Post Of The Day

Today's joint winners are Two Barking Dogs with My Dad Ain't No Julia Child and iMac with Fluttering Flags. The other top contenders were So To Speak with Fruit Chasing; Clippy Mat with Coffee; Car Pool Queen with Things I Learnt This Week; Arne with In London With Ruth Rendell; Nottingham Daily Photo with In Memory Of; Warm Chocolate Milk with Let's Go Fly A Kite and The Extraordinary Ordinary with Say What You Need To Say. Do pay them a visit and leave a comment if you have time.

You can nominate a post too. Just leave a comment here with the URL or link - and tell us the name of the blogger you are nominating. Righty-o, then, it's over to you ....

See my photography at Images Sans Frontiers and Red Bubble.

Friends, Romans, Lens Me Your Ears

Test Your Eyesight With These Two Shots

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This post is a direct result of a challenge from British blogger Imac. He recently threw down the gauntlet when he challenged me to take an unusual photograph of a camera lens. It was just before I flew out to Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur with my family and as soon as I saw his comment, I planned to photograph the famous Petronas Twin Towers reflected in a lens.

How? The simplest way. I always have at least two Sigma lenses with me, an 18-125mm lens and a 70-300mm lens. I figured the best way to do it was to have one of the Authorbloglets point the 300mm lens at the twin towers and for me to use the other lens to photograph the reflection of the towers. It would have been a simple but effective shot.

So there we were, on our way to the towers, when I spotted this unusual sight, a roadside collage comprising several small hexagonal mirrors of different colours. As usual, I trailed the rest of the family by several metres, because I kept stopping to take photographs. As soon as I saw this, I knew it would be perfect for Imac’s challenge.

If you haven’t been able to spot the reflection of my own lens in the photo above, take a look at the shot below and see how quickly you can pick it among the beautiful kaleidoscope of colours.

Incidentally, this sequence of challenges began when Crazy Cath said I’d probably be able to take an artistic shot of a bowl of peas and Maggie May echoed her words before I posted my response, called The Nobel Peas Prize. Immediately afterwards, the Texan blogger Rhea challenged me to photograph garbage (literally) and my response to that was Trash Talk.

I know what you’re thinking. You have a challenge for me, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you want me to shoot….

The Sunday Roast

Lots Of Computing Power On This Imac

This week's interview is with imac,
who writes the blog Photos From The Mind's Eye.

The first of the standard weekly questions: Why do you blog?

G'day David. Ah - Which seat is mine, my friend, to your left or my right? As you can see, Ive dressed for this auspicious occasion. Oh, and please speak a little louder, as I'm a little deaf in this ear. Thank you.

What's that, ah, why do I blog? Well, as you may already know I've been a keen photographer for many a year now and in the last few years I have been making greeting cards with some of my photos to help pay for the expense. I guess it's because I really want to share my photos with people with the same passion as I have - to take photos.

What’s the story behind your blog name?

My blog name is imac. No, I don't use an iMac Computer, I have a PC. So imac - simple, really. 'Tis I - Mac. My surname is Mackinder = imac.

What is the best thing about being a blogger?

Well, that's easy really, To show my photos to all the friends I've made while I've been blogging. I never really thought that I would meet so many friendly people here, to swap photos and comments - to tell stories sad, happy, funny ones ... To have a good laugh with everyone or to share a tear or two together.

To be inspired to improve my technique too. Oh, and to be a clown and to share my insanity moments when they attack me, haha.

What key advice would you give to a newbie blogger?

Phew - well, I'm really not technically minded, and easily forget things told to me, all I can say is to buy a camera that's suited to you and that feels right in your hand. To frame a picture with a tree, maybe don't have the focal point dead in the middle. I've had no lessons or been to any clubs. You will know when you have an eye for a photo too.

What is the most significant blog post you’ve ever read?

Ah, now that's the time to be excused, is it? Time to take a break then ..... Ah, G'day again David, thanks for the pint too. Now this is really hard to answer. There's been so many great posts from everyone, all I will say is the moment that sticks in my mind is when I read a post from a person that has the same insane mind as I have. It clicked.

What is the most significant blog post you’ve every written?

This one is easy because it ain't been written yet. So keep looking at MY blog - or you might miss it. Ah, beep beep beep beep, I like Road Runner the best.

Cheers, folks, keep smiling and be happy. Oh and keep blogging too. Oh, I forgot, you all are welcome to come to my 60th birthday party in June. Thanks for being a great host, David, and for having a joker as your guest.

Today's Sunday Roast with imac is the eleventh in a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world.