To sleep or to help a friend

Our house is very quiet now the girls have gone.

My plan for Saturday was blown out of the water when my phone went off at 7:30 (why didn’t I take it out of the pocket of my jeans?) It was the guru Andrew Goodall my photography teacher, I have helped out at a few of his workshops this year when his assistant was unavailable. His assistant had called in sick for today…’could I help’ first thought NOOOOO I want to sleep!  However once I am awake I find it hard to go back to sleep. So to Maleny I went…(lucky he wants me there at 10:40am so I had a good chance to wake up)

I was really nervous the first time I had to help people put their camera in manual mode and find all the correct dials.  I am now able to work out the settings on most Canon and Nikon camera, I understand that each brand of camera are going to be a little different, but every bloody model.  I am still leaving the non DSLR cameras for Andrew; I find these a bit tricky. This takes about an hour then I am on my own for a few hours

It was a perfect day so after a bit of shopping in Montville for a gift to send to Pommy Chicks mother. (Pommy chick stayed with us for 6 weeks last year, although I have never met her Mum, I have gotten to know her through email and Skype)

I had my lunch to Gardiners Falls, a very pretty spot that is easy walking. I set up a shot for my photo a day challenge for August.  Day 4- somewhere I sat.

When a bus group of old ladies arrived it was a good time for me to leave. With 35mins until the afternoon session, I went to one of my favourite lookouts – on the road to Reeseville. I had a productive time taking photos of barbed wire (one of our Flickr group posted an awesome shot of barbed wire, I couldn’t wait to try myself)

Some where I sat,  had my lunch on this rock litening to the water and the birds the kept out of the way of my camera

The afternoon sessions are always fun, we go to the Maleney Show grounds, one of the ugliest places on the range.  This is deliberate; it is all about the learning not about getting a good picture.  Teaching your fingers to move the right way on the right buttons.  At the  last workshop one of the men pinched his hand on his tripod - twice ….I made the mistake of laughing at him – ‘once is an accident, twice is just silly’. Anyway karma is a bitch and I got a nasty pinch on the heel of my hand when helping a lady adjust the height, there was blood.  (but I got a lot of sympathy)

I love the moment when someone ‘gets it’. There was a guy who was pretty quiet, not asking questions, not asking for help, I saw the moment he ‘got it’, the exercise was slowing movement with aperture. When he saw the results on the camera he got very excited and became more involved in the activities.  

I wanted to go and play with the group the next day when they went to the Baron Pocket Dam for ‘real’ photography. Unfortunately house work and the families need for roast pork had to come first.

 Daughter #3 is not very well at the moment and she would have wanted to come with me, so we all stayed home.