catching up

I've had a crazy busy week and I've not had a chance to scratch myself.
I'll have a go at listing things in order as it happened

Last week (prior to this one) I was at the Gym Club 3 nights after school, one on a normal Gym night and the other two for Competition training nights, one for Sean and one for Annie. A scrap night in Lincoln as well as a couple of days out shooting landscapes while the country's looking soooo good.

This last week (starting from Thursday August 23rd) was a shooting day,

fog rainbow taken at 8.30am. 3 degrees.

a training night for Annie and then a scrap night in Lincoln for me. Friday saw Sean not well, so he stayed home from school to give him a chance of being well for his Sunday Competition. He also had a training night on that Friday night.

I stayed in Lincoln on Friday night as I needed to be at the Lincoln Gym Club by 8am. Annie didn't need to be there until 10.30am as she was in the second group.

Friday night saw me drinking raspberries at The Lincoln Hotel with John White and Rob Lang. Swapped a few yarns and talked a load of bull...t  !!  We have some future shooting plans afoot. Can't wait for them.

Saturday morning saw level one State and National along with level two State and National girls go through their routines on the apparatuses. I had permission to be on the floor with camera to photograph the Cummins Gymnasts. I photograph differently to most others. I like to capture step by step each routine so the kids/coaches can look back and see where the knee needs to be locked back, the foot pointed or arch more in the back to help improve the kids. And I'm also another familiar face right there with the kids too.

Sunday saw me with the boys on the floor photographing them. In total I took some 2600 shots, which very few were deleted. All had to be then sorted, processed and burned onto individual gymnast DVD's. So quite long hours on the 'puter to get that job completed. I'm pretty proud to say that the girls all had their DVDs of themselves in action in their hands by Tuesday night and the boys by the Wednesday night.

Annie got a 5th placing in her vault and Sean placed first for Parallel Bars, two fourth, a fifth and a sixth.

My proudest moment was when Annie unbalanced from the beam and landed on her feet on the floor. Instead of getting upset or losing her composure, she hopped back up there and continued on, and finished with a big smile. I loved her so much then. She wasn't shattered, upset or even fussed over it.

Monday morning after the Gym weekend and I was feeling fluy. So I skipped fitness class and went back to bed for a bit. Lots of gym photo processing that day. Camera Club in Lincoln that night.

Tuesday. More processing and Gym Club that night. I had to run gym as well. I'm on the tail end of training as an Accredited Gym Coaches. The last bit of the whole training has been a slog, but I'm getting there.

Wednesday was the day the School had it's annual student photo day. The kids wanted me there for their individual shots, so that took care of that morning.  Finished all the gym boys pics in the afternoon before heading in to the Footy/Netty Club for the last Junior Tea and Count night.

Thursday was scheduled from a fortnight ago for a 'Ruin Ramble' with Laura and a very knowledgeable lady of the local history in the Karkoo area.

We also had a student with us that day who needed practical experiences for her photography subject at school. I love doing this with the year 11 and 12's when I'm asked to help/mentor. Its such a thrill so see them take control of the camera rather than let the camera control them. We were back by 3pm so I could whizz into school to pick up the kids. Thursday night was in Lincoln for Scrap Night.

Now this may shock you a bit, but I haven't scrapped for about a month. Photography takes over this time of year and that scratches my creative soul for the moment. The LO's on the blog were all done during July for August releases for different briefs. So when I've been heading down to Lincoln's Scrapnight, its with the laptop under my arm. It's been mostly a social night out, a damn good belly laugh or two and a few more photos completed in the can.

Friday was Fitness Class, a mammogram (my second one and all is ok!!) and lots of run around jobs. I did manage to have lunch with Ann and Laura at Chino's. We three haven't sat down together for ages. I spent some quality time with Gina. Kym and I are about to gut a bathroom in one of our rentals so I was in the Bathroom showroom for a while gathering quotes for different things.

Friday night found me critiquing as a South Australian Photographic Federation Judge on a parcel of photos from a Camera Club. 7 hours later and all was done, written up, and parcelled up to be sent back. I take this role seriously and each photo gets a full paragraph of my thoughts. When you have over 50 shots to grade, point score and comment on, it takes a while.

Saturday was a day I've been looking forward to. I asked a few fellow photographers to join me up in my neck of the woods. We had such fun and a lot of serious shots (and a few not so serious) in the bag. We had permission to visit a farm at the base of North Block to photograph their windmill in Canola with North Block as the backdrop. I had access to North Block for the day. And then onto the beach via a couple of stops on the way. Greenly was the place of fun and a bit of clowning around. I was wet up to my bra straps being out in the rolling surf with the camera lol. With me for the day of shutter action was John White, Rob Lang, Ann Clarke, Lester Barnes and Anastasia McMillan. I'm stoked with what I have on the camera and will be working on them over the next few days.

Sunday... Father's Day and a picnic on North Block to blow bubbles  into the never never at the cliff edge.

And this coming week see me working for the accountant. I should be charging him in 6 minute incriminates lol

and that's a wrap!!!!