Beneath My Feet-Friendly Friday Blog Challenge and Photography tips

Recently, the Home by the Sea had an addition beneath our feet.

Instead of the verdant grassy backyard of our dreams, a patchy, weed-ridden excuse for a lawn evolved crying out for weekly attention. Attention the M.o.t.h. (Man of the House), neglected to allot, so we thought it might be time to look at options. The Schnauzer dogs vetoed getting rid of it altogether. A compromise was needed.

It is hot here for over half of the year.

Lawns in Australia, notoriously devour voluminous gallons of very expensive fresh water and require careful weeding, fertilising and nurturing. As the M.o.t.h. would rather support commercial television programs than the manure retailers, it was decided to swap out the backyard lawn for a lower maintenance option of exposed aggregate concrete.

For months, we had no luck finding a “tradie,” (tradesman), to do the job, given the current construction climate. The Australian building industry is booming in a, ‘boom, or bigger boom,’ kind of way, ever since Covid. [I am waiting for the bust, but it hasn’t come yet]. It’s crazy, especially given that most building materials are in very short supply.  B.C. (before Covid), our Home by the sea was built in just 18 weeks, now an average house build has spanned out to take 18 months or more! Such are the consequences of a pandemic.

Finally, we found some motivated fifty-something guys who were willing to do the job beneath our feet. Well – most of the time, anyway:

Hard at Work – our concreting crew!

I captured this photo soon after these guys told us the young blokes weren’t tough enough and couldn’t hack a whole day of concreting work!!!

But bless them, by the end of the day, we had a super new patio area devoid of grassy tufts that invariably found their way inside my house. That equals less housework for me – Yay!

Friendly Friday Photo and Blog Challenge Theme

-Beneath Your Feet

Noosa National Park, Australia

The Challenge this Friendly Friday is to write a post about, or photograph something, “Beneath Your Feet.” It might be some interesting rocks,

Sunshine Coast, Australia

freshly formed fungi,

a reptilian or animal species,

Bearded Dragon at Coolangatta, Australia

A red-bellied black snake?

or snow!

We were in Norway!

Tips for Shooting Photos on Low Surfaces

• When photographing the ground, it helps to include something else in the frame to show context.
• Capture an object on the floor, look for something to frame the shot such as overhanging branches or buildings or internal walls, cupboards.
• Keep in mind the “Rule of Thirds.”
• Include a person — or part of a person — to add movement and life to the shot.
• If outside, use shadows to capture shapes and details on your surface.
• Try different angles for a dynamic composition.

Friendly Friday Photo and Blog Challenge

This Friendly Friday Prompt runs for two weeks after which we will have a collaborative guest post from the What’s on the Shelf Bloggers, Deb, Sue, Donna and Jo. 

Everyone is welcome to join in with the Friendly Friday Challenge: Beneath Your Feet. You just need to:

• Construct a post
• Title and tag it ‘Friendly Friday‘
• Include a ping back and url here along with a comment on this post, so we can find your blog and visit your post.

That is it. Easy Peasy.

More details on Friendly Friday here

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