Need to find a balance between work and play

This last few weeks have been incredibly busy at work, I have been starting work at 5am and often not finishing before 5pm. Not that I am complaining (well I did a little bit). I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms and missing my camera, I starting carry my camera with me in hope a photo opportunity would present. I don't really like taking photos at work - it is too much like 'work'. I miss a few weeks of the 52 week challenge on Flickr because I have been so busy and it has rained a lot on my days off. The conference that has kept me busy was an International Olympiad in Informatics (or my working title The Nerd Olympics) 300 students from 80 countries, competing for gold medals in mathematics.

http://www.ioi2013.org/

Every team of 4 had a leader from UQ who carried signs with the country names on them, the placement of them outside of the exam room appealed to me enough to take this photo.

On the last day of the Examination part of the Nerd Olympics, there was an hour delay due to technical issues, the students were getting a bit stressed and the tension in the room was high, 10 minutes before the start time there was a commotion at one end of the room. An announcement was made that this animal was harmless and to leave it be. A possum had run into the exam room, the international students were thrilled (and a little worried). With a lot of help I managed to get the possum to an area it would be safe and out of the way. The Dutch camera crew managed to get a good video of it, which I up loaded to You Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Gt0bUY2Oc

The possum came out of his hiding place at the end of the day and was escorted outside.   

One night when I got home right on dusk HWMBO was burning the hard wood he had been collecting for charcoal - he is collecting charcoal for his forge.

if made an awesome fire. I took some photos, thinking I would be able to use the flames as overlays for photoshop sometime in the future. I was so pleased with the look of this one it has become one of my favorite photos of the month.

By bringing my camera to work every day I managed to convince one of my boys to let me take his photo - he was a bit worried I was going to make him 'pose and smile for the camera'. I told him I was after a tired hard working look...No smiling. HE HE this is one sure way to get anyone to smile. His girlfriend was very pleased with the result, she says it is hard to get him to look natural.

I finally set aside some time for a sunset shoot, I went to one of my favorite spots on the Maroochy River and waited for the beautiful clouds to turn to gold. As I was taking this photo the rain snuck up on me from behind, it was a mad rush to get back to my car....luckily I got my camera on the seat before the skies opened and I got soaked. 

I was so happy to get out with my camera and get a few nice photos I didn't care.

I also found a nice patch of fungi always a treat

Steam Train

On the other page of this blog is the 104 photos in 404 days challenge...404 days has past (i think about a month ago) but I am going to finish the list...I am very good at starting something and never seeing it through so this time I am determined. I know that I can go snapping and create situations to finish this challenge, in fact I have for a few...however these photos are not ones that I am happy with so I am waiting for the 'perfect' moment now.

I do look for the moment, I know what is left on my list so I can plan how to get the photo I need or have visualized. The steam train has been one I have been planning for a few months, the most local steam train to me is at Gympie - The Gympie Rattler. I was planning on a Wednesday when I wasn't working to find a place on the route to get a photo - this plan has been foiled by all the rain and flooding in Gympie (4 times in the last year) the tracks have warped and the train is not running. Bugger.

A few weeks ago our local paper advertised 'The Sunshine Express' a heritage train tour from Brisbane city to Landsborough on Saturday 2 March, how excited was I. I got the schedule and worked out the best places to get the northbound and southbound journey photos, HWMBO and I planned our day around the schedule, and it rained...not gentle pitter patter rain, torrential rain, this was not going to stop me from getting my photo so we waited at 'my spot' in the car, the plan was when the train came we would stop the wipers for a clear shot. We waited an hour before I checked the schedule - no change...had it been canceled? Was it just late? I finally rang the hot line and got a recorded message - the train left Brisbane 1/2 hour early. I had missed it.

The rain continued all day but I was determined to get my photo, for the return journey we where 1/2 an hour early after 50 mins I was ready to give up and go home it was pouring rain and in the effort to keep my camera dry i was getting my back wet, HWMBO was great about holding the umbrella - all the time thinking there must be a better way.

Just as we turned to walk away the train came, I got my shot YEAH I expected the train to slow as it came though the station....no it went shooting past blasting it horn. I shot so fast my camera couldn't keep up so I missed the photo of the driver as he pasted. All good I got what I wanted.

This is what HWMBO was thinking about while holding the umbrella - how he could not be there. He made me a connection for an umbrella to keep me and the camera dry. 

Lets hope they sell....any money we make goes towards a weekend away. 

PS This is the logo I created

Still raining or is it raining again

Once again the weekend was wet, it looks like the whole week is going to be wet again, as severe weather warnings have been issued. Possible flash flooding and high seas. I am a bit over it, even our duck is looking a bit put out with being wet all the time. Lilly (our golden retriever) is getting bored - she doesn't like to be wet so she wont go outside, a bored puppy can only mean one thing....mess. She has destroyed 2 of her squeaky toys this week... pulling out all the stuffing  because she likes to play with the squeaker. ***note to self, buy toys with out squeakers***

Pre stuffing removal , before the rain

The advantage of a wet weekend was I spent a lot of time working on the wedding photos, I allowed myself a few days of sulking (if you saw my previous post you will understand http://rozzy35.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-rain-and-pain.html) I am happy with the photos and if the Bride is not, well she is too hard to please.

I will share a few today, I haven't finished yet - although I am now under pressure to have them all done by Thursday. I was going to Dropbox the photos to the bride, then I decided I wanted to see her face as she looked at them for the first time. I need to know she is happy so I will hand deliver a disk after work Thursday.

This is the first photo I edited - I wanted it for my 52 week challenge - The idea is to post a photo taken each week on Flickr, with all this rain I am struggling to get photos.

There is so many photos to chose from, I am going to let the bride pick her favorites, this is a selection of what I have processed so far. I had a scan through Ra Ra's photos, we have got all the main moments. Thank goodness, this wedding work is a lot of hard work, the bride and groom were great happy to do what ever was asked, the family were a lot harder to control. couldn't get them to look the same way for a photo, hard to get them to smile. Even the bridesmaid refused to smile most of the time. 

Live and learn, if I ever do another wedding a few things will happen - I will charge *** even a nominal fee***, this way my time will be important to the family, I will not waste my time on those who don't want to smile or even get their photo taken, if the family don't want photos with the Bride and Groom I will not wait for the squabbles to settle I will walk away.

AND most importantly, I will check my files before formatting the card in my camera - this I will do ever time now. Just because it is a new card doesn't mean it is not faulty.

the men in the rain

For the groom....Carlton garter belt

Mother and daughter 

All ready to go

Mother Nature's Fury

Mother Nature let us know that she is not happy again on the Australia Day long weekend....she has been giving us fair warning all year. It started to rain...and rain....and rain. The first night we heard the rain on the roof as we were falling asleep it was bliss, a respite from the horrid heat we have been having. About 2 am I woke up in a cold sweat, I thought SE QLD was flooding again. Silly right, 2011 it had rained for months before the cyclone triggered the floods - it couldn't happen again. Well it did, towns have been evacuated, sand bags were filled, houses and business were flooded for the 2nd or 3rd times in 2 years. It was heartbreaking. 

Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald was nasty as he traveled down the east coast of Australia, tornadoes ripped through towns destroying everything in their path. My friends in Burrum Heads had this misfortune of being in the firing line, a house a few doors down from them was lifted and landed on their garage. I know she wont mind that I share her photos. The lovely little town where I spent a wonderful weekend with friends whale watching and photographing was destroyed by a tornado, old beach houses damaged beyond repair, caravans blown apart....lucky no-one was killed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rqqzy/sets/72157632647034942/

I remember as a child being in Cyclone Anthea when living in Townsville, I was about 8, we waited out the cyclone in the bathtub with a mattress over us. At the time it was scary and exciting at the same time. As a child you don't understand the terror the adults are feeling. I know better now and I appreciate how my parents sheltered us from the damage and the grief. 

10 years ago a tornado ripped through Glass House Mountains, I understand the terror RQQZY went through, although there was no damage to us 10 years ago, we lost trees and the house 2 doors down had a huge gum tree through their roof. The noise of the wind and the tree screaming as they break and fly around is something you can't imagine unless you have heard it. 

Sunday night the wind was a bad as I have heard it in 10 years, after hearing the reports from Burrum Heads and the other 5 tornado's leaving a trail of destruction  I did not sleep well. I expected to get up to a similar sight of carnage in my little town. Luckily we where spared, a lot of trees came down and there was leaf litter all over town.  

Then the power went out, we have had blackouts before, they happen all the time, we can cope for a few hours with out power....it is 8 am, still 12 hours before dark. The girls were great, they got out board games and cards and played all day. We planned a BBQ dinner and set up some candles. When the power was still out the next morning I called Energex for an update, 'yes we are aware of a power outage in your area it will be restored as soon as possible'. My phone is running out of charge, the 3G internet is no longer working, I am relying on text messages to keep me up with the events of the floods and storms. We went to town to get some more ice and were surprised that the shops had power, we asked when it had been restored to the town, we were told it had never gone out....it was only our little pocket of streets. 

52 hours without electricity, enough to drive you crazy. The girls were missing their computers, HWMBO was missing the mindless TV he watches to unwind. I was missing out on my new work station. For months I have been begging for a place to work and call my own, I was sick of setting up on the kitchen table only to have to pack up every time we wanted a meal, so I got my office space....I edited one photo before the power went off.

I am so pleased to have electricity again. I take it for granted most of the time but I love that I can.

I don't have many photos to edit as I haven't taken many with the weather being crap and my health being worse.

This is Daughter #3 after helping HWMBO move anything that could be problem in the wind. She is very happy to get wet so it was had to get her to pose and look longingly out the window. I need to get at least one photo over the weekend for my 52 week challenge.

Week 4