yes, it is that time of the school year for sports day.  how many of you have this to look forward to?  well, i know you all just love to see my cute kids, but i thought i would give a little background in the way i capture these events.  of course, this is just the way i go about doing it, certainly not rules to live by!  i am always looking out for some little action, something that is just them...  when i saw tye looking for me as he is above with his hands up, i knew i wanted to capture that but of course he saw me before i could get my camera up (kids are too quick for us sometimes) so i motioned back to him to do it again (is that cheating - i don't think so).  it is also great to get others in the image so when they are all grown up you can have a good laugh, i mean, remember what they used to look like, so i fight my tendency to zoom in close, and open my view a bit to get a better feel of the event as i did with the image on the right side.

now during the races, i try not to go overboard and take every step.  with digital, of course you can go ahead and click away but in years to come, you are not going to want to watch every step of the skipping, sack, obstacle, running... race.  when you upload your images and have a look, just pick out the best of the best, be selective.  tye's favourite race was the obstacle so i wanted to highlight that and took a picture of the way the clothes were set up, maybe a different angle for him to see and remember.  and who doesn't look cool skipping?  his team did the best in that race, so i thought it was nice to highlight too.  don't get me wrong, these are not all the race pictures i am keeping by any means!

don't forget to take that far away shot too.  i sometimes forget to step back and capture a wider view because of my typical style, but for events, a wide view can remind us of so much - the crowd, the setup...  you may not be able to see it, but there are leaves in the image too which i love because it was quite breezy for most of the day and toby even commented on the falling leaves.  when i look at this image, i can almost hear the kids squealing and the parents cheering.

and always my favourite, an individual portrait.  for me, this type of image is the way i like to sum it up.  i have found a few different spots in my house where the light works well.  in this case, placing tye just inside the front door while i stand outside, helps to light up his eyes with catchlights and the back, patio doors help to light up the background.  so that's about it for round 1 - round 2 is the end of this week, junior's sports day... i hope you have fun capturing your child's sports day!

...but i did!  what do you do when you forget?  i forgot, it just passed and i didn't remember.  isn't it such an awful feeling when you suddenly realize?  when you suddenly remember.  have you forgotten anything recently?  what did you do to make it up?  ps: i know this is not a forgtet-me-not flower, i just liked it :o)

after feeling pretty good for a few days i woke up in a haze this morning.  not wanting to go downhill as i was still hacking away from last week, i played it safe and went to the doctor - yup, still not good - more antibiotics :o(  at least i went early this time and did not wait!  does anyone else do that - "i'm fine, i'm fine, i'm fine" take nothing - "okay, not fine" antibiotics and the works? took my son too - turns out his antibiotics didn't work.  so back on the meds... when will it end? image above: there is something about the haze and colours of the east coast that i love...

...since i picked up my camera.  i wish it could have been getting a good cleaning or servicing or something, but oh well.  at least it gives me a chance to go back and pay some attention to some older images.  does that happen to anyone - you take, take, take and then you have a little time and realize that there are some images you may have missed from before?  catching up is good, actually, catching up is great!  above: on goes my love of everything coconut...

well january 2012 is a day away from saying its goodbyes - already.  what did january 2012 teach me?  that things can get better but are pretty good here and now; i hate tying up loose ends - i much prefer slam dunks; my boys look so hansome with freshly washed, freshley combed hair; i can kick house work in the butt when my husband is away; i prefer a messy house than a husband that's away; my to-do list kicks my butt every time!  so i did not reach my goal of my little pictures being all organized in a neat little row, maybe february will be a bit easier on me.

so i'm on a path that is my own and i may stop and enjoy the flowers every now and then, i may not know where it leads to all the time, it may be rocky sometimes and smooth at others - but it's my path and i'm going to enjoy it.  what did january teach you?

friday!

oh yes, it is friday - i'm happy it is.  let's just put this week down to got.nothing.done, have.a.sore.nose but wouldn't.trade.it.for.anything kind of week. i can see the end of january (already) and my goal of sorting my images by month end is looking a bit far fetched, but i have missed my computer and am feeling charged up - so i'm getting a move on.  today - i only have one little boy home and he is more of the studious-entertain-myself kind of guy so i'm trying to get some work done before we pick up the more "mum-look-at-this" kind of guy (mums, you understand right?).  have a great weekend!

well i have been in a haze of sorts. i get lost every now and then, in thoughts, life in general, laundry... the list goes on and on as usual. i felt pretty thrown off track starting 2012 with work that needed finishing up and a lot of other things that started in 2011 and are not all neatly packaged up and shipped off - 2012 was not starting off all nice and clean and pretty (just to let you know, i like clean slates (i love a fresh piece of paper) and i like instant results (i would have a polaroid camera if i could)).  so as people started their 2012 projects and reflected on their year's goals, i wallowed in the unfinished - blah. but breezes blow, tides come and go and we always come about (however, bronchitis would not be my preferred potion) i had time to ponder and think and dream - i.am.a.dreamer... and i discovered instagram, simple and quick.

random inspiration

random fun...

so we'll see where this current takes me, i'll try not to fight it.  fighting it just makes you tired and gets you no where, so i'll relax and float and see where i go... today - i'm staying at home with my two little boys, blowing and spluttering but getting all better.

keeping it simple - went for a simple family drive the other afternoon and simply enjoyed every minute of it.

i am trying to sort - i love organization and my images are far from organized.  but january is the month - it is my goal to get sorted!  the images above were taken ages ago and i love them so.  i'll have to show you the colour version too, but for today, i wanted to enjoy them.  see, this is what happens when i am sorting, i kind of get carried away, not carried away in the get-things-done kind of way, but the go-off-on-a-tangent kind of way!  happy monday!

*bus - too tired to write...