Lost Aussie on the loose

Make Your Own Music

Sometimes, as much as you might wish otherwise, you just have to make your own music.

(Thank Heaven I can play the Piano!)

Oh and I am posting across at Vision and Verb today if you care to hop across!

Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone

Today I took a leap of faith and bundled a whole lot of courage into my camera bag and headed off to my first ever "NUDE" model shoot.  To say that I was vested with a whole lot of trepidation would be rather an understatement and I am glad to report, my fears were for naught.

The "shoot" was very professional, the model most lovely and compliant and since I've  spent many years peeking at naked bodies in various forms in my prior professional life, that part of it was not an issue.

We had two hours to take pictures, and I think I shot well over 800 raw images during that time.  Obviously lots of them will go in the trash folder, but I'm surprised at how many are worth keeping.

Shooting with studio lights. posing and learning how the group worked, it was all very interesing.  Sadly for PG rating reasons I can't really share too many of the pics I took with you on the blog.  Rest assured they are very much in the "fine art" realm and do wonderful justice to the female form!!

 

Amazing what a little prompting and a leap of faith can do!

A Little Update

"faces of eve"
Marie Otero © 2012

I know many of you are anxiously awaiting news of the next Online Class and rest assured it's on the way.  A small hiccup - as life is often want to offer in that DH has a new job and one that puts us just a tad too far away for him to commute each day.  Upshot is that as of this week our house is on the market and a move to Connecticut (or thereabouts)  is in our future.

Needless to say it adds a few more chores and things to be done - apart from photoshopping and preparing class.  So I do apologise if I am not being as timely and efficient as usual!

Hopefully you can bear with me as we chug through this transition.  I do hope to post the class details this weekend and still plan to start class around the 20th of April, 2012!!!

hugs a bunch

A Bright Sight

Yay, they are here!  The daffodils are finally blooming - Spring is on it's way! Oh what JOY to behold these lovely blooms.

A Winter's Afternoon Out

The sunshine was fiercely lovely today and even though it was not terribly warm it was too nice to stay indoors, so a drive out to the Hamptons was in order.  We ended up at Mastic Beach and took a brisk walk along the sand.  The sea breeze was ferocious and a usual hours galavant was short cut by the wind chill.
I'm a big fan of fresh air, but I like my finger-tips intact too!

We drove a little further and ended up at Sag Harbour, one of my fave little towns, where we sought a warm up over beer and burgers in a cozy pub.  The Hampton villages are always totally different in the winter.  Less well dressed and half the businesses closed until the bling and feathered city peacocks return with the warmer weather.  I like them better when it's cold. Way more realistic.

Hope you all enjoyed some fun this weekend too!

Posting Over At Vision and Verb

 

I'm posting over at Vision and Verb today.  Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Wanton Ruin

 

Not four days after leaving the sunny shores of Perth I received a phone call from my Father in Australia at 4:15pm today to say that our house had been robbed, my car keys stolen (amongst other things) and my car driven away and found torched some 5 miles away from our house.

This is like black icing on what has already been a terribly difficult year.

I don't know who felt compelled to take my car and why they thought it might be fun to drive it away.  Perhaps if they were using it for a bank heist or some other semi-romantic joy ride I might at least get a good story out of it.

But to drive a perfectly good car off into the night and then probably less than15 minutes later set fire to it ..... I am at a loss.

Yes, the car is insured.  But we all know that insurance never covers the "real" cost of what you lose.

It was a difficult time at home this trip, for lots of reasons that really don't bear airing here - this robbery and the loss of my car - well it's faith testing, to say the least.

Feel free to point me towards the nearest black hole, because I sure as hell feel like crawling into it.

Hit and Run

To the person who rammed into our car in the Huntington Station Car Park last night,

I just want to Thank You NOT for the note you DID NOT LEAVE,  for the sorry you DID NOT SAY,  for the harm, expense and effort that it will and did cost us to report this Hit and Run accident and to have our car repaired and the hardship that will cause.

Your lack of honesty is deplorable.

And, even if you think no-one saw you, God did.  And if perchance you do not believe in God, then remember that Karma can sure be a B*T*H!!!!!!!

And whilst I feel sorry for us, ultimately, I guess I feel sorrier for you and hope you reflect well on what you have done, your lack of social and moral responsibility and hope sincerely these are not characteristics that you will pass onto your children.

(ok thanks for listening... I feel better and normal programming will resume next post!)

A Little Fall Light

I can't believe how quickly the Summer has disappeared.  It is barely 60F here today and I had to find my wooly UGG slippers this morning.  The afternoon light has a different tone as it strikes through the turning  leaves and it won't be long before I have to find my garden gloves and the big rake.

Yesterday I spent all day in the City teaching a private Photoshop Class, which was fun but tiring.  Today I am doing chores and a little more Digital Painting.  What are you up to? Anything exciting?

Out and About - Long Island

The weather on Long Island was just "perfect" today so DH and I decided to go off exploring.  We had not got much further than the access road to the interstate than I realised I still had my Macro lens on the camera and not the usual "outdoor, grabitall lens".

There was the usual back and forth - "do you want to turn around and go back home to get the other lens?" ... "no, I will be fine, just keep going."
And we did.
And there was me, the first moment I went to snap a picture, cussing under my breath at a fixed focal length and no-where to go, except walk backwards.

The biggest hurdle was in my brain and if I had been a bit less frustrated then I would have made some better opportunities with the lens that I had.  Oh well.  "Tant Pis" as the French say.

We wended our way down the Island, throught the Hamptons, checked out an art fair in Westhampton and then onto Sag Harbour where we stopped at our usual spot for a beer and a plate of yummy Calamari.

The beer, food and sunshine seemed to marry well with the Macro lens obstacle and in the late afternoon I was far less stubborn with what I could "see" and captured some neat shots of the people and odd things along the way.

This was my favourite image of the day though.  A boy and his Dad, doing what they do.  Spending time together with nothing other particular in mind, other than a little bit of fishin'.

I would not have caught this moment quite like this if I'd had my other lens on the camera.  So perhaps things happen for a reason sometimes.

What do you think?