Day 240 of 365 Day Challenge

Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

Apps: Hipstamatic, Snapseed

Day 239 of 365 Day Challenge

I'm in Sydney and it's off to see the Rocks and then to Manly for supper so time for another seagull photo.

Apps: Hipstamatic, Snapseed, iColorama, Formulas

Day 238 of 365 Day Challenge

Sydney! After the spic and span of Singapore, the CBD of Sydney feels like the old leather glove that I found in my drawer - worn but comfortable and a favourite.

I've done most of the tourist attractions in past visits to Sydney and decide that I will have a relaxed day just browsing the city and taking it easy. We arrive at 6am after very little sleep and I am with the fairies. So after a quick snooze at the hotel, it's off to visit the gems of the city. Today's photo is in the Strand Avenue. A photo of the lovely stain glass windows. One of my favourite shops here is the Strand Hatters (http://strandhatters.com.au/news/home/), a wonderful shop where you can get a hat custom shaped and I often think I should have one done! In this Avenue is where you can get one of the best cups of coffee in Sydney in my opinion and it's great to sit up to the long tables in the Avenue and watch the world go by.

Apps: Hipstamatic, Snapseed, Marksta

Strand Hatters

Strand Avenue

Day 237 of 365 Day Challenge

Roaming the streets of Singapore I quite by accident came across a quirky area that I discovered later was Little Indian. Beautiful old colonial town houses with the top floors in various states of repair - peeling, lovingly restored or often with an over-the-top Indian flavour. The ground floor a vibrant eclectic mix of Indian shops. I spent a good couple of hours wondering around and having lunch. For anybody who is gluten intolerant don't miss out on Jonathan's gluten free restaurant - a rarity in Asia for sure!

So I thought I would take one of the photos of a town house first floor and convert it into a arty painting

Apps: Hipstamatic, Snapseed, iColorama, Stackables 

Some more photos of Little India:

Day 236 of 365 Day Challenge

Singapore - The Marina Bay Sands. Don't miss the evening light show.

Day 235 of 365 Day Challenge

As usually we spent our first day yesterday in Singapore walking ourselves to death. I should know by now that if my husband says the restaurant we are going to for supper is not far away, I'm in for a 45 minute walk - and that's after a full day of walking! 20 years ago I wouldn't have battered an eyelid but these days I'm probably looking at hip replacement!

So it's not surprising that when we woke up this morning he said I was looking a bit of a wreck. We decided on a nice peaceful day at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, with the Orchid Garden the highlight, one of our favourite places. And guess what, the taxi ride of 8 Singapore dollars each way was the best money we have ever spent.

I decided to make it a macro day as a bit of a challenge. I did take some ordinary shots but it was mainly macro with my iPhone Olloclip macro lens. I think what surprised me more than anything was that when I go macro in Hong Kong I enter the world of lots of little insects but here I found virtually none. I wondered whether it might be due to insecticides to keep the flowers in such pristine condition - who knows?

So another difficult choice for today's photo. I'm down to 8, but in the end it has to be the centre of a small orchid and the lovely green glow of the the petals. Enjoy a couple of my other favourites.

All taken with Hipstamatic on the iPhone. No edits apart from some that were rotated and the addition of the copyright in the Marksta app.

This one came a very close second:

Looking at this little flower below with the human eye, it looked a boring grey colour. We were both gobsmacked at the colours that emerged at macro level: