Macarthur's rising stars sprung onto the stage in Show Oz's production of The Nutcracker. Directed and choreographed by the talented Nerilee Robinson, night one was perfectly performed!

I roped in my daughter to be assistant photographer to get some work under her belt considering she has made photography and digital media one of her year 9 electives. Below are a few of her shots of the performance. Might have to change my business name to Hume Photography :D

Not only did I thoroughly love the display of talent Show Oz provided at their end of year concert. I got to shoot at a place I had not been to in a long time - Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.

The line of beauties to photograph seemed as endless as the applause.

Thank you yet again Show Oz for allowing me to be your photographer xxx

I was commissioned to do a sunset shoot for a lovely family out at Dargle. Now, lost is a word that comes to mind. I had absolutely no idea where this place was, but I knew I wanted to go.

In the grand scheme, its a water ski park on the Hawkesbury River out at Lower Portland. This family venture here every year for the past 20 odd and really wanted to capture this and bring it home so they could see it everyday.

Great spot indeed to sit back and watch days end! 

Its great when you see that image in a custom metal print in its forever home.

Doing this type of work you are blessed to celebrate milestones with some lovely families.

This celebration was for Tori's 18th birthday party. Her family is just adorable!

Big thank you to the Mawby's for having me as their photographer for an amazing night.

xxx

Physi is FUN! its that simple!

I've known the instructress at Mulgoa Valley Physi club for a fair few years now. Seeing her club grow is a great thing because I know how passionate she is. Well done Nic!

The girls competed against each other with grace. The older girls helping the little ones is sweet to see.

​Onwards and upwards! and thank you for having me back xx

Had the absolute pleasure of delivering a portfolio to a gorgeous young lady.

This shoot was for her entry into Danceinforma Model Search

Her tears of joy and big squishy hugs spoke volumes! Her mother told me that this photoshoot came at the perfect time. Being a teen is hard, but being a teen with low self-confidence is harder. You wouldn't think that would be her issue given the way she quickly warmed up to the lens. Since this shoot her self-confidence has improved. She has blossomed gracefully and is more willing to put herself and her talents out for others to see.

Beautiful girl, inside and out...big things await her!

​Aim high Tara xx

Was a pleasure to be part of Tara's journey into Miss Australia finalist contingency. 

Wonderful to watch her blossom into a beautiful young lady.

What a fun shoot I had with this little munchkin!

Miss Scarlett has been placed as a finalist in the Junior Miss Australia Continents pageant for 2017. Her chosen charity is the Heart Foundation. I wish her all the best and hope she goes well. Let the fundraising begin :)

Can't believe its been 2 years since I was the photographer for Zaya's big brother, Milan's, first birthday. Now its Zaya's turn to celebrate!

Hat off to wonder mum Rachael and her event co-ordination talent. Everything was decorated perfectly. All of the guests were entertained with an afternoon of firefighting fun.

​Thank you to the Grech-Sant family for having me along (again). It was an honour to celebrate Zaya's birthday with you all.

Happy first birthday Zaya! 

Its always a pleasure shooting for Show Oz. Having been their photographer coming on 3 years, its great to watch the talent grow. The students are wonderful to work with...so are the staff!

Camden Civic Centre hosted the Show Oz production of Peter Pan Jr.

The cast and crew were simply amazing!

It was great to be there to capture the excitement from rehearsal to curtain close. There is most definitely some great up and coming talent in the Camden local area.

Well done Show Oz! I look forward to your next production.
​

I got to hang with Show Oz (again) at Camden Show.

So many performers representing this boutique dance studio took to the stage and looked amazing!

​Cuteness galore!

I was recently prompted to re-visit some images I took on my road trip around Victoria.

Sometimes I forget all the great places I've walked, if only walls could talk...oh the stories they could tell. 

I'll start by saying...I was invited to this location - no trespassing was involved. Sadly, judging by the state of the place, many have though.

What once was Queen Victoria Sanitarium/Hospital is now nothing but a vandalised, asbestos ridden mess. Some of the graffiti work is great and I applaud the artists (fond of urban art). The crunch of broken glass under every step and having to manoeuvre around things that were once attached to the walls is not so good. So much for heritage listing!

I have been lucky enough to have ventured here prior to the dismay. Nowadays its best viewed from the mature (yet heavily overgrown) gardens. You get a sense of what it might've been like for TB patients basking in the mountain air.

Haunted? There is no doubt a sense of creepiness. Creaking doors and floors. Whistling of the wind through broken windows. Distinct foot steps coming from down the hall!!!

Definitely a great place that will soon be no longer. Glad to have visited and been able to snap away.

A full history of Queen Victoria Hospital can be found here.

If there’s one way to see the amazing landscape that is Australia, it’s off road. Our convoy took a 4x4 weekend wandering from the old Zig Zag railway to Newnes. Zig Zag (at Clarence) is a heritage railway that climbs the face of the Blue Mountains. We have done this via the old steam train many moons ago. Glad to have done it when we did as it has been closed since 2013 due to damage from bushfire.

From Zig Zag, we headed right and followed the State Mine Gully Rd out to Bungleboori then followed the Glow Worm Tunnel Rd to (funny enough) the Glow Worm Tunnel. From the car park it’s a 2km easy grade return walk. The Glow Worm Tunnel is best experienced in a small quiet group (or alone) in the dark. It can get quite noisy when other groups pass through. The Glow Worms look like stars in the night sky.

From the Glow Worm Tunnel we headed back to Bungleboori and turned right onto Blackfellows Hand Rd to try and find the Lost City. This is where it got tricky…they don’t call it Lost City for nothing. No sign posts but plenty of puddles after a bit of rain. There are so many tracks out here, you could end up anywhere. (Future reference: Blackfellows Hand Rd, immediate (L), at powerlines keep straight and cross the lines, (L) at fork, (L) at fork and (L) again - should get you there).

The Lost City is an amazing sight. The rock formations look like ancient buildings and you could easily imagine being in Machu Picchu…if you scrunched your face and looked sideways. You can hear water through the valley and from the top of the rock (down track, to the left) you can see the small dam way down below. Keep an eye out for Mountain Dragons. These teeny weeny lizards are just adorable – as small a 7cm up to 20cm. The kids loved them.

We still had plenty of daylight so decided to head out to Blackfellows Hand Rock. As the road states it takes you directly there. We did this trip a long time ago and I didn’t remember it being as rough at it was. The area has eroded over the years. This land is of the Wiradjuri people and the cave art shows the spiritual connection place of other tribes would meet. From the carpark it’s a small uphill walk. I felt a little intimidated walking up to the overhanging cliff face and seeing all the cracked sandstone…balancing…waiting to squish me like an ant. Instead of back tracking, we decided to head to Lithgow and pit stop at Blast Furnace park.

A great day for off-road adventuring. Next trip is already planned.

I have a nine year gap between my eldest and my youngest. My last born has just graduated from primary school and attended his year 6 farewell. Its a little emotional as the year closes we are experiencing 'lasts'. All of the assemblies and award days. Especially when they play the memory dvds. Tears are flowing.

As this boy ventures into high school, I hope he grabs every opportunity he can to learn and grow to be best man he can be. 

​Love him beyond infinity. xx

Finished up this year with one last round of physi photos.

Macarthur Physical Culture had their club competition 2nd December. A wonderful display of the years syllabus from all age groups. 

I've grown close to this club and love to watch how all the girls support each other as with any club really.

​The motto 'have fun and make a physi friend' shines.

Love to all and wish everyone a safe and merry xmas and birght new year.

xx

Currently in crazy edit mode going through the gazillion pics that were taken at  the Show Oz annual show off.

This was a wonderful event that was full of the most cutest performers.

It was a pleasure to capture all the smiles and costume changes.

A big thank you to Show Oz for their continued support xxx

A massive THANK YOU to Show Oz for having me as their photographer once again. 

On this night, the girls were presented with their BDA exam results and there were smiles far and wide.

I can't recommend Show Oz highly enough - the teachers are worth their weight in gold!

Congratulations girls xx

I love this time of  year! lycra, swarovski, bouffants!

After learning all of the syllabus it was off time to shine those ballets and hit interclub competitions. My daughter scored her first first place at Moorebank's 22nd Interclub Challenge. To have this judged by the Edith Parson's School of Physical Culture president made it all the more special. So extremely proud of her and her achievements.

I must say it was pretty cool to be driving home and seeing a familiar image.

John Walton has his council election signage on every street corner.

Proud to see my image all about the shire.

​Best of luck John :)

x

When people ask where I live, I'm in two minds to divulge. Its not only hard to describe, buts a great 'secret' spot. We've lived here for the past sixteen odd years and absolutely love it.

At 12:13am 6th June 2016, we received the NSW SES txt that the 'Wallacia Bridge is closed, isolating communities on the western side of the Nepean River. Don't attempt to cross while barriers are in place'. We had already heard that our other limited access points were blocked by a wall of water and later of the utter devastation of the historic town of Picton. The one downside to living semi-rural is that we are literally living on the edge of nothing-ness. We have limited roads and have bushland as far as the eye can see on the west and are bridged in on the east because of the Nepean River. We have been completely cut off from the outside world twice now. The first time was in 2001, we were trapped by the boxing day bush fires for three days with no power and a trickle of water. Thats by no way a complaint as there were countless others who lost so much its hard to comprehend. Our little community still bears the scars.

With no word of when the river was expected to subside, the husband and I ventured out to Norton's Basin to have a look at the raging river. The thunderous roar was almost deafening and our views limited. We hiked it all the way to the bottom only to be faced with the path cut off by water.

This morning the water had now dropped considerably and the council engineers have inspected the structure of the bridge and the road has been declared open. Access to the outside world has been restored (damn lol). And although we've missed two days of work and the kids two days of school...we wouldn't live anywhere else (yet)!

Nic x

I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely gentleman and providing images for him to use in his running for council.

As he said 'A selfie just won't cut it'

I'm glad to have been able to hear it from the horses mouth (so to speak) - core values, intentions and passion for our community.

A vote for John Walton is a vote for a better Wollondilly!

I wish you every success John :)