Escape (the Australia Day long weekend)

After all of this, I felt claustrophobic and depressed when we came back to our apartment and it's cluttered balcony. The only nature we have here is a very determined infestation of moths and three pot plants in various states of senescence. I am sure the mint is not recoverable so really we only have two plants.

I feel like I am surrounded by stuff. Stuff without a place to be stored. Stuff with limited purpose.

I am more determined than ever to convert the store into a place for environmentally connected products. Things that are beautiful and useful. Things that last.  More determined too, to get rid of some of the build up in my house of abandoned craft efforts and small toys and clothing I don't fit and CDs of who knows what (why so many? and where did they all come from??) and the plaque caused by having too many hobbies.

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This year I have been taking time every day to write down at least one thing that I am grateful for. It has made for a very happy year so far, though I recognise that it is still stressful and not without aggravation - I see every day something that I can hold onto and love and today I am grateful in hindsight for learning how to use a cameras manual settings (Thanks again, Analiese) and even though I am a complete noob, I am grateful for these moments - captured and filed - and attached to memories that are full of the sounds, and the smells, and the stories that go with these visual moments. 

And this face. I love this face... (these faces I suppose I should say)

Father's change nappies too. True Story.

One time when I was younger, a man who was unstable came into the church where I was sitting and started to swear at me and verbally attack me. Near by a man (who I knew) just sat and watched smiling uncomfortably.

I was holding my baby brother and the man was kind of big so I just sat there and occasionally defended my rights (not really in a very productive way 'I can look at who I want to look at' for example, wasn't a helpful thing to say) until someone who heard the rukus went and found my dad who took the man aside and told him in a firm voice that "that b!tch" was his daughter and could he please leave the building (where he told him some other things...)

And I was glad that my father was there, and glad that I could see him defend me. No one else was and it was wonderfully reassuring to know that he would always be on my side. I still remember how it felt to know that someone cared about me enough to confront someone to defend me  (My dad is awesome)

I promise this is relevant.

Today is Kyle's birthday.

He's at home editing his most recent film project which means that we have been able to spend the day together and so off we went to get haircuts and eat lunch and play at play grounds (I even took photos)

And we had to change the baby's nappy. It happens.

The sign on the door said "baby changing room" and we walked in behind two women talking very loudly about something which they obviously didn't mind us hearing about (or they wouldn't have continued talking so loudly surely) and we changed the baby.
As they came out of the toilets one of the women started to say (just as loudly) that she was sure men weren't allowed in there as 'hearing women piss' is just wrong and couldn't he have stayed outside, and I'm going to check because I think it's completely wrong and sick and at that point I turned around and said:
"IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT US, SAY IT TO US!"

... And then I said a few other things... which might have included "if you have a problem with men hearing you go to the toilet then go to the ladies room, it says baby changing room on the door -  I don't see your baby!" And the woman I was talking to backed away.

We walked out later and saw a council worker who told us that the women had spoken to him about it all and he had told him the same thing that I had. Go to the ladies bathroom if you want there to only be ladies around you.

Kyle had been ignoring the women's conversation entirely so he was surprised that I had snapped at them, and I know that if he had heard what they had been saying he would have said something himself - but just so you know Ky. I've got your back. I'm on your side. Even though I get a bit shaky and emotional when I have to do things like that and even though I stay all riled up about it for the whole rest of the day (and post blogs about it).

I'll confront people (even though it's pretty beyond my comfort zone) to defend you - and your right to use a room designated for people caring for babies and children.

You can use the baby changing room... you know... TO CHANGE THE BABY. 

Happy Birthday.


Apologies for the awkwardly compiled photos. The boys didn't all fit in the photo because Ronin was way below table level. In other news good on you Boost and Salsa for giving free things to customers on their birthday. Don't rate the burrito but at least no money was wasted in figuring out that they aren't that good.

 Gabe blowing bubbles (he thinks it's so cool... it's so gross) while Kyle gets his hair cut. I spoke to the hairdresser in Mandarin and she didn't understand me (devastating) but it was only because she didn't expect it from me (phew!) after that she understood everything I said. Crisis averted.

 Blurry :( 

My family.

On the morning that we were to get our photos taken by Analiese (from *Dimples* by AnalieseJane) Ronin fell onto his face and bruised his cheek.
Can you tell?
NO.

Analiese's photos have basically confirmed two things that I pretty much already knew.
1. She is an awesome photographer with some leet photoshop bruise removing skills.
2. I have adorable children!

 See? So cute. (If only this were a perpetual reality because they were both little nut cases today...)

I actually really dislike having my photo taken partly because of the regular boring reasons (wah wah my eyes are crooked blah blah) and partly because I think that I look especially stupid in posey photos.

These photos weren't like that. With occasional guidance (lighting and composition ideas) Analiese just took photos of us being a family and when Ky decided that he wanted certain photos of him with his boys she was more than happy to oblige.

 (Fun fact: Ronin is eating grass in the photo on the left and is shoving a flower in his mouth in the photo on the right... Just keeping it real)

The turn over between getting the photos taken and getting the link to the online gallery of our work was fast, and I was SO happy with the photos that she chose to send us. Especially because she sent through the photos of us being real as well as the ones of us being atypically (comparatively) good looking.

I love this photo... (that green colour in the back? One of my favourite colours in the world)

And I love this photo even more... because this is basically the story of my life. Kyle laughing at something (probably something that he said himself) and me looking at him just like that.

It's REAL!
I suppose that's the take home message.

Photography is awesome because it captures real moments that are worthy of remembering - and I love those real, honest photos much more than posed photos. Analiese was great because she made the boys feel comfortable (Gabriel LOVED having his photos taken) and let us laugh and parent and joke and just be ourselves and still managed to make us look good!

Gabe's mismatched socks :) He was really worried he was going to fall off Ky's shoulder.

Sometimes it's a difficult thing to prioritise family photos when other things come up (like power bills and registering your car and all those other gross real life things) but you can't really put prices on memories like these. I have a lot of photos, a lot of them have great memories attached to them, but they don't look super nice like these ones. Why bother paying to get photos taken? BECAUSE THEY LOOK BETTER. You know... cos it's their job!

Good photographers have skills that you probably don't.
I know how to use photoshop to make art, I can even edit some photos but making beautiful photos isn't my job. Thanks to Analiese I even know how to shoot using the manual settings on a camera... but my photos don't look like these.
Also - I am usually the one taking photos and so there aren't a lot of photos of me and my boys together (selfies absolutely do not count) so these photos are amazing for me.

I have already ordered prints.

Ky and I have set a goal to get photos taken every year to track our families growth.

 It is worth it.

Sick days

It seems like every winter I am bemoaning the same things. It is probably indicative of some kind of disastrous vitamin deficiency ( :( ) but every time the weather gets cold our house needs to be quarantined. We are the tag team family of phlegm (ew) as soon as one member of the family has wrestled their illness into submission and reached a state of wellness the next person leaps in to the sick ring. Last winter I remember having to cancel nearly every social commitment we had because we didn't want to infect our friends.

Everyone is slowly recovering and so the days here are punctuated by naps. Family naps.

I came out of my 'office' (I have my computer set up in the angel's room) and found this.

ps. Ky dressed them - and obviously dressed himself - and they're matching. Pretty cute. The room was really dark so these are the clearest photos I could get - and it took a lot of tries to get them. Blur city. 

Love your camera

I have always felt a bit limited by words, which might be one of the reasons why I love art so much. That's not to say that I don't love words too - I read a lot, but sometimes you can say a lot more with an image. You know...

1 picture > 1000 words.

However many words a picture may be worth, learning how to take nice photos has always been on my list of things to do.
Reading other peoples blogs and seeing how awesome their photos are has only served to remind me almost daily how badly I wish I knew how to do more than just take an 'auto' photo.

So on Monday morning Analiese sat down with me and schooled me on how to use a DSLR - it's my mums, but after this she'll be lucky if she gets it back... (don't worry mum, I know that you're very very lucky)

For anyone who is interested in learning more about using your camera then I would absolutely recommend going to one of Analiese's classes. I have spoken about her before on this blog, so if you have a good memory you will know that she is a relative of mine, but asides from this and her being generally awesome - I really enjoyed learning how to take a decent photo.

The benefit of her 'Love your camera' course was in the absolute personal application of it. It wasn't just about learning how to use a tool for sake of being able to use a tool, but the whole conversation (it was one on one so it was informal and relaxed) applied to how I would be using a camera after I left the class. So while I haven't taken any other photography classes (ever) I still think that it is a great reminder even for people who have.

She went through all the auto and semi-auto settings on the camera and then we took a bunch of photos fully manual, which was around the time that my boys all came back from wandering around the park and so I was able to take some photos of them.

Analiese is predominantly a family photographer, but this class is about learning how to use and love your camera so that you can use it to tell the stories that you want to tell in the way that you want to tell it. There was no pretentious 'only shoot manual because everything else is cheating' or anything like that, but I am excited that I can apply the things that she taught me (and use the little cheat sheet of notes she gave me) to my point and shoot camera - which also has a manual setting.

I'm totally putting pressure on myself to produce good photos on this blog now, but with a shop opening in the works and life as hectic as ever, it is really nice to have some more skills in my arsenal and great as well to have been able to spend some time doing getting something from my bucket list ticked off.

Analiese has a class coming up later this month (on the 20th)  so check out her website and send her an email if you are interested in a spot there - or if you would like to have a class like me just one on one, email her for more info.

ps. Obviously Analiese took the photos of me taking photos - she sent them to me (because I'm vain and I asked for them) and they had a number for the file number. I totally renamed it 'eleanorisaphotographer' hahahaha. One class and already I'm all like 'woo check me out' Hi-larious. 

Photo magic

Selling things online can be challenging because people don't get to wander through your shop touching things, trying things on, or testing for quality.
I sell art, so you don't really 'try it on' but everyone likes to know what things would look like on the walls of their house - in context.

My cousin Analiese is a talented photographer (she did my sister's wedding last year) and so I asked her if she would take some photos for me.

She's a magician. Seeing my work in her photos actually makes me feel like an actual artist, instead of the fraud I feel like most of the time.

I have them up on my website { http://www.theelmtree.com.au }

Here are some.

And you can see her blog post with more photos here. I totally recommend looking through the whole blog, there are some really lovely photos - and as Analiese travels to Queensland fairly regularly you don't have to live in Sydney to hire her. Check her out!