The Nikon School and I (a love story)

I arrived at Rydges in Swanston Street a few minutes early, mainly to have a rest, because of my early morning and that I had just walked a zillion blocks to get there.  In hindsight, as I watched many a tram passing me as I walked block after block, I perhaps should have investigated the tram option.  

Luckily I had just had a Chai Latte to make sure I felt well and truly sick as I walked and walked, dragging along my cabin bag that weighed a tonne.  

At least I wasn't the first one there, Hans had just arrived too.  Good thing my mind was tack sharp (like the photography pun?) after my early morning brisk walk, because I needed my wits about me as he had a thick German accent.  

The first thing I saw was the table set up with bright yellow lanyards lined up in a row.  And low and behold, one with my name on it!  Much excitement, that had to be contained, so I didn't look like a complete newb.  I tried to discreetly take a photo in the highly polished wall reflection, doing a great job of indicating why I needed to be at Photography school.  I told you to smile!

As more people trickled in (there was 9 in total) the awkward feet shuffling and avoiding eye contact began.  Not just by me, come on, give me a little bit of credit.  Yes I don't like people, but I am an adult!  I'm joking, of course I like people, just not in a crowd.  So I counted, and 9 is not a crowd, so I was ok and began chatting with the other eager students.  

Of course I instantly became the most intersting person in the room.  Sigh.  Ok, no I didn't.  But I did crack a couple of funny jokes.  One of which turned out not to be so funny, but slightly awkward.  So, it's a Nikon School right?  You book through Nikon, and everything you see is Nikon branded.  So as we are standing around acquainting ourselves I make the half joke/half question about everyone's camera, that they must all be Nikon's otherwise wouldn't that be strange, to have a Canon or a Pentax in the mix.  It was funny, everyone had a laugh.  Luckily Shelda was running late, because Shelda had a Canon.  

Thought it would be appropriate to wear my Black Milk New York Skyline Leggings for my trip to the big smoke. 

The course was a mix of theory and practical exercises, with many tips from a professional. It was also a treat for taste buds as all of the food was catered by the hotel, with tea/coffee on tap, even lollies on our tables!

One of the practical exercises we had to walk around Melbourne for an hour (yay more walking) and take photos with various settings and mindsets.  Most of us were drawn to the skateboarders in the nearby park, to try some fast shutter speed shots.  The skaters were more then obliging, not minding at all that there were 4 or 5 camera's pointed at them.  I wandered off to take some photos in the playground area when I could hear some skaters obviously talking about me, it was a bit unnerving to be honest.  I haven't been the subject of ridiculous jeering for many many years, something about a pram or a pregnant bump I suppose?  I was actually so uncomfortable that I retreated to the safety of the imposing German, Hans.  Yet still one of them decided to skate past and giving some kind of verbal indication to his friends on what he saw.  Ok Hans, you aren't working, so I went over to the bigger group, where another one of the older males saw I was uncomfortable and chaperoned me as we took photos around the area.

Stupid really, I should have just stood up for myself, they were just silly kids, they had no idea I am almost 37 and have 4 children, probably even old enough to be their mother!

 Note the sign.

I have started editing my photos now, and it's an incredible process, I am loving it, but at the same time am very intimidated by the program and am constantly second guessing my choices.

At the end of the day, I caught the tram down to the shopping mall, managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping at Zara, then trammed it again down to the bus depot.  On the tram I was fortunate enough to overhear a very amusing conversation, I couldn't not hear it, it was a busy Saturday afternoon and the tram was packed. This young fellow was doing his darnedest to pickup a young lady, he invested so much in that conversation, he was funny, witty, complimentary, it was extremely over the top and obvious.  At the end, right as we pulled up to my stop he told her how amazing she was and asked her out for coffee, to which she answered that she had a boyfriend.  I actually laughed out loud, how rude of me!  I thanked him, told him that it was a shame as he had put in alot of effort but it had been very entertaining.

The day was fantastic.  The people were lovely and the tutor was amazing.  You can check out her stuff at www.alexvaughan.com.  I learned heaps, and came away with extra things:

• An understanding of my personal fitness, or lack thereof.
• That looks can be deceiving.
• That I know more about photography then I give myself credit for.
• That I have heaps more to learn.
• An extensive shopping list, including lenses, tripod and flash.
• Do not have a strong sweet coffee and a rich chocolate mousse before getting on the airport bus and proceeding to read. This will never end well.
• Krispy Kremes make the world go around.

I was so tired, so so tired.  So tired I actually fell asleep on the plane on the way back to Hobart.  I haven't slept on a plane since Legoman was 18 months old and we took him over to Florida.  

Pichu decided to make Mummy pay for being gone all day, waking up at midnight and refusing to go back to sleep.  I was too tired, I just couldn't deal with that, thankfully Coder came to the rescue.  After a few hours he managed to get Pichu back to sleep. 

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