You won't believe what's been going on recently! A lot of very unexpected things have been happening, most of them involving my photography.

Today I wanted to share some of these experiences with you.

credit: Sue Elvis

 Mum and I have a new 'toy'. It's a mirrorless camera. An Olympus OM-D-E-M10 to be precise! It was really unexpected. One evening out of the blue, Mum asked me what the benefits of a mirrorless camera are and what they cost. After a lot of research, Mum decided that it was worth buying us one. So she did.

credit: Sue Elvis

Since it arrived, I've been teaching myself how to use it. Mum and I have discovered that it's a great camera for video. It has inbuilt image stabilisation so we can do handheld clips and its continuous auto-focus is nearly silent. I think I'm going to be filming most of my videos on this camera from now on.


While I've been playing with the Olympus, I haven't been ignoring my Nikon D3100. I took it on a photo shoot with my younger sister, Gemma-Rose. When Mum first published her novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek, I took some photos of Gemma-Rose and the book for Mum to use on her blog. Since then Mum has updated the cover of the book, so I decided I'd take some new photos for her.
  

I was really pleased with how the photos turned out. It's surprising to see how much my photography has improved since the original shoot. That was an unexpected discovery.


Earlier this week we had a heat wave. The temperature was constantly above 30c. But I didn't let that stop me from doing a Fitness Blender workout.

"Be careful!" Mum called as I entered my room to exercise. I didn’t think I needed to heed her warning, but something unexpected happened.

Half an hour later, I hobbled out of my room again. "I need a seat," I groaned.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?" my sister Charlotte asked, thinking I'd overdone it in the heat. But I hadn't.

"My ankle!" I explained. "I tripped on a dumbbell and twisted my ankle."

My ankle was swollen and bruised. I had to walk around on crutches for several days. Luckily I’m off the crutches now, but my ankle is still sore.

credit: Sue Elvis

I haven't been bored while I've been off my feet, though because something else unexpected happened. Mum surprised me with a present that is keeping me entertained. Well, to be honest, she bought me TWO presents. They're Tony Northrup's photo editing books, Lightroom Video Book and Photoshop Essentials

The Photoshop one hasn’t been published yet, but as soon as it is, we will have it because we pre-ordered it.

credit: Sue Elvis

The books come with hours and hours of video training. Once I've read a chapter, I can watch the videos that go with it. The videos help me understand everything more clearly.

So that's what has been happening in my life. What's been going on in yours? Has anything unexpected happened to you recently? Also, would you be interested in me making a review of our camera?