Wildcard

Day 93: Where do I start?

2008-03-31T23:07:00.002+10:00

The main moving day, 42 degrees, it could have been worse it could've rained.

Day 92: Packing

2008-03-31T22:42:00.002+10:00

Day 91: The clean up

2008-03-31T22:36:00.002+10:00

That grass is long and wet. I stopped when smoke started pouring out of my poor little mower, I don't think that's supposed to happen.

Day 90: Of course I can fit all the boxes I need in one trip

2008-03-31T22:33:00.003+10:00

There's a small boy somewhere under all those boxes, I could hear him, he was fine.

Day 89: My cars fixed!

2008-03-31T22:29:00.003+10:00

And after weeks of rain it's the most perfect sunny day! Happy happy happy.

Day 88: Sweeping the cobwebs...

2008-03-31T22:22:00.004+10:00

off my wheels before I took them to the mechanic.

Day 87: Celebrating in my new home

2008-03-31T21:35:00.004+10:00

Day 86ish: Yaaaaaay!!!!!!

2008-03-31T21:29:00.004+10:00

My poor blog has been neglected because...Yaaaay! I've moved and have been without internet but this is the day I got the keys to my new house.

Day 85: Dammit!

2008-02-13T20:13:00.003+10:00

My car has been off the road so long it's got cobwebs, sigh.

And yeah I know I missed a few days, ya get that.

Day 84: Acting my shoe size

2008-02-10T21:30:00.001+10:00

Oops I've missed a couple of days, oh well it's my blog so there are no stuffy rules and I'll catch up soon.

Day 83: Floating in bubbles

2008-02-08T01:29:00.000+10:00

Day 82: And still more rain

2008-02-06T18:43:00.000+10:00

No major drama just too much rain too fast for the drains to cope, this was about as deep as it got. It was about 20 cm's from flooding the house but uncomfortably close to flooding the car.

Day 81: Just tired

2008-02-06T00:39:00.001+10:00

Day 80: Funky shadows

2008-02-04T23:54:00.000+10:00

It's still raining so there's clothes hanging all over the house drying, I just love the weird shadows they cast.

Day 79: Troll

2008-02-03T22:19:00.000+10:00

This was the only dry patch to take a break from racing bark boats with chaos but there's something nice about under bridges, peaceful, hidden, trollish.

Day 78: Another rainy day

2008-02-02T23:53:00.000+10:00

Day77: Sick and tired...

2008-02-01T23:54:00.000+10:00

...of always being sick and tired. I tried to remember the last time I didn't feel tired and nauseous, there was a couple of weeks in January 2007 or was it 2006, I'm not sure. Oh! there was a couple of weeks between the old neighbours from hell moving out and the new ones moving in when there was peace in my little world. I slept like a normal person and had energy, I remember laughter and neighbourhood chats, we went outside. It was nice, but that was few months ago. I really do have to figure out a way to cope better with those people.

Day 76: Not today

2008-01-31T23:55:00.000+10:00

I don't want to take my photo today, I'm not in the mood. But having done it I must say I'm quite liking the "stigmata" lighting effect.

Day 75: Rain

2008-01-30T23:57:00.000+10:00

Rain feels so wonderfully sensual on the skin, walking in the rain is truly one of the best simple pleasures in life.

Day 74: I love cosmetics

2008-01-29T23:51:00.000+10:00

Day 73:

2008-01-28T00:47:00.000+10:00

Day 72: Shadow

2008-01-26T23:44:00.000+10:00

Day 71: Acidulated abstract

2008-01-25T23:56:00.000+10:00

Day 70: Pretty ,shiny things

2008-01-24T23:21:00.000+10:00

Day 69: Under southern skies

2008-01-23T23:51:00.000+10:00

Day 68: Bus stop

2008-01-22T23:29:00.001+10:00

Waiting to fetch Noise from the bus stop. The bus pulled in just at the end of the 30 second exposure it was perfect timing for some cool effects.

Day 67: A quiet moment

2008-01-22T00:04:00.000+10:00

Day 66: Sadie

2008-01-20T23:15:00.000+10:00

Day 65: A return to colour

2008-01-19T23:07:00.000+10:00

Well I seem to have ground to a halt on the Sepia series, which is probably a good thing. So it's back to colour and the everydayness of life. And just for fun one that I took with the camera at arms length. there's nothing quite like holding a camera close and setting the flash of to do weird thing to your face, it's kinda fun.

Day 64: Cigar

2008-01-18T23:59:00.000+10:00

Some things just make life a richer experience.

Day 63: Curves

2008-01-17T23:51:00.000+10:00

Day 62: A little bit of bling

2008-01-17T00:13:00.000+10:00

Day 61: Sheer

2008-01-15T23:57:00.000+10:00

Day 60: A side of myself that I've not often seen

2008-01-15T00:02:00.000+10:00

I've only ever glanced at the back of neck in a mirror, generally to see if my hair is OK, I haven't even done that for a long time because I've accepted that my hair will do as it will. It's interesting seeing a part of myself that other people are more familiar with than I am.

Day 59: Black strap

2008-01-13T23:59:00.001+10:00

Hmmm I seem to be stuck in a sepia, somewhat minimalistic stage, it's quite fun.

Day 58: Touch

2008-01-12T23:52:00.000+10:00

Day 57: Wicked eyelashes

2008-01-12T00:00:00.000+10:00

Yeah I admit it they're fake, but fun.

Day 56: Pinstripes and lace

2008-01-10T23:55:00.001+10:00

Day 55: Favourite shoes

2008-01-09T23:27:00.000+10:00

Day 54: Someday my prince will come..

2008-01-08T22:05:00.001+10:00

..and if this is him too bad, I'm done kissing frogs. He is very handsome though, he's been hanging around a couple of days. He comes at night looking dehydrated and sorry for himself and knocks on the window for us to go out and pour water on him. When he feels better he leaves. I guess he wandered too far from home during our weeks of rain and I'm not sure what to do with him. I could take him down to the creek but it gets very polluted in between rains, that wouldn't be good for him. He seems to like it here and he's friendly, I may have to dig him a pond.

Day 53: One fine day

2008-01-07T23:28:00.001+10:00

The simple monotony of life. After two weeks of rain and more forecast for tomorrow, today was the catching up on washing day, there was no time to take a photo of anything else. It might stop raining for long enough soon to get the lawn mowed...I love rain it prevents so many boring jobs and is the perfect excuse to read instead.

Day 52: Rain, rain and more rain

2008-01-06T20:26:00.000+10:00

Day 51: Candles

2008-01-05T23:32:00.001+10:00

Day 50: It's nice to hide away some days

2008-01-04T23:58:00.001+10:00

Day 49: Mums Taxi

2008-01-03T23:51:00.000+10:00

It's cold, it's wet and it's late and I'm out picking up the teenager from whatever social event she had on tonight. I love the reflections at night when it's raining though and there was good music on the radio so it's not so bad.

Day 48: How lucky I am

2008-01-02T20:03:00.000+10:00

Day 47: It's still raining

2008-01-01T21:25:00.000+10:00

It's been raining for days but unfortunately it's not raining hard enough for one of those lovely pouring rain shots so this bit of a shower will have to do.

Day 46: Goodbye 2007

2007-12-31T23:46:00.000+10:00

Hmmm yet another hand shot, this one reminds me of Thing. My New Year ritual, a pretty new journal and I start it on the 31st as a kind of debriefing of the old year. The idea is that I write all the odd little and sometimes big things that I was proud of n the past year. Often I can fill pages with that stuff but this year I don't have much to write...damn... I'll fix that next year. Bugger that sounded ominously like a resolution. Roll in 2008!

Day 45: Coastal Wind Warning

2007-12-30T23:10:00.000+10:00

The only thing to do when there's a wind warning in place is to get out there and have a look, we're a little sheltered here in the Bay but it's still pretty wild. I think wind is my favorite kind of weather.

Day 44: Aaaahhhhh

2007-12-29T22:17:00.000+10:00

After a day shopping in the city with Noise and Chaos this feels wonderful.

Day 43: Clean for a change

2007-12-28T22:28:00.001+10:00

Day 42: Fruit salad

2007-12-27T22:35:00.000+10:00

Hmmm a weird mix of tropical and stone fruits but it was yummy and Dragon fruit is so pretty I had to take a photo.

Day 41: This bit goes....

2007-12-26T23:57:00.000+10:00

Woot! Flat pack furniture, happy day. I love flat pack stuff, it's such fun. I find the precision of it a delight, just the right number of screws and things and everything fits just so, lovely. It's like a jigsaw puzzle only useful.

Day 40: Yaaaay

2007-12-25T21:29:00.000+10:00

Ya gotta love party poppers! The floor is still covered in confetti, I'll leave it a couple of days just because I like it and we still have another popper to pop tomorrow. It was a lovely day, Chaos was away until lunchtime and Noise got a lift to work and snuck out quietly so I got to sleep in! On Christmas morning! Woot! I don't think I've ever done that before. The usual thing, pressies, lotsa food, visiting friends, it was nice.

I hate those harsh shadows, maybe I should have asked for lights for Christmas...

Day 39: We must have a tree

2007-12-24T23:57:00.000+10:00

I loath fake snow and artificial cold climate trees so the kids challenge each year is to come up with a tree that we can all live with. We started the tradition when Noise was little and we didn't have money for Christmas, she painted a huge picture of a tree so we stuck it one the wall and sticky taped decorations to it. This year time has been short with Noise and I working and Chaos away, he was home for the day to Christmas shop and he tried all day to convince me to get a tree of some sort as we didn't have time to make one. Unfortunately we ran out of time and he went to his Fathers place for the night with no tree up at our house, but lucky me, a friend from Woolworths picked up one of their superbly tacky cardboard Christmas promotional trees on his way out the door and here it is! Yaaaay, this is the best tree ever, I feel the whole Christmas experience is complete now...I'm immersed so far into the whole commercialised retail driven crap that I even have a retail promotional tree. I love it!

Day 38: Knackered

2007-12-23T22:50:00.000+10:00

Ahhh the joy of Christmas in retail, now I remember why I hate Christmas. It should be renamed Retailfest and it's about time we all admitted that the only thing really being celebrated here is rampant consumerism. I know everyone goes on about what a wonderful day of family togetherness it is but is it really? Honestly? So far most of the shoppers I have seen looked resigned and exhausted more than joyful as they struggle through the aisles trying to get everything they're expected to have for a Christmas feast and keep to some sort of budget, the kids tired and demanding , mothers saying "no" for the hundredth time to something they can't afford. And then there's the workers that keeping this show going, I spent the day with people so exhausted that they can barely move, they're just looking forward to one day off. I spoke to a man that's on his 7th day straight, he's working until midnight tomorrow night, Christmas eve, and will be back at work early boxing day morning. He's missing his 4 year old, he won't get to spend Christmas eve with his child, will spend Christmas day exhausted and for what? He has decided it's not worth it, his resignation will be handed in tomorrow morning. Another in so much pain she could barely move, she has to go home and prepare for the Christmas festivities but she's lucky, she has boxing day off. The mention of Christmas brings the response "fucking bloody Christmas!". Even the store Santas looked weary this year. Seriously isn't it time we stopped buying in to the retail propaganda, just stop. And admit that it really isn't fun, it's stressful, exhausting and expensive and we're over it. Oh I forgot the ones that have to work Christmas day...Noise is working Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day just so people can have their Pavlovas. Yep family time, although we're over Christmas, we've decided it's meaningless so we'll do something together when the insanity dies down and we can have fun together without it being mandatory.

Happy fucking bloody Christmas to all!

Day 37: It's a beautiful night out

2007-12-22T23:30:00.000+10:00

It's hot and sticky in the house but there's a lovely cool breeze outside, this is the rather creepy little walkway that leads into a very creepy little park tucked away behind the units. It's the way we walk to the shop but at night it's dark and mysterious, I like it but I never stay long, it doesn't feel safe. It's mostly used by my neighbours to escape the cops when they come.

Day 36: mmmmmmmm Tiramisu Torte

2007-12-21T23:57:00.000+10:00

How on earth am I going to lose weight when Noise brings me home things like this? Oh well. I'm the only one that eats Tiramisu so it's aaaaaaall mine, that's just so wicked. It was a nice thing to cheer me up on a tough day though. I shall have some with coffee while I ponder how to break it to Chaos that we're not moving to his perfect house.

Day 35: On the flip of a coin

2007-12-20T22:45:00.000+10:00

I just know that one of the thousands of deities is nearly falling off his throne laughing at me today, bastard.

Now that the saga of hedge is over I've been offered another house, I had a look at it today and have until tomorrow morning to decide whether to move. Chaos was excited, Noise was very quiet (yeah that's a worry) and I managed not to cry in front of them. So down to the decision, unfortunately it's not a case of which place we like more but which one we hate less, which house will we be less miserable at as a family? We did the pros and cons lists, they were even. One house is better for Noise the other is better for Chaos. So it comes down to me and I just don't know. Usually a flip of the coin reveals what I really want but this time it didn't work. *sigh* I'll sleep on it.

Day 34: It's finished!

2007-12-19T19:45:00.000+10:00

Planted , fertilised, mulched and watered, now to see if it survives the ordeal. I have some hope for it. It doesn't look any more wilted today, actually I'm sure some plants are looking a little perkier...that could be my imagination.

Day 33: Just diggin' a ditch

2007-12-18T22:55:00.000+10:00

It seemed simple enough, dig a ditch with my pissy little shovel and shove the hedge in it. Heh, luckily I have a neighbour that gardens and kindly lent me some real tools. So the roots were finally negotiated, well hacked off, I guess I'll find out what they belonged to when it dies. About 20 cm of clay dug out and...I hit rock. Yippey yay. I remember as a Christian singing a song about building your house on rock, we sang it like it was a good thing. But in spite of it all the hole got dug, the plants shoved in, kind of, they didn't all get planted quite deep enough so tomorrow I move to plan B. Chaos amazed me, he worked alongside me all day, the kid's my hero today. OK so he dug up 10 cents early on and I handed him the pick and told him to keep digging and he might find more, never underestimate the avarice of a small boy.

Day 32: I found a hedge!

2007-12-17T23:33:00.000+10:00

I have been wanting a hedge between myself and my trashy neighbours but hedges take so long to grow, I'm still researching varieties because I need it to grow to 2 meters in about a week. But today as I was driving past the house down the road that has a hedge that I admire with envy every time I drive past it I saw there was no hedge, the hedge was gone, well not completely it was lying all over the front yard. I didn't even stop to ponder what kind of idiot pulls out such a stunning hedge I just bolted to their front door to enquire about their intentions for the hedge. Nine car trips later I have most of their hedge lying all over my backyard...happy dance, happy dance!

It has occurred to me that maybe I'm more of a Ute kind of woman and I should take that into account next time I buy a car. Only because I'm growing weary of those conversation with men that go "do you have a Ute to get that home in?" "no". "Do you have a trailer?" "no". "Do you have someone (obviously someone implies a male someone) that can help you?" "no I'll just shove it in the car somewhere, it'll be fine". "It won't fit in a car!" "Sure it well, everything fits in my car just watch me".

So now I have acquired a hedge the next issue is how do I plant it and keep it alive? I priced hiring a machine to dig a trench, then I went and purchased a pissy little shovel. The ground, it turns out, is like concrete, of course. Yay, go me and my little shovel, I only need to dig a trench about 50cm x 50cm x10m, tomorrow.

Day 31: Too tired even to drink

2007-12-16T23:26:00.000+10:00

Day 30: Hot, tired and dirty

2007-12-15T22:56:00.001+10:00

After work, hot sweaty, smelly, dirty and trying to figure out how to get home from where I ended up. The nice part of it is that I do get to go for nice little drives in the country.

Day 29: Thank you Chaos

2007-12-14T22:38:00.001+10:00

My boy child picked a bunch of Agapanthus for me today, one of the stems broke on the way to me but he says that one is to wear in my hair. I love it when he brings me flowers for my hair, well I love the bunches of boy-picked specially chosen flowers too. I feel very spoiled today.

Day 28: Feeling trapped

2007-12-13T21:09:00.000+10:00

Day 27: Catch up day

2007-12-12T23:55:00.000+10:00

Quite a few sleepless nights lately so today was a catch up on much needed sleep day...until after 11 pm when I remembered I hadn't taken a photo today. Back to bed.

Day 26: A walk on the wild side

2007-12-11T22:42:00.000+10:00

I had job training today, I was going to take my photo at the shopping center but I wasn't that brave, it's in the seediest suburb in town. So the next best thing seemed the overpass that took me ages to find so I could get out of there. The sky was stunning but a few minutes after this I was on that highway in one of those white out rain storms. I tucked myself in behind a semi and just followed his lights and hoped he was going my way because I couldn't even see the side of the road. Occasionally I caught a glimpse of some white lines so I knew I was in a lane. It was interesting, I couldn't see the signs and it's an area I'm not familiar with so I had no idea where I was. I love that sort of rain, it's a bit stressful to drive in but kinda fun in an intense concentration sort of way.

Day :25 Coffee

2007-12-10T23:49:00.000+10:00

Whew, I remembered about 11 that I hadn't taken a photo today, it's late, I'm tired, it's the time of night for a quiet cuppa.

Day 24: Happy Birthday Dave

2007-12-09T23:26:00.000+10:00

Have a good one!

Day 23: Elvis

2007-12-08T18:30:00.000+10:00

Everyone should have one embarrassing thing they like, mine is Elvis. I don't watch TV very often but there was an Elvis special on today, happy , happy. I had to leave in the middle of it to pick Noise up from work, what a choice Elvis or my child...tough one. I picked her up after she promised me an Elvis dvd for Christmas. Hehe I won't hold her to it though.

Day 22: Where I spend my time

2007-12-07T23:13:00.000+10:00

Day 21: In a rush

2007-12-06T17:32:00.000+10:00

Just another day and another interview to get to. Hmmm my poor car really is in need of a polish...one of these days.

Day 20: Chameleon

2007-12-05T21:07:00.001+10:00

So I was in the shower and it wasn't really intellectually stimulating enough I guess 'cos I got to wondering how people do those shower shots and how on earth would I manage one of those in my tiny bathroom. So of course I had to try it, balancing precariously on the side of the tub while I tried different ways to tie my camera to the shower rod and taking lots of test shots was...interesting. Well then the camera was there tied up with some really fancy knots at just the right angle so I supposed I might as well take a photo but what does one do in the shower to relieve the boredom of waiting for the 10 second timer, I mean it's just not that exciting really, not when you're showering alone anyway. The real fun was in Photoshop with just a little tweaking I was amazed to fine that...I match my shower! Wow! That has to be the ultimate in tacky decorating, I love it. I wish I'd known this when my kids were smaller it would have been much easier to hide from them for a few minutes peace if I'd known that I could blend in, chameleon fashion, to the shower walls. This could be the next home decor must have.

Day 19: Hair-raising

2007-12-04T22:48:00.000+10:00

Hair-raising seems the most appropriate way to describe today. I've never a done one of these shots before, it turns out it's quite fun and improved my outlook on the day. Simple nutty pleasures can change so much.

Day 18: Fairyfied

2007-12-03T23:13:00.000+10:00

I needed a photo with a Fairy theme for a challenge and realized sometime after midnight that the deadline was today and my fairy model was away. So I spent the wee small hours fairyfying myself. That much extreme photoshoppery of myself earns this one a place as todays photo. It has the sappy title " Today A Child Stopped Believing"...I don't think I pull it off very convincingly.

Day 17: Dance as though nobody's watching

2007-12-02T21:32:00.000+10:00

Day 16: Library raid

2007-12-01T22:21:00.001+10:00

I love the Library, all those books and they let me bring lots of them home. I was good his time and kept to my limit, usually my extras go on the kids cards. The red parcel is mystery books, the library uses any excuse like Christmas or Valentines day to wrap lots of books in pretty paper, it's like a literary lucky dip and I get to read something I probably wouldn't otherwise. There's something so wonderfully satisfying about books.

Day 15: One a those days

2007-11-30T23:49:00.000+10:00

Some days are diamonds, some days just suck.

Day 14: Two litres a day

2007-11-29T22:39:00.000+10:00

I'm getting back into the habit of carrying a water bottle with me all the time, it's so easy to drink two litres a day if it's always at my fingertips. The trick is to keep my water bottle, a week ago I had 5 bottles now I'm down to my last one but nobody touched them. So I've threatened Noise and Chaos with all kinds of harm if they pinch my bottle and so far nobody's touched it.

Day 13: Putting on the face

2007-11-28T19:34:00.000+10:00

Getting ready for an interview. I like cosmetics, I know that's a little politically incorrect these days but tough, I'm going to preserve whatever tiny shred of vanity I have left.

Day 12: Home away from home

2007-11-27T21:03:00.001+10:00

Some days I spend so much time in my car I wonder why I bother to pay rent on a house, except that it's a handy place to keep my clothes.

Day 11: The late night ritual

2007-11-26T23:50:00.000+10:00

I like late night phone calls camped on my bed, coffee is essential of course. All our kids are asleep or at least on the way and it's time for us Mums to indulge in girl talk. Well until I remember at around 11 that I have to take a photo and have it up by midnight, multi tasking, I love it.

Day 10: The joy of computers

2007-11-25T20:43:00.001+10:00

I think any day that changing a power supply is the most exciting thing to happen all day can be written off as a boring day. It was fun the first time I did it, OK the second, now it's on the chore list.

Day 9: Just One in the Anonymous Masses

2007-11-24T22:08:00.001+10:00

I always find voting day sobering, My lone vote seems so small, I can only hope that enough other small voices agree with me.

As I write this Australia is ushering in a new Government, it's about bloody time.

Day 8: Blading

2007-11-23T20:37:00.000+10:00

I've made a start on goal 4, yaaaaay! It seemed a good idea at the time, just blade for about 10 minutes, take a couple of pics and come home to rest. Ah huh...that became an hour of tearing up and down a hill trying to work out exactly how to take a photo of myself rollerblading. The answer is quite obvious of course, just get some speed up downhill then bend over and hold the camera as close to the ground as possible, aim it in the general direction of my feet and hope the auto focus focuses on something useful while not falling arse over tit. Simple.

Day 7: Bouquet of weeds

2007-11-22T20:49:00.000+10:00

Today was one of those perfect summer days, after 2 weeks of rain the park is green and lush, there are so many weeds in flower that I couldn't resist picking myself a posy of pretty weeds. I can't remember the last time I did that, the kids have been picking me flowers for so long that I have forgotten to pick them for myself. It's such a lovely simple pleasure. Noise joined me under the tree for awhile, it was lovely lazy spot to relax and catch up.

Day 6: Hangin' It!

2007-11-21T22:27:00.000+10:00

Well I finally got around to hanging some of my art on my walls. Hanging as in deciding where it should go and putting a proper hanger up instead of shoving it crooked on some random nail just to get it off the floor. And yes I know that art is "supposed" to be hung on a neutral wall but I tried it and it was boring so it's on an orange wall 'cos that has just the colour overload that I like m'kay. I have that annoying bright patch covering my face thanks to the UV filter, I really must throw that thing away, it's ruined more photos than I care to think about because I forget to take it off, the small risk to my lens really isn't worth the hassle of keeping it on...or I could try cleaning it.

Day 5: Headache

2007-11-20T23:54:00.001+10:00

Day 4: The Naked Woman

2007-11-19T23:16:00.000+10:00

Bedtime reading at the moment is "The Naked Woman" by Desmond Morris. It's a pretty good read, interesting, he knows his subject, from a zoological viewpoint which is fun and you have to love a man that thinks women are the most remarkable organisms on the planet.

Day 3: candles in the bathroom are nice but candles in the bath are better

2007-11-18T23:31:00.000+10:00

When relaxation is difficult and my mind is racing candles in the bath are like an enforced relaxation, they're the big guns of chill. There's something about little pools of hot wax threatening to tip onto bare skin that renders me fairly motionless. It's hypnotic...or that could be the wine...but it's not too long before I'm amusing myself with gentle slow candle races and suddenly nothing else matters...except of course that the candle on the left wins the race because completely irrationally I like it the best.

And I managed to work on goal 33 at the same time, multi tasking at it's finest. Go me!

Oh , kids don't try this at home, trust me.

Day 2: Just Messing About in the Creek

2007-11-17T15:30:00.000+10:00

Day 1: Pondering My Future

2007-11-16T18:44:00.000+10:00

Well I crashed and burned on the PAW project, although it achieved what I wanted which was to get over my fear of street photography. I've been pondering what to do with this Blog and have found that I really enjoy some of the 365 day projects that I've seen soooo it's with some trepidation that I embark on a 365 day self portrait project. I'm not a big fan of photos of myself generally and I'm terrible at commitment so it'll be interesting, well for me anyway. I hope to tie it in with my 43 things and photograph some of those things being achieved. Wish me luck. :)

KINK

2007-04-09T02:28:00.000+10:00

Standing Tall

2007-03-11T23:39:00.000+10:00

This weeks PAW comes to you in celebration of my courage (stupidity?). After so many weeks of being so scared I went out today to try out my new Canon 20D, it took me about 2 seconds to realize that there's no chance of stealth with that thing stuck in front of my face but I also realized that it feels like a shield ( I'm not sure if that's a good thing). This guy was my biggest challenge, he was walking straight towards just a few meters away and the light on his hair was just wonderful, I couldn't help myself I just had to take the shot....then I asked if it was OK. He turned out to be a pussycat with a real cute boyish smile, whew, who'd have thought. I like the irony of the way he's framed with a "halo" around his head.

Altercation

2007-02-22T00:38:00.000+10:00

It's been a month since I posted but I won't bore you with excuses I'll just move on and start again with this one taken at the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Extreme Fishing

2007-01-20T02:00:00.000+10:00

Oops, sorry folks I'm nearly a week late, I've been on holiday at the beach and away from my computer. I'm also hoping street photography doesn't really have to have a street because the only time I was on a street was to drive to and from the beach, so I'm claiming artistic license. I happened to catch this guy fishing on one of my walks.

Oh Dear! ....or something like that...

2007-01-10T13:50:00.000+10:00

This was one of those classic slow motion moments, I was too far away to get the shot of the bike helmet rolling slowly into the water, but managed to get closer in time for "the rescue".

So what I learned this week was

*Just take the shot, at least you have a chance of getting it, if you wait for it to be perfect, it'll never happen.

* I missed some good shots this week because I was too scared to approach people, I really need to get over the fear of people. And when I do get brave and ask I meet some wonderful people, so even I don't know what I'm so worried about.

* People are unpredictable, I don't need to go to the city to catch interesting moments, anywhere there are people there are bound to be interesting moments.

Happy New Year Let's Go Home

2007-01-01T19:04:00.000+10:00

I spent New Year at Southbank, as the last firework faded from the sky the rush for the gates began with the crowd slowing to a crawl at the gates. Thousands of people slowly rushing to spend the first hour of 2007 stuck in traffic.

I spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around when the crowd had thinned and I learned some valuable lessons

* Trying my hand at street photography at night wasn't the best idea I've ever had. The flash was too intrusive and shooting people at iso 1600 and a slow shutter yields very ordinary results.
* No matter how small the camera or how cheap and nasty the tripod, people have more respect for a photographer with a tripod.
*It's great fun to have a shooting buddy, I went with a friend and we had a blast.
* Street photography is scary and great fun. I met some wonderful characters that I wouldn't have met without my camera to break the ice.
* Some people politely decline to have their photo taken, lots don't mind, sleeping people don't know or care and some people just love the chance to perform.

I am now looking forward to learning more, improving a lot and enjoying the very real moments that this project promises to bring.

2006-12-28T12:27:00.000+10:00

I have been inspired by the very talented members of dpchallenge to complete a Photo A Week project for 2007. The other dpc members participating can be found in the links. So my goal for the next 52 weeks is to try my hand at street photography, it's a style of photography that I love but have always been too nervous to try. I figure after 52 weeks of it I won't be so nervous. I want to capture people in those unaware moments when they are truly being themselves and showing the emotion of the moment. Whether that be joy, love, despair or just plain old boredom, my goal is to catch people doing whatever it is that people do. At the very least it will be a learning experience for me but I'm hoping at the same time to be able to bring some decent images of humanity in all it's glory, the good, the bad and the indifferent.