DIY maternity photography project

I was on the fence about having a photo session during my pregnancy. I felt okay about my body, but the kind of photography I like is very expensive...

I guess I could have asked Chris to help. However, his style of portrait photography is to wave the camera in my general direction and press the shutter. Glamourous! As a side note, he usually takes standing photographs of me with the camera at his eye level. There's nothing quite so stumpifying as a 165cm woman being photographed from 187cm high. It makes me wonder if he actually perceives me as a hobbit... Anyway, I digress.

So here were my requirements:

• Photos, with make-up on and a flattering outfit;
• Some photos where you could actually see my belly;
• Ideally, nothing that would date too badly (with regard to poses, outfits, themes or post-processing);
• Some that I would be happy to share or put on Facebook; and
• Maybe some that would just be for me.

Quite basic. I wasn't fussed about locations, backdrops, fancy outfits, flowing swathes of chiffon, or anything else. It's not that I don't like those things, they just weren't mission critical. I didn't need Chris to be in the photos. In hindsight, the only photo of us together when I was pregnant is this one below! We're never in photos together. Whoops.

It's surprising how long you can make one glass of bubbly last when you're 8 weeks pregnant and keeping it on the down low!

The rest of this tutorial is a long post - if you just want to see maternity photos, they're at the bottom after the jump!

Living creatively even when you're not

At the suggestion of my mother-in-law, I'm back!

For the last twelve months I've been too tired to be creative. Or so I thought. To paraphrase my lovely MIL, child-raising is an everyday exercise in creativity. Creatively working out how to make dinner when you only have an hour between arriving home from work, and crashing out in bed. Creative thinking when the baby does not follow the instructions written in the blog or book of your choice. Creating solutions when the cupboard is nearly bare, but the thought of dragging a baby to the supermarket makes you want to cry.

Honestly, I forgot the purpose of this blog. It's not to impress others with my sewing skills. It's not for blowing you away with my photography. It's not to serve as a resume for a future Masterchef appearance.

This blog - purely and simply - is an open diary of the creative things that I do when I'm not "working". So you won't find inventive household tips, or masterpieces of fashion design, or possibly anything that interests you at all!

But if I can help inspire you to do little things that take you outside of your day job, I'd be more than happy with that. Mainly I'm hoping to inspire myself.

With that said, I do like putting photos in my posts. Thus I shall provide a visual update on my past year or so!

South Island Road Trip - Franz Josef Glacier

Travelling further south along the West Coast, we stopped for brunch at lovely Hokitika. Chris spent a little bit of time taking "dronies" on the beach, and had a great conversation with an elderly German man about RC technology.

Franz Josef is a beautiful town. Set up entirely for tourism, it's not short of accommodation or restaurants. We stayed in a lovely little unit about 200m from the main street.

Motel room view

Welcome to Franz Josef!

You can no longer walk up to the face of the glacier (for safety). We trekked along the ground level DoC track across the glacial valley. It was burning hot, and there was no shade.

 
There was plenty of information about the glacial retreat, with photos and diagrams of how it looked in the past. As little as a few years ago there was substantially more ice. It's incredibly sad to see what climate change is doing, and rather ironic that the only way to get up close to the glacier now is to take a helicopter (using fossil fuels).

Franz Josef was our last stop on the West Coast before driving on the Haast Pass across the Alps to Wanaka.

South Island Road Trip - Westport and Pancake Rocks

Westport can be summed up with an quote from one of my favourite Simpson's episodes: Trains "don't come through here much any more".

Don't think this sees much use...

South Island Road Trip - Auckland to Te Waipounamu

Firstly, I apologise for my absence. This blog is a diary of my non-work endeavours... but I feel as though I've done nothing but work and sleep since some time before Christmas.

That's not quite true though. I've done lots of little things (though no sewing!). Some of them seem mundane, but when I think about how much I enjoy reading other people's day-to-day blogs, it seems silly of me to be ashamed of talking about my own life!

Anyway, Chris and I planned a December road trip around New Zealand's South Island. He spent time living there in his early 20s, but my only trip there was our brief weekend to Akaroa in 2013. Here's our itinerary. MANY thousands of kilometres.

We took the Interislander, as it's the only way to bring your vehicle between the islands (obviously).

I was disappointed by the service, to be honest. Cafés, lounges and entertainment areas are heavily touted by the advertising. But everything was a bit tired and grotty, and the prices in the various restaurants far outstripped the products. It's much more like a long-distance train service than a luxury cruise. At least it's only a few hours, and the weather was calm!

We had a lovely lunch in Blenheim, and then headed west. Whilst Westport is definitely not a tourist destination (more on that in the next post), it was a convenient place to make camp before we headed further down the west coast. Chris had never travelled the west coast before, but remembered an old Argosy aircraft (of course) that you could climb around on in Marlborough.

The rest of the day was uneventful. It was new territory for both of us, and scenery like I'd never seen before. I knew there was much more beauty to come, but pleased to have such a nice start.