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The Perth Royal Show is held every year and is similar to the state fairs that take place across the US. It’s generally focused on agriculture and regional Australia (with prizes awarded for the best livestock), but also includes a lot of rides, junk food and … showbags.

Showbags are generally themed and have 5-15 different toys, gadgets and other bits of plastic junk relating to that theme. We like to think we’re doing our very important part to support the Chinese economy. The kids spend a lot of time agonising over which bag to get; comparing the contents, considering the utility and evaluting the coolness factor. They’re fully aware, however, that the chocolate and candy bags are totally off limits.

We had another reason for visiting the show this year: LR had two of her photographs accepted into the photographic exhibition. It was a big accomplishment; only the best photos make it in, and she was competing with high school kids, too!

This year, we visited two times: once during the day, and a follow-up visit in the evening to see the excellent fireworks with Grammy, Poppa and the Melbourne cousins, PA and MS.

Well, we're here guys. What should we do first?

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LR had two photos included in the Perth Royal Show photo exhibition. All the entries are judged and scored, and a lot of images don’t make it in, so this is a pretty big deal! Unfortunately, she didn’t win any of the category prizes, and she was fairly disappointed… until she found out about the People’s Choice Award…

LR: Mom, can we take everyone back to the photo display to vote for my photo?

Mom: Sure. But remember that the People’s Choice award is across all categories. You have to get a lot of votes to win that one!

LR: They don’t get you to put your name on the voting slip. I’ll just vote lots of times.

Mom: That’s called stacking the ballot box, honey.

LR: Great. Let’s do that.

Mom: You’re not really supposed to do that. It makes it less fair.

LR: It’s already not fair. I’m only seven and they’re all grownups. How else am I going to win?

Mom: By taking a really good photo. Your age doesn’t matter.

LR: Yeah. Or we can just get everyone in the family to vote lots of times. I like that idea better.

It was a huge August and the kids have only gotten more busy, not less. We’ve had birthday parties, sleep-overs, soccer finals, dress-up days at school, martial arts Jedi training and more. Here are some of the highlights!

Dad took LR and RJ on the train into the city to look for a present for Mum's birthday.

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I’m feeling pretty nervous today! Tonight is the opening night of the PCP Iris Award Exhibition… and I’m in it!

Two weeks ago I received a phone call letting me know that I was a finalist for the Iris Award for Contemporary Portraiture. It’s run by the Perth Centre for Photography, a local organisation promoting photography and emerging talent. It’s a huge deal for me, because it’s judged by both professional photographers and artists with a strong grounding in contemporary photography and art history.

It doesn’t help that I’ve seen some of the other finalists (and rejected entries) and they were just awesome.

All I can say is,  “I’m not worthy!” and, “They Like Me, They Really Like Me!!!”.

Barn Unfinished Breakfast : My entry for the Perth Centre for Photography Iris Award for Contemporary Portraiture... What a mouthful!

The secret of my success? Having really cute kids and taking way more photos than any human being should reasonably be allowed to.

Seriously, if there was a tax on megapixels the IRS and ATO would be hunting me down.

I had to stop at the quarterly photography market to try to find some filters and LR came with me. I left empty handed, but she walked out with this monster!

LR shows off the camera gear she picked up on the weekend.

(The reason the picture looks weird is that I shot this on film that expired 10 years ago, on a 30 year old camera, and I don’t have a scanner.)