Saturday 24 May 2014

A Photographic Week with the Masters {HSMJ}

In my life this week…

I have started back into my photography class.  This weeks assignment is hard I have to work on spot metering ... Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I feel so very blessed too.  On Tuesday evening I had the opportunity to join a Canon Masters Workshop here in Melbourne courtesy of the Canon Collective.  Be sure to sign up if there is a Collective near you as they arrange many opportunities throughout the year to learn more about different types of photography.  In June they are playing with science in Melbourne.  

There were two classes held. We explored wedding photography without the use of flash or touching up in any way.


The first session was hosted by Canon Master Yervant. You can view more photo's from this session on my Facebook.


The second session was hosted by Canon Master Jonas Peterson. You can view more photo's from this session on my Facebook.

In our home school this week…
  • Sir N has been really sick this week.  As a result we have done very little written work but still learned a lot.
  • We are loving Veritas History.  Some days we watch two or three classes.
  • We attempted to draw a kitten.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
 My favourite thing this week was…
Things I’m working on…
  • We continued with our Graham Braddock DVD art class and this week attempted to draw a kitten.
In Bloggy world I’m reading…
On Pinterest I found...
I’m grateful for…
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Met a new member of the Werribee Open Range Zoo today.  Her name is Kulinda.


Blessings

Chareen

Homegrown Learners

Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

Friday 23 May 2014

Victorian Police Museum {Field Trip}

When I first started blogging one of my goals was to record our trips.  I have been looking over my blog and realised that it's been a long time since I have done this.  I have decided to join in on Field Trip Friday and start recording our trips again.

This past Monday we took a field trip into Melbourne to the Victorian Police Museum. They are open Monday to Friday and entry is via gold coin donation. The Museum is located on the Mezzanine Level of the World Trade Centre.

You are allowed to take photographs inside this museum as long as it's without a flash.
 
The sky was a beautiful deep autumn blue, it was wonderfully warm and we got to see a lot of the old architecture in the city. My Mom joined us for the trip.

They had two of the armour shields the Ned Kelly gang used on display.  The piece of metal that Sir N is touching is an example of mould board.  This piece weights nine kilograms.  The armour Ned Kelly wore weighed a total of 45 kg.

Women in the Victoria Police
Top L - Hat with badge for women Bottom
Left Madge O'Conner one of the first police women.
Right Christine Nixon First Police
  • About the hat and badge: "When Alma Aldersea joined the Police Force in March 1945 women were issued special 'PW' badge numbers rather than the unique individual numbers given to male officers. These numbers could be re-issued to other females when the original owner left the Force as was routinely expected. Alma's badge, PW9, can be seen on this cap. After Alma married and resigned her badge was issued to three more policewomen - the last in 1975." Interestingly if a woman got married she had to resign from the police Force.
  • Madge O'Conner joined the Victoria Police as an agent in 1917 and became a fully sworn in police officer in 1924. It took her seven years.
  • Christine Nixon became the first woman to be appointed as the Chief Commissioner in Victoria.
  • Women had been in the police force since 1917 but it was only in 19743 that the first one was promoted one rank.
Each of the glass cases contain different uniforms and interesting documentation and information about the Police Force over the decades.

 Here Sir N takes a look at 'ERIC'.  He was built in 1989 and became the first bomb disposal robot used by the Victorian Police.  He spent 18 years serving the force and went into honourable retirement in 2007.


In the rear of the museum there is an area dedicated to the history of fighting crime in Australia.
  • The first detectives were introduced into the police force in 1844. They wore plain clothes, and operated independently of any uniformed police.
  • Detectives were issued an identification medallion on a  fob-chain.
  • In 1925 three detectives were charged and found guilty of asking for money in exchange for protection.  The presiding judge in handing down his verdict expressed great shock that "a guilty person can buy the silence of the guardians of the law."
  • From the Victorian Police Manual: "A good detective should know the suspects in particular classes of crime, their haunts and associates, especially their intimate male and female associates."
  • "Science is the most efficient and most effective member of the Victorian Police Force ... the one unimpeachable witness." - John Morris, The Argus Weekend Magazine 11 May 1940
  • The Australian Police were slow to adopt forensic investigation. It was pioneered by individual detectives.  Today it is standard practice.
  • You can read all about DNA proofing, fingerprinting, ballistics, etc along the walls.
  • The identification kit called Photo-FIT was developed by Jacques Penry.

Last but not least we were able to try on a police uniform.


It was a lovely day out building memories and exploring together.  I hope to revisit this museum with Sir N when he is in high school so that he can better enjoy all the displays and reading all the interesting historical information.

Blessings
Chareen



Thursday 22 May 2014

Kitten Still Life {Virtual Fridge}

This Week
Last week I shared our teddy bear still life drawing.  This week we continued working our way through a Graham Braddock DVD art class.  This picture took us just over two hours to complete.  I am really pleased with the outcome. I think we may try this one again using the outline that is available for download.  The next class is drawing a face.  You can also purchase these as a download or as a DVD set of four DVD's over at Graham Braddock.

 Here is Sir N's drawing.  This weeks lesson was a little harder than last weeks.


There are five of us working through the dvd together.  Top row is mine and Sir N's.  Bottom is Mr E who is 8, Miss L who is 9 and Mrs T's drawing.

Featured This Week
Nikki over at Angels of Heart shares a tutorial on how they created some Sunshine Art.



Your Turn

I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.
Virtual Fridge Link Up

Blessings
Chareen


The Virtual Fridge a weekly art meme where we can hang our children's art on a virtual fridge. This meme was started by Jennifer over at A Glimpse of our Life who kindly invited three other bloggers to co-host this weekly meme.

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