#5/365 – Even Better When You’ve Earned It!

After mowing the lawns in 26º Heat - I reckon I earned a nice cold kiwi-legend drink!

Isn’t it funny how many things taste, smell, or feel better after you have worked hard for them? I mowed the lawns today in what is our HOTTEST day of the new summer so far… They weren’t actually looking like Lawns anymore – more like a Dandelion Farm… so something had to be done when I had a spare moment… as tempting as it was to lie on the couch contemplating my navel – I figured that marital harmony was probably more of a priority!

I think that there are many things in life that we need to keep ‘trimmed’… weaknesses, habits, those things that if we leave them to their own devices, they may become overgrown and unhealthy… And when we tend to them constantly, we avoid a whole bunch of issues taking seed in our life. I hope that you might be a ‘constant gardener’ and the people around you help you keep your hedges trimmed!

#4/365 – Civic Sunset

The sunset reflecting on the Civic Theatre on Queen Street

I just spent a fabulous weekend in Auckland City with Christine… we had to go to one of those Hotel Club presentations to get a super-cheap accommodation package at the Mercure in town – but it was worth it! Emily was safely stored with her Gran for the second night – so we went for a walk and dinner at the FANTASTIC Tanuki’s Cave with Charlotte and Bridgette – what a great night… this shot is one of those ones where you are in the right place at the right time and the colours just happened to jump out at you!

This year is hopefully going to yield a lot of right places and right times for me – I hope that in a lot of my friendships I am also in the right place at the right time! Let’s make sure we are always looking for opportunities to build our friendships up… Investing in the world and lives of our friends will always yield fantastic results! Have a think about someone special that you might want to get in touch with today… tell them what they mean to you and I am sure you will feel all warm and fuzzy!

#3/365 – RIP Air NZ Crew

in memory of the lost crew in france...

Today Air New Zealand lost a plane in France – on board were 5 kiwis and 2 German Pilots. We walked past the HQ of Air NZ in Auckland whilst staying in the City and I felt today’s post should be a little tribute. It must be so hard to lose family in such a way and my heart goes out to the family and friends of those lost.

#2/365 – Blue Skies, Shining on Me… ladedadeda…

Blue Skies Shining on ME

I think there are tons of things in life that we take for granted – things that are always there, part of the furniture of our life… I think it is an unfortunate thing about our human-ness that we have a tendancy to take things for granted… I travel a lot for work and it never ceases to amaze me how much of the landscape and city around me I happily drive past in a state where familiarity has bred contempt…

When Christine and I lived in England, we would forever stop and wonder at buildings, gardens, landmarks that the locals never knew were interesting! I remember a churchyard in the Cotswolds where we snapped off a ton of pictures of gravestones, statues and even the doorknob of the church in awe of the history that we just simply don’t have in New Zealand… The church was down a back-road from the main part of town, and I highly suspect that the people in the town hardly ever set foot there! This really challenges me to appreciate what is around me. In New Zealand we may not have the architecture or history that is so prevalent in other parts of the world – but we do have a natural and ancient beauty in those parts of our country that remain untouched… I value this more from having travelled around a bit of the world now!

I travel over the Harbour bridge fairly frequently and it never ceases to amaze me how much a touch of blue sky makes things that are so familiar appear more beautiful than normal… Today was a stunning day in Auckland, and I am not sure if it was that, or the fact that I had 2 meetings this morning with people that really know what it is to make a difference in the world – but everything was looking rosy this afternoon! I really appreciate it when you stumble across people that really see the glass as half full… that don’t want to settle for just ‘existing’ in this life… they see opportunities around every corner and seem to be in tune with the needs of the people around them… that is something that motivetes, inspires and encourages me!

#1/365 – What’s REALLY Important…

my beautiful girl

Here it is… the very first step of this journey and I must admit – I deliberated long and hard over this one!!! Over a coffee on the North Shore yesterday, I sat with someone that is very important to me and was chatting about this little project and what I hope to achieve or “GET” out of the whole thing… I DON’T want this to be about “look at me – I can take photos…” or “look at me – I can write words in sentences and paragraphs…” I want this project to be simply about growing.

The last few years of my life have pretty much whizzed by and I freely admit to feeling a bit swept away by the pace of the change in my life and family… To have ’survived’ is awesome – but I don’t want to settle for SURVIVE, when there is the possibility of THRIVE! I want the next 365 days to be about INTENTIONALLY being a part of my community, my family and the world I live in… I want to learn to be more deliberate in relationships and also in the choices that I make.

As I sat in the sun sipping a mochaccino in the cafe, I joked with my friend that wouldn’t it be fantastic to start this project by capturing a majestic sunset symbolising a new day dawning in my life… we both agreed that this might just be more cheesy than a big mac with extra cheese!

My first pic then, is representative of everything I hold dear… Emily is definitely someone that has come into my life to teach me about Love. As I write – she has walked in to my office/studio/spare bedroom and touched my guitar, turned around to look at me and said in the cutest voice you ever will hear – “Da-Dee”, Just writing it brings shivers! I think it is awesome to have someone in your life that you don’t have to convince with a long list of reasons why they should love you… I could try, but 5 words in she would lose interest! all I have to do is pick her up when she walks up to me – and that scores me a hug and a kiss!!! She is a little love-machine I tell you!

I hope that there is someone in your life like Emily. That no matter what we have been through, no matter what we do – offers their love freely to us. I want to be that type of person – but as we all know – it’s a struggle! I am forever grateful for my faith and the very fact that what is offered to me in choosing to follow Jesus Christ – is a free gift of this kind of love. Not the bondage of religion, but a new-fangled kind of love that changes lives, worlds and hearts!

I promise that this project WON’T be 365 photos of Emily… IT would be tempting though…

The battle within…

There is a story out there made popular by Dr James Dobson from Focus on the Family about two dogs fighting within us… whichever one we feed, wins the battle for control of us… he was entirely talking about good and evil in that cartoony kind of way where the good goofy would fight the bad goofy for control of… well… Goofy.

I have a similar kind of battle when it comes to how to get the best out of Photography… I have a camera… it is entry level… but totally capable of taking a good enough picture… but I also think that with an extension of the gear I currently have, I would have more freedom of expression… The battle of two cameras rages on for control of my photographical expression… on one shoulder sits the faithful Nikon d40x which has been with me a wee while… it has had some fun and given me access to some pretty swift and meaningful learning curves… on the other sits a new D90 or D300 with tons of new-fangled bells and whistles that I KNOW would bring out even more in me… so the battle rages…

My thought processes have even included the possibility that I might SELL MY GOLF CLUBS to raise the capital for the purchase of the new camera… I am sitting here thinking of what I might be able to sell on top of that… cricket gear… bike… hmmm… the mind boggles…

OR I could just set up a website and try and sell a few photos that way…if you wanna buy… let me know! HEHE…

Emily A La Anne Geddes

Emily A La Anne Geddes

Originally uploaded by u_can_call_me Al

I took this little pic in a photoshoot a while back. Many of our friends had been to get their kids shot at a booth at our local shopping centre… the sitting was cheap, but the prints were hugely expensive! I said to Christine – I reckon I can get some cute shots like that – and this was the result… Emily was having a blast and was highly amused by the whole event!

The light in this shot is all natural. We have a corner of the house with windows on each side – so worked really well! Next time I might use a reflector or something – but I am very happy with the results anyway!

Lens Used: 50mm f1.4 – Manual lens c.1978. I can’t remember the Aperture I used though.

HAPPY WINTER!!!

HAPPY WINTER!!!

Originally uploaded by u_can_call_me Al

For all my friends UP north…

Poladroid – Ohope Girl

Poladroid – Ohope Girl

Originally uploaded by u_can_call_me Al

I took the actual photo in this one a few months ago in Ohope – I recently stumbled across a cool photo application called Poladroid which makes polaroid photos out of your other photos and I like the way this one turned out!!!

Go to www.poladroid.net to check it out – Mac ONLY at the mo!