Farmyard

Once a year, a paddock on the edge of the tiny village of Murrumbateman overflows with cars like it’s an inner city parking lot as folks from the local region swarm in for two days of machinery and livestock displays.

The miniature farmyard (an interactive display of baby animals) was my favourite attraction at last year’s Murrumbateman Field Days. “Adorable chaos” is the best way to describe it — a gaggle of toddlers cooed over bunnies, lambs, puppies and piglets before being let loose to chase an extremely resilient array of ducks and chickens.

I think the animals look rather bored, don’t you?

Playing Double

Using mannequins to mimic real people is not new — after all, Madam Tussauds has been going for some 200 years. However, the example in this picture takes the practice to uproarious extremes … are we really to believe the pretty young thing with the blue eyeshadow and 1960s wig is the grey-haired dear in the portrait? Sure, the clothes are the same, but the connotations are completely different — one is strutting down the street in chic black, while the other is in mourning for her dead husband!

Entombed

I’m back to working on images for my upcoming exhibition, Dumb-founded.

All the material is shot — it’s now a matter of processing negatives, scanning them and doing a few touch-ups in Photoshop.

Sound easy? Absolutely not!

Each shot takes about four hours of work in post-production alone. Still, it’s fun. No … “meditative” is a better word for the process. I can get lost in the concentration of spotting dust marks and hand-colouring to the point that I forget to eat lunch and don’t hear the telephone.

Anyway, isn’t the stillness of this girl eerie? She looks like she’s been prepared for burial to me — her make-up eternally bright and her skin shiny and over-preserved. It’s as if she’s lying in a family tomb, surrounded by the skeletons of other mannequins.

Mobil Handy Mart, Boorowa

Ah, another trip up the road to Boorowa and a quick stop to buy petrol. Notice the ridiculous price of almost $1.56 per litre? I’m told by locals that, with just one service station in town, there’s an obvious monopoly on fuel.

I must confess that these pictures are a little misleading. The dilapidated, yet beautiful, old cottage is not the Mobil service station — it’s actually next door, but the placement of the signage certainly gives that impression!

I’m listening to “All My Trials” by Anita Carter (Johnny Cash’s sister-in law) as I upload this. The mix of her haunting voice with these rustic images is like a weightless bird soaring across that deep blue sky.

A Couple and a Cute Cake

Here are two more pictures from Dave and Becky Willersdorf's wedding.

Taken in the low winter sun, the portrait is so moody — deep shadows aren't the usual fare of wedding photography, but I think they look fabulous here.

And check out the cake — so perfect for a country boy and girl, especially as Dave spends most of his days working with sheep. Roger Buckman whipped up this number ... I believe he's an upholsterer by trade, but obviously has creative hands that be turned to anything. He made the cakeboard, covered with darling windmills, and the sheep are actually erasers!

Rachel's New Hat

After seven years, my sister-in-law Rachel finally let me photograph her … on one condition — she didn’t have to look at the camera.

I took this on our veranda on Christmas Day, in the lull between a huge lunch and the kids screaming around the garden with pop guns.

Rach is such a style queen — I love her new hat, which her husband (and my brother-in-law) Darryl gave her for Christmas.

Dave and Becky Got Married

About a year ago, I posted a couple of pictures of cowboys from the Yass Rodeo and Ute Muster ... and the response was quite a few requests for phone numbers, notable for Dave, the one with the biceps bulging through the ripped-up shirt!

Well, sorry girls ... Dave was a newlywed and, as you can see above, his bride was (and still is!) a sweetheart and their wedding was beautiful. In fact, their first baby is due in a few weeks.

Big Boys' Toys

This image reminds me of summer — the smell of diesel as trucks rattle over the big bridge into Yass and the red hot heat on my back as I wander downtown to run errands. The basic mix of red, yellow and blue is so sparse and elemental, and yet the children’s toys fill me with joy.

I shot both images in the nearby town of Boorowa. A few girlfriends and I stopped for a pub lunch of fish ‘n’ chips and Resch’s (a rather so-so beer only found in New South Wales) at the Boorowa Hotel. After, we grabbed our cameras and hit the streets for interesting finds.

The darling bulldozer and digger were in a sandpit at St Joseph’s Boorowa, the local Catholic school, and the sign was on an industrial yard on the main street.

It’s amazing what you stumble on when you go looking — exactly what changes when little boys grow into big ones?