I love Riverhead

Here are a few nature snaps from our stroll around Riverhead. xx

As my sister and I were strolling around Riverhead we spotted many different beautiful things.You filter the world in all it's beauty when thinking about composing a picture- with or without a camera in hand it turns out. Michelle was pushing the pram and chatted about how anything could be captured in the right way and classed as art.

Pretty in Paris

Two more sleeps until my sis leaves for her 6 month O.E.

So everyone who knows me, knows I am a giant sooky wimp. So it was no surprise when my sister/best bud/ brought Vera a little present I burst into tears. It was a gorgeous top saying " Pretty in Paris" and it has the Eiffel tower and a cartoon of which looks like Michelle.  

There will be more tears to come...

HOWEVER I am super excited for her and it will be so wonderful!!. She is going with her lovely partner Gus and also another great couple.

We always spend loads of time together and here are a few favourite shots from yesterday.

B1 and B2

 I remember the moment where my beautiful excited pregnant friend Julie showed me her scan picture, I said "yay" looking at the black and white pictures with a touch of confusion, and she told me to look closer and counted as she pointed "1 and 2 " and the hearts! and with astonishment we excitedly (and with tears welled up jumped up and down on the side of the road. These beautiful boys, Jordan and Riley, were lovingly nick-named " B1 and B2" . They are now two years old and are the most beautiful, charming boys. Poor Avera Drew is going to have a super tough time picking which one to marry! While their big sister Leah was at school, we had a play date picnic at a park in Albany and I got to take some shots of them in action. 

On my drive home I spotted this magnificent beauty...

At home I threaded some autmn leaves for a leaf backdrop ( stolen from the neighbours tree- whoops) and attached it to a clothes hanger, stuck a nail in the fence and popped Vera in front. Autumn is beautiful.

Always on hand

Its only been a week but goodness I always have the giant camera on hand!!! I'm waiting impaitently  eagerly for my camera bag to arrive, so I'm making do with carrying it around in bits and pieces.

On the weekend I went to a... how do I explain it... "a lawn bowl roll up"- and yes its exaclty how it sounds! This crew made lawn bowls cool! Cheap booze, a friendly game of bowls and a bbq are all the ingredients for a fabulous afternoon!

 Then as we got home Avera had big cuddles with her Daddy who has been working 7days a week *sigh*

Today my beautiful friend Nicole humoured me as I took photos of her and bubba in the middle of a cafe this morning, bless her. I also made the most of the STUNNING weather we had today by getting some fresh air and some shots at  our local park.



Hello All,

Today I tried out using my tripod- that was fun&much more harder than it should have been. The camera lens was on manual focus &I was pouncing into place & just guessing where I was aiming- FAIL

As I was contending with a grumpy sick baby & putting my camera away, I remembered the awesome swivle LCD screen!darn it! next time we will position& focus a whole heap better.

A big sarcastic thank you goes to the model in my middle shot, as much as I love my beautiful loyal puppy her shedding hair drives me up the wall~!

I'm forever scooping it out of Vera's grasp, being coated in white long fluf as Im heading out the door and now.... a single hair ruins what would have been a lovely shot!!! ( see 3rd photo ny clicking on it to zoom in). I am by no means talented enough to photoshop that out.

So many little lessons&blessings this day has brought such as:

*Sending my love & prayers to  Jesse who passed on many years ago today, we miss you always.

* I had a lovely surprise of winning an interior design colour swatch inspiration competition ($100 resene vouchers- yay!) .

* My friend Sarah who super talented and very passionate about photography, brought over some fanastic exposure and composition books for me to read.


Onward& upward.

shooting RAW&Manual ekk

 After watching the DVD on how to work my camera (complete with furious notetaking- what. a. GEEK.) I was brave enough to take it out of it's bubble wrap and try to piece it together. The crap thing is it was night... I was tired, the lighting sucks, and my favourite model was in bed...

So my cute fur-babies stepped in to be my models and watch my confusion, I whispered things such as "treat" and "breakfast" to get Lakisca's (above) attention but Taiko ( right) was over my antics after half an hour of whispering sweet nothings and not following through with my intentions of so called treats& breakfast.

The following morning I had a 20 minute window of shooting opportunity before work. Avera wasnt the slightest bit curious about the giant black camera pointed her way instead was more fascinated with playing and blowing raspberries.

TGIF everyone, I can't wait for more practice over the weekend, I especially need to get some precious pictures of the Aunty Shell. She'll be leaving for her overseas adventure in exactly 13 sleeps. SO excited for her but we're going to miss her so much it will hurt.

Sore Little Brain

My brain hurts from looking at this manual, practising, and watching a how to DVD ( pretty much a Photography for Dummies scenario). So now I'm going to nurse my headache by going to sleep. But peacefully and content I trot off to bed, with the knowledge that there are wonderful people out there helping me on my photography journey. My lovely husband supporting me(emotionally and financially- bless him,  tough times working so hard and only seeing your daughter 10mins in the last 2 days.), My folks (who always seem to know the right things to say) and Sarah offering support, guidance and practice photoshoots- am a lucky lady :).
Good night all.
xx

Happy Dance!!!

I am beyond excited!
I have just purchased a Canon EOS600D twin lens Bundle Kit which comes with all the bells and whistles. I'm feeling rather clueless and have no idea where to start but im EXCITED! I have decided that I am going to put photography study on hold and just get a load of practice in especially while I work a full time stint (shock to the system!) in the next upcoming months. But i will pop my nose in photography books at the library and watch endless amounts of you tube tutorials in the mean time.
To put the cherry on the top of my fabulous mood, I popped my wee sanyo camera (that truely inspired me with the photography journey) onto trademe and it was swooped up within half an hour! perfect!
Now with the thick manual of the 600D in hand I must go read while bubs is in bed.
Hope you all had a wonderful day and enjoyed the truely special rainbows.
Lis xx

Playtime

Today Vera enjoyed playing with 'gloop' for the first time. It's simply cornflour, water and a dash of paint - it makes a very bizarre texture, fantastic for sensory exploration. She loved it!! With a bath & a vacuum ready near by this was super easy to clean up after too! Got a couple of cute shots and ofcourse a video for hubby when he gets home.

Ver-Bear

My first  Mothers Day was yesterday!

 My baby girl Avera Drew Anderson came into our lives on the 6th of September 2011. She brings us so much joy and each day I look at her and think I'm a genius for creating such a spectacular creature! She is on the move all day long and enjoys being a social butterfly.She chats away (mostly "Dad, dad, dad") and her latest thing is climbing stairs (EEEKK!) and waving. She chases after and clambers onto her puppies and is always seeking out things that aren't ideal to play with! ie: cords, fluff and remotes.

But the bottom line is:

She is spectacular ...

and I am a genius.

All things Beautiful

We have been so blessed to recieve masses ( I mean boxs and boxs of crystals ) from Grant's Aunty Eileen. She truely left him a legacy with these beautiful pieces. We have our absolute favourites on display at home in most rooms to bring a bit of good karma and serenity. My mum is completly loving researching the complexities of the crystals and the different points of positivity they bring. I am always mesmorised by their beauty and I hope I captured this in the shots.
(p.s- I think this first picture is quite spectacular, untouched even!)

And so it Begins...

After many emails to admired photographers and talking to those who adore it as a hobby, I was given a valuable piece of advice- to start a blog!

 I'm sure this will come as a bit of a relief to those who are friends with me on facebook. Relief of not being bombarded with yet another photo of things I love (my daughter, Waiheke and family to name a few).

This blog will be my outlet for publishing things that I hope to then reflect on. Feel free to comment on any images and offer any helpful adice, I'd really appreciate it. I am currently stumbling through tutorials of how to use photoshop and am loving the process. I can't wait to get my hands on a great camera. So to get started here are a few things that I have been working on...
Lisa xx

sneezes

curiosity

Avera Drew

bubbles

Beautiful

siesta

My Handmade Headbands

Wedding earrings

Lace Tiaras made with love

Nautical

motorway sunset

Taiko

Time to fly

Daddys Girl

Nana's Gems