Book Review - For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Photo: Adriana Glackin - (Lensbaby; iso 100; f2)

I’ve been pretty pre-occupied lately and this blog has fallen by the wayside. Never mind, it’s always here when I’m ready to pick up where I left off.

So, I have this pile of unread books by my bedside table. Some new, some old, some trashy, some classics. I enjoy being able to choose a book to suit my taste at the time, and my taste in books, like music and art, is eclectic so it’s always an adventure working out what to read next. 

A couple of days ago I started a little adventure in picking up Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day”. It’s been sitting there for quite a while and always overlooked until now. It’s a short read and this style of book is best devoured while you’re sitting on your cosy lounge, under a hand-knitted blanket, with a warm and luxurious shawl wrapped snuggly around you and pure sheepskin slippers on. An autumn wind and rain howling outside, the slow cooker is quietly simmering away tantalising you every so often with it's delicious aroma and no other distractions will take your attention away from the story. Of course a box of tissues tucked in beside you will also come in handy. But if all this is not possible, then the next best thing, is to sneak back in bed once everyone has left for school and work and devour the rest of the book then! Which is exactly what I did this morning. Thank goodness MOTH and The Teens weren’t home to see me blubbering like a big baby upon finishing the book and hopelessly willing for more words to magically appear. (Hmmm, that seems to be a bit of a theme when I finish a book – please sir, can I have some more...)

What did I love about it? He uses a minimal amount of words; he uses them so effectively, that every sentence is heavy with meaning. He uses words in such a combination that all the emotion contained in the words is squeezed out and laid bare on the pages for you to drink in. Of course I’m not going to divulge the plot; you can probably guess what it’s about by the title and you know you’ll need tissues handy. Whether you can relate to this tale or not, if you’re left unmoved by this narrative, then you’re not really alive, are you...

Do yourself a favour and grab a copy from your favourite second hand bookstore and snuggle under a blanket and read this tale. A good cry never did anyone any harm. Enjoy!

Scanography

Wow! Who knew you could even do this? Scanography has been called the poor man's large format style of photography. All it basically is, you "photograph" your object by placing it on a flatbed scanner and activate the scan via your editing program. Wow! I'm still excited at what you can achieve. Of course, my first subject is flowers... These are my first attempts at scanography. I really must read up a bit more on this. What I'm wondering though, is just what other unusual forms of photography are out there that I don't know about...

Book Review - "The Distant Hours" by Kate Morton

Photo: Adriana Glackin

It was with a little apprehension that I opened this book. This is the third novel by Kate Morton, a Brisbane based author. Her other two novels are “The Shifting Fog” and “The Forgotten Garden” and I thoroughly enjoyed reading both. So why the apprehension? Well it seems that authors tends to have a formula, a signature , to their writing and sometimes it can be so overpowering that it overtakes the story; so that all you see is the formula that’s been followed rather than the story or even the characters. Think of John Grisham and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I didn’t want to feel the disappointment I did when I read the third, almost identical Grisham novel.

Kate Morton’s style is to weave more than one story within the pages; she also has this wonderful knack of being able to take you back into the past, back to the present and then back to the present again over and over, the whole time weaving the stories and characters together. She does this so effortlessly, that although it’s been that way for all 3 of her novels the actual narratives and characters more than hold their own. This latest of hers, is another clever narrative, and my only regret is that I raced through it far too quickly – I simply needed to know what was going to happen next!

It was also with some disappointment that I closed the book for one last time. At 497 pages, the book seems long enough – and heavy enough when it falls on your nose when you’re up late in bed reading when you should be sleeping... But I feel a sense of sadness that I won’t hear any more of the tales of Saffy and Percy, two of the characters from the novel. There simply wasn’t the room in the book to squeeze anymore in, for that I’m certain and I think it is more a testament of the writing skills of the author that she is able to leave you with this feeling. Or, it might just be me being greedy and wanting to know more.

If you’ve read her previous two novels, then you’ll definitely enjoy The Distant Hours. If you haven’t read any of her novels and you enjoy your chick-lit with the modern day mixed with the early 20th century, full-bodied characters and clever twists, then give them a go. I know I haven't given anything away here - that would be spoiling it, now wouldn't it...

Kate, if you happen across this blog post, it would be really, really good if you could write a spin-off novella about Saffy and Percy. Such sweet dears, I would have loved to hear more of their stories.

What lens do you use when photographing waterfalls?

I tagged long with photographers Tatiana and Peter this past weekend and I thought I’d share some photographs I took of some waterfalls located in the Leura area.  I’m not certain of their name, but they are below the Bridal Veil Falls. Please feel free to leave me a comment if you happen to know the names of the waterfalls below.

I used three very different lenses: Sigma 10-20mm, the Lensbaby Composer (with Soft Focus Option) and 24mm Tilt-Shift Lens, borrowed from Peter who has a wonderful tutorial on tilt-shift lenses just a click away. You can see by the examples, that some very different results were obtained. I have included the camera and lens settings for you.

So, what lens do you like to use when you shoot landscapes such as waterfalls?

Canon 50D, Sigma 10-20mm @14mm, f11, ISO100, 30 seconds, Cokin ND filters x 2

Canon 50D, Sigma 10-20mm @ 11mm, f14, ISO100, 15 seconds, Cokin ND Filters x 2

Canon 50D, Lensbaby Composer, Soft Focus Optic, ISO100, 1 second,  Cokin ND Filters x 2, own textures added in PS

Canon 50D, Lensbaby Composer Soft Focus Optic, ISO100, 0.6 seconds, Cokin ND Filters x 2

Canon 50D, Lensbaby Composer Soft Focus Optic, ISO100, 1/13 seconds, Cokin ND Filters x 2,

Canon 50D, 24mm tilt-Shift Lens, f11, 1.3 seconds, no filters

The magical world in the upturned glass

the magical world in the upturned glass, originally uploaded by Adriana Glackin.

The challenge was set and the keyword was “glass”. It could be interpreted in any way, and having seen an early entry, I almost didn’t bother. How could I compete with that...and then I got to thinking - what’s the point of a challenge if I give up so easily? That wouldn’t be the spirit of it, so it was time to think hard and give it a go. Each day I would formulate an idea in my head whilst working out if I could pull it off, trying all the while to build the image in my head. In the end, I decided to pursue a dandelion idea as there was a perfect one in our lawn. Thanks to some butterfly stock over at Deviantart and quite a few adjustment layers, I’m happy with the result – a magical world in an upturned schooner glass!