I’m looking forward to welcoming 2024 and saying Hoo Roo to 2023.

 2023 was been a year of emotional ups and downs, not only because of SWMBO’s failing health but accepting the inevitable outcome of her incapacity and realising that at my advanced age I have to, in many ways, put my health and well being first.

 I now only visit SWMBO on a weekly basis and strangely I find the visits to be a task, not part of a love story. From what I’ve read, that is not an unusual outcome as its assists in limiting the feeling of sadness that accompanies every visit.

 On the positive side of things, my involvement in photography brings me a great deal of satisfaction and my involvement with other photographers provides interaction with other people and a level of friendly competition to add to the fun.

 I’m active in three different camera groups, each one with different objectives and regular meetings, challenges and outings.

 Then there is the technical aspect of photography and in this digital age there is always something new to take into account when searching for that elusive exceptional image.

 It’s always interesting to see the variety of camera brands used by colleagues and Canon and Nikon are two of the most popular.

 Nikon has been my camera choice for many years now, going back to the F models in the 1960’s and now I’m a happy user of the Z series mirror less digital cameras and associated Z lenses.

 Here are three examples of the style of images I enjoy making. The first is a night photograph of the local railway station. The second is an example off table top photography. The background is a local river bank, about 500 metres from my house. The croc and the helpless pig are toys and the blood of course is only paint. This one was photographed in the lounge room. The last image is of my Landrover Defender Extreme on one of our outback trips where we were navigating across one of Australia’s great desert areas. Map and compass were the go when I took this photo. All Nikon digital of course. 

 I’m looking forward to 2024 and intend to expand my landscape collection by returning to the Snowy Mountain area in both Victoria and my home state, New South Wales. Not in winter of course where skiers enjoy the high tops and the mountain trails remain inaccessible to vehicular traffic.

So there we are, Hoo Roo for now.