A lazy Sunday afternoon, I have a bunch of new ideas and locations swimming around my head.  So I take my enthusiastic and not-too-bad-looking friends out for a play.

See?  I said enthusiastic!

And a bit of bright orange for good measure...

Then we went off to a little park and just hung out a bit.

Thanks guys, you were hot as usual - that was fun :) 

I don't know how they managed to do it so many times, but my siblings produce some magnificent looking children.  Anneliese is the sister of Daniel whose wedding I'm thrilled to be shooting later in the year.

Anyway, I was able to grab a few quick shots of her before she headed off to her school formal.

Her good friend Chloe was patient enough to play along with the crazy aunty.

In other news:

Great excitement in our home!  My tadpoles have emerged from their slimy sacs, and are swimming free - tomorrow they move into a bigger bowl and more room to explore away from their 60 brothers and sisters. 

I'm enjoying watching the Olympics, particularly the gymnasts.  It's a fantastic demonstration of what the human body can achieve.  I sit there thinking quietly "I bet I could do that..."  as they flip about from bar to bar, tumbling and twirling.  Then it takes me 17.25 minutes to pull myself off the couch.  Oh well.

I've got to get myself into gear and get the blog updated with our latest photographic adventures, so stay tuned for that.

So - we've been given 60 or so pet tadpoles!  They started as little black dots, inside some nasty slimy stuff, and now they're starting to wriggle about in it a bit.  They don't seem to mind being locked inside this giant mass of jelly, but I expect one day it will get old for them and they'll swim right out.  I find myself staring at them for ages, watching them grow is absolutely amazing.  They have been designed so perfectly - I'm pretty sure I'm enjoying them more than the kids! 

So they're going to hang out at our place for a month or so, then when they're actually frogs they'll be sent back to the river.  Because, honestly, who needs 60 frogs hopping around the place? 

This morning I did an engagement shoot with Tim, Anna and the adorable Seth.  The morning started out rather frosty, but opened up into a beautiful day for us.

When I arrived, I jumped into their car and we shot around to Tim's parents place where the wedding will be held.  Seth and I hung out in the back, and got to know eachother a bit.

As you can see, he's cute as a button!

It wasn't long before Seth made a bee line to Grandad's tractor shed!  Absolute bliss...

The men, doing the 'guy thing'.

Tim and Anna are so friendly and easy going. 

Obviously, I had to do a legs shot!

There are so many great places to take photos, I can't wait for the wedding!!

A perfect place for short and muddy people...

Thanks for today guys, it was great to get to know you a bit more.  I can't wait to show you the rest! 

Well, the sun has been out for a few days now, and my how it changes the general feel of happiness and wellbeing in town.  People are back to smiling and waving as they let you walk across the zebra crossing, whether they know you or not.  Blenheim is still a small town at heart.  It's almost shocking when I'm in a city and people just don't do that, how hard is it to just smile and wave, just a little hello nod is fine too.  Just something to ponder... 

So my darling noticed that I needed a search box in my blog - there's just far too much content now to navigate easily.  So yes, he built me a little search engine.  See?  The box on the right.  Give it a whirl, you know you want to!

For the extreme photography/computer nerds among us - Lightroom 2 is out, and OH how wonderful it is!  Definately worth moving up to, as it now does a bunch of stuff you always wish 1.4 could do - some really great developing tools.  Of course it doesn't replace photoshop, but it certainly makes workflow a lot easier.

Naturally, it wouldn't be right to not post a single image in this entry, so I'll leave you with an olive grove that Paul shot this week.

I will hopefully have some more bloggable people shots in the next few days!

Did you know that the latin word for red, means literally "looks great in photographs"?  Well chances are it doesn't, but I think it should.  Red is probably the most instantly recognisable colour out there, and a smart photographer can really use it to their advantage.

I think one of the main reasons that this photo works, is because of the little girl in red. 

Here's a shot I took today, there's nothing really spectactular about it - but it grabs your attention:

Now imagine if the pot was this colour....

Not nearly as striking is it?

Ok, now red might be pretty in photos, but it can also be disastrous.  You can't just go leaving red things in photos willy nilly - no - you need to take extreme care!  If you happen to leave a piece of red rubbish lying in the background, you'll never be able to see past it.  Is there a red car driving past?  Wait a second before you take the photo.

So there you go, that was today's tidbit.  Red is very cool - but use it wisely :)

Wow, it's been rather dramatic here lately, we've been declared to be in a civil state of emergency.  I don't really know what that means, but it can't be that good.  Apart from a little wet carpet in the office, and some washing that just will not dry there's been no great drama for us.  Today was far drier, and the floods are subsiding - although, the kids and I are missing a little foot bridge in the middle of town - anybody seen it??

Flood Pics taken by the Marlborough Express guys tell the story quite well!

Apart from the horrid weather, things have been going pretty well here.  We've got three magazine shoots lined up in the next ten days.  I'm really thrilled about another engagement session soon too, I get withdrawals if I haven't shot young love in a few weeks, so I can't wait :)