winter.

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happening.

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found.

Jumping in the creek for this piece was THE FUNNEST thing I've done for ages!  My recent self portraits have been little adventures and not surprisingly, this one was too...

It was a super stormy morning and I had limited time but I decided to take a chance, so off I went to the location which is a creek just around the corner from where I grew up.  When I arrived the clouds were still holding onto the rain (yay) but there were horse riders around (not so yay as I prefer to avoid audiences when shooting self portraits!).  I was really hoping to do a shoot that day so I got brave and trudged on.

As I walked through the bush orange butterflies danced out of the long grass with each of my footsteps which was quite... magical.  I didn't even attempt to photograph them as I knew I wouldn't be able to capture the wonder of that moment and chose to enjoy, and absorb, it instead.  The closer I got to the creek the darker those clouds became.  They were quickly turning black, then along came the thunder and lightning.  And not just little rumbles and flashes either...

I picked my backdrop for the piece and danced around it a little, deciding how the composition was going to work.  The storm was almost directly above me now so I put my camera in a highly technical cover (a plastic bag) to protect it, ripped a hole for the lens and into the creek I went.  I wore my flipflops in at first as I wasn't sure if there would be yabbies in there but I soon broke one, so as usual I was running around the bush barefoot in a frock.  Which is, as I keep saying, when I'm happiest.

Creating this piece was such a joyous experience for me, it was hard to wipe the goofy grin from my face!  Barefoot in the mud, splashing in the creek, in the middle of a storm, getting drenched in the rain, listening to birds singing as I worked, with no presence of time.  So.  Awesome.

A couple of outtakes below;

I really like the stance of the figure on the left but I find the lines of the rock behind the face distracting.  And the image on the right is just me hanging out in the creek with potential yabby friends.

Here's one of my singers providing the background music, and I had to get a shot of the amazing clouds on my (soggy) drive home!

Ps. I don't normally use words like magical and joyous but they seemed appropriately goofy for this post...

Pps. When I told Dad about my adventures he suggested I should start doing landscape photography or get back to 'my painting'.  Sorry Dad.

x

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each leaf and every petal, embracing a memory

tough day at the office.

I had a tough day at the office on Tuesday.

Since having the boys I have my shoots planned in my head from the pose to the costumes, then when I have a chance to take the photos I'm totally prepared and can make the most of my limited time.  Tuesday was different.  I had an idea I wanted to try at the country tennis courts I used to play on when I was a kid, but it wasn't really planned, it was just an idea.  When I was out there it so wasn't happening.

My remote was running out of batteries so I was jumping and balancing on my ribs for way too long.  The beautiful flowers I wanted in the image weren't working either.  I couldn't find the right composition.  I wanted to shoot through the wire fence but again, the remote wasn't cooperating.  There were horse riders regularly passing by and I'm not keen on an audience when I shoot self portraits, I get a bit embarrassed jumping around in front of the camera!  It was a beautiful day but the light was too harsh for what I had in mind.  Finally the horses left and I felt I had some space to make progress, then some people wanted to use the courts.  I packed up.

These self portraits are just for me.  They're not for a particular series, exhibition or competition.  I feel like that gives me the freedom to push myself.  Like embracing the sun and shooting at high noon, and creating a 'straight' image.  The photograph above, free, is straight from the camera with only a touch of contrast and that's something I'm not normally comfortable with.  But for this image it was the only thing that worked as adding textures or introducing different tones was too much.  The harsh lighting and the performance within the photograph is enough.

When I was packing my gear in the car my ex neighbour turned up to tell me I could go to his family farm to do some photos if I wanted, but I had to be quick as they were putting it on the market very soon.  I drove there straight away as I didn't want to miss the opportunity and I felt relieved, like I'd been given another chance to get this idea to work.  The result is see (below).  I could have returned at dusk to capture that golden light but I wanted to keep pushing myself to use the sun and now when I step back to look at it, it's a very nostalgic photograph for me.  The bright blue cloudless sky, the tin, the daisies.  It all transports me back to my childhood, the freedom of growing up in the country.  Add the smell of the daises and my brain was about to implode with memories!

I still didn't get my idea to work.  It's tucked away for another day...

When I'm running around bare foot in the bush, I am free.

the last glass {personal}

I was looking for something else but came across these files tonight and whoops, I edited this instead.  This is the last shoot I had at my childhood home before my parents moved into town and I thought I was doing pretty well without my muse.  It turns out I miss her.


I'll be returning to the country for my next series.

Once upon a time...