[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 16 October 2023].
birrna
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 10 April 2022].
Banksia integrifolia or coastal banksia.
untitled #174
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 27 August 2021].
I took a little break from #FungiFriday the past few weeks, but today they're back :)
wrecked
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 24 June 2021].
So, yesterday was a bit tiring but mostly good.
After a day consumed by client work, I was about to settle in for an evening of photo editing. Before I did, I took a moment to catch up on social and clicked on an Instagram story from a friend.
To be honest, I rarely click on the stories of friends or accounts I follow. Not because I'm not interested in what they're sharing. But because they've often shared it to their feed as well. Or it's content they're sharing from others, which may or may not interest me.
Also, I generally have to be in the right mood for stories or reels, even IG video. And then there are the soundtracks people choose to accompany them, but that's a discussion for another time...
So, I was in for a bit of a shock when clicking on her stories yesterday evening.
Her bruised and swollen face looked back at me, and my first thought was that someone had beaten the hell out of her.
I held my thumb on the story to stop it from moving forward and took in the text and hashtags on the post to register what I was looking at. I let the next story play, and then I messaged.
She had been in a terrible car accident and, if not for people coming to her rescue, she could have died. I'm so thankful she didn't.
We met about 2005 via MySpace and became fast friends. We've shared so much in the intervening 16 years - especially in the first few years of our friendship (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) - despite spending so many of those years miles apart.
She's been a muse to me. One of the most easygoing models I've worked with.
She's given me access to inspiring natural and manmade environments in which to take self-portraits almost every time I've been able to visit her. Both in Australia and the UK.
She also managed to get my photography (and my cleavage) on the telly for the first time a few years back.
We don't chat enough these days, but when we do - as with many of my best friends - it's like picking up a conversation from two weeks ago instead of two years (or more) ago.
Despite having to undergo facial surgery to repair her broken jaw (hopefully today, Australian time), she hasn't lost her dark sense of humour.
I don't have any photos from my D700 from the last day we met up in Coolangatta on the final full day of my visit to Australia in late 2019. All those I took with my iPhone have already been shared.
That's why I decided to edit and share this photo from earlier in the road trip from Melbourne to Brisbane. I thought it might appeal to her dark sense of humour at this time.
So I'm relieved but still catching my breath a little with this news right now. And sending my love and the gentlest hugs across the time zones to her.
lounging, littorally, in lorne
[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 April 2021].
double-crossed
[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 15 January 2021].
near nowa nowa
port welshpool long jetty
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 23 October 2020].
I took this on the second day of our road trip from Melbourne to Brisbane before we went on an unscheduled detour along disused logging tracks in the Tarra Valley.
Unfortunately, being on crutches meant I couldn't go for a wander along the jetty, which is the third-longest wooden jetty still standing in Australia.
The clouds were pretty impressive, though!