Re-invigorating my photography

For years I've talked about getting an external flash for my SLR as it provides better light coverage and the ability to "bounce" the light to provide a more natural and less harsh effect, especially for portraits.

But hadn't really had the justification to spend the money on it as never took many portrait shots before as I typically prefer landscapes and outdoor shots to capture a scene or moment in time, and to remind me I was there with my terrible memory....

But like many other things in life the Logan-monster has changed that, as he is great fun and a joy to try and capture doing the many fun and crazy things he does, often indoors, hence the need now for the flash. My son deserves to be captured properly "on film" :)

And thanks to some generous Christmas money and some surprisingly quick (but effective) research I arrived at the decision to buy the Nikon SB-400.

The stripey hooded family

And I'm sure you'll agree even with little practise I am very pleased with the initial results and at how quick and easy it is to use and will be yield many more good shots as I experiment more over time.

Notice the soft lighting against the bright background

The Ashes in "The Furnace"

For David's 70th birthday present we all clubbed together to get some tickets and pay for day at the Ashes as they were playing in the WACA for the 3rd test whilst Mum and David were visiting.

Unfortunately there were two things conspiring against us on the day:

1. The heat as it was about 38 degrees and of course we weren't in the shade
2. David was very sick/tired at the time with a weird virus that had been going round Perth so was on about 20% energy

A great view of England's downfall...

But besides those potential setbacks and England playing terribly it was a great day out to see the cricket live in such a small ground so you are never far from the action.

David looking surprisingly human...

I was forced to have a beer for the team as David wasn't really up for it and Janice is a girl.....

Yep, long sleeves and big hats were required

Christmas and New Year 2013. Where did that go?

Been a while for any posts, as life has been a bit busy with Mum and David over with us and Christmas/New Year taking over, especially with me working through Christmas for the first time in many years.

And we've just returned from a great week down in Albany (another post to come soon about that).

So Christmas as always came and went faster than you imagine, but was made special having Mum and David here with us so we didn't have a lonely Christmas on this side of the world. And we went with our "reasonably real fake" Christmas tree for ease and not wanting to spend 100 dollars on a real one we started the decorations with Logan "assisting" in his own special way. And were pleasantly surprised by how much he didn't try and pull everything off the tree and we kept the presents away until the last few days to reduce the temptation (for him and Janice!).

Finished and loaded with presents

Christmas morning was a fun time with Logan into present opening much more this year until he found something more interesting to occupy him or helping us open ours too :) It was really funny as he opened his "digger" present as one of the first and was a tad obsessed with that for most of the day!

We could actually enjoy Christmas dinner outside as it was a reasonable temperature for this time of year (e.g. under 35) and we decided to go with a huge and delicious ham (and just some turkey slices) rather than a big turkey this year. With my little Charlie brown tree being our centre piece (thanks Louise and Bob).

Tree with extra decorations and being guarded by Logan's Gnome

Then for the afternoon we headed over to the house of Taylor to see them and the Rowlands clan and enjoy their pool for an afternoon swim and play.

New Year was a quiet one (being old and parents now we obviously don't go out for new year!) and no-one was having a house party this year. So we had a good evening in watching the build up and fireworks over in Sydney whilst being semi-tortured with some games ;) And popped outside to see the fireworks from Perth in the distance as everyone lasted to Midnight!

Have also added more photos to Picasa.