Spring is in the air...



The sun shone long and bright in Bangor today so we made the most of it and walked to the beach and back-ditching the boots for a change, but not quite shedding the layers!

 

 

As a teacher, I am a great believer in life-long learning and improving our skills at every available opportunity. Every year, when I return from holidays, I promise myself that I'm going to enrol in a photography class but the reality is, I do not have the luxury of being able to commit to 2 hours every week on a set night over a period of 10 or so weeks. With this in mind, I enrolled on a one day 'Get Yourself off Auto'  photography workshop with Paul Crawford at The Hilton Templepatrick and merrily took myself off there yesterday to join 11 other 'novices' to learn more about getting to grips with my Nikon DL3100. When I say novices, I'm not quite convinced that the others were quite as inexperienced as me and

to begin with, I felt quite overwhelmed and out of my league-now I knew how it felt to be the 'pupil'-but I was determined to learn as much as I could.

The 6 hours actually stretched to 7 and I barely noticed the time pass-so engrossed was I in learning, questioning, listening, experimenting (sometimes failing) and enjoying. I won't be giving up my day job to become a photographer but I feel that I have moved out of my comfort-zone and learned a new set of skills which I can hopefully put to some good use in the future.

 

A few of my pics to put you into the mood for Easter-don't be too harsh on me!

 



 

 

 

 

Yesterday taught me that it's never too late to learn a new skill and recently I joined my colleagues on a 'Well-being Day' which consisted of sporting activities such as archery, wall-climbing and laser shot as well as team-building and problem solving tasks but the highlight of the day for many was the 'sewing' workshop and despite many not having threaded a needle since 'Domestic Science' at school, before long they were completing their 'works of art' in the form of brooches, key rings and home decorations. It just goes to prove that some old dogs can be taught new tricks!

 

 

 

 



 

During my recent weekend in Paris, I bought some little postcards for 1 Euro each and this weekend I eventually got round to putting them into a frame-£10 for the cards and frame.

 



 

 

I'm still deciding what to wear to London on Tuesday and some of my long-suffering friends have been wonderful with their advice. I have a feeling that the final decision will be made at 5am on Tuesday morning before I board the 'red-eye!'
Tx