It isn’t everyday that a chance occurrence becomes a memory to savour.

And it isn’t everyday that you see something that simply makes you smile.

But why shouldn’t you? Everyday brings with it the possibility of something unique and different. Something that catches your eye and maintains your gaze. These remarkable moments lie dormant until they can bring intrigue, mystery and possibly joy to a chosen individual. It may be a beautiful flower that you pass on the walk to work, or even a bird whizzing past your ear. It’s the little moments like these that keep us living.

Sometimes though you need to take a break from the monotonous lifestyle that is work and search out for something that you find unique and different. When you find it, you’ll know. Simple things such as helping a friend out, or catching up for lunch can bring a smile to your face and a great feeling inside. No one should be feeling down constantly. If it’s getting to you then take a break. Try something different. Experience the un-experienced. What you discover may surprise you.

I know all this sounds philosophical, but it’s such a good feeling when you put on the optimist glasses once in a while. Society nowadays is so hung up on putting everyone down. It’s a problem commonly referred to as the ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’, and it’s rife within the community. As soon as you succeed from stepping outside of the norm and trying something different, you are ridiculed. The problem though, is that this act of ridicule stunts innovation and discourages future endeavours. As human beings we are really only limited by how hard we want to push ourselves. Peer support is so important in so many aspects of life, and when it is taken away at a critical point in success, we seem to spin in circles and nose-dive.

Therefore if you wish to succeed then you need to create your own identity and build your confidence around it. Confidence is too often looked upon as being too excited, or egotistical, and for these reasons often the most confident person may be looked over for a position of importance. Why is that? Since when is being confident in yourself such a bad thing? In making this comment I am aware of the top end of the confidence scale which is ‘ignorance’. The last thing that anyone wants is a stubborn and ignorant person working with them. But these traits should not be tied in with confidence. It is great for someone to be confident in themselves. Sometimes such self belief can bring out the best in a person. Constantly I’m trying to get this message across to kids that I coach and assist. Self belief is where you need to start. Without the basic ability to believe that you can use your abilities to succeed, you will struggle to accomplish much.

Chuck a smile on your face as you go around work or talk to people and notice how it rubs off really easily. Everyone wants to be happy and have a laugh, but with all the sources of stress nowadays we seem to forget to smile once in a while. By smiling you make yourself happy and display your a more optimistic view to those around you. Try asking someone to do something while frowning. Fat chance they will rush to get it done. Although it seems so simple, a smile can brighten your’s and someone else’s day.

So go on. Once in a while put on a smile. You’ll be surprised how good it feels

Stage 1: Firstly, if I’m bored I’ll be on the computer. I could be doing a number of things outside or inside, but instead I’ll just park myself on the swivel chair in front of the macbook pro and 2nd monitor and proceed to click on the tweetdeck and then firefox icons. At this point I have a couple of stable options which I’ll head to if I’m bored. The first of which is facebook. If I’m really bored I may just scroll thru the last day of the news feed. This won’t achieve anything. The next option is flickr. I’ll head to my flickr site and check my view count for the day to see which photos are getting more looks. I may also check out some of my contacts photos if any look interesting. By now I’ve wasted about 15-20mins if I’m lucky. At this point there are some secondary options which I explore.

Stage 2: After having a scroll through facebook and flickr I will either check on the latest camera rumours from Northlight Images, head to twitter and check out the latest spammer that has decided to add me, or check up on what is on tv tonight. Any of these options can be pursued. If there have been some fresh and interesting rumours of upcoming cameras then I will normally click through the links try and find out the details. Hopefully by this time I have wasted another 15-20mins.

You’re probably noticing now that what I do when bored isn’t about completing anything interesting, it is about wasting time. The more time that I waste, the closer it’ll be to something interesting happening. If I have now passed through Stage 1 and 2 and am still bored then I will progress to Stage 3.

Stage 3: Stumble. This has got to be one of the greatest boredom tools ever invented on the internet. If you have firefox and you don’t stumble, then you’re missing out. Basically it is a firefox toolbar (not ads or anything annoying like that) that you put your preferences of sites which you’re interested in in and then it randomly selects one and sends you to it. Pages are added to stumble by people clicking the ‘like’ thumbs up icon. I’ve got mine set to graphic design, photography, humour and a couple other categories. This little Stumble button can keep me going on the internet for hours on end. Since the only pages that you stumble upon are those liked by other people, you get more quality than crap. I have found many an interesting article or image through Stumble. A nice feature of Stumble is that it gives you a great indication of how bored you have been. I just checked my profile and it turns out that I have Stumbled 6845 times. That is just nuts. That is 6845 clicks on the little Stumble button. It is not just me who is addicted to Stumble though. Across the world there are millions of people that turn to Stumble to waste some boredom time, and when you stumble on a good laugh or a stunning image it gives you a buzz and makes the boredom that much more bearable.

Alas there is no Stage 4 of my boredom cycle. Stumble-ing is normally the final stage because it is by that time that I realise I am wasting a fair bit of time and should get off the internet. Of course these stages aren’t set in stone. Often Stage 2 and 3 will be punctuated by checks of facebook to see if anyone has written a comment. If this happens then you know that I’ve hitched a ride on the boredom train to timewasterville. FUN!

So as you can see I have specific strategies for wasting boredom-filled time. This is time when I really should be doing uni work. But hey, who wants to do uni work when you have the internet?!? Do you have any specific actions which you go through when you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel?

Nelson to

Another point that signaled to me that this was going to be a good film was the fact that it was produced by Peter Jackson and directed by his protegé Neill Blomkamp. When you see the name Peter Jackson you just know that it is going to be epic. I own the King Kong DVD and behind the scenes diary, so I know how big he can make a film. Fortunately the film lived up to expectations.

In the film you follow the plight of a man called Wikus Van De Merwe (pronounced ‘Vikus’ with the strong South African accent). He has just been appointed head of an operation to relocate the aliens, or ‘prawns’ as they are referred as, from District 9 to District 10. The Aliens had come to earth in the past, but were unable to leave, and so the world decided to localise them all to District 9, a slum-type village on the outskirts of Johannesburg. From there the operation begins. I won’t go into too much more detail regarding the plot because I don’t want to spoil anything for the future movie-goer.

This film had excellent character development which really made you feel for Wikus, his family, and the aliens that he interacts with. The character development was only aided by some great cinematography by Trent Opaloch. There were really interesting angles and shots explored in this film, and it helped to make the audience feel like they were part of the action. The film is shot in a mockumentary style that is interspersed with the drama of a sci-fi film. Using this style of film making was a great decision for this film. Too often nowadays there are the sci-fi films that just focus on relationships of the human or alien characters. This causes the audience to be just that, an audience. With the style that District 9 was filmed, you feel part of the events that take place. It almost makes you think that this type of event could be plausible. In District 9, Peter has again called upon the visual effects mastery of Weta to create stunning wide shots and alien figures.

One of the great things about this film though is the fact that it steps out of the typical US production mold and is set in South Africa. This is a very refreshing change from the norm and one I think that was a great choice. For those that read into film plots, there are a lot of indirect jabs at the state of racism within South Africa as the sometimes volatile relationship between the aliens and the humans is put under the microscope.

Overall, this film was a great viewing experience that was structured exquisitely so that you were engaged from minute one to the credits. For his premiere feature film, I see Neill Blomkamp going to some great heights in the future. See it as soon as you can in the cinema, the tv just won’t do it justice.

4.5 stars out of 5

Nelson

As an update to the last post for those playing at home… It didn’t feel right to ask anything, and I think that was the right decision. I’m really good friends with her and that’s awesome. It means good chats and good times spent hanging out.

Onto this post though…

Ever since I bought my first camera at the start of 2006 I’ve been hooked. Over the past few years I’ve seen my skill and experience increase, and so has my gear. From the beginning with just one camera and 2 lenses, I now own probably just under $10k in equipment. Many I know will scoff when they read this, but it’s true. One of the reasons why I’ve been able to amass such a large amount of gear has been that I don’t drink of smoke. I’ll still happily go out with friends, but won’t drink. That isn’t to say that I am against alcohol or anything like that, don’t mind a glass of wine when catching up with friends or at a dinner, but generally I’ll be the soft drink kid. But I’m getting side-tracked, so back to the point.

The thing with digital photography nowadays is that everyone with a digital camera thinks that they can take a photo that will be as good as one on a magazine cover. To some extent this can be achieved, but there is a point at which you need to expand into better gear to get the better results. Expensive gear does not make a person a better photographer though. You have to be skilled so that you can get the most out of what you’ve got. I didn’t really expand into a pro camera until last year, mainly due to money, but also due to the fact that I needed more from the camera. This is when you upgrade.

Coming back to less expensive gear, everyone should try and get the most out of what they’ve got. I try and teach this every week as I go up to the local primary school and help out with the photography program. What I do in the program is get the kids to become familiar with all of the functions of the camera. First you start with the basic principles of photography and then move up. From every group there are always a handful of kids that something clicks and everything that I’ve said starts to register. This is why I coach youth sport and help out the kids, to see that moment when the light bulb turns on, and suddenly they are into it and excelling. The kids only use little digital cameras, and there are always a number of photos that so many people that went straight into DSLR’s couldn’t get. It’s about refining your eye and visualising what you want to do. These principles apply to many experiences in life. By getting the kids to concentrate early on and keep practicing you know that you’re setting them up for something good

So as you can see, most of the time it is not the gear that makes the photographer. However, there are many times when it is best to get someone that does have more knowledge and better gear than your own for an event or certain project. This is where I step in. What got me thinking about this recently was an opportunity to take some photos for a number of uni teams at the uni games in september. Already I take lots of sports photos, so that isn’t the issue. The issue is that no one ever thinks of getting someone to take photos, or they think that a mum of dad on the sidelines will get a good enough photo simply because they have a digital camera. This annoys me immensely. I’ve now coached sporting teams for 3 years at my high school, and it annoys me how little emphasis is put on recording the students playing. When I was in grade 12 and got my first camera I was out at most rugby games and took quite a few photos. I’ll admit now that my skill has progressed a long way since then, but it was the fact that the boys had a physical memory of their time playing rugby for the school. A number of parents even told my mum to thank me for doing it. I’ve taken photos over the years that I’ve coached, and they’ve always been met with great appreciation. People want physical memories, and no one is letting the organisational bodies know. I even sent a letter in to the high school the year after I graduated offering my services for weekend sport fixtures. I was turned down and told that ‘as I did in grade 12, other boys have also taken up photographing weekend sport’. This was total bullshit crap. I knew that no one was, it was the fact that people didn’t see photography as a worthy expense. Their loss though.

I play club touch football, and over the past 2 seasons I’ve started taking photos at the odd match. These have been greatly appreciated, because once again no one had a physical record/memory. So this season I’m looking to spread the photos over most of the club’s teams and get people that memory that is missing.

What got me thinking about this issue of photography neglect was a conversation with a mate about the upcoming uni games. It was a bit pricey for me to participate but I said that I’ll turn up and get some photos. He said that, ‘photos would be awesome’ and suggested that there are lots of other sports that I could take photos of as he was sure everyone would appreciate having quality photos of their games. THANK YOU! This type of thing is what I love to hear. When people can actually appreciate that I can deliver a high quality result and that it will be enjoyed. Sure you can take a little digital camera down and stand on the sidelines, but nothing will be as crisp, as close, as detailed, or even as well framed. So that’s my plan. Head to uni games and take some really good shots of as many UQ teams as I can get to. I’m going to try and contact someone close to the organisation of the teams, so that maybe we can set something up

Ok so I don’t know if this all flowed well, or even makes sense to a lot of people, but it was on my mind and I thought it would be good to get down in type.

I saw an advanced screening of the upcoming film ‘District 9′ last night, so I’ll give you all a taste of what it’s about and why you should all see it in the next post.

Nelson

Since the last post that I wrote during the middle of exam weeks a lot has been going on. Exams went well and results were a pleasant surprise. Holidays then came along, and for the first time in a couple of years I actually found time to relax and chill out in them! What is annoying about the june/july holidays normally is that exams have just finished, and then a week and a bit later results come out. Then before you know it, course selection and timetable signing up is upon you. In between all of that you try and relax. This year I blocked it all out and had a very enjoyable couple of weeks off. The weather wasn’t great up the coast, so little fishing and no surfing happened. Strangely this didn’t worry me though. It was the act of being away from home for a week and just chilling out that really helped me to focus on having a good time.

After that week up the coast, the holidays seemed to be long enough, but blurred slightly. It’s a weird feeling when time just seems to roll along and you do lots of things, but not much registers. It’s not that time passed exceedingly quickly, it was the fact that nothing really of note stuck out (well there was one event ). So the holidays came to a very enjoyable ending (not that I wanted them to end, it was things that happened near the end that were enjoyable). And reluctantly I started my final semester in science at UQ. It was slightly annoying that course choices are kind of crap bad in second semester of 3rd year, but oh well, I still got some that were interesting at least. Having your friends do very similar courses is a massive advantage at uni. Not only can you do group assignments together, but you can also confer within lectures and tutorials etc. If anyone is entering uni and has no one that they know around, just be friendly and reach out, generally you’ll start to find people that have similar interests and it’ll make the experience sooo much easier.

So if you follow me on twitter (twitter.com/nelpix) you may have noticed that I have been going through some interesting times as of late. In my everyday life with uni and photography I am constantly thinking through everything to make sure nothing is missed or completed incorrectly, so when this certain situation started to arise, I had to change tact quite quickly. There is someone that I go to uni with that, to put it in the words of one of my long time friends, “I am courting”. What is interesting for me is that I have never actually had a personal relationship with a female friend. So it was for me an intrepid journey of new experiences. It is a type of situation that requires me to turn off that part of my brain that constantly and overly analyses everything. In everyday life I would consider myself a confident person, but when it comes to certain things like wording of messages and the right thing to say I start to doubt myself. For me this is weird. I don’t mind sticking my neck out for a lot of experiences as the first person, but for this situation where I want something to work, I’m so reluctant to just jump in and be spontaneous. I think the main reason that I feel this way is that it is such a new thing for me. Sure there have been people in the past of the opposite sex that I have liked, but never to the point that I’ve wanted to ask out. For this reason I ask advice of some of my closest friends/relatives. To me it’s all fascinating. It is likely the analytical scientist inside me buzzing with ideas and thoughts about what to do next as so much information on the topic is gained.

It has certainly been a little while in the making, as messages flew back and forth, coffee meet ups were set and then had to be postponed, but eventually it has got to the point where I just need to ask her out. So right now that is what I am working towards. We are good friends, and have been for a year and a bit now, but I want to find out if it can go to the next level. With the variety of ways that people can contact each other nowadays it is so easy to come off too keen; and when you have heaps of spare time it is so hard to just put down the phone, close facebook or any other networking site, and just be patient. Patience is just so important, but then you start to wonder, how long is too long? This is when my brain starts to really act up….

Word choice for me is a big thing. What to say and when to say it. This is a hurdle that I run into as part of this situation as I will over analyse what I plan to say. When I send a message I will always read over it half a dozen times just to make sure that it says what i want it to… Dam it is infuriating! For me it is like a type of OCD. I find the same thing when I am handing in an assignment at uni. I will get to the chute to drop it in, and although I have checked it through quite a few times, I will still flick through it once or twice to make sure that everything is in the right place. That’s just me I suppose. So when it comes to chatting I just need to get the analytical foot out of my mouth and say what comes to my mind. All the time I make sure that I don’t anger people talking to them. I am a listener, and will happily absorb all that someone says and be happy to provide minimal input, that’s just who I am. But in this new type of situation I just think that I become too analytical and worried to a certain extent. See I want this to work, but I want to say the right words to get the ball rolling at the same time. Make that step beyond just good friends

Coffee is on for tomorrow, which is good, but I need to be able to communicate the words that get across the message that I want to try moving to the next level. Arrghhh! To put it bluntly, ask her out face to face. Often I’ll just get caught up in conversation or start talking about something else, and then we’ll have a lecture or something else, and I’ll be left pondering what I could have or said or done. So for tomorrow I want to try putting my thoughts into words. No longer just dancing around the fact, and being just good friends. I want to test the waters and see what happens, either way.

If you’ve read this far, then I have to congratulate you. For me this was kind of a ‘get everything off your chest’ session, and hopefully it provided some insight to people out there as to how the human brain reacts in such a situation.

For those interested, I have been accepted within the pool of applicants for medicine at UQ in 2010, and will receive offers on August 11. I’ll let you all know how I go. Fingers crossed.

I promise to update this very soon, perhaps in regards to this certain situation that I have outlined above, or maybe something entirely different…

Chat with you all soon! Comments welcome

Nelson

Think to yourself, what could be better than the first Transformers movie? hmm A second Transformers movie! And in what seems like fate, it premieres officially next wednesday. Therefore I proposed to a couple of my friends that we see the movie in the afternoon and then relax and enjoy the 2nd origin game at night. Unfortunately most of them will have work (since it is a weekday), which seems to have foiled my plan… blast! No matter though, because we’ll just reschedule and watch it another time I mean honestly, what is more awesome than cars turning into robots, fighting each other, and then turning back into cars and driving off into the distance? Nothing. It is likely a guy thing. In fact I’m sure it is. Plus, from all the previews that I’ve seen, and the fact that I’ve heard the new Linkin Park song made for the movie (it has optimus prime’s voice in it!!), it looks and sounds like an action packed movie. Basically it is the perfect antidote to exams.

So as you can see, I’m thoroughly enjoying the fact that some quite awesome things are aligning for me. There are other things in my life which are also coming together, but that stuff stays with me and not on the internet (ok so maybe on twitter ). My question to you is, has anything in the recent past aligned for you and made that time period even better than you hoped? Whether it be birthdays, special events, or even a special someone? Comment away or get onto twitter and start following me. Chat it up!

Oh and in case I haven’t said it enough in this post “QUEENSLANDER”.

p.s. Get onto following one of my good friends Troy in his enthralling blog at http://troytyped.wordpress.com/. He’s currently in the process of carrying out a very calculated plan to woo a certain girl that he likes. I wish him the best of luck!

Nelson

Pressured

3rd science has some quite interesting and engaging subjects, don’t get me wrong, but it is the fact that you have to know so much that puts a strain on so many. On saturday I had my first exam of the period, Developmental Neurobiology. I went in pretty relaxed and apart from a question or two, came out of it pretty relaxed. That feeling of relaxation after an examination is weird. I studied for a week leading up to that exam, and then it passes almost without a blip on the radar. I’m not one to go back and look at notes to find out where I went wrong, and this certainly wasn’t the case on saturday.

My next exam is on friday and it will be Cardiovascular Science. This will then be followed by Human Reproduction and Fertility on Monday and Psychology of Sport and Exercise on Wednesday. Then I’m done! Although the finish line is just over 1 wee away, it seems way further than that. It is going to be a fun weekend after Cardio as I desperately cram in female reproductive knowledge such as LH, FSH, ovulation, menstruation, fertilisation, progesterone and oestrogen. I really enjoy repro, and there is a lot of knowledge still sticking there from lectures, so that’ll help. It’s probably one of the reasons why I want to go into Obstetrics or OBGYN. The subject is just so interesting.

So that is basically me for the next week or so. After that time it’ll be out with the friends for movies, games and general lazing about. I’ll be up at mooloolaba for a week this holidays as well which will be awesome. The rain that has been around might mean that there are lots of bream in the river. My mooloolaba week every year is like a fishing trip for me. Due to uni I’m unable to get away around Easter to Evans Head for the annual fishing long weekend where I’ve caught everything from mullet and tailor to an octopus. If you ever have the chance to get to Evans Head I’d highly recommend it. It is a small fishing town on the North Coast of NSW, and is great for a couple of days to get away from things. Or you could just go about an hour further north to Byron Bay. I’ve been going there annually since I was 3 y.o and it’s always so relaxing. Just do your own thing and no one cares.

Well I guess I better get back to learning my Cardiovascular Science. Basically it’s drug actions and effects and the development of the the cardiovascular system, as well as what happens in a disease state such as Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). If anyone has any questions pertaining to my study or is just interested in one of the subjects that I’ve eluded to to, drop me a comment and we can have a chat. I love a good science conversation (god I’m a nerd).

In other news, I sent off my medicine application a couple of weeks ago and just got notice that it is in processing. If everything runs smoothly, this means that I will be beginning medicine in 2010. It’s going to be a long and grueling journey ahead of me. Fortunately I will likely have a number of my friends doing the course with me, so that’ll make it more enjoyable.

If you haven’t noticed already, you can follow me on twitter @ twitter.com/nelpix

All the best, and I’ll keep this updated more regular from now on in between study and listening to awesome music. It’s almost relaxing and therapeutic

I hate when my photography lies stagnant.

There are a couple of options for photos floating around, such as some promo shots for some friends of mine. Also, I have the option of helping out another friend in the near future for a uni assignment. These are exciting, but not happening in the present. It sounds almost childish, but I want to do things now! It may seem like some type of rant that I’m expressing at the moment, be reassured that it isn’t. It is kind of a venting of pent up annoyance

I’ve got the gear, and the ability (I know, I like my ego too) but I just need some direction. I am sure that many photographers get to this stage. It is a point where you could do so much, but can think of so little. So naturally, I turn to my friends for inspiration. Unfortunately in this predicament, they are of little help. This is between me and my brain.

I’ve got a few options. I can sweat it out and hope that I think of something to do; or I can go trawling on the internet. Ahh the internet, such a vast expanse of possible ideas. But I don’t want to rip off anyone else. I find it really good to emulate someone, but I’m trying to step more into my own shadow than someone else’s.

I wish that I just had a large-ish project to do. Near the start of the year a couple of my dancing/theatre friends and I organised and followed through with a photo shoot around brisbane. This was great fun, and provided me with even more experience, but lasted only so long. It is these small projects that keep my brain stimulated. The fame promo photos that I took recently were another stimulation. They aren’t finished yet (waiting on some selections from proofs), as some further editing needs to be done. I was reasonably happy with the fame photos, but just wish that I had more time. I only had 1 hr, which isn’t much for what I had to achieve. More time would have meant that I could have got character shots and a bit more diversity. C’est la vie.

Therefore I reach out to you, the readers. If you were ever in a creative block, how did you get out of it? And if you have any creative photo ideas, shoot them my way!

I arrived with the family, and the clouds were foreboding. Stepping out the car, it didn’t look good. After a couple of hours, it started. First it was light, and then it poured. And it continued to pour for the next day. Apparently it’s now the wettest April in a long time. This statement makes a bit of sense, because never have I heard of flash flooding around Gympie during easter.

Even though it rained a lot ( ~200mm in 3 hrs), I surprisingly didn’t mind it. In Brisbane you get used to the mugginess and fluctuating heat. In the recent past there hasn’t been much rain though. This ‘drought’ caused our dam levels to drop to near 20% overall and caused level 6 (?) water restrictions. Naturally we all stepped up to the plate and kept our water usage down. So when it decided to rain heavily for an extended period, it kind of felt nice.

The good thing about QLD weather is that when it rains in summer/autumn, it doesn’t get that cold. You can sit in front of the TV while enjoying a quite relaxing temperature range.

It was a shame that the weather decided to turn bad, because this meant surfing was out of the question. The surf was crap bad, which was annoying because it’s one the things that relaxes me. The rain meant no photography outside either. Which was doubly annoying.

So from my easter weekend came some positives and negatives. On one hand, I got to enjoy the rain for once, but on the other hand, there was no surf and I couldn’t take any photos. Oh and a major positive has got to be the easter eggs. Chocolate for breakfast only happens twice a year, so you have to relish it when it comes around.

I’ll be doing a fair bit of stuff over these next few days, so I’ll try and keep the updates coming thick and fast.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable easter and got to relax a bit.

The problem that arises is that some uni subjects have decided to destroy the break by putting their assignments over it. First question, why? Second question, why? Fortunately for me, my subjects this semester mean that I don’t have any exams around the break. Also fortunate, is the fact that in 3rd yr science you have a 3rd yr non-teaching week. It’s a shame, because this week is after the mid-semester break. That means, assignments!

For a science course, I’m at uni 5 days a week. It pretty much is my full time job. That is why I take my holidays, when I get them, so relaxed if I can. I want to get as far away from uni as possible. This means that I’ll be heading to the Sunshine Coast for a couple of day for some surfing and photos. It’s really annoying that I’ll have to come back from that break and get stuck into work straight away. Oh well, nothing can be done.

Wish it was like the northern hemisphere and we were just about to finish semester

I’ll probably be posting some photos on flickr in the near future, whether they be from fame promo shots, or my travels to mooloolaba. Just trying to get away from uni

Hope everyone is having a good break so far. Try to enjoy it and relax, too much work is just hurtful to yourself.