Tag Archives: photography

The Ballad of Tommy and Faye – a Valentines Day Prompt

Not so long ago I was driving along one of our main roads and came across this:

IMG_0511

It captured my imagination, so much so that I had to stop the car and catch it on camera.

I am now intrigued by these two whom I have never met. What is their story? What drove Tommy to proclaim his love and high regard for Faye and her achievements? Where are they now? Are they happy? In the city there are a thousand lives. In the city there are a thousand poles. In the city there are a thousand stories.

Are Tommy and Faye lovers? Siblings? Is this is the first time Tommy has proclaimed his love for Faye? Does Faye travel the same way everyday so Tommy is guaranteed a viewing? Is this Tommy’s prelude to or part of a proposal? Are Tommy and Faye young and impetuous? And why the need for Tommy to go public?

This is my ballad of Tommy and Faye.

Tommy was a truck driver. He drove a semi and usually did the gruelling Sydney to Melbourne run. He was a man’s man, loved his beer, loved his mates and had simple needs. Being constantly on the road in his home on wheels fed Tommy’s need for freedom, he was always on the move. There was never really time to stop, the big supermarket chains were relentless in their delivery needs, you missed a pick up or drop off by more than half an hour, you’d lose 5% off the job, cutting your margin to almost nothing. Not only that, your reputation as the best and most reliable of the best would slip and the work flow would slow to a trickle. The pressure and the traffic were ever present, but Tommy just kept on truckin’. It was the only life he knew.

Tommy was not one to examine his feelings in depth. Depth was a dark scary place that held surprises. Tommy hated surprises. However, discontent seemed to be gnawing constantly at his gut lately. Instinctively he knew he couldn’t continue with this life on the road forever. He had to settle down and start thinking about starting a family. His Gran always razzed Tommy that he would end up buried in the back of his truck with only his beer for company.

The one bright spot on Tommy’s horizon was Faye. Gorgeous Faye with the big eyes and even bigger dreams. Faye who was hell bent on making something out of her life and forgetting the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her overbearing father. Faye, the blond vixen who fit neatly under Tommy’s big arms, who made him forget the pressures of the road, who filled him with hope and yearning. Faye, who didn’t drink beer, but made him laugh like no on else. Faye, the one who made him feel.

Tommy’s mind went back to two weeks ago, to the fight he had with Faye. He’d been on the road ever since, a slave to the big chain supermarkets, and he missed her. Faye had advised Tommy that she couldn’t wait for him for ever and now that she had finished her early childhood studies certificate, she was working her way to opening up her own day care centre. Tommy was never book smart and felt totally out of his depth when speaking to Faye about her course and that unease came through the night of their fight. Tommy remembered Faye’s plea for security and stability, for a partner who would be there for her to share the journey. At that moment, Tommy questioned whether he was the right man for Faye, whether she could ever share in his world and stop dragging him into hers. The only problem was that he asked those questions aloud and in Faye’s presence. Faye’s big eyes and harsh words pierced right through Tommy’s gut, never mind his heart, which had taken refuge behind a wall of machismo.

In the two weeks he had been on the road with only his beer and his machismo for company, the kilometres stretching behind and before him in a never ending rotation of numbers, the highway scenery blending with his thoughts and his discontent he had found his clarity. His truth. Faye was his world and for her he was prepared to be vulnerable.

He just needed a way to grab her attention….

Has a homemade road sign ever grabbed your notice? Do you ever wonder about the backstory to those signs?

Please feel free to use this photo as a writing prompt. If you do, I’d love it if you posted a link to your post in the comments below so we can read it.

PS. I don’t usually write fiction, so this is new territory for me.

Let’s Phlog Monday: A Little Warmth And A Whole Lot of Renewal

I can’t believe that August is almost over and with it, winter. It has been a cold one here, windy and flu ridden and I am happy to bid it goodbye. Not that I desire to wish time away, certainly not at this stage of the game. But when the sun shines and the shivering stops, the heart swells just a little more and the momentum of renewal grows.

Spring in Australian doesn’t officially start until 1 September, but it has been the in the air for the last week or so. There are stirrings of colour in our gardens and insect activity has been on the increase. This is almost one of those perfect moments of the year. The harshness of winter is all but behind us and now our seasons of warmth and increased outdoor activity beckon. An almost child-like sense of anticipation pervades and it’s all ahead of us.

Not my photo although I wish it were!

And like the seasons cycle, so do the seasons within our lives. Happily, my own personal sense of renewal has coincided with the start of Spring! Coincidence? Methinks not. The Universe has a way of delivering to us the appropriate backdrops for our personal seasons or perhaps the Universe is the driving force behind the change of those seasons. Whatever the rationale, I’m riding this wave for all it is worth from the lucky position of never having suffered from hay fever!!

I am more than ready for some colour to re-enter my world. Here’s some early Spring Sydney colour that I captured over the last week together with a shot of the big bath tub that was our waveless beach.

Awakening

Renewal

Regeneration

Promise

It means that T-shirt, shorts and sandals weather is just around the corner together with cooking and entertaining outdoors. Goodbye hibernation, hello interactive community!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have a favourite flower? What colours in nature draw your eye? When was the last time you had an almost child-like sense of anticipation?

 

 

Let’s Phlog Monday: Showcasing the Scrapography Talent Of Toni Legates

A slightly later than usual Let’s Phlog Monday, but still posted on a Monday evening for all my readers waaaay over there.

I am more than a little bit excited about my post today because I have the opportunity of showcasing someone else’s amazing talent. It’s a real joy discovering something just a little bit different and having the channel to share it.

We live in a wonderful age where despite all of its sins technology has opened up a whole realm of possibility and connection beyond our front fence. I had the good fortune to meet up with a North American talented photographer and digital scrapbooker, Toni Legates, through technology and a mutual friend.  Toni’s work runs the gamut from pure scrapbooking to visual melded design incorporating photography and scrapbooking. Put simply, I love her designs and I wanted to share a sampling with you.

Toni’s work moves beyond the realm of the obvious and incorporates a level of depth and dimension that is a feast to the senses. Every piece is meaningful and relevant. Every piece is a testament to designing talent.

Toni says “I’ve never worked in film photography.  My first camera was a digital point & shoot.  When I loaded the first photos I would take with this little low resolution camera I was instantly transported into a world of possibility.  I also discovered I had much to learn.  Shortly after realizing I could  make magic with my camera I found a free open source, editing program called GIMP and set out teaching myself how to use it.  Then it happened, I saw my first scrapbooking layout and knew that somehow I was home!  Not only could I take and edit beautiful images but I could greatly increase their impact by creating a layout that helped tell the story of my photos.  After teaching myself how to scrapbook and confidently putting those skills to use, I began looking around online at wonderful quotes and sayings that had deep meaning for me.  Those words inspired me to create my own spin on them creating something not only uplifting but beautiful to look at.  Every photo and every quote speaks to me and tells me what it wants to become visually.”

Please sit back and enjoy the work of Toni Legates straight from Toni’s digital darkroom.

A masthead for the blog, Love is An Action Verb:

Love is An Action Verb – design by Toni Legates

A highly stylized image with added artistic design elements to give a real piercing effect:

Nita’s Beaming Eye – photo and design by Toni Legates

A clever digital meld of two photos, which I am calling Smoke On The Water. A case of seek and you shall find?

Photo by Toni Legates

A digital scrapbooking montage of the quote Listening Heart:

Listening Heart – design by Toni Legates

You can find a further example of Toni’s work in my A to Z April Blogging Challenge post, O is for Orchard: Finding the Sweet Success of Life.

Toni’s designs leave an impression and I have carried them with me long after the first sighting. I hope you enjoy this magical mystical tour through Toni’s dark room and I can’t wait to see what new designs emerge from its depths in the future.

And now for the question of the day, is scrapbooking an action verb?

Let’s Phlog Monday: What Do You Call A Group of Bloggers?

Well, another week has passed and another Monday is here to phlog.

You will be relieved that I have no deep and meaningful message for you in my photos today. Rather, I thought we’d play a little matching game.

When most non-Australian natives think of Australian wildlife, they probably think of these (hint: these are NOT my photos):

or these:

or maybe even these:

It doesn’t help that the foreign press seems to only ever write about Aussie wildlife when someone (usually a foreign tourist) dies. Our most recent shark attack/casualty happened only in the last couple of weeks off the coast of Western Australia, but to most of us Aussies that news is relatively ho-hum. We are not unfeeling or uncaring, but swimming in the ocean to us is like crossing the road. It’s an inherently unsafe activity, but experience and the odds tell us that we are highly unlikely to be shark’s dinner any time soon. Millions of people actually swim in Australian’s oceans every year without so much as a toe nibble or even a suck. As for crocs, well we know to feed them the foreign tourists first. Especially those tourists who wear crocs. And as for the spiders, we have a healthy respect for those, because they actually cohabit in our suburbs.

Despite common belief, Australians don’t don flack jackets and machetes when they venture out should they happen to meet wildlife. Most of us merely shoot the wildlife with cameras. Here’s some of the friendly animal-folk that I encountered over the last couple of weeks. No toe sucking or nibbling was involved… well not by the animals anyway and that’s ALL I’m going to say about that!

I therefore proudly present to you a herd of kangaroos, a team of ducks and a mob of cockatoos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, what do you call a group of bloggers?

Is it a flock, a school, a convention, a rhumba or is it murder? Maybe it’s an ascension, implausibility, generation or plump?

All of these are real collective nouns. Who knew?

I’m leaning towards the term “blaggle” to describe a group of bloggers. Not only does it give good alliteration, but twists the old tongue. I’d love to hear any other suggestions you may have.

And whilst you are pondering that let’s see if you can match up the collective nouns in column A to the right animals in column B, consulting Google University if you must. Post your answers in the comments section.  The nearest correct entry or entries will each receive 100 Curtain Credits. If you have read my “Hi There” page you will know that these are pretty much worthless, but think of the glory of being right, people, think of the glory ! Oh, and the judge’s decision will be final.

Winners and Curtain Credit recipients will be announced by Friday 27 July.

Column A 

mumuration
weyr
storytelling
rabble
ascension
fesnyng
convocation
generation
bloat
implausibility
 

Column B

eagles
butterflies
gnus
larks
vipers
starlings
hippopotami
ravens
dragons
ferrets

 

Good luck!

Let’s Phlog Monday: Finding That Path Through The Forest And The Trees….

… and the rocks and escarpment.

Firstly, let me apologise for my absence from blogdom all week. It’s been one of those introspective weeks where I have been trying to make sense of it all. Much needed and no doubt some of this introspection will find its way here at some point. Raising that Curtain just a little bit higher requires a fair bit of energy and my writing has been impacted. Coupled with that is trying to ascertain where my true blog voice lies. This week has been about searching for answers or at least trying to narrow the breadth of questions.

As a part of that process I went for a trek out bush. Nature has a way of providing cues and motivation and on this occasion it didn’t disappoint. One of my bluggies (blog buddies), dearanonymousfriend, through her comments inspired me to take photos of some of our non-coastal landscapes. I hope you find the results as pleasing as the coastal photos.

The photos are from an area called the Blue Mountains which is famous for its escarpment and a rock formation called the Three Sisters, for obvious reasons. On the day we descended the Giant Stairway through the Three Sisters to the floor of the Jamison Valley below.  The Stairway is carved into the cliff face and comprises 911 stairs with a drop of almost 300 metres. The expression “jelly legs” was very much at the fore of our minds. Once at the bottom we walked the Federal Pass along the base of the escarpment, a walk of about 3.1 km. The walk is not unduly difficult but does require a fair degree of fitness and I absolutely recommend it if you are thinking of playing tourist here.

Apart from breathing in the fresh mountain air and scouting photo ops, I was happy to be travelling along a discernible path. One that left no doubts about the direction of travel, one that ended at a meaningful destination, in this case, the Scenic Railway. Whilst there were side paths, they were less developed and the destination a little more uncertain. How many of us are searching for that path to that meaningful destination? I don’t need a path that is necessary well-travelled, I am happy to be a pioneer to an extent. But I am one that needs to understand the destination if only in an oblique sense and to be able to see a few steps in front of me.

One thing the trek taught me is that to be able to discover that next path, I need to be mindful of both the forest and the trees. The bigger picture and each individual element is equally as important and needs to be savoured. It also taught me that symbiosis is often necessary to maximise opportunities.

Symbiosis

Journey

Growth

Destination

Three Sisters

 Do you like to pioneer or go down a path more travelled?

Let’s Phlog Monday: Coastal Textures

Patterns are intriguing. Particularly natural ones.

They depict a wonderful combination of logic and creativity. A meeting of the left and right brains. For the longest time, my creative side has been drowned out by logic, reasoning, problem solving, facts, principles, process and tasks. If you are one of the lucky ones that have married your logical and creative sides, then I applaud you. This is still very much a work in progress for me.

I am often awed by the surrounding coastal landscape and the patterns found within it. Even when there are obvious natural flaws, the patterning is often sublime and impossible to humanly replicate. Elements combining together to construct three dimensional wizardry. The energy used to create these patterns is often immense, but Mother Nature takes it all in stride. Patterning is the instrument of the universe.

Here are some coastal patterns I have recently encountered. I hope you can feel the texture of the images in these photos. There’s a beauty in patterned repetition. Rough and smooth, creativity and logic…… balance.

Smooth

Weather

Erode

Design 

Create 

Do you tend to be more creative or logical? 

Let’s Phlog Monday: All Is Swell

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day – when it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May

And I’ve got these wonderful two opening lines from the Temptations 1965 classic My Girl shuffling around in my head as a precursor to the pictures to follow.

After last week’s rain burst, the sun has returned to our fair shores bringing some enjoyable winter days. Whilst it’s still cold, the sun has taken the edge off the chill during the day and brightness has replaced the dull somberness of eternal cloud.  Whenever it’s a sunny day, my optimism escalates. Most of us Aussies are sun chasers. When there’s sun, there’s hope of a warmer existence. During winter I scour the house for wind-protected sun patches and chase the movement of the sun as it filters through the windows with the passing day.

Aussies also tend to love the beach and I am lucky enough to be within reach of some amazing ones. The legacy of the Southerly of the week before was midweek six foot swells on our surf beaches. The surfers donned their wetsuits and came out to ride the waves. The dolphins smiled, looked on and frolicked. The whitewash was like shaving cream.

Before the photos, a touch of surfing humour:

 How do surfers clean themselves?

 They wash up on shore!

I consider surfers in six foot wintry swells to be very brave people. But days like these to a surfer are like rare manna from heaven and out they come to feast. The shots were taken just before dusk.

Waves Crashing

Pipeline Curling

Arms Thrashing

Board and Rider Hurling

Are you a sun chaser or do you prefer to be out of the sun?

Let’s Phlog Monday: When Winter Weeps

Wet, wet and more wet that’s what the long weekend has brought us here in the land of beaches and cream. It has been raining hard for the last two and a half days with no let up until at least Thursday. Today is a no work day, thanks to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her not so real birthday.

To begin with a winter quote from Edith Sitwell:

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,  for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  it is the time  for home.

This is a warm up photo and not one of mine.
Photo from flikr – song under the sugar sugar.

It certainly is a time for home … or a time for canoes, ducks, rubber boots and jumping and wading through puddles. It’s also a time for stews, dumplings, apple strudel and hot chocolate.

But first, a small winter joke and a nice topical segue…

Q: What do you get from sitting on the ice too long?

A: Polaroids

Please grab a mug of something and enjoy this week’s photos.

Driving Rain

Dark Descends

Winter Weeps

These were taken last week, just after a southerly decended on my town. A southerly refers to a cold change from the South usually bringing with it chilly Antarctic winds. In this case, the change decsended rapidly causing the light to dim and tempratures to plummet. It also brought with it heavy rain.

The pictures were taken from a skybridge in which I sought shelter. Minutes before the change, the outdoors were filled with people. Despite the weather, life pushes on.

What do you love about Winter?

Let’s Phlog Monday: How Much Does a Grecian Urn?

Answer: About the same amount as a Venetian charges to make a blind.

Sadly, the actual answer right now is probably either nothing or less than half of what he earned about 18 months ago. Hello to all my readers in the Eurozone, hope your weekend is not too shabby and you’re thinking about things far more pleasant than the economy.

Turning to today’s photos…

Another Autumnal day, another photo opportunity and if I shut my eyes I can imagine the Aegean Sea, Mykonos, fishing boats and paradise. Shirley Valentine…eat your heart out. I am dying to place some tables and chairs and have a wine or a coffee at this spot. Come join me for a Grecian adventure in Australia from your web portal.

Dream

Visualise

Feel

Escape

Wishing you all a good week.

 

Let’s Phlog Monday: Farewell to Autumn (Fall)

I can feel your excitement and anticipation all the way from down here.

You lucky people in the northern hemisphere springing your tanning lotion, flip-flops, bathers, tank tops and beach towels from their winter confinement. Of course we Aussies wear flip-flops (we call them thongs) all year around. Actually, most of don’t but it’s what we have you believe because we put the casual in laid back.

I’m reading all of these fantastic posts about the start of summer and Memorial Day weekend and thinking about our cold winter ahead.

Now, stop laughing my wonderful readers who live in Britain, United States and Canada. Yes, we don’t have snow where I live and yes, the cold really only lasts for three months of the year. But you see, my idea of cold is anything less than 20 degrees celsius  (68 degrees Fahrenheit) and it looks like we are going to be in for a cold one.

So I’m warming up my hot chocolate, pulling on my woolen scarf and hoping to tantalize you with these pictures of late Autumn along the east coast of New South Wales. Mother nature at her colour palette best.

LEAF PILES BEGGING TO BE PLAYED IN

PREPARING FOR DORMANCY

CONSERVING TO SURVIVE

 


What’s your favourite season?