Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

Please meet my lovely friend Siggi.  A busy mother of four happy and healthy children, Siggi is concerned about other children consuming food of very little nutritional value (junk) when healthy food is so quick and easy to prepare. Being a Naturopath, Siggi has a keen awareness of the key elements necessary for the optimal health of the body and mind.  Conversely, she can predict what future ailments lay ahead for those who choose to avoid such a wholesome diet. As such, she has started a Blog where she will share healthy recipes that are quick and easy to prepare. Feel free to visit her blog and try her recipes. Think I'll try the Carrot Cake...yum!

The start of the short course season brings groups of swimmers from around the area aiming to make personal best times for State and Metro which are only weeks away. For me it meant the first time using my Canon Mark IV. I had a few adjustments to make but then got the hang of the amazing rapid fire...a far sight quicker than the Mark II. In addition to the 10 fps, I liked the extra zoom. The 300mm lens is just too bulky for me so it's a nice compromise to stick the 70-200mm on the 1.3x sensor. The lighting at SOPAC is all but non existent. At one stage I was feeling ready to sleep it was that dark. Around 12800 ISO dark. These challenges are sent to try us!

 I was super excited to wait on the rise of the Earth's Super Moon, this past Sunday. I watched the kids frolic in the warm autumn water and sand for some time and was beginning to worry that the headland was rather too far out and that we may have missed this once in a long while opportunity when all of a sudden it was there in all of it's full amazing glory!  These images are all straight out of the camera, no Photoshop, no editing except for the following one which is two exposures (one slow and one fast) combined to get the soft waves. My sensor is completely filthy due to several recent shoots at beach and park locations, so don't look too closely or you will see loads of blobs! 

For my international friends, ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. When our troops landed on the beach in Gallipoli on this day in 1915,  an astonishing number of our soldiers lost their lives. The Allied death toll for this tragic campaign was over 44,000 and so it soon became our national day of remembrance. For all those who have sacrificed in the name of peace, we thank you!  Along with the marching soldiers come the many wonderful and colourful bands. Many of our schools perform in the ceremony including bands from both my boys schools, Marist College and Knox. My Son's School Band. As each group passes the War Memorial, they lower their instruments and signs and all eyes are left in respect. If you would like to see more about the Marist College Band, please visit my personal blog . Thanks for reading!

After a few hours of shooting, set changes, outfit and hairstyle changes, we decided to blow off some steam. Just in the casual shirt she came in, Shelly sat for some fun natural shots. We were trying to get the fan going to blow back her hair but it was a mess and we just ended up laughing. The real fun started when Shelly began pulling some amazing expressions. It strikes me how beautiful she remained even when she contorted her face so!

Professional portraits for your high school dance or dinner? I wish they had thought of this when I went to high school! Although I remember it vividly, I do not have one image of my year 10 formal. What a fabulous idea! 20 years from now, these kids will love showing these happy snaps to their kids. They will reminisce about what they wore, how great they looked, who their friends were and how much fun they had! I had a wonderful time and all the kids were amazing! They just fell into their poses for the formal shots, each guy and girl looking as though they had stepped out of a magazine! Sometimes the formal consists of a dinner but tonight we are dancing away at Home Nightclub at Darling Harbour, downtown Sydney.