I suck (Plus... flooding!!)

Its been an interesting few weeks passed.

Binna Burra with friends was gorgeous. Quit my job and started a new one. Got stormed on, Rained on, Hailed on and flooded.

But mostly flooded.

Here are some crappy phone camera contributions, from last week, to showcase what it was like living by the water for a few days. I promise i'll be back blogging daily from now on.

going away for the weekend!

Wont be posting! Have a great weekend :)

Ravers...

Its 1999, its August... and we are about to go the best rave I have attended, EVER!

Time Tunnel was an absolutely mind-blowing party. I did not stop dancing ALL night, and the jungle room was where it was at.

For those of you who know the age difference between my sister and I, yes... I did the good big sister thing and got her in ;) And I think she looks f**king awesome with short hair :)

Something about photos where Ursula is smiling or laughing... they are infectious and just make good pictures!

Green outside the science block

School in Nambour was pretty interesting. There was always a lot of wildlife around as it backed onto a nature reserve. We would have lizards and snakes and parrots and frogs.

The science block had many and varied little critters over the while i attended school, and this little green frog hung around in the Paw Paw tree for a few years... the pond underneath could have helped!!

Setting up for Stars

Theres nothing quite like standing outside in the darkness, your eye transfixed on some far away gassy cloud... seeing the universe as it was many millions of years ago and just being dumbfounded by how beautiful it all is.

Twirly

When I was 16, I was taken to Noosa heads with my boyfriend of the time to meet some of his circus friends and watch his brother firetwirl.

We got a little tipsy, pretty stoned and I thought I may as well give it a go. I singed my hair and burnt my side but I was totally hooked.

For the next few years, my backyard was alight with the gorgeous orange glow of the firestick, and the smell of kerosene as I sprayed mouthfuls onto the lit end of the stick. I used to be able to firebreathe with a single match, and started learning how to twirl with 2 sticks.

Unfortunately, I never got to finish learning 2 sticks...

My firestick was a natural one. Found on the banks of Wappa Dam; It was about 1.25m long, perfectly straight and very weighty... great for building up momentum and keeping it going when spinning. The wick consisted of a layer of wicking with torn sheets tightly wrapped and nailed around it.
The days of my tripping around the yard and friends parties wowing guests and parents alike ended when someone I would rather forget existed stepped on the end of my firestick in an effort to put out the glowing wick - instead of dunking it in kero like everyone else does - and broke it... shattered it would be a more accurate description.

There are 3 firesticks in the house now... 2 were found and my sister bought one. None of them have the weight and feel of my old firestick. I occasionally take one out and have a play but its just not the same.

Photographing firetwirlers... now thats fun :) You are almost always assured of a good shot, or at least an interesting one!

Rock chick

The coolest, most awesome thing you can do when you are a teenager is be in a band.

My sister and I were in a few bands - we had a grungey punk sound and played stuff like the Dead Kennedys and Nirvana. You could find us jamming in the music rehersal rooms at school on most days. We had a bassist named Michael and a drummer named Jason. We played a couple of parties and generally annoyed the shit out of our parents.

It was very cool.

Nambour floods - February 1999

The first few years after we moved to Queensland, there was flooding at least once a year in Nambour. Coles and Woolies would have flooded carparks, Trains could not get through, Bridges would be flooded over and roads out of the town would be cut off.
Scenes like mother ducks with ducklings paddling on main roads would be common.

On this particular day in february of 1999, 369mm of rain fell in nambour in less than 24 hours. It was crazy!!

The sign really should say "GIVE WAY TO DUCKS"

Its Light, its Chemistry and its a journey...

I thought it about time I started blogging my photos.

Its easy enough to go to my flickr page and trawl through the 1000-odd photos i've got uploaded; gives you a sense of progression and how much I have improved over the years, but it doesn't give you a sense of how I personally feel I have improved as a photographer.

I have been having a break from photography - been in the darkroom more than anything, but just havent found anything that really grabs me... Or moreso I havent found anyone who is willing to put up with my pedantic calculated method of photography (i.e. i've got the ideas, what I dont have is a model!!!)

So, I'll be posting one photo every day to this blog, giving my interpretation, my thoughts on the image, why I like it and any special techniques I used to get the image. Im going to start at the start - While my older stuff is hidden on flickr in between all the rest, most of it hasn't even made its way out of the shoebox downstairs full of negatives. It's going to be oldeskool, so expect to see stuff that you haven't seen before... But definitely my favourites of those that you have.

Most of the photos I will share with you are purely film - My oldest negatives were shot on cheap kodak or konica film, well over a decade ago. (A trip to the parents place will probably unearth photos at least 20 years old from brownie camp and various family christmas parties... I'll do my best to find them!!)
Ive since moved onto professional films and all the archival stability that they bring ;)
Theres going to be the odd digicam or camera phone pic in there too...

And maybe, just maybe, if I can tweak the scanner well enough, actual black and white prints fresh out of the darkroom.

In this way I am hoping that the little spark will come back to me and i'll once again become that little shutterbug carrying her medium format brick around the city.

Enjoy the journey!

P.S. This photo was taken using the auto timer on my nikkormat ftn, in 1997. This is my very first Custo shirt. I saved for ages to get it, and I still have it, though I dont wear it much anymore (its worn, faded and ever so very collectible!!)