Monday, June 6, 2011 My new website is up and running, so I am retiring this blog as my photography site. I will be using it from now on for my writing.
Please check back from time to time to see what I've been up to. I'll link to this site from my new one though so if you follow me there you won't miss out on anything!
Thanks! :)
Monday, May 30, 2011 Last weekend I was in the privileged position to attend a charity event for 3 year old Veronika. The aim of that event, and several others prior to it, was to raise money for a hydro-therapy spa in Veronika's home, which would dramatically improve her chances of being able to walk. This is an exceprt from the blog her mother writes about Veronika:
Since our Beautiful Princess Veronika arrived, I have had a few people tell me I should write a book about our family's journey. I would love to do that one day, but for now I am going to blog some of the highs (and maybe some of the lows) we have encountered so far, and continue to. I am so blessed to have the most amazing, inspiring, tough little girl. She continues to teach me things not only about her, but about myself all the time.
This is Veronika the day she came into the world. May 14th 2008. She was small for a 39 week baby, weighing in at 5lb15oz or 2700grams. We had to have her at the Royal Hobart Hospital(there was standing room only in the delivery suite as there was 27 Drs and Nurses at her birth, the joys of a high risk delivery), as my obstetrician noticed she had a massive bleed in her brain at 36ish weeks. We later were told that it should of killed her, as she basically had the worse grade stroke a person can have, and she had it before she was born. Still no one can tell us what caused it to happen....At birth she was also diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, and just before she had her 1st Birthday she was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy(CP), Veronika has hemiplegia, which affects her movement down the left side of her body. When she was a week old, she had a MRI and we were told she had some brain injury, that the Doctors believed would affect her movement down her left side.
Since that time the family has been told by doctors that Veronika will never walk. The family - and many friends and supporters - are determined to prove the doctors wrong. So they set out on a campaign to raise money for a therapy that could give Veronika the chance she needs to walk - a hydro-therapy spa in her home. The only problem was that it cost a lot of money, which the family didn't have. Several fundraising events, culminating in the children's gala auction (images below) and an adults' gala evening the same day, raised the staggering sum of $23,987.46 (with a little more to come). Veronika's mum can now order the spa (and probably has!).
Here are some images from that most successful day...
Even though Veronika will now have her spa, her health other expenses continue. If you'd like to keep supporting Veronika Will Walk, keep an eye on her blog and buy one of the images from the children's gala auction.
Friday, May 27, 2011 Been a busy week or so. No time to post individual images so here's a collage of the last 10 days or so...
Monday, May 23, 2011 I was fortunate to photograph an amazing event over the weekend - "The Beautiful and the Damned", a burlesque revue at the Playhouse in Hobart's CBD. The promotional material set high expectations:
"A burlesque night of pure Jazz Age decadence. Underneath the glamour lies a tale of seduction. Your journey will transend the shimmer and sparkle, delving into the the dark undercurrentof the Cafe Society. A meditation on seduction and intrigue; decadence and depravity..."
Featured performers included: Miss Kitty's Meow, Scarlett Jezebel, Lucy Sky Diamond, Lady Lola, Zara La Mor, Tiger Lilly with interstate guests Kerry X and Cleo Le Tea. MC for the night was Comedian Kevin O'Flaherty
So, did the show live up to its promise? You decide...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Now these aren't necessarily some of my favourite things. Toes can be kind of, well, unattractive. But I'd thought I'd frame mine anyway, in the spirit of embracing everything about my almost-40-year-old self! And I think a person's hands say a lot about them. Here're mine, for what it's worth....
Monday, May 16, 2011 There's a photo blog site I visit regularly, which invites readers to contribute their shots on certain themes. Most contributors also post information about their gear, which for many include a long list of lenses. When I first visited the site I had two lenses, pretty crappy ones which came with the pretty basic DSLR I had just bought. I remember reading these lists of lenses and thinking, "What on earth?! How can you possibly need such a collection?!" I just didn't get it.
Now I do. My husband has noted that I seem to acquire lenses at a similar rate to shoes. (My current and previous partners have compared me to Imelda Marcos....) My favourite lens is the one in this shot - a 50mm f/1.4 lens which is sensational for portraits and even does a half-decent job as a macro lens, especially with magnifying filters. It's the one most often on my camera and I love the fact that, with no zoom capability, I need to use my feet to help frame my shots.
For this shot, my feet were in the bathtub (I was using the bathroom window as my light source). Unfortunately we were experiencing an ant invasion at the time so I had crawly things on my feet while I was trying to photograph - uch I hate ants!
Saturday, May 14, 2011 Aren't our inner lives fascinating? How often do you come across someone who presents one way in public but, get them alone and perhaps with a drink, they shatter your allusions about who they really are and how they really feel? It happens to me often, so much so that I wander around noticing people's expressions and construct whole lives - happy, unhappy and everything in-between - based on the faces I see. No doubt I am usually way off the mark, but nevertheless it's an interesting exercise.
What do you see behind this face?
Email me, and you might find out if you were right....
Friday, May 13, 2011 There's a secret drawer in my bedroom that the girls know they're not supposed to peep in. It's full of many of my favourite things - necklaces, bracelets, rings and other accessories too delicate to let into the hands of well-meaning but fumbling children. Many of the treaures were once my mum's; even more reason to treasure them. So as part of a self-portrait series I couldn't leave them out, but nor could I wear them all at once. So my compromise is this -
- courtesy of the "instamatic" app on my iphone. Not much clarity, but a lot of colour and even more fun! Just the way I like it :)
Thursday, May 12, 2011 I'm looking through photos I took today. I'm drawn to one as I listen to a song which pops up randomly from my music library - "Hazy Shade of Winter", by Simon and Garfunkel. It's a song about big plans and no follow through. Isn't this what most of us fear for ourselves and our lives?
"Funny how my memory slips while looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime.
I look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter..."
It's a song to wallow in, or to inspire. Like a lot of great music (and art generally), it's there for the taking; this year is the springtime of my life!
