It was a super moon on Monday 14th November, it was all over facebook so I had to get my camera and tripod in hand and step out with the other sight seers to see this beauty. Unfortunately where I live the sky was still very bright as the sun had yet to set, and there was haze across the sky where the moon was rising. However it was still an impressive sight for those who had taken the time to stop and sit at The Strand, Rock Pool area, Townsville, North Queensland on Monday evening. The sun was setting on one side and the moon was rising on the other side. My dad, mum and son Ben were with me to view the super moon. I read previously before heading out that you should take a photo of the land and the moon, to give it a landmark, rather than just the moon. I am so glad I picked up on that tip, as it made the photos more memorable and different from yet another moon pic. I hope you enjoy my images from the 14th November 2016 of the super moon. :)
0 Comments
5/9/2016 0 Comments Cancer Speech at ToastmastersTonight at Toastmasters 5th September 2016 I presented a speech in the International Contest. Usually I am one not to compliment myself and say I am proud of me but after tonight I do feel proud to have presented the speech I wrote titled '"Cancer'. Even though I should have been working on an assignment for university, I feel that this was important to me so I am glad I didn't put it off and I wrote this speech then present it to Townsville Toastmasters at our annual competition night. Unfortunately there is a time limit on the speech for a 5-7 minutes and I went over the time allowed. The speech I presented is below. International speech contest "Cancer"
Do you know anyone that has been affected by cancer? Or have you yourself been affected directly? There are so many types of cancers, these types vary from childhood cancer such as leukemia, woman cancer such as breast cancer or male cancer, prostate cancer to name only a few. Unfortunately I have now known a few people who have been affected from cancer. One cancer in particular I would like to discuss today and give a brief outline is the skin cancer called Melanoma. When our lives are impacted directly with this skin cancer we then begin to be more aware of the seriousness of this type of cancer. I will also inform you on a patient’s personal fight with Melanoma cancer. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer which is usually occurred by the overexposure of your skin to the sun or uv rays. However there are rare cases of melanomas which can occur in parts of the skin that have not been exposed. It affects the skin at stage one, by moles on the surface of the skin. This is described as when the melanocytes a pigment producing cell, which gives you your skin colour. When these melanocytes form together in clusters they produce moles. These moles then are effected by the uv light and then they become malignant and form the melanoma cancer. Risk factors:
There are 5 stages of melanoma, stage 0 to stage 4. My friend Kelly ended up with stage 4 this stage means the melanoma has spread to distant lymph nodes and organs and unfortunately she lost her battle to this deadly cancer in January of 2015. Rest In Peace Kelly. I didn’t know Kelly’s story in-depth to share with you too much information, but I would like to now share with you my father’s story. My dad, Graham was first diagnosed with skin cancer 2006. He had a bleeding mole remove from his face. Nothing was much thought about it after that, as they thought it was all surgically removed. However it turned out it had gone to stage 4 and was already affecting his organs. In January 2013 my dad had a painful and unbearable pain in his left leg and it hurt more when walking up the stairs or put his full weight on it. At first the doctors ignored him, until he finally had an x-ray where it was discovered he had a tumour in the femur of the top part of his leg and also a tumour in the top lobe of his left lung. Surgery removing the tumour in his leg. He was given a titanium in his leg. However this was not set in place right and caused him grief for a while until they finally gave him a hip replacement and it straightened his leg and gave him relief. His tumour on the lung was treated with a treatment called Yervoy. This treatment went well and the tumour had disappeared. Another tumour was also treated in his spine by radiation and had cleared. Just when he finally thought all was going good, he started to feel unwell again, and hearing a cricket like noise in his head. In January of this year he had a PET scan and it was revealed he had three more tumours. One located in the rear lobe of his brain and two tumours in the left chamber of the heart. This year he went under radiation treatment for the tumour near the brain, it did shrink, but only a small fraction. The other treatment for the melanoma tumours near his heart he received another treatment called Keytruda. Unfortunately this treatment made him very sick and there has been no good outcome from the treatment. The two tumours have now formed into one rather than shrinking. Because the treatment has made him very sick my dad has finally stopped the fight of this deadly disease, and stopped treatment so he can try and live some of his life without being too sick. He is now being monitored by his heart specialist and the oncologist and palliative care team. He says so far so good. I guess this is true he is still alive, but he is very sleepy and the cricket sound in his head is a constant pain. We are having regular family picnics on Sundays to spend as much time with him as possible, as there is no time frame given. Melanoma is a skin cancer and can be prevented, we need to make sure we take some precautions. As the risks factors say,
SLIP on a shirt SLOP on sunscrean SLAP on a hat 4/9/2016 0 Comments Arts AwardsThis year I entered the 38th Hinchinbrook Art Awards held at the TYTO Regional Art Gallery in Ingham. My first mixed media entry. I usually enter the photography section, but I have been attending private art classes with Dr Barbarra Cheshire for the past few years, who also taught me at TAFE.
I have been keeping up with my art and have learned some new techniques. The section 3 Mixed Media at the Hinchinbrook Art Awards is the section I entered my work into. My work titled 'Heartache' is a self portrait of a photo taken a few years back now and created to go with a series of self portraits with the same style. I hope to have a solo exhibition one day soon with this series. Unfortunately I didn't win this time round but it was a win for me as I accomplished to set out and finish my work and have it handed in on time. Feed back from the judge gave me insight in to why you shouldn't rush your work, and the more time you work on it the better the outcome. 30/8/2016 0 Comments Wedding AssistanceI had the pleasure in assisting my talented friend Mia from Eyeswide Imaging on 13th August at Jamie-Leigh and Dyllan's Wedding. It was a beautiful day for a wedding, and I got a few nice shots too. I was mainly videoing and assisting Mia. The photographer for the day was Karen from Photography by Red Sky. The three of us certainly worked great as a team, even though we had never worked together before. By the end of the day I was assistant to both Mia and Karen, and luved every minute of it, definitely something I truly enjoy and want to be able to experience on a higher level. Thank you Mia, Karen and of course the beautiful couple for allowing me accompany you on this day. 16/8/2016 0 Comments A Toast to my dad, GrahamI said a praise toast speech on Monday 15th August at Toastmasters to my dad. Here is the speech below. Mr Toastmasters, Ladies & Gentlemen This evening I have two special guest present, my mum and dad, Elaine and Graham Volker. Tonight I would like to toast my father, Graham Volker born in a Queensland country town of Mackay, on December 6th 1941. I finally remember the year, as my dad now describes when he was born as a significant time in history the day before the Pearl Harbour Bombing, this was on 7th December 1941. My dad was in the military himself. He grew up in Proserpine with his mother, father, three brothers and one sister. He then joined the military the Royal Australian Airforce in 1959, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of September at the age of 17. He’s career was a huge accomplishment and he is very proud of, 25 years of service. Plus, another 12 years of Royal Australian Air Force Active Reserve and then another 6 years as Commanding Officer, for the North Queensland Squadron Air Training Corps a total of 43 years’ involvement. In 1967 he flew with the C138 Hercules as a flight lieutenant officer. He helped transport 18 soldiers who fought for us and lost their lives while battling in long tan Vietnam, bringing them back to their home country and families. When I hear this story, I feel he is very proud and he should be proud to have brought the soldiers back to their own home soil to lay to rest. While dad served in the RAAF he accomplished the Senior Officer rank of Squadron Leader, this is equivalent to a Major in Army terms for those that don’t know the Airforce. He then pasted on his experience and knowledge from being in the RAAF and became a Commanding Officer for the (NQAIRTC), North Queensland Air Training Corp. His career and military experience is a great achievement. Of course from my opinion I feel dad’s greatest accomplishment is when he met my mother, his beautiful wife Elaine. They first met in Sydney, after he moved to Wagga Wagga RAAF School of Technical Training. Meeting in Sydney in May 1960 at a blind date when attending a movie with friends. After spending a year of courtship they married on January 21st 1961 and have achieved 55 years of marriage. I can say that they would never have had a dull moment in this 55 years of marriage. AS…my dad Dad became a father for the first time in August 1961, with his first beautiful daughter Lynnette. He then became the father of 5 more beautiful daughters, with me being the 6th one. How lucky is he. :-) To me my dad’s best accomplishment is the one of family. This has now grown to 15 grandchildren. 10 grandsons and 5 granddaughters. And he also has 13 great grandchildren and one to be born in September. He has helped every one of us. Either by supporting his daughters and grandchildren of with their financial hardships or just being there, by attending their basketball games, their weddings and their graduation from school and university. He has supported us all in any way he possible can and for this we are grateful. Please raise your glasses and help me toast to my father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Graham Volker, to Graham. I would also like to take this opportunity to toast my mother, Elaine Volker. Dad wouldn’t have accomplished such a beautiful family without my mum. And she has been by my dad’s side through the rough times and the good times. To my mum, Elaine. (Cheers) Mr Toastmaster 30/6/2016 0 Comments Townsville Fashion Festival 2016I had the pleasure to volunteer and experience fashion photography this year at the Townsville Fashion Festival for 2016. I enjoyed the experience however it was a long exhausting day starting at 2.30 pm and finishing at 11 pm at night. I hope you enjoy my documentary of the hair and make up and the fashion show. 16/6/2016 0 Comments My Inspirational Quote PageA few years ago I decided to embark on a Facebook page with quotes using my own images. I had taken so many photographs over the years and they were just sitting on my portable hard drive and nobody got to see them; so as I was into viewing and liking other quotes that popped up on the Facebook timeline I decided it was time to venture out and create my own quote page.
By creating a new page from my account I created a page titled "Inspirational/Life/Love/Positive Quotes" Over the years I have received many followers to my page with over 8.000 followers to date. I feel really excited and blessed that I have so many followers. I am so glad I decided to create this page and use my photographs to produce quotes for others to like and share on their Facebook timeline. you can find my inspirational page at the following link Inspirational/Life/Love/Positive Quotes I had the pleasure in working with Alex on a project for a dance retail company. Our plan was to create a Pint the Tutu on the Ballerina to play at children's birthday parties. It was a challenge, as I have learnt how to draw with detail and to build my drawings up with layers. Drawing outline illustration was definitely a challenge and I think that is why I chose to draw a fluffy teddy bear to keep some detail. We had a photo shoot and make believe birthday party this gave us the opportunity to try out the Pin the Tutu on the Teddy Bear Ballerina. The feedback from the kids was great, they all seemed to enjoy it. :) Now I have the template at home and my granddaughter is celebrating her 5th birthday with us, so we enjoyed a quick game of pin the tutu on the teddy ballerina. 19/5/2016 1 Comment Wedding Day 14th May 2016I had the pleasure in capturing the wedding of the beautiful couple Aliesha and Brendan. It was a gorgeous day for a wedding. Thank you for choosing me as your wedding photographer and I hope you enjoy your photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. :)
|