try a little kindness

I now have a housefull of ill children... croup, whooping cough ( almost back to normal thankfully) and two vomitrons does not a happy household make.... what a day!!
Over the weekend I travelled down to Sydney to be the photographer at a wedding :) It was a beautiful day.. and aside for the stupid amount of pressure I put on myself, it was loads of fun :)
I got to road test the most amazing piece of photography equipment whilst I was there... probably one of the most important pieces you'll ever own if you shoot for fun or for a living.
This :)

From the outside this looks like an ordinary ( well its more fabulous that ordinary) bag but its the most amazing camera bag you'll ever find, seriously!

I fitted three lenses, my full camera with the 24-70mm lens on it, an external flash, my ipad, phone and bits and pieces and it still looked like a normal bag. Its got lots of storage and zippered sections, padded all around plus two different length straps. PLUS ITS REALLY COMFORTABLE TO WEAR! I wore mine for just over 10 hours and it still wasnt killing me... such an awesome bag :)

I got mine from Camera Chick ( stockist for Australia) from Natalie who couldnt have been more helpful in our transaction :)

LOVE IT :)

If you want to see the wedding shots, head over to Karina Baker Photography and check them out! Like me while you are there and Id love to know what you think of them! ;)

On the way home yesterday, travelling for 6 hours on a train ( ugh) I had one of those lightbulb moments.

When I got on the train, exhausted after shooting all day the day before and not alot of sleep, I got to my chair to find two young boys mucking around in it. They moved to sit behind me and proceeded to start kicking the back of the chair in their rumbles.

Instantly I was annoyed and thought all sorts of mean things about young boys and (ashamedly) about the race of which the boys were. ( Im not saying what this is, it doesnt matter. In Australia though, its a race that is often thought bad of).

They continued to annoy the crap out of me and my chair and I realised they were going to be on the train for the same length of time as me. I couldnt see that they had anything to do, and their dad had already fallen asleep and was oblivious to the racket they were making and so I busied myself by watching a movie on my iPad and ignoring the boys.

Awhile later, I noticed that they had calmed down. I had a snack, I hadnt seen them with anything. I did a crossword puzzle, played angry birds, watched a movie. They walked up and down the aisles, and then sat and watched out the window.

A strange feeling washed over me as I peeked at one of them between the cracks in the chairs. Two of them had no fallen asleep, bored enough to let it take over. Dad was still asleep ( he slept for just over 5 hours) and there was one still awake, sitting there, doing nothing. I looked down at all the things I had for myself... sewing, a book, an ipad, and and iphone. I argued with myself to go and talk to him. For about 10 minutes Im afraid to say.

Until that voice inside continued to tell me that on my iPad was a kids movie. Give it to him to watch. DO IT. NOW.

I got up and went over to him, ( careful to to tread on the sleeping brothers on the floor) and asked him if he'd like to watch a movie. He looked nervously at his sleeping dad, I assured him it was ok, that dad would be fine with it. He took it from me, and looked up and said " Thankyou so much" and then settled down to watch a movie.

I sat down, shocked that I had been so quick to judge not only a race, but also a young kid with nothing to do. I smiled as I heard him quietly giggling at the movie being played. And as it finished, he asked him if he could show it to his brothers, and all three of them watched it again.

I was humbled, to be shown a simple yet incredibly powerful lesson on showing kindness. To be shown how wrong it is to judge without first seeing the whole picture.

I hope that lessons like this continue to come my way :)