Welcome to my world

My desire in these pages is to be able to show my world through some of my photographs. If you want to use any of my photographs for your own use, you'll need to ask my permission as they are all under copyright, but don't assume that I won't give you permission. This shot is of my nephew taken outside his aunty's florist shop in the Southern Highlands.

The third shot below of Lake MacQuarie was sent out to family and friends this past Christmas in leiu of a Christmas card. I realy like how the colours of the setting sun are reflected on the bottom of the boats. The second shot was taken in 2000 during the Sydney Olympic Games. My brother, also a keen photographer and artist, came with me this night to try and capture some of the sights associated with the games. Night photogrphy is a favoured form of past-time for me. I must have taken a dozen differing shots of the Harbour Bridge with the Olympic rings. We had a lot of fun that night but were pretty worn out from walking around a large part of the city. From memory we finished about 2.30 am.






My great uncles were professional photographers and artists and my great grandfather was a stained glass window artist. Two of his daughters were ecclesiastical embroiderers, who made fine altar covers and vestments. And with one son an organist and choir master, the family made a good living from the church. I suppose some of these artistic genes must be flowing in the blood. My two sisters are also artists, so I hope to show some of their work from time to time.

My family were also connected to the famous Bristol stained glass window company of Joseph Bell and Sons. That company ran from the 1840s until 1996. My great grandfather Richard Pook Collett ran his business in Leicester. I have only identified a few of his windows so far. One is in Barclay's Bank in central Leicester - an internal widow depicting grape vines, and another of St George killing a dragon in the parish church of St Michael & All Angles at Hallaton, Leicestershire ( http://www.hallaton.org/index.html). I know he did a lot of work in the mansion houses along London Road, most of which are now part of the University of Leicester.

Now and again I'll be adding a few political comments covering a wide range of subjects - mainly dealing with the stupidity or down right dishonesty of politicians - most of whom deserve our greatest contempt.

The forth shot below was taken during the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. This shot was taken from a private garden over-looking the harbour. My brother and I made out we were invited to the party going on in the house above us. We sure had a good view, and our supply of vintage 1996 Samichlaus Bier (Beer) lasted us most of the night. By the way, Samichlaus is a fantastic beer, but very hard to find. And before anyone asks, no that was not camera shake, but wind blur!

You might notice that water features in a lot of my photography. It's the stuff they make into beer!

The fifth shot below was taken on the South Coast of New South Wales near Scarborough. I'm not sure the exact name of the beach, but it is a great location for landscapes.



















The cloud shot was taken near Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney when out airplane spotting with my friend Chris. If you can't find any interesting airplanes than I suppose a good cloud will do!







Caught in flight. A native bee so small that I could hardly see it with the naked eye. This was taken on a bush walk along the coast near Newcastle, NSW. It's not the best shot, but that's life when trying to capture nature.






This shot was taken at Kings Cross, Sydney. It's a view of the El Alamein fountain, which was designed by a friend of one of my sisters. He got the idea from the dandelion flower when in seed.






Another nephew riding his bike on Sunday afternoon. He's a checky boy!














This shot of Matthew was taken in the late afternoon, when the sun casts some interesting shaddows.