Marian Grotto

The simple Marian grotto at Mt Carmel School, Yass

The Red Hot Chair

This soft, grainy image is my first attempt at using a Holga Micro indoors. I’m continually amazed at what can be achieved with what is essentially a small piece of plastic; a camera that has no back and no real viewfinder.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the grain at first, so played with a couple of Photoshop filters. As you know, I’m not a big fan of the cheap gimmicks this part of software offers, but found myself getting quite excited over the “median” option.

Let me tell you why….

Berry's Bay by Roy de Maistre (1920)

Back in April, I was enchanted by show at the National Gallery of Australia called Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915-1950. Neither big nor showy, the works seemed like spontaneous sketches, seemingly created by a few quick, bold brushstrokes. The resulting slabs of tone and colour put atmosphere ahead of detail, making for images that give a rough, yet simple and, ultimately, emotional impression of the subject.

Hawthorn Tea Gardens by Clarice Beckett (1936)

Pushing the “median” option a little too far reminds me of this effect — the subject is reduced and blurred until it appears as shapes filled only by tone and colour.

The Club House Hotel

As a published travel writer, you may be surprised to hear that The Club House Hotel, pictured above, is one of my favourite local tourist attractions.

True, the bathrooms don’t seem to have been cleaned, yet alone redecorated, since 1950, but the hotel offers travelers to Yass, especial those from overseas, an off-the-beaten-track experience of rural Australia.

For example, the billiards room features angling trophies on the walls — in the form of giant stuffed fish heads. Meanwhile, the main bar offers counter meals in a setting that also allows diners to watch the horse and greyhound races, and make bets. Not that you’ll find many people ordering food — a liquid lunch of Victoria Bitter is often the order of the day — which is disappointing as the fish ‘n’ chips with what I call “granny” salad (pasta salad, coleslaw and a third salad of pickled beetroot, chopped Iceberg lettuce, tomato wedges, grated carrot and grated cheese) is not just cheap at $7.50, but rather tasty.

These pictures, of course, feature the hotel's accommodation. While I love taking friends and family to The Club House Hotel for lunch, I'd much rather they rest their weary heads in my spare bedroom!

You can see more of my behind-the-scenes images of The Club House Hotel here.

Mobile Cowboys

Ah, the rodeo — the flared nostrils of quarterhorses, the parade of Wrangler jeans and spurs, the bellow of cattle in the yards, and the smell of rum and coke on the audience’s breath.

The whole town comes to the Yass Rodeo to cheer the broncs and bulls, and feel clods of dirt in their faces and down their shirts.

Clichés of country life are everywhere — even tiny tots don the uniform of a plaid shirt and felt hat.

This image is in keeping … almost. I’ve seen the basic formula many times — cowkids sitting on the arena rails — but never have I seen them photographed using the latest communications technology to text their friends!

Baby in a Box

I took this image on the streets of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, in 2002. I love how children all over the world play in cardboard boxes. Regardless of race, class, sex and wealth, these humble items of packaging are enjoyed by children everywhere.

Three Sunlit Portraits

The light was perfect, yet fleeting — at the end of a hot summer day, it pierced through my lounge-room window. I grabbed a camera while Justin changed into a black t-shirt. The sun moved so quickly that he had to slide across the couch between shots to keep up. Within a few frames, the light was totally gone.

Red Rose Reflection

Places decay without people, and the village of Murringo in the Southern Tablelands of NSW is the perfect example. Teeming with horse thieves, bushrangers and gold prospectors in the 1850s, it’s now so quiet you can hear the run-down buildings groaning for restoration.

This image from the local cemetery suits such a lawless history — it must be a veritable boot hill! I love the refection of the red roses in the headstone … the fine polish creates a seamless optical illusion.

Gemma

"This is boring!" my niece, Gemma, announced at The National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, thereby gaining the attention of everyone else in the building.

We visited a village of miniature castles, the kind fairy princesses could live in, and ate icy-poles shortly after. Not surprisingly, that was scintillating.

Look at those gorgeously chubby fingers!

A New Baby

Ruby at about four months

Julie, her husband and 10 children live in a converted service station. She is eight months pregnant with number 11 (“The obstetrician asks me for advice!” she exclaims), yet sits with me on the concrete path in their backyard.

Three black-and-tan kelpie pups clamber on my lap, sucking the last of the autumn sun from my jeans. At seven weeks, they have fuzz rather than fur, which is filled with a blizzard of the puppy equivalent to cradle cap.

One catches my eye. She is earnest and resolute, with white blaze on her chest and a tiny letter “m” on the velvety skin of her lower belly.

The puppies need new homes and I want this one. I am surprised. When I was four, our farm dog, a black kelpie named Lucky, gored my eye, leaving a brown scar like a large piece of grit on my inner eye-lid. Lucky’s fate did not match his name, and I have been frightened of dogs ever since.

Justin is equally surprised, but agrees to discuss the possibility while we go to the supermarket. We grab a trolley and start down the first aisle. I have named my puppy Ruby before we reach the end.

A couple of weeks later, Justin puts together a dog kennel that looks like a log cabin, while Ruby pummels the carrots in the vegetable garden. He puts a finger to his lips and dashes back to the supermarket, returning with a fuchsia pink hot water bottle. As he tucks Ruby, her hot water bottle and two teddy bears into bed, he berates me “for making me love this puppy”.

Ruby and I roam along the local river daily. She blunders over granite rocks and charges through grass so high I see nothing but the whiplash of green stems. Only one of us returns home exhausted. The other, smeared with mud like the carp that live in the river shallows, is elated.

Ruby’s favourite toy is a Kong — a hollow rubber cone that I fill with peanut butter. She sprawls on the lawn, sucking and chewing for hours. Then one afternoon I find myself in the kitchen, gouging the last mouthfuls of chocolate spread from a jar with my fingers. I laugh at our similarity.

Two weeks later, Justin plays tennis at night, Ruby chases moths in the floodlights and Julie goes into labour. Within days, another baby arrives at a new home, a red-haired boy named Shilo.



Ruby is now two. She is still as eager to please as she was at seven weeks, and, as a working breed, is a natural athlete, with the agility and finesse of a trapeze artist.

High Tea

At the Hyatt Hotel Canberra for high tea in 2008: (above) my sister, Kerriann; (below) my brother-in-law, Matthew

High tea at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra is a giddy buffet — crust-less finger sandwiches of smoked salmon and wafer-thin beef, pastries, mousse served in port glasses and meringues joined with cream are just some of the sweet and savoury dainties. A glass of champagne is presented on arrival, followed with pots of tea, served by staff in vintage-inspired uniform. Not surprisingly, guests dress up — black pants for men and afternoon cocktail dress for women.