moreton island

last weekend we took a trip to moreton island, a beautiful island, near to brisbane.  We crammed in a taxi and raced to our camping spot to arrive before the tide came in.  the evenings were spent drinking copious amounts around the campfire and the days climbing the huge sand dunes.  it took us a 3 hour walk to leave the island again, as the taxi's were all booked up, but what an amazing walk home just us and our hangovers.

self portraits

i'm hitting my first wall, i don't know where to go with my photography so for now i'm keeping my camera in my hand and will keep shooting, this is part of my photo journal, i will keep a visual diary until creating my next shoot, L.

some extras from the luxe shoot two weeks ago, now what to do with them....

luxe shoot

so here's the shoot i've been working on the past few weeks with my talented friend roxy who styled the models.  luxe hair boutique, teagan who did the hair, stef the make up, and ryan, jess and bree who modelled.  we all worked together as a team and now the task is to submit them somewhere to get them published for some exposure. one step at a time.

avo nice day

some delicious avacados we picked up from a stall at the side of the road

photos by L

inspiration: francesca woodman

i am surprised that i've never come across francesca woodman before today, an american photographer (1958-1981).  from age 13 she used herself as the main subject in her black and white photographs but she had a short lived career choosing to take her life at age 23 by jumping out of a loft window in new york.  i am in awe of her photographs, and  have never felt such a reaction to art, they are incredibly eerie and will continue to haunt me but also inspire me to use curiosity and truth.

self portrait age 13

new lens!!!

a quick play with my new lens, 17-55 f/2.8, long exposure.
by L

walking on water

the way i don't see

before i forget what i learnt, i want to share with you a couple differences i noted between western thinking and the way aboriginal people think. 

the way we look

if someone would talk about the view then i look out to the horizon, as far as i can see.  when an aboriginee would look at the same place they'll look at the actual land in front of them, the form the land takes and the different markings. 

i would love to try to see through their eyes.  instead of watching their eyes.

the way we think
like the land we are always looking out to the future, to what is going to happen later, where as aboriginals seem to be interested in what was happening around them now, and what had happened before them.



the kids were amazing.  much less spoilt than most western kids, i think maybe they had less attention.  when they'd have a bad fall they'd laugh instead of cry. 

when we drove around with 15 or so kids in one car, they'd get excited and point out things in the land.  instead of being excited about macdonalds, it was a honey tree they'd shout about.  or my favourite, the water snake.  it took me some time to realise a water snake was a stream flowing from a hill.

and their stories were amazing, they'd see ghosts everywhere, i couldn't walk by certain places because there would be a man i couldn't see standing on the corner.




















 what's mine is mine


one aboriginal said: the land doesn't belong to them, they belong to the land.

intruding on a stranger,
lunchtime,
flinders lane,
melbourne

loitering in melbourne

self portrait of dai and i, reflected in the trams

dreaming out the window

come and see

forgotten town. 
I have been living here for three long months now, where there has been plenty of time for thoughts and plenty of time to realise that there's not enough time for mind-numbing work.  I am going to make a promise:

now that I have picked up my camera again, I will keep it in hand, I will keep a photographic journal of my travels.  I want to live by taking photos, to make a dream a realisation I must have the courage to pursue it. no excuses.

to get started with this blog thing has taken me about four hours, but it is my first step.  It is very rough around the edges but I'll try and fix that, this blog will follow my journey. I will fail many times but I will keep trying, because success doesn't happen without failure, so bear with me...