the delightful miss e

What a sweet little thing. She gurgled all the way through and her little blue dress was so pretty for the shoot.

Thanks guys for having me.

few more over at Tiff Firth Photography on Facebook

pete

Laura and I are having a day with Pete Dobre today to capture the magic of our beautiful EP. I'm soooo pumped for this!!!

modra apartments

just been over on the website of Modra Apartments to see if they've loaded up any of my images I shot for their portfolio.

Have a squizzy. The shots with the key lines (curved corner line running on the inside of the image) are the ones I've shot.

This is where we stay for our home away from home each year.

:O)

just a few of my favourite things

well after many many weeks away from my scrap table I was able to come up with the time for this LO last night. Time is short lived, alas, as I'm back into the family photography game with a bang. My first week back at it and I've two shoots on the same day. I'm so looking forward to the one in the Shiraz vines in the golden evening light.

PS. Janice. I've used one of your challenge pieces. Can you spot it??

australia day 2011

We went to the Australia Day breakfast that our local council puts on this morning. This is also the occasion when the Citizen of the Year, the Junior Citizen of the Year, the Community Event of the Year and the Organization of the Year are recognized.

A friend of mine nominated the Christmas Wonderland (click on the word for my blog pics) as the Community Event. As she's away atm she asked if I would read out her nomination at the ceremony this morning. Not being a shy girl...lol... I said that I would.

I normally talk quite quickly and sometimes get my words mixed (no I'm not dyslexic) but for some reason, when I do public speaking I do slow right down and not often stumble on words. It's is a mental process to slow down at the beginning and then I find the rhythm. Although I was a bit nervous, I was in front of a crowd of familiar faces that were smiling to me.

Photo courtesy of my dear Kym.

The kids got into the theme of the day....

We hoping to head to the beach after lunch.

the things she writes

over the last 12 months I collected the notes that Annie's left for us. Sometimes she expresses her love for us, sometimes her frustration with us. One of them in particular really shows how determined she can be ... 'so I am going to starv (sic)'

I love it that she can express herself by writing about what she feels. To me it shows confidence in her ability to write the words to tell us how she is feeling at that moment.

gosh... I love her.

with her permission I can post them here.

fireworks and light trails

Annie and I went to the fireworks last night at Port Lincoln Tunarama. I had some specific ideas in mind to capture them and I had done my research. 

Tip: when standing in the sea with the tripod, the sea lice will find you. Wear rubber boots, doesn't matter if you look like a twit, its better than being nibbled on for half an hour.

After the fireworks I want to gave a go at light trails. Unfortunately there's a tree on the left side, but there was another lady taking long exposure shots where the prime spot would have been and I didn't want to encroach on her space. This one is the Ali Baba...

...and this one is the Energy Storm  (more like Spew storm!!)

Annie asked me to get one of her with her 'Harry Potter' wand.

side note: Annie's well into the 4th book of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

tumby, day 20

We came home today.

:)

3 weeks away was absolutely lovely, but its nice to be home.

I packed up most of the stuff yesterday arvo so it wasn't too much of a rush this morning. Annie was happy to come home, but Sean wanted to stay.

Every now and then I think about what my next vehicle will be. Since I'm not towing a horse float and carting around associated gear for riding anymore I wonder if I still really need a 4WD with a canopy. And then on days like today there is no way I would want anything else. And as for 4WD, there's been many a time I've had to engage it to get to the spot I need to go for a photoshoot. So I guess, I'm still convinced that the next one will be similar to what I've already got.

Kym all loaded up complete with Max's hutch, smoker box, 3 bikes, other stuff and yes that is my lawn mower.

now to get into the pile of mail that built up since we've been away

:O)

tumby, day 19

Today was a pretty warm day. somewhere around 38 to 39 degrees I reckon. We havent had much of a hot summer so when it does get warm, it feels darn hot!!

Kym and Sean went out this morning to pull yabbie pots that were in a mate's dam from last night. Kym dropped off Sean at the hairdressers for his and Annie's haircuts by late morning. I think I may have found a new cutter for Sean. His hair tends to fluff up fairly quick. It was less than a month since his previous cut and it was looking fairly ordinary. Sean's first time with a razor and with clippers :O). I havent got a shot of it yet lol.

We went to the local library to return some books. This library building is brand new, and I've been wondering if  our new one will be looking something like this one. If so, its much smaller than what we already have. And its bloody ugly.

Round to Kym's mate for yabbie lunch. This one is draped over Annie's forearm.

The afternoon proved to be hot, so we holed up in the cabin with the DVD player and the air con. The breeze  swung around by late arvo and it started to cool off enough to open up all the windows again.

I've been looking forward to this evening for ages for a full moonrise of the sea here at Tumby. I've been scoping out spots and working out the timing of the sunset, moonrise and the tides. I had a friend from Lincoln who came up to share in it as well. Alas Mother Nature intervened and we had nearly full cloud cover. To say I was pissed off is putting it mildly. The moon did show for maybe a max of 5 mins and I managed this very ordinary shot. My watermark covers the horizon.

With the moon being a non event we improvised with other type of shots. I mucked around on Bulb for a while and learnt a few things. Then I had a go with starbursts and I'm really happy with this shot. I have only sharpened it, everything else is as it is.

So it wasn't a total waste of an evening, and I count it as practise for next month's full moon!!

I've packed up the apartment today as we head home tomorrow. Great to be away, and it will sure be nice to get home.

tumby, day 18

Had a lovely day today. Kym and the kids headed to a mates place to go duck shooting which left me with some quality me time!!!!!

  :O)   

I sweated it out on the bike for an hour or so. I went round to finish watering the garden at the renal house. We have tenants moving in soon. Yay for that.

I went out to the cemetery to have a look at the gravestones with thoughts of the Camera Club section coming up next month.

I did a heap of processing photos for my scrapping this arvo. I'm finally nearly done with 2009. yahoo.

The kids and Kym came home, BBQ chops for tea before I headed down to the beach to watch the moon rise. I have a couple of friends meeting me tomorrow night to shoot the moon.

I then went out to the cemetery to shoot the shot that I wanted to get.

I've roughly smudged out the name and date in respect of that person.

tumby, day 17

We had a leisurely morning before heading down to Lincoln to go 'Swim with the Tuna'. Annie was feeling a bit tentative about the snorkelling with them and all I asked of her was just to give it a go and see how she feels about it at the time. Long story short she loved it!!!!

First off when we landed on the floating pontoon was to feed the tuna. They are super charged torpedoes that zip the pilchards out of your gloved finger tips before you even know they were there!

Both the kids and Kym got into the pilchard action. Then it was time for Annie and Kym to suit up and jump in with the tuna.

It wasnt long before Annie got the hang of it all and snorkelled around with needing Dad close by. Those shadows are the tuna underneath her.

While Kym and Annie were getting in touch with the tuna, Sean was fascintated by the scallops in the touch pool. They opened and shut while it was sitting in the palm of his hand.

Before boarding the catamaran to head back we all went down to the underwater viewing platform. The water was fairly murky but still seeing the tuna rip past the windows was pretty cool.

The time went so quickly that I didn't really have a chance to put the camera down and get into it myself. I'm a bit sad about that as I had paid to feed the tuna and fully expected to have plenty of time to have a go. I guess with 40 other people there they need to follow their timetable and shuffle people thru efficiently. When Sean is able to snorkel, I'll go in with him then. But from what I gather he's pretty keen to swim with the dolphins. (Me too, wink wink)

When we came back to Tumby the kids went for a spot of fishing while I went round to the rental to water the garden before the stinker hot Thursday that's to come.

And then we caught up with the Claughton's on the beach for the kids to play before we headed to the Seabreeze Pub for tea.

I've been eyeballing the time the moon comes up the last couple of nights and calculating the time and position of it for Thursday night's full moon photo shoot. Looking forward to that and what with a hot day forecasted, the sunset colours in the east should be magnificent. (fingers crossed)

tumby, day 16

Kym went home today after receiving a phone call to say the front garden was a bit damp. Oh dear, a solenoid on the automated watering system failed and yes the garden is a touch damp.  ooppps.

He was away for most of the day with one thing and another so the kids and I slothed it a fair bit. We did go for a walk up the jetty after burning of energy in the playground.

We went to the bakery for Annie's milkshake and Sean's pink jelly cake. (I abstained)

We took our trailer load of garden cuttings from Granny's garden to the dump for her.

We confirmed the new tenants for one of our rental homes.

The kids rode their bikes around the place and scootered (is there such a word lol) on their scooters.

I shot a few more pics for the portfolio for Modra's Apartments today and tonight. Capturing the garden at late dusk under lights is a bit tricky with the Tumby breeze. I'm hoping for a still night to have another go, but I'm fairly pleased with what I caught.

I headed down to the jetty after tea to see where the moon is at and the reflected sunset on the Eastern horizon.(Mary, you'll be proud of me and textures wink wink)

Working on the Modra pics tonight. And we are heading to feed and swim with the tuna tomorrow. So looking forward to that!!

tumby, day 15

Paige dropped in to say goodbye this morning. She's on her way to her new abode on the other side of the state to start her job as an RN. I couldn't help it. I tried to hold it in so as not to upset Paige, but I cried. We are so proud of her.

 A bit of backstory with Paige. She boarded with us for some of her Year 11 and most of her Year 12 schooling years to have the right subjects to enter Uni to study RN nursing. She was there when Sean was new born and Pagie knew Annie since she was very little. So the kids and I love her like she's our own.

To see her head out into the working world tugged my heart strings. And to see her mature in such a level headed and responsible person makes me so darn proud. 

The kids headed out with Kym to the Ungarra Gun Club at lunchtime for a shoot. Quite a few came out today and a number of kids too. 

I was asked by the owners of Modra's Apartments to shoot a portfolio of images to showcase the 3 types of apartments they have. Today was perfect as I didn't have the kids with me and it worked out that I could do 2 of the 3 today before the people shifted in them at 1pm. I'm working on a few other ideas for their gardens one evening when the light is right and the breeze drops.

I've worked on the photos this arvo, put on a roast for tea and then headed out to the Gun Club. I shot a round of 25 targets which I haven't done since this time last year. I was pleased how my shoulder felt after too, since I had surgery on it since then as well.

Back home for a yummy roast tea, and worked on the Modra photos.

Scotch is tasting good atm too

tumby, day 14

Kym asked the kids to go fishing off the jetty with him and another bloke at 2am this morning. He asked them at tea time last night and they were keen as mustard. When he gently woke them at 2am he got a totally different response. No surprise really. The men did get heaps of fish which were smoked today.

Kym took Annie out snorkelling on the sandbar. She's getting in a bit of practise before Swimming with the Tuna on Tuesday.

Laura came over with her little boy this arvo. We set up the sunshade (the first time for me) down at the sandbar and just let the kids go for it. Lovely relaxing arvo with a bit of touring around town before they left to go home.

I went out this evening to catch the last light of the day. And to try out my new wide angle lens. 14-40mm L lens.

It sure takes some getting used to. I really had to watch my feet in case they got into the shot lol. And watching for converging lines is a new trick for me!!

After taking a number of images I deleted all but this one.

 ;O)

tumby, day 13

Paige dropped in this morning.

After she had to go the kids and I went round to the rental house to replace the front yard dripper system.

Kym came to pick them up after we'd been there for an hour or so. And then Paige picked up Annie rrom Kym for a girl's arvo. They had a ball. I was still working in the front yard till mid arvo.

I caught up with my brother as he drove past Tumby in his truck.

He's about to change jobs and I wanted to give him his train driver hat that I found on EBay.  :O)

When Paige brought Annie back we attacked her hair and Paige finished up braiding it. Something I just can't seem to do.

I went out on a girls night for tea and drinks at the Sea Breeze pub with 5 other ladies. We catch up for our annual girls night each year. I do look forward to a good meal, with a couple of quiet ones and a good chin wag with a bit of laughter.

tis late now. The kids and Kym intend to head out to the jetty at 2am (in about 35 mins from now) with another fella and kids to go fishing. What an exciting adventure for the kids. I wonder if they will still want to go when he tries to wake them up shortly. lol

tumby, day 12

Annie's last day of VAC swim today and they went off the platform again. I was pretty pleased to be there with the camera to catch her.

so proud of her.

Sean and Kym went fishing and Sean out fished his Dad  :-). They're having garfish for tea.

Annie and I headed into Lincoln after her quick shower for her friend's birthday party. 3 hours in the pool with a bunch of kids = whole lot of fun.

Annie and I stayed on in Lincoln and went to scrapping at Scrapworkz. (with the lappy this time)

tumby, day 11

This morning was damp and overcast so we slacked it inside for a while. By late morning the dampness cleared off and we had an overcast day that threw such lovely light. It wasn't dull at all.

While Kym took Annie to VAC swim, Sean and Max had some quality time.

Annie jumped off the platform at the jetty for the first time ever today as part of VAC swim requirements. I'm a bit sad that I wasn't there with the camera to catch it, but she's sure to do it more often so I will catch at some point later. I asked her how she felt just before her first go and she said she was really nervous but excited. And then I asked her how she felt about it as soon as she popped up out of the water, thinking she say proud, or excited or something like that. She smiled at me and said with a cheeky smile 'cold and wet!!' Cheeky little rat bag.  :O)

After lunch we headed out to Second Creek for a spot of fishing. 

While we were there we were able to assist a vehicle that got itself bogged up to its axle. It should have never gone were it went and getting bogged was inevitable. The pressure was on as the tide was rising and it was about to start lapping at the wheels. Kym tried to pull it out with his vehicle with no luck. It was stuck fast and the water was sucking the wheels. Fortunately I had the mobile numbers of a couple of Tumby friends and organised a tractor to come down onto the beach to pull it out. And just in time too. The rising tide was becoming a definite threat. I didn't have the camera out for any photos as it would have been so inappropriate and people were stressed as it was.

We were invited to pop round after tea tonight for drinks to say thank you. Lovely people.

I've had the TV off all day so to not expose the kids to the awful news of the floods in Queensland. They just don't need to have that negative influence thrust on them. I have talked to Annie about it, how people have lost lives, their homes, their everything. So she's not naive about it. But I don't want the kids to start having nightmares or scared thoughts when we have heavy rain at home. Since they been asleep I've caught up on where its at. So mind boggling and heart breaking. Words just fail me.