Excellent Music, Unreal Clouds and Involuntary Drenching

I recently bought new music (Partners (2014) by the lovely Barbra Streisand and company) to add on to my growing collection of music...and oh gosh, it is such a masterpiece! Although many of the songs had been covered before, they were creatively rearranged so that they could be sung as duets (which was what this entire album's theme was about anyway). I wish I could provide a full-on review of the album here...but I think I'd keep it short for now. I don't think I'd want to go into music student mode (although I AM a music student in many ways!).

Personally, I found that the rearrangements were really creative, heartwarming, highly meticulous and thoughtful. Alongside the lyrics, the structural bits of the music (e.g. tonality, tempo, timbre, harmonies, percussiveness and so on) were really effective in communicating various emotions (amongst many others - wistfulness, joy, hope, and nostalgia). It was as though each song was telling a fascinating story with a beautiful personal touch. This masterpiece is certainly something that cannot be missed! 

Partners (2014) debuted at No.1 on Billboards 200! And this meant that Barbra Streisand has had at least one No.1 album every decade for SIX consecutive decades! Now THIS is extremely admirable! And up till now I'm still in awe...and so happy for her.

"Now even the word 'legend' has become an understatement. This is seriously the greatest feat ever. Congratulations [to the one and only] Barbra Streisand!"

Anyway, before I ramble on about more music stuff, I think I should get back on track (no pun intended). See - I always get carried away when talking about music! Especially really good music! No wait - Barbra Streisand's now in a league of her own! Totally phenomenal!

Sometime back, I experienced one of the best and most dramatic sunsets ever. And this remains my favourite collection of sunset pictures. I'm so glad I actually made a trip down to the beach to catch this sunset - and I'm also happy that I trusted my intuition and didn't let work get in the way! 

Although there were wispy clouds everywhere, I still managed to get a clear view of the sun setting in the distant horizon. The whole sky was just illuminated in such a brilliant orange! And just for the record, orange is my favourite colour :)

I like it when there're wispy clouds in the sky during sunsets - these really add drama to the sunsets. I hope to take a pic of a mackerel sky sunset someday too! So far I've got lots of pics of altocumulus and cirrus sunsets, and of course, clear sunsets. But no mackerel sky yet! I'll keep on a lookout for an opportunity to do so! Hopefully soon!

Here's the "aftermath" of the sunset - remaining clouds being illuminated in a brilliant shade of orange...and gradually taking on a little bit of pink hue...well at least for some of the clouds...

The pink soon turned into this vibrant red colour! So brilliant and dramatic, that even the seas were lit up in the exact same shade.

Just as I was switching over to my wide-angle lens, I noticed this really beautiful swirly pattern in the sky. It seemed too beautiful to be true, and needless to say, I had to take as many pics of it as I could! Even up till now - I'm still in awe. These clouds were just so beautiful...and so unreal. Nature's work of art indeed!

I was so happy when I found out that the swirly pattern remained swirly even as the skies rapidly darkened. It gave me lots of photo opportunities indeed! So I continued focusing on this part for some time. I really love the colour combinations! 

In between swirly shots, I did take pics of other cloudscapes too. When I shifted my camera towards the right, I noticed that the clouds were equally dramatic...and didn't have the swirly pattern as shown above...

In fact, they formed all these beautiful parallel (well, almost!) lines, which was so mind-blowing! I just couldn't resist taking pics of these clouds here, and was so captivated by the colour combination in the sky. These were pretty long-lasting too!

Ah yes - an 'out-take' - the mandatory silhouette shot. Used my telephoto lens for this.

I thought the courthouse near Bather's Beach looked pretty interesting at night...albeit a little spooky. So I took a pic of it...and kind of freaked myself out. Now I'm desensitised though.

A few days after capturing those epic clouds, I went to capture some long exposure pics of waves - something which I hadn't done in quite some time...and something which I want to continue working on. One day, I'll head down South to take long exposure pics of the open ocean...that would be cool!

Anyway - I was pretty lucky. The waves that day were big, and definitely added drama to my pics...

Well...at one point it did get a bit too dramatic for my liking. I was definitely having a nice time taking all these pics, but I was also unaware of how big the waves COULD get. A split second after taking this pic (directly below), I was drenched from head to toe in extremely cold and salty water! Involuntarily of course! Fortunately I was the only one there...and no one heard me scream. It was VERY cold...I think the winds were quite strong that day too.

So I posted a pic of it on Instagram...and that led to an interesting and pretty amusing conversation between myself and my mates (names hidden)! I don't think I need to be nominated anymore...though I did end up nominating my best mate to do the challenge. And she did it!

Although I was thoroughly drenched, my camera was actually dry, as I was hugging it really close to me and had my head down (over the camera) when I got drenched. Don't ask me why I was doing that, but that definitely saved my camera from an involuntary dunking! Lesson learnt - do not go too near epic waves. 

That said, epic waves are still lovely to look at! I decided to continue braving the cold (yes it was in winter AND I got dunked!) to take more long-exposure pics, as I wasn't too sure how my timetable was going to work out for the next few weeks. It was definitely worth braving the cold, and I'm actually really surprised that I didn't get sick. I told my supervisors about it the next day, and they had a really good laugh! 

Ending off this post with a personal 'milestone' of mine - I finally heard Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto (Piano Concerto in E-flat Major Op.73 'Emperor') LIVE! I had been waiting so long to hear this concerto live, and when WASO (West Australian Symphony Orchestra) announced that they were performing it with Stephen Hough as soloist, I just HAD to go for it! The performance was really good...and I was particularly captivated by the second movement - which is my favourite movement. Gosh I'm so ecstatic!!

See? Music is really an integral part of my life! I hope to go for more live performances too! 

Had the 'mandatory' hot choc and alchemy cake from Koko Black shortly after the concert...as I was hungry! I don't know why I get hungry so easily...

More updates to come in the near future! Do stay tuned!

Wildflower Festival! (Part 2)

OK - here's a second post on the Wildflower Festival! One post isn't enough for me to cover everything...

Gosh I have been having so much hot chocolate lately! I just can't resist the urge to go to Theobroma Chocolate Lounge (the Fremantle branch) - this place is officially my favourite chocolate lounge in Perth! I go there at least once a week! Also - for some reason, coffee art (or should I say chocolate art?!) makes me happy...so I had to post the two pics below!

OK, chocolate aside. I discovered a florist who made the most amazing arrangements ever! She was selling her arrangements at one of the carparks in Kings Park, and from what I remember, she's got a shop at Shenton Park or something. Most of her arrangements consisted of Australian native flowers.

Check out the variety of colours (and the colour combination) she's used! For these arrangements here, the red banksia seemed most prominent, and so it became my focal point for these pics here. Some of them had other smaller flowers, and others had kangaroo paw flowers included. 

The red banksias were so beautiful - I couldn't resist taking more pics of them. They were just so perfect...and the colour was so vibrant. Apparently these came from different parts Down South (e.g. Albany), and the weather's still cool there. When I was taking these pics, the florist was telling me that the weather was warming up unusually fast...and it happened to be 32 degrees Celsius that day! I was actually really surprised by that - usually it doesn't get that warm in mid-September.

Spotted another variety of banksia not too far away, and had to do some close-ups - as these were equally perfect...I see a lot of these around uni.

And of course, both varieties were included in some of the arrangements. The florist herself was really comfortable with me taking pics of her arrangements.

This cream-coloured flower is just so unusual! It contrasted really well with the banksias and what-not.

Did some other 'close-ups' of some of the flowers too...I love admiring flowers despite having hay fever. It's totally worth the sneezing!

Decided that the wide-angle lens would be pretty good for some overhead shots, so I decided to try it out. Was quite happy with how some of the pics turned out :)

Ah yes - and needless to say, "paper daisies" were on sale. These were classified as 'everlastings' by the florist. Apparently they're dry and low maintenance, and can last up to 2 years! Cool!

Headed back to the park after taking lots of pics of the arrangements, and having a very nice chat with the florist. She didn't have many customers that day due to the weather, but she told me that she had lots of customers the day before.

Because of the recent dry spell, many flowers in Kings Park were starting to dry up. However, I managed to find a spot where the flowers were still relatively fresh. So I took as many pics as I could - considering that the weather's gonna get drier as the days go by.

Spotted this lovely blooms too - and these were still really fresh! I don't have many pics of white flowers, so this was a good time for me to 'stock up' on some! I also managed to get a pic of me walking through the flower beds (that was fun!).

And of course, these purplish-blue flowers deserved some attention too. I like the colour of the petals! And I like the way they're arranged...so strategic!

Not too far from the flower beds - these brightly-coloured works of art, made entirely of recycled material. These were all apparently designed, painted and constructed by school children. So innovative!

And since I love mushrooms so much, I had to take a couple of pics of them!

It was pretty warm that day, and I had been in the sun for quite a while...so I headed back to a cafe for a drink. I was actually really happy to see pink water bottles...and when the counter dude handed me the bottle, I accidentally exclaimed, "oh my gosh the bottle is pink!!" (yes I am a big fan of pink stuff). The counter dude was really amused.

After Kings Park, I headed off for CD shopping...and also to cool off. And then I headed to my favourite spot in Fremantle (Bather's Beach) to watch the sunset, as I haven't watched a sunset for quite some time!! Here're my favourite pics from the sunset - a couple being snuggly with each other...and the sunset itself. It wasn't a very dramatic one, but it sure was interesting! To me, all sunsets are different, and unique in their own ways.

Ending this post with yet ANOTHER hot choc pic! I captioned this like so:

"Let's just say that this is my 'staple food'." Apparently chocolate IS becoming my staple food now. Strictly dark chocolate though! More pics coming up soon...!! Not all of them will involve chocolate, of course. Do stay tuned!