The sweet and pure beauty of the common camellia. 

Her soft white petals open wide, layer by layer in the warming sunlight, revealing gentle whispers from within. 

She sings a song in soft-scented harmony with her petaline cupping, a song not heard, but smelt. 

Her sweet perfume brings forth a smile on the face of her spectator as she blows a fragrant kiss.

The early morning mist shrouds the famous statue of David, by famous artist and sculptor Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known simply as Michelangelo. This ethereal representation is an enhanced image I took in Firenze (Florence), Italy in 2015.

The history of the statue of David begins before Michelangelo’s work on it from 1501 to 1504.
With a height of 5.17 metres (17 ft), the David was the first colossal marble statue made in the early modern period following classical antiquity, a precedent for the 16th century and beyond.

The biblical figure David was a favoured subject in the art of Florence. Because of the nature of the figure it represented, the statue soon came to symbolise the defence of civil liberties embodied in the 1494 constitution of the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the political aspirations of the Medici family.

In one of many photos I took at the Victor Emanuele II Monument back in 2015, this cute little cherub, a small part of a much larger sculpture, appears to be keeping a watchful eye over the adjoining piazza.

He seems so innocent while he holds a sword.
Is he aware of what it is that he holds? Is he ready for a fight?
Or does his naivety rule strongest in his mind, blissfully unaware of the irony he displays?

A messenger of love, wielding an instrument of death.

Bushfires are devastating. They seem to destroy almost everything in their path.

But mother nature is strong. She hides away and when the time is right, she emerges again, as strong as ever.

Even in the darkest times, when all seems lost to forces we cannot control, life endures. Springing from the most unexpected places. Love is the same.

When things seem dire and you feel unloved, be assured it is only a matter of time, when love will emerge and grow strong again.

This beautiful image, enhanced, but not manipulated, is a glorious tribute to the power of love and life.

Now, as a personal tribute to those among us who fight the destructive power of fire and, who find themselves exhausted and sometimes lifeless, I would like to show gratitude and support to those men and women. So I will share the proceeds from the sales of this picture and donate them to the rural fire services.

I like to get up close and personal with the world around us and in doing so I discover unexpected beauty, even in the bleakest of conditions

This is a close-up of a piece of sheet metal, shrouded in a cloak of ice crystals.
A tiny pebble sits amongst the chilly carpet, like a miniature hedgehog with crystalline spikes.

The lens flare captured in precisely the right place creates perfect yin-yang symmetry.

HUMANITY

Humans see beauty and grace in the natural world.

We marvel at things that for us, seem impossible to achieve or replicate.

So, in an effort to prove ourselves – to who knows who or what – we study, analyse and copy those miracles of nature.

We succeed.

But then something weird happens.
Pride and other destructive human conditions come into play.

Instead of sharing, we lay false claims to our discoveries and try to take ownership of them.

Then, when conflicts arise, we weaponise them and turn those new-found technologies against each other, ultimately destroying the world that gave them to us in the first place.

INSANITY

Bushfires are devastating. They seem to destroy almost everything in their path.

But mother nature is strong. She hides away and when the time is right, she emerges again, as strong as ever.

Even in the darkest times, when all seems lost to forces we cannot control, life endures. Springing from the most unexpected places. Love is the same.

When things seem dire and you feel unloved, be assured it is only a matter of time, when love will emerge and grow strong again.

This beautiful image, enhanced, but not manipulated, is a glorious tribute to the power of love and life.

Now, as a personal tribute to those among us who fight the destructive power of fire and, who find themselves exhausted and sometimes lifeless, I would like to show gratitude and support to those men and women. So I will share the proceeds from the sales of this picture and donate them to the rural fire services.