10 out of 10 or 20/20 Vision??? You decide!

January 2023 saw the commencement of the 10 out of 10 project.  The premise was simple.  Myself and 10 different photographers shot 10 different subjects in my studio with a two hour limit and two outfits.   Some photographers I had worked with before, others not.  Some subjects I had worked with before.... others not. The ultimate aim was to create a body of work of exhibition quality that illustrates how two creatives and one subject can create vastly different works in the same space and time.  A juxtaposition of our skills and vision.

All went along well, shooting one subject a month until number 9.   Whilst in negotiations with my chosen number 9, he suddenly died. Unexpectedly.  Yes, he was an older man, but this was totally unexpected and a tragic loss.  He was known to me as a friend and photographer. The project stalled.  I wasn't ready to find a new number 9, but didn't want to let down the 8 fellow photographers and  subjects already committed to the project.  After some months I realised my replacement number 9 lived very close by. A rough and tumble fellow with a great look and being local should not have been too hard to organise.  

I was wrong.  He was always keen to shoot, but timing was an issue.  He couldn't do this day, or that.  He needed a haircut, but couldn't get happening and some weeks down the track it became obvious that he was terminally ill and ..... he too died before the shoot could take place.  

Mortified I felt the universe had spoken and this was not to be.  More months elapsed, but I approached no-one to participate.  Then one night I was out to dinner with my mate Joshy when I spied a fellow at the Yacht club.  Ballsy as ever, I forced my business card into his hand and asked him to look at my website and consider being part of the 10 out of 10 project.   Well wasn't I surprised when just 2 days later he rang me!! I was elated!  

With number 9 now "in the can" my aim was to finish off the project. Number 10 came to fruition after a luncheon at a different club (yes, I know, it sounds like all I do is eat and shoot). Number 10 was sat beside me at lunch and number 10 photographer was at the other end of the same table.  It just seemed so natural and I asked if she would be number 10.  As they say, the rest is history!

The project is finished. 

Or is it?

Should I continue?  

Here are some of my images of the original 10. 

What do you think? Should it become 20/20 Vision?

Bathroom reno

My home, whilst cosy and comfortable, has a couple of bathrooms and a kitchen from the dark ages!

I kid you not!  70's style, with poor quality and poorly executed 80's updates reigned supreme.  I've never been overly keen to change that status quo, but I think the indoctrination of daytime telly had manifested change in my mind.  Not only could these rooms be beautiful, but I could do a lot of the work myself!

So the work has begun.   Each bathroom has a new vanity and loo and EVERY tap and spout in the entire house has been replaced.  Yes, I do mean outdoor taps and laundry taps and even a new tap down the back for the veggie patch. Every air vent, IXL tactic, light switch and power point has been replaced and in the main bathroom the vanity lighting has also been replaced.

It is still very much a work in progress.  Mirrors and towel rails now hung and it all need a good clean..... but it is an amazing improvement at very little expenditure.

I was struggling to get the right dunnies to suit as the "set out" was probably not standard, or maybe old standard is a better term.  I tried a locally well known plumbing supply business who simply dicked me around for 90 minutes.  They didn't know their stock and was walking to loo to loo in the display room with a tape measure checking the set outs!!!

Fortunately a rather frustrated call to the most amazing plumber Errol, from Errol Hancock Gas and Plumbing put me in contact with Tara at Reece plumbing, Gateshead.   In a 10 minute phone call with Tara, in which I thought I totally bamboozled her, she sorted all my plumbing supplies.  About 45 minutes  later I had a written quote emailed to me from the most amazing Tara and... it was spot on!!!!  The dunnies were the right sizes and perfectly suited to the rooms.  The tap sets were just magnificent.  Tara is a total genius ... and obviously understood the ravings of a plumbing supply virgin.  I should clarify the call to Tara was made from my car as I was diving to an appointment.   I didn't have exact measurements.  I was recalling from memory, describing tap shapes and finishes and she got it absolutely right!

So here are some "before" and "work still in progress" photos.  There is still much to do, but crikey between Tara and Errol I am well on the way to a classy new loo or two!  And the kitchen.... well that's next!   

 

 

Roof Restoration!

So in the vein of Reno madness I decided to replace the concrete tile roof.  There was nothing wrong with it, it covered perfectly well, didn't leak and performed all the functions a tile roof should.....but it was that ordinary glazed brown colour and .... well I just didn't like it.  It was perfectly sound, but ... well I guess bland is the best description.  On the jobs list is to repaint the house and I just couldn't find a colour that went with the tiles.   

I decided that  a colorbond iron roof was a better bet.  Or so I thought until I got a quote to replace the tiles. There was no way I could justify removing a perfectly functional roof and replace with colorond for what seemed a stupid amount, $35,000.  The quote did include removal of the tiles from the site and eco friendly disposal, but it was still a lot of cash to splash.   Yes, it IS a big roof, but I couldn't justify that outlay.  I expect to be under this roof for another 25 years or so and the tile will go the distance.  The most viable and "bang for your buck" solution was to have it painted.  When I say painted I mean scrubbed, sealed AND painted.

So the research began on all things painted.  Colorbond also do a line of paint colours and from that I chose the deepest grey.  A colour called monument. Research began,  shoutout to a restorer and the work commenced.   Like any painting job the hard work is the preparation.  Two days of scrubbing and repointing was swiftly followed with a day of sealing.  In the process it was found that there were 6 cracked tiles on the roof.   They were replaced and a further 10 were painted to match the new colour in case there needs to be a repair further down the line.  

The actual colour spray only took about 2 hours per coat and she took 3 coats to look smick.

Not content to stop there the wonderful spray people also hand painted the gutters!! The many miles of gutters! And the fascia on the garage AND the carport!  

The work was done by UPCOLOURS Roof Restoration.  Awesome folk, highly recommended. So if you are in the Hunter region of NSW then give them a call.  Next job.... pick a paint colour to go with Monument!  Any ideas???

Look who's doing a podcast!

Way back before COVID really kicked in my mate Moo, aka Miss Krissi Marie,  and I thought we might like to create a podcast.  Yeah, like why the hell not!   We crack ourselves up everytime we get together... so why not share that joy with all and sundry??!!?

The research began ..... exactly how one does create a podcast?   That, in itself, was an interesting learning curve.  We needed equipment, a space in which to record, software to record and edit on, web hosting, intro music, artwork and a list of subject to discuss.  Surely that wasn't too hard to sort!   A good friend Nate gifted us some equipment and basic info on how to use it,  I had a library that, with little alteration, became a suitable space in which to record, Moo researched and sourced appropriate software and taught herself to edit.  She also researched web hosting.  Nate, being an amazing musician accepted a commission from us for intro music and together we brainstormed a huge list of potential subjects.

So what was so hard???  Well two things really caught us offguard with their degree of difficulty!  A name for our chatfest and some sound editing issues that truely were beyond us, grew into major issues!

After a few days of back and forthing we created a short list of podcast names.  Much discussion followed and one name fitted our criteria, thus "Delusions of Grandeur Podcast" was born!  And so it began... we recorded our first podcast and thought we were awesome.... only to find sound production was ... lacklustre at best!  Dreadful would be a more apt description!!    Moo, known for her researching and problem solving skills tried EVERYTHING to get us sounding good.... all to no avail.   Fortunately thru my photography practice I had met and photographed a sound engineer known as "Mr Meat".  A gentle giant of a man with tremendous skill in his chosen field.   I organised a meet with Moo and Mr Meat and within a relatively short time frame he diagnosed our production issues and pointed Moo in the right direction.  Two pieces of equipment were purchased and suddenly we sounded great!!

With all the production issues under control Delusions of Grandeur has become a part of our weekly lives.  We record one night a week, Moo edits and we go live on all the regular places each Wednesday morning. 

So if you have about 30 minutes free each week and want to listen to us search on all the regular sites for the Delusion of Grandeur podcast or look us up on Insta or Facebook.  

Hopefully I'll put the right link here and not the one to our only fans site!!!   (joking, apparently we aren't on only fans... dunno why!!!).

Delusions of Grandeur

I've gone Elinchrom!

HAHAHAHAHA... just found this had been sitting in "Drafts" for ohhhh about 11 months!  I'm a silly billy!!!

For those of you who have read along before, welcome back.  For those who are new allow me get you up to speed, pronto.

I love photography, it is my only real creative outlet.   I also have a home studio and a love of controlled light photography, Off Camera Flash or OCF to the newly initiated.  This all started with a photo of some dead flowers against a black backdrop taken with a single Canon Speedlight..... off camera.   I've always been a canon user and on this occasions I triggered the single Canon 580exii flash with a Canon St-E2 trigger on a coffee table in my loungeroom.  The backdrop was a roll of black gift wrap paper.  I was gobsmacked at the result.   Loved it,  and an addiction had began!

Fast forward 12 months and I had garnered together a vast array of Canon gear.   4 x 580exii flash heads and 2 x 430exii's as well.  I'd moved from the St-e2 to Pocket Wizards, so I have 6 x tt5's with a tt1unit and an Ac3 controller.   The madness of gear acquisition continued.  A Sekonic light meter with the pocket wizard module replaced the Sekonic light meter without the pocket wizard module!    Backdrop stands, light stands, cold shoes, bungees, clamps and.... the Modifiers!   I bought some Godox softboxes. Big gridded umbrella octos and some rectangles with grids.  I couldn't get a strip soft box for my system, but I made up 4 strips that I clamped on the sides of the rectangle soft boxes to make a strip light that I could adjust simply by moving two bull clips.   I even bought a cheap shitty boom arm and it was ..........really cheap and shitty!

I've totally impressed myself with the quality of light I have been able to capture with this set up...... but then one Saturday afternoon a text from Josh changed everything.  For YEARS I had wanted, no coveted, even lusted after Elinchroms.   Josh, to his credit, consistently reminded me to not spend any more money until my gear couldn't do what I wanted it to do, but my gear had never left me wanting.  Still I had a crushing desire to own an Elinchrom kit.   I'd only ever used them a few times.... mostly I had been Joshy's VAL (voice activated light stand) on a number of his shoots.   He used a ranger system,  battery operated heads as bright as the sun!!!    In fact he had left his gear in my studio some months before when his work took too much of his time and shooting became something he no longer had time for.   But I digress.  Josh texted me with a link to a bloke selling off some older elinchroms SUPER cheap.  SO cheap I had suspicions about its provenance.  I made contact and my fears were instantly allayed.  This dude knew his stuff.  He spoke confidently about the gear and what he believed was a fault, but for the price I was IN!   I contemplated a late night drive to the Central Coast to meet up, but decided a Sunday morning leisurely cruise would be a better bet and in the morning I was glad of that decision. The windy road to his place was bad enough in daylight.  It would have been horrendous at night!

So I scored a three head system with two softboxes and a reflector, a skyport controller, lightstands,  spare bulbs and a manual for bugger all dollars.  Josh was concerned that I had bought a lemon, but all heads work and the modifiers were in perfect condition.   The huge octos from his ranger system all fitted the system I purchased, which is the beauty of the Elinchrom system and... the big win...was that Josh HAD a strip softbox!  Albeit, without grid.

So the fun continues with 240V lights instead of battery powered speed lights.   I'm not savvy enough to see the difference, if in fact there is any!   I do enjoy the set up. It is super speedy and the variety of softboxes, brolly and reflections I have is stunning.

Its one and only downside is that it is not portable, as in outdoors.   But I retained some speed lights and Pocketwizards in case I ever needed to take it outside.  

Sooooo wanna see some Elinchrom lit images?  I was hoping you would say yes!

6 months today

It's been 7 months since my last blog post and 6 months today since mum died.

I was sitting alone with her at the Mater Hospice, just holding her hand, when she faded away at 10.13am on 28th June, 2016.  She survived 313 days when her Oncologist said it would be  a whole lot less.  313 days, and each one was a battle.  She was scared of death and didn't want to be left alone. She didn't want to die.  She was scared of being buried alive and kept asking me to check and recheck that she was actually dead before they put her in her coffin.  She wanted to live to be 100.  She remained alert and aware until the very last day.  Her body, on the other hand, let her down badly.  Pancreatic Cancer has a very low survival rate, something like 7% last 5 years.  The national average is 180 days. Mum smashed that record!  Although she suffered a stroke and a heart attack, she remained strong.  She had little pain.... until 4 days before she died.  Even when on the drug pump she could still talk, but could no longer swallow.  She told me she wasn't hungry or thirsty.

I was extremely privileged to be able to care for mum.  She was an amazingly strong woman. She endured so much.  We talked about so much and laughed a lot. The daily photo for Instagram was a blast and is a daily record of her strength.... and her demise.  It also records the trips out, the ice creams and the many visitors she had during those last 313 days.

She might be gone, but she will never be forgotten.

257 days later.....

About 9 months ago mum was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.  She had been poorly and had turned a nasty shade of orange.  Actually it was 257 days or just over 36 weeks ago now.   Her doctors gave her no hope.  Prognosis was vaired depending on which oncologist was offering numbers but the average was 26 weeks.  The doctor in Emergency that actually gave her her diagnosis said 12 months, so right then and there we decided to do a 365 photo project.  Decided to take one photo a day for 365 days.

So here we are 257 days later and  it has been something of a roller coaster ride.   Initially the plan was that I would stay at work until she was incapable of caring for herself on a daily basis and have care workers come in to clean.  Meal prep and shopping would be my domain and she would take care of her midday meal and personal care.

She went downhill very fast and in late october it was obvious I had to take leave from work.  I quickly ran out of Annual Leave and had little sick/family leave of my own after using 8 months of my banked leave with my own cancer treatment in 2012 and 2013.  Fortunately I had just over 12 months of long service leave I could call upon and so I have been in a nursing role since.

We did have some assistance in the home from an agency "assistant in nursing".... until I caught her stealing cash, but that is a whole other story.  We now have a woman come in for 90 minutes once a week.  She cleans the house, vacuums, steam cleans the floors, scrubs the bathroom, dusts, changes the sheets and puts the washing on.   Mum now has a hospital bed and soon a stand up recliner.  She can still walk short distances on a wheely walker but we rarely venture outside the house.  Palliative Care nurses and her GP visit once a week each, but both are only a phone call away if needs must. We've had the ambos come a couple of times too.

Mum recently spent a week at the Mater Hospice. They worked miracles getting her medication under control.  After a mini stroke and heart attack all her meds were fighting each other. So now she is home on reduced medication and we just take each day as it comes.

She enjoys the photo a day shenanigans.  If I forget, she always remembers.   Some days they are posed and themed, but most days they are just as she is.  She always worries about her hair!  The images can all be seen on Instagram here

But here are some of my faves:-

   

When Violet went viral !!!

The internet is an amazing thing.  The popularity of this blog surprises me.  The amount to views is beyond belief for what is essentially a blog about my dance with cancer and my veggie patch.  Knowing this I thought a picture I put in a comment about the awesome Hunter Valley Santa Claus might garner about 50 views.  I was very very VERY wrong!  It went viral.  And the flow on effect was even more amazing.

As you may be aware my mum, Violet, has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.  The bevy of oncologists can't offer her any hope and she is deemed terminal.  The oncologists have offered themselves available for advice and information, but have passed mum's care over to the Westlakes Palliative Care team.  Knowing this mum is not happy with her lot and as a result is doing it tough.   

Unrelated my sister Nola sent me a link to a photo of a Santa with an amazing set up.  That got me thinking that it might jolly Violet up to have a photo with Santa.  She has always loved Christmas.  So I found The Hunter Valley Santa on Facebook and I made contact with them asking if they were able to accommodate an 86 year old in a wheelchair.  They replied to my enquiry saying they would love to.  A few days later I went to the venue, "Sinclairs" on Hillsborough Road, Warners Bay, here in Lake Macquarie.   I needed to check wheelchair access.  Mrs Claus was brilliant.  Santa was busy with kids, but Mrs Claus showed me side access easy for a wheelchair and we confirmed a time and date.    A few days later Violet frocked up and off we went to meet Santa.   

Santa and Mrs Claus asked the crowd in front of us if we could pop in straight away and from what I could see no-one there minded, even though they had already waited some time.  Santa is VERY popular out there!     So mum was wheeled in and Santa helped her out of her chair.  She sat on his knee, then on his throne and as he was about to help her back to her chair I asked if Santa could dance.  He could, so they danced just a few steps and we helped her back into her chair.    We weren't there long, but Violet was very very happy at what had just occurred.  We collected out images and USB and headed home.  She was very excited.    I used those images to create her Christmas Cards and had them printed by Redbubble.  One larger print was framed and took up residence on the china cabinet.  That's were I thought it would end.  

So a few weeks later a woman I do not know posted a pic of Santa and her son Levi, taken at "Sinclairs".   I commented on her photo that Santa and Mrs Claus bent over backwards to help Violet get her first ever photo with Santa.   I added a small copy of the image in my comment.   

Violet's photo and comment on this lovely photo of Santa and "Levi" was then picked up by the television show "Today" and they created a new thread or page or whatever you call it with Violet's photo and the story.   I didn't know anything about it until about 10 hours later when Josh rang me and  told me to go have a look and that 6000 people had "liked" it on Facebook.   While he was on the phone the "likes", "shares" and "comments" continued to grow.  He kept calling new figures thru the phone to me.  By morning about 12,000 people had "liked" her photo dancing with Santa.    

Now Violet doesn't really understand how the internet works and isn't on Facebook, but she understood what I said when I told her 12,000 people had clicked a button to say they liked the photo of her dancing with Santa.  By the following morning over 21,000 people had "liked" the photo, over 800 had "shared" it on their own page and over 400 people commented on the shot.    I showed her the Today story on the iPad and she sat and read every single comment.  She recognised just 3 names  and spent the remainder of the day smiling and joyous.  

The following day Santa contacted me on Facebook.  We had tried to organise a family photo with mum, myself, my sister and all three adult grandkids, but two of the kids were working and one was off in Sydney, so it couldn't happen.  It was a very kind offer though.   Just another indication of how awesome Santa and Mrs Claus were.   Sometime later Santa told me that the local television station, NBN, had contacted Mrs Claus hoping to interview Violet and do a story about her visit with Santa.   As Santa and Mrs Claus had been so wonderful to us I offered to get Violet back to "Sinclairs" so NBN could do their story.  And so it happened.   Violet was as excited as a kitten to be interviewed by the lovely Emma Murphy.  She was going to be on the news!!

NBN played to story on Christmas Eve and put it on their website too.  She tells everyone who comes to the house.  Shows them the clip on the computer and we watched it a couple of times on christmas day with all the grandkids here.

So one simple comment about how wonderful Santa and Mrs Claus are had made Violet go viral and she loves it!

Below is the link to the NBN news story.  I hope you enjoy when Violet went viral!

Click here to see Violets interview with Emma Murphy

Hidden secrets

For the last 69 weeks I have been working from a 6 metre x 2.4 metre tin shed hidden away at the back of Belmont Court House whilst the 3 old buildings that constituted the Police Station were demolished.  Essentially is has been a work site where access was thru a tunnel built of scaffolding and marine ply.  It was hot is summer, cold in winter but it housed all I needed to do my job while the rest of the workforce were crammed into other Police Stations in the area.  You can fit a lot into a 6 x 2.4 shed!  3 desks, 3 computers, a printer/photocopier/fax, second printer, coffee machine, water cooler and a small, but perfectly functional LOUNGE!  At best I worked alone but on one single day we had 12 people in the shed at once. The most we ever had for a meal was 7.  I loved the shed as it housed exactly all I needed and had no room for "stuff" to grow.

The new police station is now complete. I call it the BIG tin shed.  It is fairly grand, but not exactly what we need space wise.  3 staff now share two workstations and two computers.... but it is early days and these things may change and evolve in time.

When the work first began on the new tin shed I mentioned to the Commander that it would be good to put a time capsule into the building. The old Police Station was built in 1964 and for more than half of its 50 years it was too small for its staff.  The Station prior to this one was on a  different site, up near the Fire Station opposite the Gunya Hotel and it had been in Belmont since the late 1800's.  So there was a lot of history that could be contained in a time capsule.  The Commander was enthusiastic and nominated a particular Inspector who could be in charge of a time capsule... and that's when I knew nothing would ever happen.   I waited to see if the idea ever surfaced again, but it didn't.   Demolition of the old station was complete, 11meters below street level dug out and huge concrete piles in situ I decided I wanted to have a little bit of me in the new building, after all I had worked in the one location since 1992!

Different ideas and thoughts came to me as to how to celebrate time but in the end I decided it was all going to be about me!  This new building is likely to survive 300 years so photos wouldn't last, a CD, DVD or USB would probably be unknown to someone in the year 2315.  Construction progressed quickly once the build was out of the ground and I needed to make the move or miss the opportunity forever.  So one sunday afternoon I went to the local shopping centre and had a small brass plaque engraved with my name, date of birth and work identity number.   I felt that was enough.  It didn't need flash or showy, just a memorial of sorts.

Back to the work site monday and I told 2 of the best tradies EVER about my idea.  We looked at the plans, worked out exactly where my new office would be and decided on a great little hiding spot.  I handed over the plaque and the rest was up to them.   Sometime later my phone beeped with a message.  Attached was a photo of the plaque in place!   Liquid nails oozing from behind it, perfect.   A couple of days later my phone beeped again.  One of these two fantastic blokes has tidied up the plaque.  Removed the excess liquid nails and polished her up a beauty!   It was to by gyprocked over sometime later that week.  Objective achieved!

The gyprocking took longer than expected and one day the Commander was doing a tour.  I had to fess up to one of the building managers about the plaque, but he too was a great guy and managed to steer the inspection team away from it!   Finally it was covered over and I could rest easy.  I didnt think anyone would kick up a stink over it.  I just didnt want to get my tradies into trouble!

I've had to take some leave and so I won't be sitting at my desk for some time, but I did go in yesterday to see my new office.  While I was there one of the tradies came in and said "oh.. this is our wall"  I had a giggle and was so happy that the plan had come together.

If the building is demolished n 300 years time it is most likely that the plaque will not  be found, but that is irrelevant.  That fact is it is in there now for the duration and just me and 2 fabulous tradies  know exactly where!

As usual we end with some pics.  There are some tradies and some "progress" shots!  I hope you enjoy!!!

The 6 x 2.4m ATCO shed in situ with the scaf and marine ply entry

Inside the tin shed

Plaque in place

Inside the BIG tin shed ... there may well be a plaque hidden away in here somewhere......

Protecting the anonymity of my partners in crime!