Rotorua Lakefront early morning gull and reflection shoot

 A lot of people  write off gulls

They say they are noisy, aggressive and always hungry

But I love their plumage and early in the morning their feathers look angelic and their cute little red feet and beaks always remind me of  soldiers guarding Buckingham Palace

There is always something going on around gulls. Yes they are aggressive and noisy sometimes but often they hang out together on piers just relaxing in the sun or cleaning themselves

A lot of people would look at the bird shit on the tyres and say yuk that's dirty 

But I think that it could be interpreted as the marks on an abstract painting. Besides bird shit is good for the garden and at least in this case it's white. A lot of people think white is a clean colour. 

 You look into the water and sometimes you don't see the reflections but they are always there, its a matter of adjusting your view and slowing down to see the beauty in nature that is everywhere. 

Thee two are obviously a couple and after an initial squabble they settled down quite nicely together in quiet unity

I like surface patterns on things and  I like going out to take photos with certain people. It can be a spiritual experience and it's  a lot of fun
.

Things as they age and get dirty can have a type of beauty that many people overlook. 
It's just a matter of changing the way you see things and getting past the voice in your head that might be saying, "that's not beautiful."  

Creative quote of the day 

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.

John Lubbock

Lake Rotorua and Sulphur Point Photo adventure with Janet Keen and Jing Pan Early morning.

Early morning this lovely lady was taking her little dog for a walk with her friend around the lakefront to Sulphur Point.

Float planes at the lakefront ready for business

This time in the morning the lake is like a Monet painting 

 

Seagulls at Rotorua lakefront stake out their jetties in the hope that someone will come along and give them breakfast.

  

Lone seagull flying in

Sunrise against the Manuka

Sulphurous rocks along Sulphur Point

Islands with more seagulls and vegetation glinting in the early morning sun

Gorgeous textures and colours of these volcanic rocks

 

Pools of hot water mix with fresh water and steam escapes into the early morning air.

The little dog and her owner catches up to us at Sulphur Point. I don't think the point of the exercise is to exercise the dog.

Kuirau Park Market, Rotorua every Saturday morning from 7.30 to around 12noon. The art of being a lovely photographer.

 

Plenty of bargains to be found at the Kuirau Park Market, especially for breakfast and veges, you just gotta know where to look 

 The vibe is very laid back and nonthreatening

Everyone is out for a good time eating breakfast and breakfast can be all sorts of things like whitebait fritters to samosas to kebabs. 

People don't seem to mind you taking shots of them. This young guy had a very pleasant manner.

Some people dress up so they look radiant.

 Beans,
 I always like taking shots of the vegetable displays because they look luscious.  
I got a cool recipe from this customer that I am going to try out.  

 Recipe.  
Ingredients
Garlic, ginger, olive oil, soy sauce. 
Cut up beans to bite sized pieces. 
Method 
Mix the ingredients together and pour over beans. 
Heat wok and stir fry until just cooked.

Eggplant 

Ginger 

Kumara 

Capsicums

Spinach 

 Some cloths for sale are like works of art

Even the rubbish bins are decorated 

 

 

These people gave me a free dumpling with meat in it. For taking their photo, I often buy kebab sticks from around this area.

This guy has an innovative business that people flock to from all over the world from comments made about his food from Tripadvisor. I use Tripadvisor a lot to book accommodation and  other things and they often link back to me so it's a win,win.

Lovely , friendly men, I'm going to make some time to go visit their business in Amohau Street, (formerly Joe's Diner), because I think it would be good to write a travel article about them.

Dumplings look good, I have had these before and they are very filling.

All of the people on the stands are unfailingly nice and happy.
 It's a good vibe place for sure and the food really is quite ethnic in a way. 
It's not like an upmarket or middle class, boutique farmers market,( which has a different charm of its own),  it's more like a community food fest for families. A morning out for happy, humble people.

I love going around talking to market holders about their businesses. 
You hear some pretty interesting stories. It's a real culture of its own the market culture.

It is for the vegetable samosas that I return again and again.

I have been eating them for the past thirteen years. Graham and I usually go about once a month as a treat.

This time I took my camera club buddy Jing and we sat eating them with our feet in the hot water foot baths. 

The baths this day were lovely and hot.

 

This is the first time Jing had tasted the samosas.

She liked them a lot

We are always trying to take the perfect portrait of each other in different situations.
I must admit that I prefer going out on photo safari's with just one other person so you can interact and have fun together.

Passerbys always wave out or talk.

And sometimes you get to hear stories about people's families that are special.

This man was taking his grandson for an outing and he was an engineer and used to build dams in Borneo.

Their relationship was so special and the boy was a well behaved, serene person with the face and manners of an angel.

I am a free lance writer and photographer looking for employment to write travel articles for magazines and newspapers so feel free to contact me if you would like to pay me to write some articles and take some photography about Rotorua and other places in the Bay of Plenty . 

You can reach me at  jkeen@clear.net.nz 

 Creative Quote of the day  

An artist is not paid for her  labour but for her vision.

James Whistler

 “Rembrandt painted portraits, The Karate Kid painted 

fences, and I paint my toenails. But I’m not a snob, I still 

consider those other two guys to be artists.
” 

 
― Jarod Kintz, Who Moved My Choose?: An Amazing Way 

to Deal With Change by Deciding to Let Indecision Into 

Your Life