Here is a great quote...“My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.” – Steve McCurry

One can become obsessed with photography when you have the photo bug, it is not something you can shake off... it gets under your skin and becomes a very enjoyable obsession.

The little Silver-Eyes of "Tranquillity" originally gave me the photo bug.  After moving from Christchurch to a small remote village tucked away in Southland near Gore I was able to retire my employer alarm clock and pass my day job on to someone else... We settled in quickly and with more time on my hands I was able to reconnect with nature through the lens of my camera...  The little Silver-Eyes were my first subject and I quickly learned that they had a diverse range of personalities and often an amazing comical look... I found them fascinating to photograph and observe and their willingness to be my unsuspecting models allowed me the freedom to begin my 10,000 hour photography apprenticeship.

We can all take photos, and with the technology available today mots of us do... many of the mobile phones have incredible cameras... so most people have a camera with them at all times, and with the new internet age and social media I would imagine that billions of photos are taken every day and posted on the internet...

I make it a policy never to go anywhere without my camera, and on the rare occasion that I have, I have felt totally naked... yet four years ago my camera was not a mandatory part of my attire.

How many photos do you take a day? I confess to capturing somewhere between 300 and 1000 photos each day...every day... 7 days a week... If my subject is interesting like our little Silver-Eyes (especially in the winter months), my husband rarely sees me during the day. My lens and I are captivated...immersed in nature and what she has to offer through my lens...there is always "one more shot", I may not know what it is... but I know it's there.  The more photos I take, the more I learn and the more I realise how much more there is to learn.

My husband Keith often talks about the 10,000 hours... from the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell who writes "that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in any field".  Keith is very wise, he consumes books like we consume breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert... on a daily basis... He is not only my wonderful husband, he is a brilliant mentor and teacher of knowledge... and the support and encouragement he shares gives me the encouragement and motivation to follow my passion...

It takes more than caring to be a true friend... The little Silver-Eyes of "Tranquillity" one of the first in a series of images that gave me the photo bug... I really wanted to share them with the world... I have tried for four winters now to capture something similar to this... but nothing seems to come close... A unique moment captured for all time...

Traffic lights... This is Dela our beautiful Galah... (Rose Breasted Cockatoo) His vocabulary astounds us at times..

This time of year flowers are plentiful, they are always a great subject to photograph...

Rocky, the rescued Rock Pigeon... Once he fledged and was able to feed himself, we set him free to go back into the wild... He still pops in sometimes three times a day to have a good feed, often bringing his friends along...

This is one of those moments, probably never to be repeated again... In the right place at the right time with my camera... These split second moments in nature captured forever drive my passion, a gift I humbly receive and share with all of you...

My mother calls me a late bloomer... I think deep down I have always had a passion for photography, but 20 years ago I had never heard of a digital camera... I was too busy being a mother, and running a small business there was no time for photography... 

Photography used to be all about waiting until the film spool was used up before having your photos developed...  An expensive exercise and time consuming exercise, and if they were blurred, you paid for them anyway... incredible to think that we used to keep and cherish even the blurred photos... 

10 years ago I saw my first digital camera, I was amazed... you did not have to wait to fill the roll of film, you'd simply download them onto your computer, and if there were blurred photos, you just hit delete...

The internet has changed all that... we can now take photos, load them onto our PC, and in minutes we can literally share them with the world via email and social media sites such as Facebook, Pinintrest, Flicker, Twitter and so on...

I'm hoping to add new photos to this blog fortnightly, so please join me on my journey of passion in 2014... let me share my little view of the world with you from the lens of my camera throughout the year...

Gore Trots, this was my first time, a wonderful place to take some candid photos... we enjoyed the sunshine and a little time out with the family...

Three months ago we were given this Rock Pigeon. It had fallen from the nest and was not ready to fledge... I fed the baby by syringe for a week then taught him to eat seed with the help of our two white collard doves.  Rocky was set free to go back into the wild, he returns twice a day to eat...

Nothing like mothers down to keep this little chick warm and secure...

The magic of sunlight and dirt... Dahlia with sparkling dew drops, the Opium Poppy with the bumble bee... Early morning for me is the best time of day, everything seems new and fresh...

Not often I get to see the Hedgehogs in daylight, this young fellow was still out and about in the early morning... the dew from the grass caught on his whiskers... he wandered off into the bushes....

The beautiful Silver-Eye / Wax Eye, in search of nectar flowers... I know that they will be here in their hundreds when the weather turns cooler... They are birds full of character and provide amazing photo opportunities.

Jade... a first time Mum simply loves motherhood... I have never seen a mother hen as besotted as Jade is with her chick... she shows such emotion and feelings towards her chick, she can't stop looking at it, and if she could simile, she would be beaming from ear to ear...