2011 | A Photographic Journey

2011.



What a year this has been! But specifically for photography. I think I enjoyed taking photos more than the previous year- not having to think so hard about the meaning of f.stops and metering definitely made the process a whole lot faster, at least! And I had a lot of fun experimenting and breaking all the composition rules. (But shh, don't tell!)

I thought I would share with you some of my happiest photos from this year. I don't say 'best' because I'm a self-confessing perfectionist and I always think my photos can improve! But these photos all made me smile.

| January |

{taken at Annual Conference - loving the catchlights in her eyes in this photo}

| February |

{cat + warm early morning sunshine = happy photo}

| March |

{photography wise, perhaps this isn't the best photo. But this was taken at a children's program, and the little girl in the picture grabbed my camera and took a self portrait - I thought it was adorable!}

| April |

{because little sisters & fields make me happy}

| May |

{imagine the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, warm sunshine streaming into a rocky cave and the soft gritty feeling of sand under your feet, and you might understand why this photo makes me happy}

| June |

{the joyous strains of a newly acquired viola began to fill our house around this point - I just had to include a photo of this very [squeaky] exciting time}

| July |

{ so many }

{ happy memories}

{and happy smiles from this month}

| August |

{not really focused but I love it anyway}

{happy times with happy people with big cameras}

| September |

{birthday food}

| October |

{because sparklers are happy things}

| November |

{Adoration: music & memories}

| December |

{because little sisters & fields make me happy}

{for God so loved the world that he gave it his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him won't perish but instead have eternal life. John 3:16}

May God bless all of you in the new year 2012!

Love,

Eloise

I might.

Merry Almost Christmas, people!

I've been thinking (I know, I know... very unorthodox of me!) about doing a long, exciting, photo-filled end of year post with some of my favourite photos from 2011 in it.

I might.

But do you know what would really motivate me? If all you incredible photographers/bloggers did the same thing!! (Yes, I'm looking at you.)

So, that being said... Happy Blogging!

And the countdown begins... {edited}

It's nearly Christmas. And that equals busyness! And because busyness equals less time to spend writing long interesting (or not so interesting) words for my blog posts, I thought I'd put all the words together in a collage so you can still see what I've been up to lately... 

Before I leave you to return to your happy busy little lives, I thought I'd quickly post a few photos that I took yesterday. One of the really awesome things about Christmas lights is all the bokeh (translation: the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light or as my friend HT would put it: baubles of light!) that you can create!

{Notice the beautiful baubles of light?}

{Not so much bokeh, but you can do really awesome reflection shots, too! Note: I changed this photo because I now have access to Lightroom (yippeee!) and loved the way this photo turned out after I re-edited it there!}

Have a great & busy week!

Upcoming girl's retreat!

I thought I'd give you a break from my usual photography + boring words posts to tell you all about a completely exciting girl's conference that is coming up very soon!

"A Passion for Jesus is a Christian girls ministry reaching the hearts of young ladies. It is our mission to help girls realise their ultimate purpose in life and reach their full potential for Christ!"

This retreat is being run by several young ladies who have a desire to see girls grow in their walk with God. I would highly recommend this conference to everyone - and it's being held in different locations around the country and NZ, so you have no excuse not to come. ;-)

Melbourne
Perth
Cootamundra
Auckland

Please prayerfully consider attending this life-changing conference! And bring along your friends and relations and anybody else who might be interested...

Have a great, exciting & amazing weekend, everyone!

(P.S Early bird registration is this Monday)

of moths & of pencil sharpeners

And now you're wondering what moths and pencil sharpeners have to do with anything, right?

Well, nothing really. :D But I did need a blog title...

And now, because this post is definitely in the random category already, I think I'll continue it in bullet points.

• Firstly, apologies (again) for not fixing up my blog. To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't actually sat down and tried to work it out yet - so any helpful tips would be most welcome. Otherwise, I will set aside some time and try to figure it out on my lonesome! (And it also gives me another opportunity to thank you for being so patient. What a legendary bunch of blog followers you are!)

• Secondly, I just realized that this is rather an aimless blog post. This is because after studying, practising music and drinking numerous cups of tea for 10 hours straight, my brain either switches into a completely random and crazy mode, or else it functions rather like a computer. I will do what you tell me but don't expect me to think creatively about problem solving and solutions! lol. (And that reminds me, I need to go and work out what is wrong with our vacuum. Hmm.)  

• I thought I'd leave you with a few random photos and a random verse to think about today! Oh, and you may expect some more rational posts sometime in the future...

{'For I know the plans that I have for you', declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.'" Jeremiah 29:11}

Trusting

{Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you. 1 Peter 5:7}

To borrow a quote from a friend, "doubt is just faith in something other than God". 

"Faith reminds itself of what the Scripture calls 'the exceeding great and precious promises' says Lloyd Jones. "Faith says: 'I cannot believe that He who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible, it would be inconsistent with the character of God.' So faith, having refused to be controlled by circumstances [or feelings!], reminds itself of what it believes and what it knows." (taken from  this inspiring blog)

11/11/11

Happy eleventh of the eleventh of two thousand and eleven!

{Because it's nice weather, and because today is a nice day, and because I'm a nice person (kidding on this one!) I thought I'd give you a nice happy photo of the day! :) Isn't she cute?}

(post script: aaaand yes, I'm still trying to fix those photos - thanks for bearing with me!}

11:45 A.M

{Above: the reason you shouldn't study right before lunchtime :D}

Also peoples - it has been brought to my attention by several people now (thanking Rachel & Bella!) that most photos on my blog aren't working. So, I tried to find a solution in the "help" link (on the far top right hand corner) but for a help section, it was surprisingly unhelpful! So I'll enlist help elsewhere, and hopefully the photos will be back to normal as soon as possible. :-)

(Also, my photo watermarks will appear sometime in the not-so-near future. Just thought I'd let you know. :P)

Photo of the Day

{"...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love..." Ephesians 1:4}

Life lately

Life lately has been filled with things that I'd probably categorize in the above right circle. But while most experiences have been crazy, stretching and also in most cases, tiring - some have also been fun. Like the CI's taught, concert's performed and many, many visitors from interstate staying with us!

But those things will fill another post for another day! For the moment, have a look at my blog award below.  

{Post Script: I also created some watermarks for my photography, so in the next post you are going to help me decide which one is best!}

Blog Award

 A few weeks ago, one of my lovely friends gave me a blog award! {Wasn't that nice of her? Yes. It was.}

But along with this award, I'm supposed to tell you seven things about myself that you presumably don't already know and award some other bloggers. And since most of you know me relatively well, I'll keep it sweet and simple for you!

{No. 1} I get excited about photography. (Wait, you already knew that? Oh.)

{No. 2} One of my goals is to... {see picture on right}

{No. 3} Psalm 103 encourages, challenges and inspires thankfullness in me.

{No. 4} I love improvising on the piano, especially with friends. And especially making up variations on a theme like twinkle, twinkle little star. ;-)

{No. 5} I love Chai tea. (the sugary, overpriced powdered latte-style chai from Mcdonalds? Ahh, sorry McD fans... but, no. Made from scratch with *real* ingredients - yesss.)

{No. 6} I get encouraged and uplifted by the simplest of things. Like a smile, that can completely light up someone's day. Or a friendly hug. Or being with my silly sisters in one of our silly moods. Or a really nice comment. Or a neighbour randomly dropping by to tell me how much they love listening to my flute practises. Or a blog award. ;-)


{No. 7} This isn't something about myself because, admit it - you're bored of hearing about me by now! :P But I just wanted to wish my old(er) sis a very happy, verrrrrry belated birthday!

{Left: silly sisters in a silly mood}



Now, I have a problem. I could award all the incredible blogs I know of - but the list would take up three pages. ;) So, even though I love each of your blogs equally, I'm going to stick with just one blog award.

The Mouse @ The Mouse Files

This blog makes me laugh. The writing is brilliant. Also, she is a photographer like me.

{What more could you want?}

Preview: life lately

There have been days and days and weeks and months since you heard from me last and I apologize to all the people who haunted my blog in the eager hopes of finding a new post and had their hopes dashed each time... however, there is good news! There are several blog posts waiting in my drafts, and I'm hoping to finish and post them sometime this week. Until then, I thought I'd post a random photo taken in the past week...

*Editors note: aaaand I apologize, peoples -  it looks like *this* week will be my blogging week, instead of last week. Hang in there - they are on their way! ;-)

WA: fun times...

{preface: this will probably be the last post in the "WA" series because I'm sure you're all getting bored of it by now!}

While in WA, we did a lot of *fun* things with our hospitable hosts, the D. family! Things like...

{...picniking in the bush}

{mini-golfing}

{and more mini-golfing!}

{sailing}

{Emmie & I}

{Walking with friends}

{...and taking lots of photos!}

{...having fun with cameras and phones}

We also did maany other things like shooting, bowling, 4WDing, horse riding - but sadly, that's all I have time for now! Overall, it was one very incredible trip!

WA: Children's Institute

{Warning: images portrayed in this post may be highly embarrassing to certain individuals, and I apologize in advance :-) Also, I didn't take all of these CI photos - credits also go to Olivia D, Emmie D, John N. and whoever else had my camera throughout the week! :P}

Introducing: a Perth CI!

{For those of you who have no idea what a CI is, here's my sketchy dictionary definition of it: a program where you teach children about life and God and why some things happen and what the Bible says about it. Throw in some stories, songs, and crafts and you have a week full of fun and learning!}

So while I've taught maaaaany of these programs before, this was to be my very first interstate one.

It was amazing.

{Welcome to the Children's Institute!}

{CI director}

{The other CI director}

For those of you who have ever thought our Melb children's programs are crazy at times, you should come do a WA one. It was insane. Here's proof:

{So. much. fun!}

It was incredible seeing God move in the lives each person as each night went past! I saw leaders being stretched and strengthened as they overcame obstacles, children opening up and being receptive to each truth that was presented to them, and parents being encouraged by the teaching.

{"Miss Eloise" telling the aforementioned story, and "Mr. John" in a skit as the wise man who built his house on the rock instead of the sand}

Teaching children doesn't come without challenges though. One evening in particular, I was completely stressing out. I had to tell a story, teach a particularily hard lesson (stronghold diagrams ring a bell with anyone?!), sightread/improvise on the piano one of the CI songs that I hadn't known we were doing and on top of it all, some of the children in my team were being really difficult and constantly acting up that night. I remember going into the bathroom and feeling completely overwhelmed. I have perfectionist tendancies, and deep down, I was scared of messing up in front of everyone. But I remembered a phrase that I'd heard at a Conference once: "If our failure will bring glory to the Lord, then we need to be willing to fail and possibly look stupid for His sake."

And guess what happened when I gave up my pride and told God that I was willing to look stupid for Him? He did faaaaaar more than I expected or hoped!!! Truly, God is great.

Over all, it was a good CI. It didn't go perfectly, and there were things that could have better (on my behalf, that is!). But the most important thing is that seeds were planted, and I'm praying that there will be a lasting impact.

Happy Birthday!

It's my favourite lil sister's birthday!

Independant ;-)

Sweet

Athletic

Beautiful

Enthusiastic

Loving

Loyal

Efficient

These past 15 years have been the best years of my life (not mentioning the fact that the other two and a half years I don't even remember! Haha...). Thanks for being such a blessing! We love you!

WA: Stories & Scenery

Once upon a time...

...way back in January, the Dewar family invited us to come visit them at their home in the "wild west". At the time, the thought was promptly put on the backburner - so when it actually happened six months later, we were all in a state of complete shock. At least, I was. ;-)

After much praying, consideration and planning, we decided to make the journey across Australia to visit its Western state! Amelia and I were going to be a part of the Children's Institute team as well (my first ever interstate CI!). Everyone was verrrry excited, and it promised to be a truly amazing trip.

Then our friends, the Tiger Airways company - decided to close down two days before we were leaving. Now we had a big problem on our hands - we no longer had flights! Needless to say, this was a *slight* hitch in our plans! We eventually decided that if God wanted us to get to WA, then He would have to make a way for us. By our human reasoning (mosquito logic, anyone?!), it looked impossible. But God had a bigger plan...

And less than two days later, we were on a plane headed for Perth. :-)

{Don't you love taking advantage of your siblings when they are sleeping? Haha, love you Bella!}

{Warning: if you've ever been to WA - excuse me for a moment while I rave about it...}

{Perth is beaaaaaaautiful...}

{And picturesque - look at that old windmill!}

{The weather is amazing... ignore the quality of the photo and focus on the rainbow, instead :P}

{The farm is awesome...}

{The people are pretty awesome, too... but more on them, later!}

{The Dewar farm's front gate, which we long-suffering visitors had to open every time we drove through...}

{Their driveway - note the upside-down 110 speed limit?! I think *certain* people did well over that on certain occasions... (no, it wasn't me - and I wasn't in the car risking my life, either! :P)}

{The stables...}

And that's all for the present! but don't worry... many, many more posts on WA are on their way! :-)