Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

Everyone got into the spirit for the inaugural SMNE Duel In The Pool Meet. Hosted by Knox at Pymble Ladies College pool, each team chose a theme. Disco, Smurfs, Rockstars, Hawaiians and Wizards abound. Even the coaches came dressed up! Despite the miserable weather the swimmers had a blast!  First up was the Mixed Up Relay. Each swimmer drew a card with their stroke order on it. Each race started with the backstroke but a Breastroker could then be racing a Flyer so you don't know who is going to win the race until the very end...the kids LOVED it! All of the following races were mixed so that the girls and boys raced together.. The teams collected points along the way and after each progress announcement, you could hear the whispers, we need to win another few races..etc. Such great team building. There was loads of yelling from the stands too..good job parents and grandparents.   Can't wait for the next meet! Smurfs help with timing!     Cheering on her t

Everyday that I shoot, it is a fun day for me because I simply love what I do. Today was a little more fun than usual because we got to play with various new lighting setups, some props and hair blowing which I don't normally use in my business portrait sessions or my swim photos! Dustyn is the Mackay representative for Lipsense Lip Colour as well as managing her own Youtube How-To Makeup  Channel so she knows how to apply a mean lipstick. The rest was up to us. Dustyn hasn't modeled before but I think that you'll agree that the camera really likes her. The following are completely unedited images. TECHNICAL INFORMATION Camera - The most awesome Canon 1D X .. Lens - Canon 85mm Aperture - 5.6 on the white images and 2.0 on the blue ones Lighting This lighting diagram is for the images with the white background. Alien Bee B1600 with Beauty Dish as main light Westcott Luminator Reflector for fill Alien Bee B1600 wit

Perfect spring weather. Not too hot or cold. Mostly sunny set the scene for this fun meet.  Swimmers of all ages competed and when they weren't racing, they were hanging out together playing handball or doing handstands! It is a perfect team building event. What impressed me most though was the level of effort and participation by the parents.  Cooking, marshaling, timing...you name it. This meet could not have achieved its success without these fabulous people. The pace was set by the President, Louise Bain who was a ball of energy racing all over checking that everything and everyone were all going well and to plan. And then there were the great swims. Not known to be a fast pool by any means, records were broken and PBs made none the less! The younger swimmers enjoyed collecting their medals whilst the older swimmers were happy to use this as a good training exercise. I had donated a prize which was luckily won by one of my best cli

From 7 year olds last weekend at the Summer Sprints to the "big kids" at this NSW LC Qualifying Meet. The biggest difference.....SPLASH! Bigger and stronger, these guys make a mess of the pool.  The races are tighter so I have to try to shoot through the leg splash of the swimmer in the parallel lane to the one I'm aiming for then try to focus through their arm splash! A lot of dead images but still some good ones! What is cool about these guys is their experience and style makes them so beautiful to watch. So streamlined, flexible and powerful! More images are on my website. Just click here . See you at the District Championships!

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