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Question: What is your favourite thing about Errol?

Ah, how to pinpoint just ONE thing!

I am sorry, I realise this is ‘cheating’ but I am going to list several of my favourite things. (and stopping at SEVERAL things is difficult!)

Physically I love his dimples and his gorgeous skin.

I love his heritage, I love that by marrying him I married into this incredible Filipino culture which I am so besotted with (biggest marriage bonus EVER, single people, find yourself a Filipino!). I also love the extended family he has given me.

I love that he is the most gracious person I know, he is forgiving and always believes the best in people (which balances my whining about everyone perfectly).  It is my great fortune that he is incredibly forgiving  as I have challenged him in ways he never bargained for. It is so freeing having Errol see me at my worst, my most vulnerable and to truly love me as I am.

I love that he is incredibly trusting and is never critical (and thus I can tell him outrageous lies and get away with it!).

I love that he is exceptionally humble and able to accept criticism and grow in a way that I envy and admire.

Errol is a sensational father and it gives me goosebumps to see how much he loves our children, this makes my heart sing. I am always proud that he is interested in other people’s children too and never forgets to talk to people below waist height, asking them how they’ve been, asking what they’re going to do and never afraid to cuddle them and shower them with a steady stream of “your cheeks are so cute! you can sing that really well!  you’re so edible! nom nom nom”.

I remember driving down a reasonably plain (though admittedly pretty) lane and Errol nearly screaming “Oh my gosh, Oh my GOSH! Isn’t this most incredible, the most amazing, the most SPLENDID place you’ve seen?” – oh my heart, I love his youthful joy.

I love that he’s so confidant in himself that he smiles when he sees his reflection. That he doesn’t feel self conscious or emasculated about giving the best manicure around.

I love that he is always physically gentle and generous with me, often I wake and he is massaging my feet at 2am!

Oh and, I also think he’s kinda ridiculously good looking!

(and those were just a few! I truly love this man, he has my whole heart).

One of the questions sent to me by readers recently was:

Have you ever considered photography as a profession? if not.. why not!?

and I have been dying to share with you all that yes, I have!

Not only have a I considered it, I am doing it!

I am very pleased to announce the launch of my business Georgia Peach Pictures

Please go check out my blogsite (which is what happens when a blog and a website love each other very much and they decide to…).

 I am SO excited to be able to earn money doing something I genuinely love. It has been my greatest delight being able to document special moments for our family and to be able to do that for other people too - I am the luckiest! I am available for photography & film so you should totally book me If YOU would like to win a session for yourself (and live in Brisbane AU) I am currently running a referral competition on the Georgia Peach Pictures facebook page. Like the page, spam your friend

So tell me… Do you like it? Oh please tell me what you think! You know when you stare at something too long? That’s where I am at right now.

I love my logo – it was created by my super talented brother-in-law Andrew from You Can’t Be Serious.

I also paid a very talented woman, Theresa from Blogs for Photogs to create the blogsite for me. Getting the site up and running took a while – I thought getting a professional would make it super quick but unfortunately it took a long time because I kept changing my mind (poor Theresa!). Surprisingly Theresa managed to put up with my indecisiveness (otherwise known as the worst client ever!) and created something I love. If you’re in the market for a new blog custom built for you, check her out.

I know you’ve all noticed I’ve been somewhat absent from blogging and haven’t even given you ONE Film Friday in quite some time! I am sorry, I really am. I love sharing with you all. But now you know what I’ve been up to  I am also engaged in a project for a recording company in NYC and until that is done, I am a wee bit busy! Things should settle soon and I will be bringing you some more Film Friday then.

xo G

I’ve posted before about how much Priya loves the insanely talented musician, Kimbra. I mean, seriously, this girl talks about Kimbra more than I talk about Kimbra (which is a lot!). Most evenings before bed (and if she’s brushed her teeth!) she is allowed to pick one of Kimbra’s film clips to watch and sing along to. Here’s a clip from a while back of her doing just that (right after Kimbra’s ‘Paint song’ came out AKA Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know‘).

As I mentioned in my last post about Peach seeing Kimbra for the first time she was sorely disappointed that she fell to sleep during the set and didn’t get to ‘meet’ Kimbra (I hadn’t exactly done a great job explaining how seeing an artist live works – oops!). She was quite confused by this and upset because she had expected she would get to talk to Kimbra.  She’d told me she was going to ask for Kimbra’s dress fromCameo Lover and check if Kimbra has ears (as you can hear her asking about in the clip above! haha, she hasn’t seen them in Kimbra’s clips or photos).

I felt so sad for her because it was my fault I hadn’t explained how concerts work and because she was so sweetly naive in assuming she would get to hang out with you know… a famous singer.

To make up for this I promised her I would get her a dress just like Kimbra’s and with supplies in hand I headed to Heidi’s and we sewed two little baby Kimbra dresses (one for Priya’s BFF too).

(more of the happy girl in her favourite dress here)

When we heard Kimbra was playing in Brisbane again I just knew we had to go and take Peach to see her again. Benedicte (my little sister) was so generous buying us tickets (best sister ever, right?) and I carefully told Priya that we would be seeing Kimbra again. SEEING notMEETING but nonetheless she danced around the house telling me she was ‘gonna meet Kimbra and tell her I wuv her’. I posted a photo of Peach in her little Cameo Lover dress to Kimbra’s facebook wall letting her know that Peach was getting very excited to ‘meet’ her.

You cannot imagine my shock (or insane excitement on Peach’s behalf) when Kimbra posted back that she would like to meet Priya! Um? Are you kidding me? Amazing that she even commented on my photo let alone wanted to take time out to meet P!

As it wasn’t confirmed I didn’t want to excite Peach too much but I did tell her we might be able to say hello to Kimbra at the concert (and even if we yelled hello from the crowd, that’d be fine, right?). When we painted the day of the concert Peach painted a picture of herself and Kimbra and told me she was going to give it to Kimbra. So off we went with our little painting, our Cameo Lover dress and one overly excited little girl.

The gig was at the Spiegeltent in King George Square and we were so happy to find ourselves right at the front of this beautiful intimate show. Here’s a little sneak video of her live – seriously she is phenomenal live. Takes my breath away. So much talent in one tiny body is simply mind boggling.

Perhaps seeing someone so musically talented in her formative years will get P on track to turn out mildly musical *fingers crossed*. As it is, Kimbra’s awesome fashion taste is going to give my sewing skills a run for their money. On seeing the dress she was wearing on the night P’s eyes became wide and fixed “Dat dress not like mine, that dress got no bobbles” Me: ”Yes, that’s a different dress to your one” Peach:“Can we make one like dat? A PUFFY ONE!?”. AHHHH!

We snapped these beautiful pictures right before we were asked to put our camera away I am so glad we got some photos but so, so sad that we didn’t get to film what happened right before Kimbra sang Cameo Lover! Kimbra dedicated the song to Priya, the little girl wearing her replica dress! Of course how incredible that was was somewhat lost on the three year old but it was so amazing for Bene and I to hear Kimbra dedicate Peach’s FAVOURITE song to her! Can you get anymore lucky than that? How I wish I’d been able to film it to show her when she’s bigger! Kimbra came right in close to Peach and say it right at her.

The show otherwise was just incredible. Words can not describe. Just do yourself a favour and see her live! Peach spent a lot of the time trying to get down and get her painting to give to Kimbra instead of actually watching the show though  “I am going to GIVE it to her, I am NOT going to throw it at her” she said loudly in my ear!

During the set a pretty lady (one of Kimbra’s crew) tapped us on the shoulder and gave Priya a little pass that said ‘Guest’ on it which we weren’t sure what it meant exactly but HOPED if we showed it to the man on the door after the gig he might let Peach give her painting to Kimbra. Here is Peach waiting to outside the door after the gig with her painting, quite hopeful.

At first the gentleman seemed quite reluctant about the idea but said he’d go check and we were delighted when he came back and said I could bring Peach backstage to meet Kimbra. I felt bad about leaving Bene but we excitedly followed the man out the back nonetheless.

And there she was, Kimbra waiting to meet Peach! Kimbra was so sweet and I could not believe that she was being so generous with her time and meeting her biggest tiny fan. It was truly the loveliest thing. Kimbra was not rushed at all, took the time to talk to us, asked Peach about her painting and even showed Peach that she did in fact have ears! She even asked where Priya’s little brother was because she had checked out our blog (wow!). I was completely touched by how sweet and genuine Kimbra was. So generous and kindhearted to do this for Peach (how lucky I am that Peach chose someone so talented and lovely to admire!).

 Of course, P became quite shy and very starstruck but even the shyness did not stop her from being passed to Kimbra and having a photo with her favourite person. These are being printed big for Peach’s wall (whenever she decides to leave our bed and get her own room, haha).

This is 36/100 in our thankful project and how incredibly thankful to Kimbra we are!

Look at Priya’s little nervous excited face! The first photo she’s looking at her photo of Kimbra “it’s Kimbra!” . Yes, sweetheart, she’s holding you!

(and someone please tell me how Kimbra can look so gorgeous having just given such an incredible performance singing her lungs out?)

So there you go, little miss P has met her ultimate idol at the ripe old age of three years old. What excitement will ever compare I know not! I am afraid life will seem a little dull from now on but Peach remains ever hopeful. Just this evening I heard her uncle asking her “Did you really meet Kimbra?!” and Peach quite matter-of-factly replying “Yeah. She’s my best friend”. 

This questions was asked anonymously via my Formspring.

1) Your pictures are amazing. Wondering what post process looks like?

What a lovely compliment, thank you!

I’d love to share with you (and everyone else reading) some before and after photos of pictures because that’s the easiest way to illustrate the post work on my photos.

Plus, I think more people should see originals more often. Even I (as someone who edits photos everyday) see other peoples photos and think “Wow, their life looks so much prettier than mine”.

Edited photos with lovely colours and perfect skin tones can be quite misleading. It’s easy for me to assume that someone else has a more colourful, more beautiful or more perfect life when all I  see is the edited version. I’ve been wanting to share unedited images for sometime, I think we all need a reality check every so often!

As to my post process it goes something like this:

Sit down at computer. Start editing. Get distracted by Facebook. Block Facebook. Edit another photo. Get hungry. Go find snacks. Sit down. Edit photo. Get distracted by Skype. Eat more snacks. Get thirsty. Go to toilet. Notice toilet needs cleaning. Clean it. Remember washing is still in machine. Go hang washing in dark. Come back. Edit half a photo. Go to Theo who needs his millionth bedtime breastfeed. Lay there thinking about all the editing I need to do. Remember I haven’t replied to so and so. Finish feeding and get distracted replying to emails. Remember I am half way through editing another Life episode in Final Cut. Start cutting film. Look at time. Realise it’s 1 am and cry because I’ve only edited four photos!

So yeaaaaaaaaah.

As to the technical side of my ADHD routine I edit mainly in Lightroom and use Photoshop as required.

I have a number of saved presets in Lightroom that I can use which means I can process my photo with ONE CLICK!

This is excellent in my opinion, because that’s about all I have time for before I get distracted.

I try to just boost the natural colours in the photo and up the brightness & contrast (because I often underexpose).

Having just said I do very simple editing – I must admit there are times when I love a photo but want to edit it further because something isn’t right. Take this photo I love of Peach on waking. It REALLY bothered me she had no top to her head. In instances like this – which aren’t often because it has to be a pretty good photo for me to be bothered – I will take the photo to photoshop and manipulate it. In this case, I took the top of a head from a different shot and made a composite of two images.

P.S. I also must confess that I will remove the odd pimple (0r 10!) from MY face (because I am vain and refuse to believe I should have acne in my twenties).  YES, I am that person.

 So there you go, the truth about my post process

 A new collection of quotes from Miss Peach this last month

[Quietly in the  backseat while gazing out the window]

“You a douchebag”

and once more for good measure because she liked the way it sounded

“Douuuuuuchhhhheeeeeebag”

***

Together we are translating words from Filipino to English and vice-versa.

Me:

Martes – TUESDAY

Hindi – NO

Oo – YES

P:

 Priya – PEACH

***

“Do you have an iphone?

Me: “Yes, I do”

P:  “Mmm, yeah…. but mine’s better than an iphone… it’s a block phone!”

***

(while handing her Daddy the last bit of her banana)

“I saved you the yucky bit”

***

Me: Lets get cookies

P: AND JUICE!

Me: YES

P: Good team mum!

***

(while driving in the car and watching her in the rear vision mirror)

Me: “You’re out of your seat!”

P: “No, I am not, just my arms!”

Me: “That’s out of your seat!”

P: “Well… technically”

***

To Theo

“Don’t say no to me, I am a beautiful little girl”

***

While poking Theo’s tummy

P: “Big fat tummy! Big fat tummy”

Me: “are you hurting his feelings?”

P: “No! he DOES have a big fat tummy!”

***

On finding her rubbing a cream into her cheeks

Me: “Hey P, I am fine with you using my cream on your face but what cream did you use so I can just check if it’s meant for skin”

[looking confused]

Me: “Where did you get that cream you’re rubbing on your face, where is the jar?”

[still confused but then very matter-of-factly]

“This isn’t cream! This is my meat pie!”

[points to meat pie with top off she's been rubbing into her skin]

***