Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

The stars of tomorrow were at this meet. It is so much fun to watch them swim. Some as young as 7 years of age swim with such style only seen with older swimmers. Some great dives and lovely strokes, all attributed to the quality coaching for certain as well as some definite natural talent. Though what I like the most about the District Meets - The SMILES!!!  You can see the rest of the images on my website. Just click here . If you would like to see more of my portrait work, just go to my here . Thanks for visiting my blog!!

This is where I live. Chatswood.  Last night on my way home from a meeting, the wind changed direction and the smoke from over 100 burning bushfires smothered our town. Sydney Morning Herald touts that these are the "worst in more than a decade". my street      I woke this morning to find out that 34 of these fires are uncontained, out of control. Mother nature is MAD!  Possibly 100's of families have lost their homes and everything in or around them including pets and livestock. A devastating tragedy.  What makes me mad is that some of these fires were most likely caused by someone carelessly tossing a cigarette out of their car window...seriously. How stupid are these people?? Thankful for the cooler day today as I am certain all of our brave firefighters are too. I hope it is all under control very soon.    Here is how you can help:  Members of the public who wish to help are asked to do so via the Salvation Army

Jade, loyal and very smart support dog! These incredible dogs are selected, trained and then placed to work in support of people with physical disabilities. I happily volunteered to capture images of one of the dogs, Jade, demonstrating a few of the many tasks she performs daily.  You can find out more on the ASDOG website, click here .

This was a terrific meet. Firstly, I loved watching the littlest kids swim. Secondly, this was the first meet where I had a second photographer. It was fabulous because it was like there were two of me. He was able to get shots that I cannot possible get because I have to be positioned ready to take the action photo. He got some some terrific behind the blocks images, so close that you can see the anxiety in the swimmers face! He also has a different eye to me so he got some angles that I hadn't thought of...awesome! I had the loan of the Canon 1D X and it was phenomenal in the low light. In addition, I had rented the 300mm fixed lens. A big heavy lens but it forced me to use my monopod which my physiotherapist was delighted about! It allowed me to get really close without loosing any sharpness. It takes a while to get used to but it is worth it. Sadly, my Canon 5D Mark II stopped working...ouch! I was unable to take the presentation photos whic

  My son was a patient at The Children's Hospital  at Westmead. First at 8 months of age when his kidney failed and then at 10 months when they removed it. It was a difficult time for us all.  Visiting again, this time as a volunteer photographer, I had to confront the crockpot of intense anxiety and other emotions that envelop you as a parent. But more revealing was having to face the children. The head hanging to their chest and pain glazed eyes, head tilted with a curious expression. "Why does this hurt mummy?" On this visit, however, the intensity was quickly dissolved by the pure joy brought to the faces of these young patients by the highly skilled and very funny clown doctors. What a wonderful gift! Whether finishing a round of chemotherapy or waiting for a kidney transplant, every child was able to find a smile for the clown doctors. Each bedside visit was pure delight. In addition, I witnessed momentary relief among the visiting family. As Gr

Graham from Blue Chip Wealth Management   was after a revamp of all of his electronic presence - LinkedIn, Facebook, Emails, Newsletters and Website. Armed with a variety of ties and jackets along with his well practiced facial expressions and body positions we got straight into it. Within the hour we had for this mini session, we were able to achieve the variety of different looks we were after. From formal poses suitable for the LinkedIn profile to the more casual photos for email and newsletters. I call it the "perfect" business portrait session because we were both well prepared, fast and efficient and we achieved exactly what we set out to.

For The Love Of Food Chef Guest and Chef Rumble met at the fabulous Bilson's restaurant. Since it closed its doors the two chefs have gone on to the kitchens of Sydney's best -  Sepia , Quay and Rockpool . Despite working opposing shifts, their relationship has ripened and they have recently become engaged. I wanted the love of food and the love of the two chefs to come together in one image. We had been wanting to put something together for a while but trying to co-ordinate the schedules of not one but two busy chefs plus one super busy photographer was a challenge..but this is what we came up with. I hope you like it. We have entered the image into Shoot The Chef competition for fun. If you would like to vote, just click here  and click the thumbs up button. Thank you!

Short course season means that it is not so far to run from one side of the pool to the other. I guess it is not very safe to run but as the ultimate people pleaser, I feel compelled to get the shot for my client. Alas, I am going to have to learn to slow down before I end up in the pool! The lighting was horrid as usual. Even worse this time because it was it was hampered by clouds and the majority of my light is natural. Of course, when the sun finally came out, the officials, understandably, ordered the blinds down because the reflection off the water means they cannot see the strokes and turns. We did our best as usual. Canon have promised the use of their new  1D X camera  and  70-200mm lens  which both promise amazing quality in low light so we will see. We may have some new equipment for the Long Course Season...stay tuned! The portraits were a lot of fun! LOVE shooting portraits...I don't have to run anywhere!