Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk 2011

I had such a great time on Saturday taking part in this year’s photo walk.  Met some great friends and shared a lot of fun stories.  The city was eerily quiet, with few people not watching the AFL Grand Final.

We were worried we would be rained out, but the weather cleared up real well.  (This is Simon, our walk leader, keeping warm.)

Even the kids appreciated the peace and quiet of the city.

Night-time the city came alive with people celebrating (and mourning!)

Thanks to all who took part and to Simon, our walk leader for organising everything!

 

For more photos, click here.

Tesselaars Tulip Festival 2011

This year the festival started earlier than usual.  The warmer weather had caused all the flowers to bloom sooner than normal.  The display was definitely worth visiting!

We spent the day with wonderful friends, the kids having a ball running between the brilliant rows of flowers. 

    

 

The different days of the festival are themed.  We went on a Turkish day (the foods were really fabulous!).  The marching band was quite the experience to see.

Definitely going to visit again next year!

Practice

The last couple of months have been a little chaotic.  My son came back from camp with a bit of a cold.  By the Saturday, he couldn’t keep his eyes open, kept on falling asleep.  At first we thought he just picked up a bit of the flu.  But by Tuesday I rushed him to emergency because of the rash he developed.  They were really quick in seeing him, though we ended visiting quite a few different specialists.  Turns out he had zoster ophthalmicus, a rare form of shingles that attacks the eye nerve.  Recovery took quite  a few weeks.  So far he has passed all his eye check-ups.  The final one is only in January, but so far all is looking good.

So we got through those weeks, then my younger one went on camp.  He came back with a serious case of the flu.  Doctor says two weeks for him to recover, which covers the whole of the school holidays.  We are watching lots of dvds and eating lots of ice cream … and I am playing around, trying to learn a few new things.  The “planet” above I created following the tutorial on this page: http://www.fxencore.de/tutorial_detail/photoshop-tutorials/bildmanipulation/realistischer-planet/

Maybe I will do some housework over this time… or maybe not!

The thing about ducklings

Kids (mostly) love baby animals.  At kinder, the kids have baby ducklings to learn about nature.  I have been photographing the gorgeous little ones with the ducklings. 

The kids have been queuing to hold them, though a few are really hesitant.  One wanted to know if the duckling was going to eat him!  Just too cute for words! 

And for the record: getting both duckling and toddler looking at the camera at the same time is slightly tricky!

Boys at play

With all the little girls I’ve been photographing, I had to do something for my boys too!  I printed these big (20”x30”) on metallic paper.  It looks amazing!  Can’t wait to get them framed for the boys’ rooms.

I really learned a lot about Photoshop doing these.  Both are studio shots, then enhanced to create the images above.  Hopefully this will add to my “cool factor” with them!

Here is my nose…

This little cutie pie, who recently turned 2, was just so much fun to work with!  His mom sang the song and he pointed… Here is my eyes…

Here is my nose…

Then he missed… and we laughed… and it was all over!

Though he still pointed out his ear!

Yay!   The session was a success!

Sleeping innocence

There is something so amazing and wondrous about watching a little newborn sleep.  There is always just a little bit of the face visible, and sometimes they wiggle out their fingers as well.

She was the most amazingly well-behaved little one!  Her very calm and relaxed (though a little tired) parents had already managed to get her into a routine.  (More photos on Facebook)