drum roll.

It's the end of the year, it's 11.43pm and I have done it! here is December!

click to make it bigger

opps. a photo is stuck behind a photo, oh well it will do.

Sneak Peaks!

I've been working hard (not hardly working) this month, and that is why I haven't updated as often as I would have liked. Updating the blog was on the lower end of my list of priorities.
But now that my sessions have finished for the year (I am taking bookings for 2011), I figure it's time I give you some sneak peaks.

These Sneak Peaks are not in the order I shot them, the are just they way they uploaded to photobucket. Click on the images to make them bigger.

The G Family

This was a 2 session shoot, a Family session and then a smash cake. Master O however was not interested in cake, and preferred to eat his cookie, still make for some very cute shots. This sneak peak is of the family. You can just see the love. 

The T Family (again)

I few weeks before this shoot, I shot the T family (Grandmother and her son, and their son), so again the T family but the other son. I took lots of photo's on this day. But that's to be expected when you have lots of people. Master A is in green and Master Z is in blue (they are the twins), then there was Master M, who was cheeky in his own way. 

The A Family

This photo shoot was done in 30 minutes (i normally allocate 45 mins to an hour). However because I was not dealing with kids under 5 the shoot ran really smoothly. 

Miss C - Cake Smash

This was suppose to be an outdoor cake smash, but it decided to rain that day, and lots of rain. However by the time the shoot came around the rain stopped, but everything was too wet. So we did this indoors. Shooting indoors has been a really learning curve for me but I still captured the moment. 

Project 365 - Days 304-334 - November 2010

I missed 1 day in November. I don't know how it happened, I just didn't take a photo. Oh well, at least I have only missed a handful of days.

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Project 365

New I'm aware I have to update November and December, it will happen. I just thought I would give you and update on how I think I went this year.

It all started with talk on a forum that I visit (go here.) It was December 2009, and I was eager to tackle this project. A photo a day for an entire year, doesn't seem hard, but let me tell you, it's a lot more work than you think it is.
Don't get me wrong I have thoroughly enjoyed doing the project. I had plan to do a photo book of all the images. But I have decided against that. I'm still going to do a photo book but it wont be of every photo of the year. Why? Well for the following reasons:

1. I missed 4-5 days 
2. Approx 150 are ripper/excellent/hang on the wall images
3. Approx 100 are snap shots
4. Approx 50 are crap, had to take a photo for the day shots. Shots that I'm not really impressed with. 

So My 365 day project photo book will be the best off the entire year. 

Doing this project I have learnt a lot about my camera. I mean I'm still learning now (i just learnt something new the other day). 

I've also learnt a lot about editing, and finding my editing style. 

So will I be doing a 365 day project for 2011. Well that would be a BIG FAT NO!!!!! But I've already mentioned this before. I plan to do a 52 week project, and I also plan on having themes. I think I have mentioned these themes before but I will mention them again, also for my reference. 

1. Miles
2. Kayla
3. Me (self portrait)
4. Macro
5. Random

Why these themes? Because they suit my lifestyle, and that more me is what is going to make it work. 

Wow moments - tech side

Yes I have a BA of Visual Arts. My major being photography. That was 10 years ago however.  Ten years ago digital was only just being introduced. So when I studied photography I studied technique but I also studied in black and white, and in a dark room.
I remember in my last year we had to take digital studies as one of our subjects. The teacher wasn't a teacher but a photographer, which was great, but he was not a teacher.  So when he taught us photoshop, I just could not understand it at all. His instructions to me were not making any sense. I passed the subject but I never touched photoshop again.
Flash forward 7 years. I just had my daughter and was getting back into photography, and photoshop. I came about wanting to learn photoshop because I wanted to make my internet signatures aka 'siggies'. So my husband (at the time), got photoshop for me, but I had no idea what I was doing, so he also got me Lynda.com tutorials. Zeke the guy who runs the tutorials, was so funny, it was fun to learn, and that's exactly what I wanted. (By the way he also writes all those photoshop books, so he knows ALOT!)
So making siggies really helped me to learn photoshop, as well as the lynda.com tutorials.
Flash forward 2 years. In October 2008, I got an early Christmas present, a dslr camera. I was so excited! I mean who wouldn't I had a new toy to play with. So the rest of the year was learning the camera again. I was mainly shooting jpg's just I could get use the camera and its' settings. Then I made the move, to RAW!
Editing with raw is different to editing with jpg's. Sure the files are huge, but there are more options when it comes to editing.
Still I know a lot more now than I did in 2008 or even in 2009. So what are the wow moments?
One wow moment was finally understanding histograms. I have no idea why it didn't click, and then I was doing some reading (online), and the way they explained it made so much more sense - editing wise that is.
Another wow moment was white balance. When I studying photography I studied black and white.  Sure I did colour, but I sent my work of to a commercial printer and got them to do the printing. The concept of colour was a whole other world to me then, and a lot more complex than black and white. So I never had to learn white balance when it came to printing in black and white. However with colour it's important to know. I had a basic understanding when it came to white balance just from editing, but what really did it for me was this video. Which you should TOTAL check out.

Needless to say, I will be getting a grey card. 

MaMiKa - Extra Large Insert

The MaMiKa extra large insert aka "professional" is currently on hold.

I'm still perfecting the fitting of this particular insert. The one I have is good, but it could be better. So I'm making some modifications to it.
I'm going to have 2 lens sections side by side, and then separate sections for the camera's. So until it's perfected, I'm taking it off the market.

Goals... Did I get there.

At the start of the year I set myself some goals to achieve. Now a lot has happened in this year, and yes I'm aware the year is not quite finished, but I figured I will give the progress update.


One of my goals was to loose 12 in 12 months. So essential a kilo a month. At the start of the year I was about 78k. Well I got down to 70k at some stage, but now I'm hovering around 73-34. So i didn't quite make it. But I do plan to make some changes in my life. I going to motivate myself more with weight and cardio fitness and try to cut down on the carbs. I'll be happy if I can get in the 60's. Ideally 65-68k. But even if it's 69 I'll be happy. 
So I have started a food diary (again), I have to stick at it for 3 weeks. If I can do that I can really see what I'm eating, and where and when. I am pre-pregnancy weight (being Kayla). Which is good. Now to loose that little bit more. 


My other goal was to read 12 books in 12 months. So  a book a month. Doable? Well I didn't read 12 books. But before you go "told you so". I read: 16! Ok Technically 15 1/2 but i will explain that. 

Books

1. 2nd life of Bree Tanner
2. 3rd night the frost
3. Darkness be my friend
4. Burning for revenge
5. Women who love too much
6. Fallen
7. Shiver
8. Evernight
9. The shadow thief
10. the hollow
11. Stargazer
12. Hourglass
13. my sisters keeper
14. cleo, how an uppity cat helped heal a family
15. torment
16. mad about the boy 1/2

 Now the above books I read with my eyes! Below are the books I listened to with my ears! So I'm counting those too!

Audio

1. Twilight
2. New moon
3. Eclipse
4. Breaking dawn
5. Life swap
6. Annie May black book
7. Recipe for disaster
8. troubled waters
9. at a time like this
10. gucci mama's
11. mad about the boy 1/2

I did not read/listen to these book in the order that they are listed, if you are wondering. 

Now what is this 1/2 book and 1/2 audio book. Ok well let me explain. I borrowed "mad about the boy" from the local library online (you can now borrow audio books yay!). During the loan period, my ipod shat itself. So I listened to 1/2 the book and no more. Then the other day when I was browsing books to read over the 'holiday' break I saw they had it, and thus I borrowed the book (with pages). Hence the 1/2. 

The year hasn't finished just yet, so I might be able to get another book/audio in. If I do I will list it. 

So they were my 2 main goals. One of which was really successful and the other one, not so much. but here is to next year!

U Family

I had the U family sitting about 2 weeks ago now. My goodness how quickly that has gone by.

They were a wonderful family and Master J was just adorable. He turns 2 in Feb and is a smart little cookie (knows more words than my Miles, but Master J is child number 1, not child number 2, like in my case). He just ate up the camera.

So here is a little storyboard of images from the day.