International Fleet Review at Dawn

A Photo Essay

Early on Friday morning, 5.30am actually, we bundled the sleepy-eyed children into their dressing gowns and ugg boots and set off for Dobroyd Head. Why this insanity? The International Fleet Review is taking place in Sydney this weekend. Navy ships from all over the world are coming into our beautiful Harbour. The first 3 boats entered at 6am. There were more entering at 8am and 10am, but we wanted to be there early, see the dawn and have Dad with us before work. 

Boys love boats! Especially big navy boats. It was worth braving the cold and the dawn. We saw ships from China, Malaysia and Singapore enter through The Heads into Sydney Harbour. Spectacular.

Then on Sunday afternoon we headed out to Garden Island to board some of the International Navy Vessels that have come into Sydney Harbour for the Fleet Review. The weather was a sweltering 31 degrees (Celsius) and it was HOT! Once again we had tired kids, but they really managed so well in the heat and the crowds.

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people on the wharf to board the ships, but in true navy form, everything was under control and well organized. We did have to queue to board the ships and with tired kids we only managed 2 ships - the Japanese and Thai. But it was still worth the whopping $3 entry fee!.

There were boats from New Zealand, Australia (HMAS Darwin and HMAS Sydney), India, Japan and Thailand. The highlights for the boys - rocket launchers, 79mm gun barrels, and getting taken through a "secret" hatch because Noah was overheating on deck. The highlights for Kyah - her first taste of banana and being allowed to drink water from the boys water bottle (you don't take much away from such an event at only 6 months of age).

It was a lot of fun being part of this International Fleet Review. Boys love boats. Esepcially gigantic navy boats. Boys love helicopters and fighter planes. The Harbour was a-buzz with helicopters and fighter jets. Boys love buses and trains. We got to ride on 2 buses and saw lots of trains. Boys love going over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and seeing the Opera House. We went over the bridge twice and saw the Opera House. It was all win-win. We even saw giant snails!

What have you braved the cold and the early morning dawn for? Did you see any of the ships entering Sydney Harbour this morning?

What have you braved crowds and sweltering heat for? Did you make it on board any of the Navy ships in town this weekend?

Behind the Scenes of a Red Nose Kids Cuts Photo Shoot

My cousins are opening a children's hair salon here on Sydney's Northern Beaches. And they asked us if our children would be on their advertising materials (given how cute and adorable they are).

So a few weeks ago we set about taking some photos of the kids after Kelly had done their hair. Now what's that saying...never work with children or animals? It should definitely say never work with multiple children at the one time - especially when they are your own!

There was the poking of the baby by the 2 year old (and general slumping of the 4 year old)...

Then there was more poking of the baby by the 2 year old...

Then there was that dreaded moment when I heard myself say, "Now just smile".... (I think Kyah looks as appalled as I was when I said that)

Never tell children to smile!

So we decided to divide and conquer...yeah right.

We started with the 4 year old, thinking he would be a good role model for the younger two, but he was a reluctant participant...

At one stage he even fiend sleep...

Then there was the 2 year old. He pretended he had no bones in his body and couldn't sit up...

Then he sat up and gave us his best "smile"...

...and his best booger...

...and his best "I am so shy" face.

Even the baby, who really was the star, was more fascinated with her hands than with the camera most of the time...

But in the end we did get some cute photos! And now Red Nose KIDS CUTS is opening on October 14th! And they have some super cute advertising materials too!!

PLUS! They are offering free hair cuts until October 31st! So ring Kelly and book your child in for their free cut! There are novelty chairs, iPads to play and a coffee shop right in Fitness First for Mum, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa to grab a coffee whilst you wait!

And to make the deal even better, Red Nose KIDS CUTS have partnered with SIDS and Kids, helping to save babies lives!

DIY Newborn Photoshoot

Similarly, to the photos we took of our boys and "the belly" before #3 arrived, I turned to Pinterest for some newborn photo inspiration (or "Pinspiration"). I knew I didn't have the time, money or desire to have a professional capture some of these moments, but I knew I wanted to have plenty of memories of when our last little one was arrived fresh from God, so tiny and precious.

The hospital offered a photography service whilst we were there to capture those early days, but with someone bringing me food, making my bed, no other children underfoot, and a baby who loved to sleep, I took the opportunity to take some hospital shots with some Pinterest photos for inspiration.

Pinspiration

My Shots

I had seen lots of the bump-baby-name photos below on Pinterest but since we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, nor were we 100% set on either a girl or a boy name, we ended up taking photos of "the belly" with the blocks spelling out boy, girl, baby and about 5 different names for each! These are the shots that didn't get deleted after our baby girl, Kyah arrived.

Pinspiration

In those early days home there seemed to be a lot of time to take photos - maybe because my husband was home and wrangling the boys. Poor Kyah was posed for a new photo every time the poor little girl went to sleep. My photos are on the right. (Note: I knitted the hat!)

Sibling shots were high on my agenda and there were many that I wanted to capture in those first few days. Sometimes they worked out and sometimes not so much. Everyone was tired and adjusting to a new little person in the house and not always wanting to cooperate for Mumma taking photos. These next photos were taken just on my iPhone (because sometimes I just couldn't be bothered with the full kit-and-kaboodle of the DSLR. As you can see the "stacked-siblings" shot was far more successful on attempt #2 when Kyah was a few months old and not a few days old.

Pinspiration

My shots

There were so many cute sibling photos to try to emulate.

Pinspiration

My shots

And I just had to try for the train-heart shot. I found it difficult to get the complete heart in the shot with my portrait lens, and my #2 boy wouldn't cooperate for the photos. But I still got some cute shots of Kyah and her biggest brother.

Pinspiration

My shots

A dad shot was also high on my priority list and one random afternoon I shuffled the family outside to re-create this Dad-Children-Tower shot. Of course, I loved so many of the photos I took that day, I had to include 3 of my favourites below. I just love the changing expressions on the boys faces.

Pinspiration

My shots

The photo taking may have slowed down now but I am still looking for adorable photo inspiration (or "Pinspiration") and trying to emulate them. I don't always have my beautiful Nikon DSLR and sexy lens handy, and sometime I just have to seize the moment with my iPhone. Sometimes with a little post processing and editing it turns out magic.

Pinspiration

My Shots (via iPhone)

I hope this has inspired you to get snapping some pictures of your kids - they may not be professional and polished, but they still form beautiful memories of these years that are just flying by.

DIY Maternity Photoshoot

If you haven't guessed from some of my previous posts, I like to dabble and tinker in photography. I especially like taking photos of my kids. When I fell pregnant with my third, I knew I wanted to capture some special moments with my boys and "the belly", especially as we are planning this to be the last baby. I wanted something a little more special than this...

35 Weeks

...which is barely what I managed for Baby #2 (poor neglected middle child - even when in-utero).

Of course, Pinterest provided much inspiration. I was initially thinking we would get some shots done professionally (like we had for Baby #1 - Oh the attention paid to #1 - even in-utero), but as time ticked away I began to realise that wasn't going to happen. So with a Pin-Board full of maternity shots to direct my hubby what I wanted from the photos and pockets full of chocolate to bribe the boys we set out to take some "copy-cat" shots for our family maternity shoot.

Our photos are a little less polished than those that provided the inspiration and the post-shoot processing is fairly scrappy because it was all done in iPhoto. But I still have some great shots of my boys and "the belly". So, here are the inspiration shots next to our shots.

Belly-Hug Inspiration:

Our Version:

Belly-Heart-Hands Inspiration:

Our Versions:

Belly-Peek-A-Boo Inspiration: 

Our Versions:

 

Not too shabby I think. 

And here are a couple of the others, of our own artistic creation - and some of my favorites - maybe because they were just beautiful moments and not me trying to control a 4 year old and a 2 year old to hold a certain pose for just one more shot and not trying to dictate to my husband what he should or shouldn't be doing behind the lens.

Stay tuned for DIY Newborn shots (even cuter!)

Days 12 & 13 | Setting Custom White Balance

Days 12 & 13 | What's White Balance & Setting Custom White Balance

Darcy explained white balance - once again interns which finally clicked for me. 

"White balance is the process of letting your camera know what is neutral so white things look white. Custom WB also makes your colors as accurate and crisp as possible."

Darcy also explained 2 ways to set custom white balance - using a gray card and using an expo disk. I watched the YouTube clip Darcy linked to, plus a couple of extras. Both methods of setting white balance appeared super easy but I hit one snag - I had neither the expo disk nor the 18% gray card on hand, and I didn't want to spend $100 on the expo disk just yet. So I searched around on YouTube for a DIY alternative to the expo disk and found this tutorial espousing that you could use a piece of toilet paper in place of the expo disk. This I had on hand - so it was the method I used for setting my custom WB.

I am not totally convinced that the toilet paper worked in setting my WB correctly, as I feel my Custom WB photo below still has a "gray film" over it - which is what Darcy described when using Auto WB. Nonetheless, I have learnt a lot with this assignment, and maybe next time I am at a camera store I will see about picking up some 18% grey card stock. If nothing else I managed to be switching between the various WB modes whilst my 16 month old climbed all over my lap, and my 3.5 year old reluctantly climbed all over his lounge chair. All they both wanted was to watch a little Fireman Sam. Maybe I will try again with a vase of flowers?

But here are the relevant specs for the photos below:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G

ISO: 500

Aperture: f/3.3

Shutter Speed: 1/80sec

Do you have a DIY alternative for setting custom white balance? Have you tried the toilet paper trick to great effect?