We’ve finally done it!

A few months ago, Miss 10 bought a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle..  a beautiful Holland landsacpe shot, and we completed it without too much trouble.

But this… our second 500 piece jigsaw puzzle was a nightmare!  All the lilypads and pond areas just looked the same!  We started by doing the corner and borders, but then skipped to the horizon line in the middle and tried to work outwards from there.

Don’t you just hate it when all the pieces are the same colour?

Luckily, after much perserverance, it’s done!  The last 10 minutes was like a race to see who could put in the final piece.  And then we hit a brick wall – we were one piece down at the end.  After much searching around the lounge room, we were all relieved when we found it had fallen onto the storage shelf below our coffee table.   I breathed a sigh of relief – I thought I had vaccuumed it up.

So, what now?

We’ve already started the next one – a Singing in the Rain poster jigsaw puzzle!  The kids are hooked – I’m hooked – all good..

Have you made a photo book before?

We’ve made a few through Target’s Photobook service.  But we just heard that Blurb currently has a special that is free shipping!

So Wifey and I have embarked on making some photo books through Blurb’s BookSmart software.  We have a huge list to get through:

* Italy trip book
* Separate books for each city in our family’s round the world trip
* Books for Miss 10’s dancing and Miss 8’s dancing concerts so far
* Books for various other family vacations
* Books of up to date family and casual snaps
* Books of the kids birthday parties
* Books of my photography
* The list just goes on…

Here’s a sneek peak of what our Italy one is looking like!

The main problem is time.  Books take a lot of time to design!  So far, we’ve only managed one Italian city per night (about 2 hours)!  At this rate, every night this month will be tied up in book designing!

Last night we had some good debates on which photo to use, which layout, what order to put them in.  Luckily I’ve already processed most of the photos so they don’t need touching up as well!  But it’s all fun.  I can’t wait until they’re done – they will be AWESOME!

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On BookSmart – I like the various page layout options and the ability to edit the layout too.   These save a lot of time!

One tip so far – my iPhoto library is HUGE, with every digital photo from 2002 onwards in there.  This basically makes the BookSmart software come to a grinding halt.  Also, I’ve configured iPhoto to not manage the location of my photos and this doesn’t agree with BookSmart.  The photo browser in BookSmart is not that great either – I can’t zoom in to preview photos or sort them the way I want.   I’ve found it’s much easier to use iPhoto to find the photo you want, and then drag it over to BookSmart.

When we were at the York Jazz Festival, we came across a really nice vintage stall.  It happened to be run by 2 sisters – Miss Johnson and Miss Johnson!  They had a great range of vintage jewellery and tidbits that caught my Wifey’s eye.

The good news is that they are hosting a Vintage and Handmade market this weekend in the Guildford Town Hall.

If you’re into lindyhop and swing from the 30s and 40s, and the fashion and culture from that era, or just character homes and you’re looking for some ornaments, you may want to pop along.  They’re even open until 9pm tonight!

More info here:  http://missjohnsonsvintageandhandmademarket.blogspot.com/ and http://theshabbychateau.blogspot.com/

(Great to see that these “old” ladies have embraced the digital era too with a blog!)

One of the joys of being a parent is walking your child into school.  Especially when they’re super young, like in Kindy or Year 1.  It’s such a proud moment – your child all dressed up in the school uniform, holding your hand.  You saying goodbye to them.

Unfortunately those days just don’t last.

Little Miss 10 does NOT want me to hold her hand on the times I walk her to school. 

I still remember the first time it happened last year.  We parked the car on the roadside.  I held her little hand to walk her in.  But when we got the school grounds in sight of other kids, she shook my hand off and took a step away from me.  Well, it’s daggy now right? 

Now she even complains that I walk her down.  She moans, “Daaaadd.. why can’t you just drop us in the drive through?”

I wonder if the number of metres that I’m allowed to be seen near her at school will increase as her age increases.  In High School, she’ll probably want me to drop her off around the block or in an adjoining suburb.

Luckily Miss 8 hasn’t quite reached that stage of parental embarrassment yet.  I have a few more months to treasure

On Sunday afternoon, we had a relaxing picnic in Parkerville across the road from the tavern.  There was a brook there where the kids (and some adults) got their feet wet!  With sounds of a tight funk band drifting over to us, it was one glorious afternoon.

Unfortunately I didn’t bring a tripod along, but managed to take some slower shutter speed shots by resting the camera on the bridge there.  Here’s a shot of the brook.  I loved the sunlight on that day, and the clear blue sky reflecting off the water.  Combined with some of the muddy soil around, it made the water look golden.

I didn’t have much time to play around with this image – I wish I had brought my GND along, and I may have gone overboard with the sharpening, but I’m liking the direction this image is going…
 

We just came back from an excellent weekend with friends at a farm near York.  Trail bike riding, 4wd’ing, too much food, campfire at night, chillaxing in Parkerville.

But one thing that was disappointing was the York Jazz Festival.  We popped into York on Saturday to see what was happening and hopefully catch one or two artists.  Our family are keen jazz fans, but the other 2 families not so, and plus we had a total of 5 kids towing along with us.   So, we thought, maybe the Idea of North would be palatable for everyone.

First stop was the Town Hall.  Where we found that we had to buy a full day pass – no individual session tickets.  6 adults for a Saturday pass = 6 x $99 = ~$600.  Whoa…  that’s a lot to watch one artist.  OK.  Let’s kill that plan.

So, let’s walk around York and see what’s happening.  After all, it’s meant to be a “street festival experience”. 

There were the markets – tucked away from the main street, smaller than expected and not very happening.

There was… well that was it.  One trad jazz band playing in some restaurant courtyard.  1 busker on the street, not even playing jazz.  Some dude under a blanket blaring really good dixie and swing jazz from a collectables/2nd hand shop right up the street. 

I was disappointed.  I’m sure the performing artists were top notch.  But wandering around York, you wouldn’t even know that there was a town/street jazz festival on.  Maybe it’s more happening at night?  Maybe my expectations were totally wrong.

Why isn’t the main street closed down with a street party/festival atmosphere?  I heard there used to even be go-kart races down the main strip.  Maybe it’s not meant to be a street/town festival anymore.

Why aren’t there individual session tickets for casual visitors?  What if you’re a family going to York for a day outing and maybe want to watch only 1 or 2 artists?  Or if you’re not really into Jazz but want to have a taste?

Why isn’t there a street stage with free concerts?  Maybe with young school bands or local Perth artists?  That will draw families to go to York, who then may buy tickets to see some artists, or if they want to see 3 or more sessions, buy a full day pass.  I would have thought I could walk down the main street and encounter a couple of bands along the way.

Why weren’t there more local Perth artists?  Or even school bands?  There used to be many school bands playing on Sunday morning.  And I know there are MANY children learning jazz instruments in Perth.  Why aren’t they going to the York Jazz Festival?

Why are the markets tucked away behind buildings and not on the street itself?  Make the main street the market!

Maybe I’m comparing the price with Big Day Out ($140), Summadayze ($136), Future Music Festival ($136), Southbound ($140 for one day), West Coast Blues’n'Roots Festival ($119).

Maybe I’m confusing York Jazz Festival with my visions of a York Festival or York Street Festival. 

Maybe the organisers are trying to run it like a rock, indie or pop music festival.  I’m no expert in running and organising music festivals… but from walking down the street, York just didn’t seem to be happening..  something’s gotta change. 

Maybe I should stop ranting now…

I’m a Swing DJ.  Well, I’d like to call myself a Swing DJ.

But what is a Swing DJ?  The word DJ might conjure up visions of 2 turntables, a cross fader mixer, headphones…

In the swing dancing scene, a Swing DJ is less glamorous – no we don’t “mix” one tune into another.  We don’t tamper with the BPM or pitch of recordings.

But we do have the same passion for the music we play and the same challenges of working the floor, choosing the right music for the mood, building up a set, etc.

Buying music is a huge part of being a DJ and the “collector’s” mentality is one element that is required.  Finding new recordings, buying the music.

Some things that set some swing DJs apart from techno/pop DJs is that some of us are on the look out for new remasterings of old recordings, releases of little known bands or hard to find recordings, good liner notes with details of the players and maybe some history of the recording and band.

As it’s a niche market, sometimes recordings are very rare to find and hence the price can be relatively high for a CD (thinking $50-$100). 

Last night I was searching around for 2 CDs that were recommended to me – The Three Peppers chronological, and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band 1936-1937.  Both very hard to find CDs, out of print. 

Luckily iTunes came to the rescue.  I could buy the whole album electronically for ~AUD$16 each.  Bargain! The only thing I’m missing is that physical CD that I can add to my CD cupboard, the liner notes and photos with the recording details like personnel, date, location, etc.

In the past, although I did do the odd purchase from eMusic and iTunes, I tried to buy physical CDs rather than electronic tracks,

But with a more limited budget nowadays, I think my buying behavior has to change.  Buying just the tracks I want, or whole albums electronically that are hard to find as a CD just might be the way I need to go from now.

Driving to work this morning, I heard on the news about how the Australian dollar has hit another high – it’s now 92.6c!

The last time it got really high, I took the opportunity to buy my 17-55 2.8 lens from the US.  With the Aussie dollar really high again, it’s the best time to buy gear from the US.

So, say I decided to upgrade to a Nikon D90 body only.

Local Australian Brick and Mortar Shops

Buying local does mean you support local business and you get personal customer support, as well as much more convenient after sales support, especially if anything goes wrong.   These are the advertised prices on their website, but I’m sure if you go into the shop itself, you may be able to get a better deal – but probably not as low as overseas shops.

PRA Imaging AUD$1355
(http://www.praimaging.com.au/d1568-13-nikon-d90-body.html)

Quality Camera AUD$1599
http://www.qualitycamera.com.au/nikon-123mp-body-only-digital-p-4555.html?osCsid=31f1baa24dcf2197ccd6bb17f9bcf29f

Camera Electronic AUD$1395
http://shop.cameraelectronic.com.au/E5Product.cgi?Code=18208915712

eBay shop

For those that read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I’ve purchased quite a lot of gear from DigitalRev.  They are an eBay shop, but they also have a physical shop in Hong Kong.  Returns are a little more complicated, but I’ve had to return my D80 SLR body before and got a replacement one with no problems.  The good thing about an eBay shop is that their feedback is all laid out for everyone to peruse.  Like any eBay purchase, you should buy from reputable shops with high levels of good feedback.    Also, if shipping from overseas, you may need to pay duty (10% GST) on the price if it’s more than AUD$1000 (see http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5549).

Digital Rev AUD$1089 (free postage to Australia)
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Nikon-D90-Body-6Gifts-Bat-1Yr-Int-Wty-IN-Stock-ACPF_W0QQitemZ390107797582QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Digital_Cameras?hash=item5ad43c984e

Pretty dumb that they’ve priced it just about the AUD$1000 customs limit.  Hopefully they’ll drop it below sometime soon, or I wonder if they could reduce the body price below AUD$1000 and add shipping on top of that.

The other thing to think about when buying from Digital Rev (or other eBay sellers) is sometimes they advertise the same product in different currencies – and when you convert these to Australian dollars, the amounts can be different.

Overseas online shops

B&H Photo and Video is a huge photo/camera/imaging store in New York with a very good online website.  Buying from the U.S. means longer times to get gear and having to pay for shipping, but since they’re advertising in U.S. dollars, the exchange rate can help make their prices competitive.  Also, if shipping from overseas, you may need to pay duty (10% GST) on the price if it’s more than AUD$1000 (see http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5549)

BH Photo & Video US$809.95 + US$88.75 (International Express Mail) = US$898.70 = AUD$970.26 (http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=898.70&From=USD&To=AUD&image.x=58&image.y=14)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/580241-REG/Nikon_25446_D90_SLR_Digital_Camera.html#

Other Australian online shops

There are other Australian online stores that sell photo gear.  Unfortunately, without a feedback system that is highly visible and transparent, it’s hard to determine the reputation of these other shops, or even where they are.  If you want to buy from these shops, I’d recommend doing some investigation on the shop itself.

Shopbot shows prices starting AUD$950
http://www.shopbot.com.au/pp-nikon-d90-price-124009-2767603.html

Summary

If you’re just going for the cheapest price, and don’t worry too much if you may need to post your camera back for warranty claims/repairs, then buying online and/or overseas seems to be the cheapest way to go. 

For the D90, the overseas price is below the AUD$1000 customs limit, so you won’t need to pay extra duty.  However, if you’re looking at more expensive lenses and SLR bodies, then you may need to reconsider, and buying and haggling locally may be more beneficial in the end.

But if you want to form a relationship with a local shop, try gear before you buy it, have the peace of mind of being able to go back to a physical shop for repairs or help, you will need to pay just a bit more…  

The other thing worth thinking about – if you’re buying expensive lenses or digital SLRs, you’ll want to make sure that every pixel works on the CCD, LCD at the back or that the glass in your lens has absolutely no defects (back focusing issues, etc).  If you’re spending $1000-$3000 (or even more), it’s much easier to ensure you get a top quality product or return it and try a few others if the shop is local.

In the last couple of weeks, both Nikon and Canon have announced new  top of the line Digital SLR models to their range.    Obviously way out of my price range, but I’d love to get have one of these in my camera bag!

So what’s new?  It seems that the battle of the pixel count has momentarily stopped and it’s now the battle of the High ISOs – in non-technical speak, the latest Digital SLRs are better at taking clearer photos in darker lighting.   Both of these new cameras advertise the ability to push their ISO up to 102,400  – which is basically like taking photos in darkness!   Well, maybe even pitch black to what our human eyes can see according to Vincent LaForet.

For those that know my photo style, I like taking photos in existing light – I’d rather push up the ISO and get noise than use that flash, so these new cameras are just what I need!

Unfortunately, I can’t justify spending that much money on a camera as its just a hobby for me - I just have to wait and hope that the technology in these cameras trickle down their model lineup to the prosumer models at a more reasonable price.

Nikon D3S

Nikon’s News Release:  http://www.nikon.com/about/news/2009/1014_d3s_01.htm

Nikon’s D3S Product Page:  http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/slr/d3s/index.htm

Canon 1D Mark IV

Canon’s 1D Mark IV Product Page:  http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=19584

Note: to Canon/Nikon – if you do feel the need to lend me one of your latest cameras to test at music/event/concert/dancing gigs in low light, I’d be more than happy to accept

So my girls are 8 and 10.  Not old.  But not young either.

Chatting to a friend today, she said that her son turns 14 today.  14.  Only 4 years away for me.  But she was commenting that some of her son’s friends are already drinking and smoking at parties.  Some apparently attend AA.

Is this going to happen to my kids?  How can I prevent it?  Will they mix with the “right” people? 

How will I know what they are doing at parties?  For now, the girls don’t attend any “parties” that are not Birthday parties.  There are playovers and occasional sleepovers, but that’s usually with 1 or 2 other friends only.  But all is safe and harmless.

But I know there will be a day when the kids are invited to a party…  a party for no reason but to party.. and maybe drink.. and be silly.   I just hope that when that day comes, they will be responsible.

It’s almost like releasing an “animal” that has been grown up captive back into the wild.  You hope that they can fend for themselves, that you’ve taught them as much as they need to know, or at least, the principles and values to make the right decisions.

And I don’t want to be overly protective either…

Arghh…  parenting…

For now, I’ll just try to cherish each day as it comes.