Panic...

I have SO much to do for Monday night's class, I don't know when I'm actually going to get it all done.  Actually, it's all the other work that I have to do that's stressing me out more than a little.  The photography part's the fun part.

Jake and I are off to Buiten again this afternoon, so hopefully I'll have all my pictures done by this evening.  Then I need to make my selection and edit them.  Should be ok.

Besides taking photos today, I'm hoping to pop in and see Jo and Paul's new house, now that they've officially moved in, even though not 100% finished yet.  So excited to see it.  And I might stop in to say hi to friends who are catching up this evening.

The weather's set to be awful for the weekend. Rain, rain and more rain.  I've got a ton of work to wade through for the other bookkeeping job I do from home, so I need time to try finish that up.  I'd like to get down to the beach tomorrow sometime with hot chocolate - a storm is always a nice time to sit in the car and watch the waves.  Might meet a friend for coffee while I'm down there.  On Saturday night, I might be going to friends for a form beer tasting, so looking forward to that one.  And, besides church, Sunday is completely mine.  I will not do a thing, besides watch TV and eat popcorn and chocolate.

In light of that, I've decided that I need to do some exercise, so I'm looking into joining the Edgemead Runner's Club.  I can't do it on my own and with winter here (it's only going to be a max of 13 deg C on Sunday), I'm really lacking motivation.  I hate the gym, so that's just not really an option for me right now.

Anyway, what are your plans for the weekend?  Whatever you get up to, I hope it involves blankets, chocolate, warm food and great company.

Sending love,
Sue XXX

Tonight...

 My photography course is quickly coming to an end and I've learnt so much in what feels like such a short amount of time.  I am definitely going to be looking into doing the next course next term too, so fingers crossed that I grow even more as a photographer before the year is up.  For tonight's lesson, we had to select our 10 favourite images taken since the course started.  For someone so totally indecisive, that's almost impossible...  Still, looking back on what I've learnt in even these few weeks, I'm astounded.

Basically, I've chosen pictures that I like.  Yes, there are some of Jake and yes, some of them may not be totally perfect and yes, I do have more than 10... not many more, but you know me...

 This is still one of my favourites...

 And these poles inside a bird hide at Intaka...

 I have loved the challenges that I've had to overcome and the new way I've had to train my brain to think about layout and lighting and motion and framing.  I haven't always got everything right, but, hey, that's how you learn, right.  This one shows very slight motion blur on the wings.  I've learnt that it's OK for some parts of my photos to be out of focus to show movement...

 I am eternally proud of having been the only person (so far) in our class to have won photo of the week, which meant my photo was framed and hung alongside the school's coffee bar and put up on their facebook page...

 I've learned that forests are very challenging when it comes to correct light metering and I learned that we are very, very small...

 I learned about depth of field and framing...

 On Sunday morning, despite the grim, cold, rainy weather, we went on a photo walk through Sea Point.  Just our little group.  The rain held off for most of our walk and we all managed to have a good time and snap some interesting things that we otherwise would've over looked.  Our brilliant teacher, Amy, gave us various assignments along the way.  I have learned that I like taking photos of junk...

We learned about shapes and patterns and different layouts...

 That the obvious and mundane can actually be quite interesting if you get down low and really check it out...

Seriously?  It's a drain.  I never thought it could possibly ever be pretty, but there you have it...

 Raindrops are beautiful...

 So are bolts...

 I just can't decide which is better...

Tonight we're going to be learning how to edit and I'll be using these babies to do just that.  Watch this spot and I'll share the results with you soon.

Following up on my photo story post from last week, I've finally reached a decision on a subject.  Chatting to some of the other students yesterday, I realise that I wasn't the only one struggling, but that I did have a lot of ideas to share with others.  Anyway, I've decided to make my story a very personal one and I hope that the emotions both Jake and I feel, will be sufficiently portrayed in my story.

On Saturday morning, Jake and I headed to the beautiful Buitenverwachting.  They've got a new, gorgeous coffee shop, called The Coffee Bloc, and I highly recommend a visit.  They serve breakfast and lunch and Jake's been dying for Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon for the longest time ever.  We had the most divine coffee (Jake's was decaf), made with beans that are now roasted on the farm.  Check out the super cute ellie in Jake's cup...

 We sat outside in the courtyard, but there is seating available indoors too.  I would highly recommend booking, it got pretty busy and we were lucky to get a seat...

 Inside...

 Back to my photo story... I need to re-visit the farm when the light is better, possibly early in the morning, but I do love these shots that I took on Saturday anyway and I might just end up use some of these for my story.  Unfortunately, these pictures were taken just before noon, so the light wasn't fantastic and I think sunrise will be a better time to re-do these.  There are so many memories for me at Buitenverwachting and it's time to share some of these with Jake now too...

 This cross is where Jacques' ashes were buried in September 2004.  I don't feel a particular connection to this exact place, I only ever visited it with Jacques once.  I haven't been there since the ashes were buried, so it was also the first time that Jake visited and it was a very bittersweet moment for him...

 This photo really tugs at my heartstrings.  I am so sorry that Jake has this burden to carry...

 The cross is quite shabby now, but, for the purposes of our story, I think I like it that way...

 And so that's what I'll be working on for the next week or two.  I have so many ideas to make this as great as I can.  Hopefully the photoshop lesson tonight will give me a few extra tools to help improve some of my pictures a little too.

I can't wait to share the finished project with you.

Sending so much love,

Sue XXX

Help wanted...

As usual, my photographic questions and queries come through too late to really get much help from you, but if you happen to stop by here anytime soon...

I've been given an assignment that's really stressing me out more than a little.  I have to do a photographic essay.  As you all know a picture speaks a thousand words and for this assignment, I need to take a series of photographs (between 4 and 8) to tell a story with.  It sounds simple enough, but by Monday evening, I need to have decided on a theme/subject and have drawn up storyboards, giving as much detail on my planning as possible.  This includes location, background, lighting, lenses, subject, props - just about everything I need to plan this ahead of shooting it.  I have a few reasonable ideas, but nothing that's really grabbed me...

From ideas like someone falling asleep whilst reading the paper, to making a dinner feast and having only one person sitting down to eat it, to various stages of a flower's (a lily) life, to melting Easter eggs in the garden and recording various stages of its disappearance, to a good plateful of food disappearing, to a bowl of Lindt balls being scoffed, to ironing a shirt...  I just don't feel like any of these ideas really have the wow effect.  And I realise that simple is better and that making it great really comes down to photography skills...  I just don't know if, as the viewer, any of these ideas are all that thrilling.

What do you think?  Do you have any other more brilliant ideas?  It must tell a story without words.  I've seen some beautiful ideas by a guy called Duane Michals, but it feels wrong to copy someone else's ideas.

Let me know your thoughts!
Sue XXX

The Little Fairy...

 So little Bi is finally 2 and she had the most beautiful fairy party this year.  Her mommy did so much work to make her day a wonderful sucess.  Above is her very pretty, super delicious cake.

Hidden inside was her candles and a little fairy looking up at the butterflies...

 Pretty pink fairy cakes for the grown ups...

 Party boxes...

 each fairy visitor was given her own crown to take home...

 And a sparkly home-made wand...

 Teeny fairy cakes for the kids...

 And the beautifully laid fairy table...

 Bi got a gorgeous new doll's house for her birthday...

 And then it was time for the fun to begin.  Corky really loved the Tinkerbell mural...

 His new Mario and Luigi toys were also at the party and so had to have their pictures taken as Tink too...

 Bi had a giant fairy jumping castle...

 And she was totally thrilled with having it all to herself before her friends arrived...

 She looks just like my mom as a little girl in this photo...

 Sadly, Jake's decided he's too grown up (most of the time) and he was thrilled when his Uncle Gareth arrived to keep him company...

 Corky took his chances to show the girls how to wear their crowns - this is a keeper for his 21st...

 While her friends were all posing as Tink, Bi decided she also wanted a photo.  I had to be quick, she was there for about 2 seconds...

 Then it was time to sing to the birthday girl.  Bi LOVED the attention of hear us sing especially for her...

 Smiling at the fairy on her pretty cake...

 I tried really hard to get a nice photo of both of them for Jo.  I had to use my flash and Corky wouldn't take whatever was in his mouth out his mouth and Bi wouldn't smile, so this was the best I got...

 Bi was thrilled with her party box.  Check madam standing on her chair - the real center of attention...

 And she loved all her treats...

 Just before the end of the party, Jake decided that maybe the princess jumping castle wasn't all that bad.  It was worth a jump on anyway...

 Taking a breather at the bottom of the slide...

 And enjoying being bounced around by everyone else.  Bi wasn't feeling too well before her party and Jo had to giver her some meds to help her feel a bit brighter.  They worked and she really had fun...

 Corky and his dad...

 A better picture of him with his mom...

 Not to be out done by her brother - Bi wtih her mommy too...

 Getting a nice picture of both kids at the same time is NOT easy...

 Neither is getting a family photo.  At least most of them are looking at the camera and smiling...

 Corky thought his mom was super cool for having a go down the slide...

 And once all her friends had gone home, it was finally time to open her presents...

 Corky was so excited for Bi and couldn't wait to help her.  Such a sweet big brother...

 Bi was thrilled with all her new things...

 Lots of pretty pink things...

 She loves clippity cloppety shoes...

 When it was Corky's birthday and my mom phoned him and asked him if there was anything he wanted, he told her that he'd really like a present for Bi, because he'd been getting all the presents and she was getting none.  Obviously that meant that he got an extra gift on Bi's birthday too, but he deserved it, he was so sweet...

Jo and Paul had a "Vegas" party to go to later on Saturday night and Bi found Paul's Elvis dress up things and dolled herself up.  What's up, homegirl...

And that's it.  Bi had a really wonderful birthday and she was as spoiled as any birthday princess deserves to be! 

Sending lots of love,

Sue XXX