A BFA (or Bad First Attempt)

The Web being what it is, sometimes it's impossible to find what you're looking for and sometimes you stumble upon it like some kind of...well, great old stumbling thing.

Today I found this website, which has lots of little helpful hints for using Photoshop and other CS5 applications, and thought I'd try my hand at retro-ing a photo.

I already have a bit of software for giving photos a Polaroid effect, but doing it via Photoshop is a whole different kettle of fish madness. However, as I'm currently doing my best to avoid a certain (paid) work-related task, I thought I'd give it a shot. Past experience has taught me that Photoshop can buy me hours of procrastination time.

This tutorial assumes I know more than I do (a little awkward really but I thought I'd try and fake it). It took me about an hour, and I fudged a couple of the steps. Really, it's a BFA if ever I saw one. The result is not so much retro-pic as cheesy B-Grade movie poster-pic. I'm half expecting Bo Derek to walk into the shot with hair braids and a white bikini. Still, now that I've got my first attempt out of the way, I can move onto what will hopefully be a SBSA (Slightly-Better Second Attempt). 

That should eat up another hour at least. Procrastination-City...here I come.

x

PS pre-Photoshop pic below...

For anyone interested in the location, it's beautiful Geordie Bay, Rottnest Island.

We camped, we fished, we left.

Last weekend we stupidly went on a camping trip. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, it's just that sleeping on a half-inflated mattress in the damp and cold does not say "five star hotel" to me.

Surprisingly, we have all the camping gear. The big tent with three rooms and a "sunroom", the outdoor table and chairs, the kitchenette. And yet, there is just no escaping the fact that camping is dirty and sandy and not-at-all comfortable. So, why do we go?

Why do we do anything my friends?

Guilt.

My gorgeous and very practically-minded eldest daughter said one night at dinner, "We should go on  camping trip".

For me, the killer is the word "should". She may as well have said, "You two are bad parents who make no effort to get your children away from every electronic device known-to-man. If you don't get us out of the house and into some fresh air this instant I'm going to report you to child welfare."

It's that word "should", and all its guilt-ridden connotations.

So, we packed up and left for Moore River. It's a pretty little place on the coast about an hour and a half from home. 

We spent lots of time walking, taking photos, playing card games and getting rained on. And it was fun.

 In a stroke of parenting-genius we went fishing. There must be lots of good-parenting points in that. We caught nothing, but got our feet wet and sandy, got rained on again, and laughed more than we have done in a while. 

You see, the thing about camping is that there's no getting away from anyone. 

And that was lovely.

x

A cool change...and some silly names

A cool breeze blowing down at the beach this morning...hooray! It is lovely to start the day with a visit to the beach. We have given names to the bays near our house...sadly not very creative names. There is the 'Dog Beach' - fairly self explanatory, that's where you can take your dog. It's a lovely little bay full of people who love dogs, and of course, dogs. I think that in all the time we have been going there we have only seen one or two small fights (dog fights, not people fights). It seems to attract 'nice' dogs. Last week we went there for a swim and saw a Labrador puppy frolicking up and down the beach, as if it were in some kind of toilet paper commercial! Very sweet.

Moving on, the next bay is, by default, the 'People Beach'. Probably doesn't require explanation (but if you need one, there are no dogs there, just people. I did say these were not very creative names.)

And our favourite spot, right at the end of the beach, is 'Secret Beach'. A tiny little bay that is only there once-in-a-while when the tide goes a long way out, leaving rock pools and a beautiful sandy bay. We like to refer to it as being 'open' or 'closed', as if it were a shop.

These pictures are of 'People Beach', taken with that wonder-of-wonders, the iPhone.

Have a great day.

x

Play Point and Shoot over at Fat Mum Slim. Lots of fun!