Education, Relaxation and Feeling the Love!

I've spent the whole weekend with fourteen other camera lovers, including the teacher, Andrew Goodall, who owns a gallery in Montville called 'Nature's Image Photography'.

He is a great teacher who uses simple language,  is willing to answer any question (no matter how stupid it seems) and shares his knowledge and experience freely.  He talks about the composition of photographs and how to get a great shot, instead of telling you to take any old shot and then fix it in photoshop (of which I am not a big fan).

This weekend, I have learnt a lot about my new camera and even more about photography.  I now look at the photos that I thought were pretty good and see that they are pretty average!  It's time to start again and aim for much better results!

I am inspired!

If you are interested in doing a workshop, checking out his work, or visiting his gallery, here is the link:

http://www.naturesimage.com.au/

I highly recommend him as a teacher and even as an all round nice person!  Very talented and very down to earth.

The other great thing about this weekend is that it was in a little town called Maleny, which is up in the mountains on the Sunshine Coast.  Rolling green hills, lush healthy rain forests, waterfalls and lakes, streets lined with craft stores, cafes and restaurants that cater to all tastes including vegan and vegetarian.

It's a town wrapped up in a welcoming warmth and the hippie in me feels very comfortable and happy here.

I spent an hour in the markets this morning before my lift arrived to take me to the course.  It was set up in a hall across the road from the pub where I am staying.

I bought a lovely silk/wool blend scarf in deep purples and greens and a lovely purple beaded shell necklace.  I could have spent LOTS of money there, but I think that I controlled myself pretty well!

Lunch, today, was spent with two other students.  Gail, about my age, who is a Psychologist with her own private practice and Summer who would be in her late twenties and is a Supervisor with a mining company.  Both lovely women, intelligent and very interesting to talk with.

Tomorrow, Adoring Husband is coming to pick me up and we are going to spend the morning in Maleny and then drive to Montville, where I will visit my teacher's gallery, before we head to the coast to check into our motel for the week.

We plan on spending every morning playing golf at different courses and every afternoon sight-seeing and finding photographic opportunities.

It's going to be a fabulous week and I am very excited to be spending some time with Adoring Husband with no obligations except to have a good time together and feeling the love!