Good morning to everywhere and I hope that you all have had a great weekend. I realised suddenly that I had not written for a couple of weeks and just as suddenly felt the need to get my thoughts together and do a little catch-up piece. Heading into the Christmas season, as we know it here in Australia (probably more politically correct to call it Holiday Season), and things just start to get busy. People realise that the clock is ticking and there are things they MUST do before the end of the year. “Oh, we must catch up before Christmas!” Why, are you planning on disappearing along with Santa? But yes it is a busy time of year. The shops are busier and there is always extra shopping to do. 

As the title suggests, I made another trip down to Launceston in Tasmania to visit my friends Britt and Leigh. They are about to have their first baby and they held a Babyque for all their friends and families to attend. Yes, a babyque. It is like a baby shower, however, is a far larger affair involving lots of beer and cooked meats. So that was on last weekend and I flew in on Saturday and flew out Sunday arvo. Quick trip but well worth it. The babyque was held at a lawn bowls club so there was plenty of barefoot bowls. I also got to see their partially built house up in the hills above Launceston and on Sunday we went for lunch to the Mud Bar and Restaurant for an amazing meal. I must admit I am starting to fall for the slower paced lifestyle of Launceston…I won’t share any photos of that day here as they are not mine to share. I did take a lot but only with my Fujifilm X70. Perfect for parties and bowls it turns out. You can check out the photography from my first trip here. 

During the week last week, I had a photography job which was a lot of fun.  It was doing some portrait shots for one of my youngest son’s school friends and her little sister. We picked a perfect day as far as the weather is concerned and help the shoot in a local park. The two girls are adorable and made my job so much easier. It was nice to get out but equally nice to do some paid work and have that feeling of my time being valued and my skills worth it. I won’t share any of the photos from that day as they are not mine to share. But the parents seemed really impressed with the photos which again made me feel great. 

Then the weekend just passed saw my little boy and I catch up with my photography mate The ORP and his two little ones. The kids have caught up a few times together now and they seem to get along really well. Similar age and temperaments. So that is nice as The ORP and I get to talk shop about all things photography and parenting of course. Again I took my Fujifilm X70 along with me but didn’t take a single photo. The ORP – whose website you can check out here – had is silly little Sony camera with some new monolithic lens attached. Amazing set up really and the image quality and sharpness from it are incredible. Anyway, the kids had fun at a giant timber fort play ground. Here took the below photo of me with it. 

As for what is ahead. I actually have another photography job on Tuesday of this week. I am photographing a college student’s after-graduation shots with her friends and family. So that is another great opportunity to get out and about and do some work.  I have also been gradually making plans for my trip to Tokyo next year. I know it is months away but I love doing travel research and really I have had to book my accommodation already as hotels were filling up fast. Especially in Shibuya as I will be there over a weekend. More on that in another blog. For now, I just wanted to keep up the pace in my writing. Thank you for indulging this silly little blog. Happy shooting. Happy Holidays!