They arrived today.

I love Royal Mail. It’s so efficient and quick.

Of course, I’m now waiting on a particular English girl to correct me with a plethora of mail horror stories.

Update: According to the ‘particular English girl’ Royal Mail is great … Why am I disappointed about this?

Albert

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

I’m catching up slowly on my activities…

Saturday saw me venturing somewhat hesitantly to the Malloy residence for their annual Grand Final BBQ. I have been in contact with Tony and Rae via blog comments and Flickr for many years but had never actually met them.

So Saturday was the day. I went in to the house and was immediately greeted warmly as if a family member or an old friend. The advantage of participating in the 365days self portrait project is that they had a fairly good idea what I looked like.

What a great bunch of people I met on that day. I came across a person whose blog I have been following for at least the last five years and whom I purchase a “Gollum” statue from off eBay to complete my Lord of The Rings set. It was great to finally catch up with him after years of occasional emails.

Of course I had my camera with me and put it to good use (with full permission from Tony and Rae) and the featured photo is but one of the shots I managed to capture of little Bert and others.

As said before I had a great time and hope it isn’t a year before I catch up with Tony, Rae, Daniel, Marita (spelling) et al.

Thanks for the invite Tony!

Mmmm … pie

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

The title isn’t a typo … it was intentional. One of you will recognisie it.

Yesterday after returning Matthew in to the safe hands of his mother I ventured back to Glen Waverley and twiddled my thumbs before going for a walk to the local lake with the camera. I realised as I was flat on my stomach trying to get the angle right on a dandelion macro that I must be a little serious about this whole photography thing as I was generally ignoring the muttered comments made by passers by.

Upon return to the house, in a round about way, I was invited to dinner at Timbo and Selena’s. Not one to normally pass up a free feed, I grabbed the necessities for dinner at someones house (only one camera and my MacBook) and drove Baronia.

It had been a disgusting amount of time since Timbo and I last hung out. So it was great to catch up. Selena was her normal radiant self and it was fantastic discussing life with her again.

The dinner was superb (as you can very well see) and was followed by strawberry pancakes. Little do they know but I’ll be launching myself on their doorstep again shortly!

A funny thing from the night was realising that not only did they know a friend of mine (hi Fiona!) but I had sat next to her at Tim and Sel’s wedding! This was before I met her this year. The wedding photos proved the seating layout. Funny.

After taking Timbo through my digital work flow at his request, I packed up and headed home.

Great catching up with you again guys and Timbo, I’ll see you on the 23rd for the night shoot. Hamish, I know you read this blog. You are coming too.

Off to Healesville Sanctuary today so Chris can give his new lens a thrashing.

Sunset takes flight

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

After six hours of shooting we returned to Dromana pier to catch the sunset. We positioned ourselves along various parts of the pier and beach and waited for the show.

When the sun started doing its dive we all started shooting. Having not really sat and watched many sunsets in my life I was amazed at how quickly the sun does actually move. I was taking a steady stream of photographs (surprise surprise) and by spinning the job wheel on the back of the camera I could actually watch the sun go down.

Several people stopped and asked how we were doing and if we were getting any good shots. As soon as you took your eye of the view finder your find that yes, you have been staring into the sun for the last ten minutes and no, you can not focus properly on the nice people speaking to you.

After the sun went down we piled into the car and when to La Porcetta’s (spelling) for dinner which was a great end to a fantastic day.

I’m glad I have finished this round up as I have been on two Flickr walks since and have more photographs to highlight.

Thanks for coming along.

“Have you seen the light?”

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

We drove through Sorrento down to Portsea, and hoofed it down to the beach to see the “London Bridge”. I had never heard of this rocky structure but was glad to have gone.

We spent a good hour taking photos of the rocks, beach, wedding party, splashes and as you can see here “God Rays”.

This was taken with my older camera and I think it came out quite well.

Our next port of call was back to Sorrento for ice creams, coke and the occasional photo before heading back to Dromana for the sunset.

Sam I am

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

Things are getting a little disjointed here on the blog with so much going on. But I want to finish off the Mornington Flickr walk with (David and Chris) entires before I go into the other two walks I have done since.

To recap, we had finished our Subway lunch and then all piled into the car to head south(ish).

Our next stop was at Dromana Pier. We spent a good deal of time photographing piers, birds (both the winged and non-winged variety and didn’t I get a grilling about that?!) and other sea-related activities.

It’s amazing how many shots you can take of a bird before realising that you don’t actually like birds. David, who does have a thing for birds, told us the names of all of the local wildlife and Chris and I continued to refer to them as “birds”.

We probably filled an hour at the pier before heading back to the car and continuing on. The next stop according to David was the London Bridge. This had me a little concerned as I had left my passport at home.

A Daddy-Daughter Moment

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

Today I went to see the Smiths.

Last week Sarah (whilst Julian stood by) delivered Lani Elizabeth into the world and what a precious little bundle she is.

Julian asked me to come and take some photos and I was both honoured and terrified to do so. Honoured because having someone ask you to capture the early years of someones existence is an honour … and terrified because Sarah is a very gifted photographer herself.

The lighting wasn’t ideal but I managed to get some nice photos especially the featured image where I was watching Julian interacting with Lani with nothing less than love in his eyes.

Mate, it was a privilege to have been able to share some pictures with you and hope you like them. I look forward to being able to take many more as little Lani grows up.

I must say that the reaction to this photo on Flickr has been quite astounding. I’m used to getting a couple of comments on most images but seven within the first few hours?? I was very happy with the photograph and thanks to Julian and Sarah, I was allowed to post it on Flickr and my portfolio site.

Well lately I have had some time on my hands to spend and I have been filling them up with the design of my online portfolio website rxaphotography.com.  Why have I been doing this when it is more than likely that noone will ever buy my work? Because it gets my name out there.

I don’t see myself being a photographer full time … I would like to but I realise that I am nowhere near good enough for that! Even amongst my own family and friends there are numerous people who can blitz me with a camera. Check the work Mike did for Chris’s debut CD (and then buy a CD, they are only $15.00 and seriously, it is an awesome CD), the photography blows me away every time I look at it.

I am going to get on my high horse and say that I can take a decent photograph. Even if others disagree (which you have every right to), I think I can safely say that I can justify the expensive equipment I have. My recent sales also justify this I think. Now I’m rambling and have lost my point …

I guess I am just wondering out loud if I have what it takes to work as a photographer, even for one day a week. That would be cool. I know I need a major lens and equipment upgrade but I’m working on that.  Even today I upgraded my walkabout lens for one that Chris was selling.

I want the opportunity to take photos. In September I am heading to an equestrian meet with a friend. This will prove interesting as I can only just barely tell the difference between the two ends of a horse … but the challenge of getting good photos in an unfamiliar environment was too good to refuse. Maybe I can offload a couple of shots to owners … mental note, have cards, notepad and pens ready.

My photo related activities today involved printing all my portfolio photos, archiving each photo in a variety of sizes and formats on to individual discs and thinking about how to get rxaphotography.com under peoples noses and onto their screens. I have no idea WHY I am doing this but it seems I have to do this as it is a big driving factor for me.

Personally if I sell one photograph per year to a complete stranger … I will be thrilled. And as I have already done that this year … I am completely thrilled.

So to sum up, I don’t know where I’m going … but I know the journey is going to be fun.

Well done to those who made it thus far in this post … I am truly impressed.

Mornington Daisy

Originally uploaded by RXAphotos

Photograph available at RXAphotography.com.

This is going to be a multiple part post as I highlight a photo from each of the different areas we visited.

Yesterday David and I went down to Chris’s house in the morning camera bags at the ready. We all then drove down to Mornington and started what was to be six hours of shooting.

Within minutes of alighting from the car and getting my camera ready I was on the ground (see last post for photos) getting this photo. This was taken at the park at the end of the main road.

I noticed that we didn’t get many rude comments from passes by as groups of photographers normally do. A lot of people stopped and asked if we were getting any good shots. Most just smiled and walked on.

More to follow!