, and the amazing sights revealed once a few distracting elements had removed themselves.

Arriving back at the caravan on dark, my camera battery exhausted, we sat down to reflect, and enjoy the neighbours’ mellow ’50s music. This photo is of the screen, and last photo taken on, my camera. Now I can’t wait to get home and start editing – and sharing photos with you.