We are so very proud of Bradley right now.  We attended the junior honours evening tonight and watched Bradley get a certificate for outstanding academic achievement for the year! How cool is that?!

So of course, I have to show off how clever he is and post some photos of him at the ceremony

He was so shy on stage this time, so very different from the play from a few weeks ago.  This time he just kept looking at the floor on stage… he hardly looked up!!

I thought I’d also write a few tips that I’ve learnt the last few years of taking photos of the kids on stage.  I saw quite a few parents struggling with their DSLR’s this evening, and hopefully this helps someone.

1. Sit on the end of the row so that you can stand to take the photos without irritating all the other parents.  Tonight, I didn’t actually stand, but I was sitting on the end of a row so I could move my chair a bit to get a good angle.

2.  Try not use your flash.  Generally you’re sitting so far back in the audience anyway, so a flash isn’t going to travel that far, and you do want to use the ambient light to get depth in your image.

3.  The lighting on stage is generally quite good… in pockets… so you can set your ISO, so that your shutter speed is 50 or higher (any slower and I find that the kids are blurred because they don’t stand still).  Tonight my ISO was set at 1250 to get the shutter speed fast enough to take the photo.  I shoot in Aperture mode if you’re wondering, I find it faster to change the settings especially in these kind of situations.

4. If the colouring is crap, like these ones were… change the photos to B&W to make editing faster.  At my son’s school, the lighting on stage is coloured, so you get some pink faces and some orange… there’s not much consistency so fixing it is a nightmare… hence the B&W (oh and to mask the colour scheme somewhat for privacy purposes).  And I also change it because I prefer B&W when I’m telling a story because I think your eyes tend to focus more on the intended subject than being distracted by coloured backrounds etc.

A few weeks ago, one of the mom’s in Bradley’s year asked me to take photos at their Grade 2 year end party.  Thankfully it only entailed taking photos during the drumming session that was organised, so I could take a few hours off work and attend.  It’s not often that I get involved with school things, and it was about time I did something.

What a fun morning for the kids.  The Drum Cafe came to the school with 110 drums… just enough for every child in the year to have a drum to play with.  And OMW what incredible music they made.  They got into the rhythm so very quickly (compared to the work drumming session I did years ago where it took quite a while for everyone to start drumming in time)

Because I don’t have permission from most parents, I’m only showing you a few images of Bradley and the friends that I know won’t have a problem with their images being online. I’m also using this post to try out my new MCPActions presets

If you’re one of the Grade 2 moms and you’re trying to find the rest of the images, they’ll be put into a password protected online gallery for you to download in a few days time.

Yes, Bradley again Lance and I got asked to attend assembly this morning, and for a change we managed to keep it a complete secret from him so he had no idea he was getting any merit award today (the school asks the parents not to say anything).  He got a term merit badge (and certificate) for outstanding achievement in all areas.

We are so so very proud of him!!

If you’re wondering about that mark on his forehead… he was wrestling with Connor on my bed a few days ago and managed to hit his head on the side table.

At the end of every school term, the karate kids are graded, and then the following week they have an open day for the parents to watch what they’ve been doing in karate over the period… and they get their results.  And this term, Bradley graduated from Yellow + 3 to Orange!

Bradley asked me so nicely to watch him today, and so I flew to the school after a meeting and got there just after they started (mostly late because some stupid woman bashed into my car on the way there).

It’s always awesome watching him do sport, and he really loves his karate!

Oh and one last one… my mom and Connor

And if you’re wondering how I took them on such a gloomy day… I hiked my ISO up to 1250, and set the f-stop to 2.8

Bradley was selected for the cricket team which played mini cricket today against another local school.  Mini cricket takes place at the Randburg Sports Club every week and all the local schools compete against each other.

Today was their first match of the year, and Bradley was very excited to be a part of it.  I wasn’t feeling well at work today, and left early… and I popped in on my way home to watch him play.  I know, you’re probably saying… she said she was sick… but seriously as a mom, I cannot miss an opportunity to watch my son play a sport when I’m driving past the grounds anyway on my way home.

It was so cool to watch.  Bradley is batting and bowling so well… Lance has been practising with him at home for the last few months… he just now needs to work on concentrating on the game and running between the wickets.  He tends to go into a dream state after hitting a ball, and he just stands glued to the ground for a while