Holga and Hayley

My friend Hayley threw her wedding dress on again a few months ago and we went for a romp around a local farm, Holga in hand. Toy cameras are in vogue for wedding photography, of course ... and the broken down ute and old sheds simply add to the charm.

"I work my models pretty hard," I told Hayley. It was her first time posing for me, so I don't think she took my warning too seriously — until she spent the next day soaking her feet in warm water and bicarb soda, that is!

Okay, that's a fib ... I didn't make her feet ache, but I did "encourage" her to climb all over bits of vintage garden furniture and other cobweb-covered stuff. Fortunately, she trusted me because we got some great shots.

Of course, it helps that Hayley is gorgeous — black hair, green eyes, rosie skin ... bla, bla, bla.

Mental note to self: keep making friends with attractive people.

The Flying Pig

The garden furniture at Village Antiques in Bungendore looks like it has been whisked away from the grounds of a French chateaux. It carries an air of time-worn gentility — the wrought iron is tinged with rust and the copious amounts of white paint are peeling. I also love the many outdoor sculptures on offer, such as this winged pig.

I've photographed other curiousities in the past, including an antique hitching rail in the shape of a horse and a house-sized kewpie doll from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Our Sunshine

I was up until 3am working on this — some pictures simply take a long time to “nut out”.

The whole process in general for making this image was overly complicated, which is something I’m very good at bringing on myself!

I started by using a torn cardboard mask to create an in-camera half-frame in my Holga, following Ed Wenn’s instructions at Toycamera.com.

Then I walked around Goomalling, a tiny wheatbelt town in Western Australia, where my parents have a house, looking for close-ups. The main street is a long, wide avenue, with a pub, ramshackle shops and industrial yards on one side and a railway and park full of relics from the pioneering days on the other. I also nipped out to the cemetery (I can never resist a wander through one) and the restored Slater Homestead, built in 1856.

A little planning and big dose of good luck resulted in a series of meaningful juxtapositions that will hopefully turn into six portraits of the town.

“Our Sunshine” contrasts a vintage Sunshine harvester with a statue of a “digger”, the nickname for an Australian soldier, to comment on our national pride in those who serve Australia in wars.

Apple for the Teacher

Sigh ... the delay between posts is because we've just spent three weeks moving house.

Why so long?

Well, we moved next door and kind of stopped packing because it seemed easier just to pass things over the fence as we needed them. Of course, it didn't help that our new place is already fully furnished, not to mention temporary. In fact, we actually did two moves in one, with most of our stuff going into storage while we look for a few acres on which to build a house, plant an orchard and expand our hen house.

Anyway, this lovely lady (the one in the photo, not me!) comes from the Goomalling Museum in Western Australia. The building was once a school, hence the recreated classroom. Note the mannequin's hands ... that's right, she has none — she's an amputee!

Why then is a cane tucked under her wrist? You probably can't see it in this small version, but the cane is resting between the mannequin and the black board, with a white sheet of paper attached.

Too Late for the 1980s

My gorgeous nephew Ethan has hit that age where he’s too cool to be photographed. Turning six and in pre-primary, he only let me take shots in May if he could strike poses that would do Kim Wilde or vintage George Michael proud. Not that he would know these moves are straight from his aunt’s youth.

Ah, the memories — fluorescent colours, men in eye-shadow, leg warmers, rubber bracelets, Swatch watches, baggy t-shirts and what Australians call vegemite roots (bleached hair with re-growth showing through).

Even Ethan’s parents are too young to remember the hey-day of 1980s fashion.

I took this shot with my Holga, using the 6 x 4.5 insert for the first time. I much prefer the 6 x 6 insert — without it, images lack that characteristic fall-out at the corners and look like a standard effort from any happy snap camera.