Turning Nineteen on Mount Wilson

Yesterday, I turned 19. 2013's been a strangely beautiful year so far: silhouettes in the twilight horizon; glimmering bokeh reflecting on water; maple leaves scattered wistfully on the pavements; the dankness of an underground parking lot; sitting under spotlights at night on the top of the world; boots flying on a ramp spinning downwards; early mornings on windy hills waiting for the sun; hurtling through foggy roads with instrumentals playing sadly; sunset, after sunset, after sunset; sharing childhood nostalgia; burning cups of caramel and milk; falling asleep to the comfort of a familiar voice; the satisfying, the lingering aftertaste of an inside joke; the warmth of many different hugs; Yellow by Coldplay in the background while we watched a sky ablaze with stars; chattering teeth in the stinging night wind; the feeling of unwrapping a one litre tub of ice-cream in autumn; swerving in the most beautiful valley just to chase the sun; a 12 hour train ride with countless wheat fields through the smudged glass; stumbling through parks after paying homage to the sun; learning how to smile; bookshelves of dusty books with so much promise; flying business class for the first time; 12:18 at 4am; finding out the existence of golden gaytime; toasting hands by a blazing fire; blowtorching any food in sight just to get that burnt taste; the weight of many cameras on my neck, as I tried to freeze all the memories. My favourite season is autumn, so it felt lovely to celebrate amid red leaves. To sum up, my birthday was a haze of maple leaves, winding roads, and an overload of whipped cream.

Photos edited with my newest action, Autumn; and taken with a Canon 5D Mark III + 24-105mm f4 + 50mm f1.8

My best friend collecting maple leaves for me.

We were driving along this road and I squealed "Stop" and we swerved onto the grass, got down and took pictures.

I love maple leaves so much.

My friend's Nikon.

More maple leaves.

An ombre leaf :)

It was like walking on a very colourful ground.

Free Photoshop Action Preset Giveaway: Autumn (Vintage)

Autumn is like Ochre, only gentler. It works well on almost every kind of photo, adding a slight dreamy golden tinge reminiscent of Polaroid days. Autumn is like the Valencia filter on Instagram - washing out a photo and making it soft and buttery. It is days gone by, memories of summer, the last few lingering rays of sunlight and leaves strewn on the ground. Apply Autumn if you love nostalgia, quiet colours, and the past.

Click here to download Autumn. 

Disclaimer:
This action is intended for personal usage only and should not be redistributed or claimed as your own. Please credit back so more people can find out about the actions/curves - sharing is caring! 

How to Install:
1. Download the file here.
 2. Save it into your desktop (or wherever you can find the file best later). Side note; the place where all Photoshop presets are kept is: Applications/Photoshop/Presets
3. Open Photoshop and an image, and load the curve by pressing the dropdown box on the top right in your "Adjustments" toolbar.

Day Trip to Kiama, NSW

Two weeks ago I headed up to Kiama with some friends for a day trip. It was pretty awesome because I haven't actually been to Kiama before. We took the 8.30am train (it was so hard getting up on time for it and we ended up making a mad dash through Central Station, arriving ten seconds before the train departed). Kiama is so beautiful, and the sun that day definitely didn't disappoint. We ended up driving back from Kiama to Sydney instead of taking the train, and during sunset we stopped at a gorgeous field with a direct view of the sun. With cows watching us from another hill, we chased the light until it began to sink in the sky. It was a wonderful sun-soaked day full of exhilaration, ice-cream in a tub, seagulls and trekking over rocks.