A New Year Greeting

[barrym67]

Happy New Year Everyone!! All the best for 2008. May we all get better at what we do and richer!!

My image is all Xara created this time (with a plugin of course - i was triying to capture the feel of the ball at Times Square in New York).

I do not have the desire to travel abroad, I have never left the shores of South Africa in my 40 years, BUT if there is one thing that I would like to do is travel the world over December, (Europe and the USA) to see all the Christmas decor. We do not have a single Christmas light in this town where i live!!

Attached is a picture of the town where I live. (It only looks nice in the photo!)

Peace and love to everyone!!

[steve.ledger]

We do not have a single Christmas light in this town where i live!!

Some folks go overboard with the lights here, entire homes and gardens are lit with thousands of lights draped in all manner of fashion illuminating the entire street! It is a bit much in my opinion, though having a nicely lit christmas tree in the window is rather festive.
A shame there's nothing to show in your town. Was this photo taken in another town?

A great and prosperous 2008 to you and yours Barry, may your psptubes site make you millions

[barrym67]

Hi Sledger

Tks for the greetings and the same to you and yours!!

No, that picture was taken in Scottburgh as well, Bubsy and myself opened a Vegetarian Restaurant and I had this HUGE collection of Christmas Decor. I decorated the place, it was supposed to be this quiet little place!!

The council has no interest in decorating the streets, they did one year about 5 years ago and that was it. The concept of decorating your home in a huge way has taken off here in South Africa over the last three years or so, we used to only decorate inside our houses before as we had no access to outside lights etc. We may not have snow but we do have a lot of rain this time of the year.

Now there are competitions as well, but the sad thing is that these lights are VERY expensive, just as well I have let all that baggage go, I used to take loans to buy Christmas decor and took my annual leave to decorate the house!! (But luckily now I live a much quieter and far more simple life).

Here is a link for the tree this year in Bubsy's part of the house, she and her family stay upstairs. http://www.psptubez.com/christmas_tree.asp

I stay in a small flat downstairs and had a smaller tree, but it is down now, Christmas is over. My flat is very tiny and the tree was very large and it is back to the grind stone for me, fun and games are over.

Thank you for all the well wishes!!

[steve.ledger]

Here is a link for the tree this year in Bubsy's part of the house, she and her family stay upstairs. http://www.psptubez.com/christmas_tree.asp

Nice tree indeed!
It's only my son and I here, as he's now past believing in Santa we leave all that stuff to the families with young ones to enjoy.

Re: You comment on the photos.
Looking at the FinePix F30 EXIF data on those two pics, they are taken with a very high ISO (1600 on the top and 800 on the lower)
My small PENTAX PnS takes much nicer pictures when I keep the ISO low, of course this means a steadier hand as the shutter has to be open a little longer, but a tripod sorts this out.

[barrym67]

Tks for the tip, I really need a tripod!! I have seen some wonderful shots on the internet showing what great pics the Fuji F30 can take, but I still have a lot to learn. It is all very confusing to me, I should have bought a P&S. I wanted a camera that could take pictures indoors without using the flash. I have scanned their brochure so you can see what got me hooked on this little camera. I suppose it just takes some getting used to. Here is the link for that amazing shot:

http://www.psptubez.com/fuji.asp

[handrawn]

All the best for 2008 Barry - may you be happy, the rest is bonus good luck with that too

[Soquili]

Happy New Year Barry.

I like the chrome look of your image. Very well done.

[gray]

Top of the season to you too Barry. Your image looks very festive and that tree looks a lot better than mine.

[Albacore]

All the best for you & family in 2008. What a selection of clip art you sell Barry, well done and what a busy boy you have been.
By the way I am a traditional "old F_rt" I don't like to see houses that look like Christmas trees with flashing snowmen and lights that look like illuminated fountains which burst from one area to another. Sorry i am just showing my age again.

[ss-kalm]

Excellent image Barry. Best Wishes for 2008.