Rachel Greig

New venture: Placemats & Coasters

Growing up, dinner was usually served on cork-based placemats with varying designs... mainly country style since we lived in the bush. I ate at different houses regularly (Mum's, Dad's, Grandparent's, and friends houses) each with their own set of placemats. Grandma & Grandpop Greig's house always had a good assortment to choose from! I remember watching Grandpop trace around the edge of the placemats with his fingers as he told stories. I remember Grandma setting out the table with the different designs. Even now when I visit Mum's house I like seeing what she has in placemats to choose from!

But I never bought a set for myself. Even with messy kids who can sometimes cause chaos at the dinner table, I only had material or thatched style placemats. I guess I wanted my first set of real placemats to be special!

Truth is, I always thought it would be fun to have my own photographs featured on a set of placemats & coasters. So a couple of years ago I contacted Jason Products to see what their requirements were for licensing of images. After working together to find the right design to compliment their current range, they contacted me in May this year to ask if they could use one of my frangipani images. I was sitting in an airport in Malaysia when I received the news and I was so excited! To me it's not just about photographs on placemats... It's about dinner time, it's about getting together with family, hearing stories, choosing your own placemat, talking about the pictures, the artwork, and of course how easily they can be cleaned after a messy dinner!

So after much anticipation, Jason Products have released my first set of placemats and coasters:

Bright and cheery! Anyone own a beach house? These would be great in a sunny kitchen or dining area! Currently the placemats are available in New Zealand and Australia. I also love some of their other new designs. Especially the Animal Collection and Seaside Memories. Think I might need to invest in a few extra sets!! If you're interested, contact Jason Products for information on stockists. 

On a personal note, I wish Grandma & Grandpop Greig were still around. I think they would have gotten a real kick out of using placemats that featured my artwork! I'll enjoy it for them :)

Pete & Fran Part 2

Here are some more photos from Pete & Fran's wedding.....

I love how all the Jacaranda leaves had fallen and matched Fran's dress in this next shot...

There are so many beautiful big trees in the Botanical Gardens, and one of the photos they really wanted to do was of them sitting under one of the trees. They both love this next image...

We also captured them with the Sydney Harbour backdrop...

And found a cool terrace house as we were walking to the restaurant, so yep, more photos :)

Outside the restaurant where we all had dinner and more celebrations...

After all the celebrations were over, all of the guests ventured outside with sparklers to send off Pete & Fran. We all had so much fun with these...

So there you go... a small look into the wedding. Of course there are many many more that I could have shared, but I had to stop somewhere!! Didn't want to embarrass them too much! One of the benefits of being a photographer at a wedding is you get to spend the whole day with the newlyweds. From preparation right through the ceremony, formal photos, then through the reception. I was so lucky :) I had so much fun with them. I love being with Pete & Fran, as they are so enthusiastic about everything they do. The energy just rubs off onto you, and you can't help but feel like you can conquer the world!

Congratulations you two... enjoy the journey.

New Zealand

I had a wonderful few days in New Zealand. The weather was just perfect, not too hot, not too cold. I first taught a class in Christchurch for Cheryl at Stamping Fun Unlimited, then traveled down to Staveley to teach at a stamp camp for Doreen from 2bStamping. The ladies in all of the classes were so much fun, and so welcoming and friendly. In between classes we had some time to check out some of the local scenery and take a few shots:

A HUGE thank you to all of the ladies who took my classes in NZ and who sat through my (long) demo's! And a huge thanks goes out to Cheryl and Doreen for inviting me over and being such great hosts, and to Kirsten for driving me to and from the camp. The ladies at the camp were given a challenge on the Friday night to use some Darkroom Door Photochips.... read all about it here on the DD blog.   

So..... now that I'm home form my relaxing week in NZ, I'm now in full swing preparing for the SIA Trade Show next week. Darkroom Door have a booth, and i am super busy finishing off the samples, class kits, and make & take kits. I hear that my workshop is booked out too! Keep an eye on the Darkroom Door blog, I'll be updating it with all the news, photos and samples over the next few days.

Guessing Competition

CHA is in full swing now, and I can share with you a canvas that I did for the Ranger booth. 24 artists were given one Distress Ink colour palette and a canvas, and we all had to create whatever we wanted - but only with the one Distress Ink colour (and black & white). Mine was Brushed Corduroy. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and I've seen photos of some of the other canvases and they were awesome! I'll try and source a photo of the booth to show you ALL of the colours together in one display. I bet it looks amazing.

And... time for a little guessing competition! I updated my Macro 366 album last night and left off the descriptions because some of them look a little obscure... so I wondered if any of you can guess what they are or where/why they were taken? Have a look from 26th Jan - 8th Feb (images #26 - #39) and leave comment with your guesses. Some of them are obvious, but others may get you thinking. The person who gets the most correct will win this goodie pack! So start guessing!

Thanks also for the birthday wishes from my last post! I had a wonderful day :)

Banner bright enough for ya?

I thought it was time for a new banner, so went with one of the recent Macro shots. It was looking quite nice while I was working on it.... then I uploaded it to the site.... and checked it out.... and

BAM!

It's bright! And it looks very marmalade! LOL.

Sorry - I don't have time to change it, so for the next few days you'll just have to read my blog with sunglasses on!

Bye! :)

Macro 366 update

I've uploaded some more photos to my Macro 366 album. It has been fun looking around for subjects, and while I've always loved flowers and food for my macro photography, I'm trying to incorporate other new things too. I have some ideas of things I need to photograph around the house too, so am looking forward to doing that over the next few days.

A few answers to some questions:

• I'm shooting with a Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens. This lens has a 1:1 ratio, meaning that I can shoot things life size.
• This is not a new lens for me. I bought this years ago and have used it extensively already. It is compatible with film cameras and digital cameras (which is why I am still using it.) I first owned it when I used film exclusively, and the Macro lens has stayed with me while I made the transition to digital. There is a new 60mm Macro lens out that is designed specifically for digital SLR's, but I haven't moved over to this one.
• #8 image was just a plant leaf with a few water droplets on it. I don't know the name of the plant! (I'm not much of a green thumb when it comes to plants.)

If you have any questions about any of the images, please ask! I'm more than happy to share technical details or subject details etc.

Happy Sunday!

Macro 366

It seems that a lot of people have started 'Photo 365' projects for this year, where they take a photo each day. I've had a 'Photo a Day' album on this blog since I started it, and I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't very good at keeping up with it! I should have re-named it a Photo a Year! I think my problem was I didn't know which photos to upload (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!)

So I have narrowed the playing field, and have started a Macro 366 project (it's a leap year). I plan to pull out the Macro lens every day and photograph something and upload a photo to the Macro 366 album, which is in the sidebar on the left. Whether it's a proper photo shoot, or just a snap, it doesn't matter. Just a little shot a day to share, and perhaps inspire you in some way to get your own camera out!

I know right now that I won't be able to upload photos every single day as there will be times I'll be away from the computer without any internet access.... so on those occasions I'll catch up when I return home.

And if I'm falling behind, you're welcome to remind me to upload some shots! Your feedback and encouragement to continue will do just that - help me continue :)

Here's to looking at the world close up in 2008!

A is for Avoca Beach

Glorious weather. Wade in the rock pools. Dig in the sand. Jump over the small waves. Fun in the sun. Happy kids. Lots of sunscreen. Watch the fisherman. Explore the rocks. Play on the swings. Eat ice blocks. Check out Avoca Beach Theatre. Chat to the owner. They are expanding and adding 2 new cinemas and bringing back their Alfresco movies. Yay! It's been a while since I've gone to that theatre. Stew & I used to go there on dates. Have been to many a beach party at Avoca too. Wild stories! Some I've forgotten but have photographic evidence. Anyway, back to today. Antique store. Arts & Craft shops. Zoë broke a ceramic pig. Had to buy the ceramic pig. Lucky the pig was only $3.50. Happy that the pig was pink. Bought a purple pig too. Purple pig isn't broken. Yet. Bought the paper. Walk along the shops. Check out the lake. Watch the canoeists. Have photographed a few weddings here in the past. Looked in a few art & photography galleries. Wonderful way to spend the morning. A is for Avoca Beach.