The life and times of Libby Withnall

As you know I’ve recently been playing with a DSLR. Which obviously means I need a way to carry it with me. I did buy a camera bag for the big trip but it was too big (Kevin ordered it online for me) which meant we didn’t use it all as it was intended and therefore didn’t actually carry to DSLR on our day trip – just using it from the motorhome. I had been eyeing the lovely (but small) range of women’s camera bags but couldn’t decide which one I wanted. Finally I made a decision last week and it arrived today. I am SOOOOO happy with it. And can’t wait to take it out.

This is what I found when I opened the box….

then upon opening the plastic…

Are you ready for the grand unveiling? Of course, part of the agony of choice was choosing a colour once I’d decided on an epiphanie bag. Funnily enough I was wearing the only red thing in my wardrobe today…

I know you’re thinking the bag is a little large for this camera . But it fits the DSLR just perfectly, with room for my wallet and other stuff.

Isn’t the purple lining just gorgeous?

As I already said I am really thrilled with the bag. So worth waiting for. It comes with a shoulder strap as well but it’s so very comfy with the standard straps. Now the bag is not cheap – this was an early Christmas present to myself – but there is currently a 15% off birthday special, which makes it a little more affordable.

Now I have to dust off my photography class notes. Good thing it’s a birthday weekend coming up….

I’ve been feeling down/ flat ALL this week and I’ve had enough. Not sure what’s going on, though I suspect it’s still travel related . I’ve been working on scrapbooking my photos and I just want to go back in the UK on holiday with my family. This is definitely the hardest I’ve had adjusting after a trip – but I guess it’s also the longest trip we’ve ever had. Last week I thought I was back on track but it wasn’t too be.

The worst part about feeling this way is that I’ve

- not been eating well

- not been exercising

- not wanted to do anything or go anywhere

- not been motivated to blog

- been feeling like a big failure

All of which, does NOT help me get over this funk I’m in. Today I’m supposed to go to my book group and I don’t want to – but I’m planning to make myself go. I know I’ll have a good time once I’m there.

I’m hoping the weather will warm up soon (it’s been cold) as I’m sure that would help my mood. In the meantime I need to get myself excited about things that are coming up – like our Halloween party, being able to plant our vegetable garden, getting back in the swimming pool, etc.

If anyone has any great tips for getting past this sort of feeling please share.

Todays “baby” cow photos were taken at John O’Groats in Scotland. And I’m pretty sure cows never have a down day….. except maybe in Winter when it’s cold and they’re shut inside

It was time for the dogs and I to head out our on Thursday adventure walk. After dropping the girls at school we headed to a different part of Lake Illawarra.

I took the DSLR so it was a bit of a stop and start walk but we were out for about an hour and half.

Many of the homes in the area are ex housing commission – with exceptional views

At the half way mark I let the dogs of their leads for a run and play. Mind you I forgot whether I was supposed to have a high or low shutter speed for movement – I just took both and hoped for the best .

Time to head back. It was rather cold and breezy down by the water so I was all bundled up.

It’s such a pretty area as you can see but I know it won’t compare to what we’ll see in the UK. Time to get out of the cold!

After doing yesterday required jobs I decided to take the camera out to play at the  Nan Tien Temple (which is just a 15min drive away). Had fun taking more photos. I thought it would be a good place as there are building, landscapes, flowers, etc – similar to what I’ll be photographing overseas.  Unfortunately I find it hard to check photos in the screen so I don’t REALLY know what I’ve got until I get home. Here are some of my favourites.

Love this guy doing this stretches.

I’ve never been to the temple in Autumn/Winter before and was pleased to see all the beautiful trees.

Unfortunately the lotus pond was rather dead.

I was still playing with aperature priority.

Before heading home I treated myself to a yummy lunch – love that everything is vegetarian . You can tell I’m NOT used to shooting food with this camera!

Okay, I warn you now I’ll be sharing lots of PHOTOS over the next few weeks (then even more once we go overseas) as I’m on a VERY steep learning curve with my DSLR. Yesterday I took the dogs and headed down to the lake to work on aparerature priority photos.

Of course, since I had the dogs with me I managed to get quite a few photos of them as well.

This one is my favourite.

Just when I was getting ready to photograph the ducks the dogs took off into the pond. Poor Bailey had his first proper swim as he was attached to Rosie.

Sorry I haven’t been around much lately. It’s now just 2.5 weeks till our BIG trip so I’m spending all free time finalizing our plans and putting all the info into tripit. It’s a big job but Kevin assures me it will be well worth it when we can access all our travel info from our phones (even without mobile reception). We’re also watching lots of movies/TV shows in preparation. Yesterday I watched Rob Roy  and later we watched some Kings & Queens of England and finally a History of England. Oh, and we also saw Robin Hood (which kind of counts) on Friday night.

In the last few weeks I’ve been trying to learn to the new DSLR. Slowly I “think” I’m getting it but my mind is very slow to catch on. Here are some of my fav. photos. The assignment to catch moving targets – playing in shutter priority mode.