59. “Mulberry Leaves”. I had to pick up a hire car after work and I thought I would find a shot as I walked across town. I saw lots of interesting subjects – a girl with heart-shaped glasses; a couple of emo-punk types with brightly dyed hair; easels in a school window; poet looking guy with pork-pie hat, checked shorts and Dunlop sneakers. But somehow no photo materialized. I drove home despondent, especially after the vintage Morris Minor I thought would be my back-up shot was not parked in its usual spot. But I arrived home and saw the new leaves on the mulberry tree glowing against the late afternoon light and my mood lifted. We ate outside for the first time this evening (28th September). That night I dreamt I was Alan Ginsberg and I went on a road trip with Ken Kesey. How does my mind work?60. “Capel Cows”. Yeah! I finally managed to photograph a cow (almost up close). I love photos of cows and I have tried in the past to get a decent shot, but always without luck. But today there were some (brown) cows right next to the side of the road as I drove into Capel. All I had to do was stop the car, get out and snap away.61. “Easels in the Window”. I dreamt I was a whale again last night. On the way to work, after dropping off the hire car, I got my shot of the easels in the window of the a classroom at Mercedes College. Had to stand in the middle of Hay Street to frame the shot.62. Friday, 1 October. “Ute under a tree”. Picked up our developed film today. The photos look like they are going to come out well. One the way home from Fitzgerald’s, I photographed this old ute parked under a tree. In the evening sun, it looked like the tree was almost growing out of the ute.63. “Ronald McDonald House”. Our friends Chris and Lisa organized to cook a meal at Ronald McDonald House. We went along to help. We made lasagna, salad and semifreddo. All of which seemed to be a hit with the families staying at the house. I took this photograph as we started serving the meal. I thought I had a good shot, but after the developing the negatives and all I can see is part of Lisa hand in the foreground. The rest of the photo is lost in the other exposures. Bummer. Will have to do another meal at McDonald House.
64. “Smiley Eggs”. So last night I dreamt I was going to make a film with Nicole Kidman but I got lost in the old part of some Chinese city I and couldn’t get back to the hotel for my meeting with her. It was a beautiful morning and I went for a ride around the river. Got back and Janet made boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. The eggs (free range) had little smiley faces printed on their shells. We wondered who got the job of stamping each egg with a face without breaking them. They looked kind of cute so I photographed the remaining eggs in their carton. Happy days!
65. “Lala Design”. “I can’t believe we are doing this,” said Janet as we caught the lift to my office around 10pm. I had planned to take a photograph at Michelle’s (Of Pink Zulu and Friday Night Bistro fame) impromptu birthday bash. But I had forgotten my camera at work. And now I was in danger of missing a day in my (so far) uninterrupted sequence of shots! I was determined not to let this happen, so we drove from Cottesloe to the city after Michelle’s party to get my Holga. On the way home, I photographed the display window of Lala Design on Oxford Street.
66. “Hugo House Plans”. We met with our architect and builder tonight to review our preliminary Margaret River house plans. Afterwards I took this photo of the plans with Janet’s hands. We are really happy with the first draft of the plans and I think Mike, the young architect has nailed the design, in terms of what we have been looking for. The title of the drawings – “Hugo House”, did make me smile. I don’t think Janet is going to let that title last long.
67. “Central Park Tree #2”. This is the second shot of this tree. I know that I am deliberately breaking one of my own rules, but I would like to photo the progression of this tree during the course of a year – from winter through all the seasons. This tree was last photographed a month ago and it is amazing how much foliage there is now on the branches.
68. “Greenhouse #2”. The last photo I took of the Greenhouse did not come out well, so had another go. I have come here for a morning coffee and muffin the last two days. It is a good opportunity to collect my thoughts and jot down some notes during the course of my normally full days. I took this photo using a longish exposure (with the bulb setting on the Holga) so hopefully the exposure is OK and there is not too much camera shake. (Post note: there was some camera shake, but the exposure was pretty good).
69. “Friday Night Bistro #3”. If its Friday, it must be bistro night at our house. I invited Kersten and Kim and Janet invited Stephan (as always), Calvin and John. Janet made Asian duck salad for starters and salmon with raisins, ginger and shortcrust pastry for mains. Stephan made pear and chocolate clafoutis for dessert. But the highlight of the night was the salad of fresh leaves from our garden! I took this photo of Kim and Kersten (which got lost in the Greenhouse shot – there is a ghost of Kersten in the lightfitting of the Greenhouse). It was a beautiful warm evening and we were able to have our dinner party outside for the first time since winter began.
70. “Galvin Girls”. As expected I didn’t feel great on Saturday morning after Friday Night Bistro, despite not having drunk much and gulping down gallons of water before bed. We lurked around the house until late afternoon, when we went to Matilda Bay to photograph our friends the Galvins. They wanted a family shot as a present for their parents and asked me to take some. After the portrait shots I got out my Holga and took this impromptu shot of Lucy and what I thought was Emily, but looking at the photograph, it was Lucy and George (their son). Considered changing the title, but Galvin Kids doesn’t have the same ring.71. “Lazy Sunday Afternoon”. I took this photograph of Ambrose, our white cat, because his lazy, relaxed demeanor so captured the feel of Sunday afternoon. We bought these large leather armchairs so that Janet and I could relax and read in the study. But since we got them, our cats Ambrose and Bronte have made them their own. We had to put throws on the chairs because they were getting badly scratched. (Post note: Ambrose The White came out red in this shot because I used a red filter flash).72. “Karriview Dogs”. Double exposure. I am spending a few days on a company workshop at Karriview Lodge. When we arrived we were greeted by two friendly Labradors. When I went for a walk in the evening they followed me so I took this photo when I got back. I had to take a double exposure because I couldn’t get them to stay together to shoot them in the same frame. (Post Note: Predictably only one dog came out in the shot. However I like the juxtaposition of Ambrose in the one frame and the dog in the other facing each other).73. “AEP Workshop”. The second day of our workshop. The days have been full on and it was only around dinner time that I got a chance to take a photo. This one is of two of my colleagues, Tim and Marty.74, “Hands for pizza”. Still at the workshop. I was drawn to the pizzas being served for dinner and how quickly they were being devoured, so I photographed people’s hands as they took slices from the plates.75. “AEP Mates”. This evening we had to present to a number of senior managers from our company. It had been a fairly stressful day as we worked to prepare the presentation. It all came together well in the end but we felt we had earned a drink afterwards. I took this shot while we were celebrating our success and enjoying the company of our new friends. 76. “Gracetown Wineglass”. Our wine club is having a weekend away down at Gracetown. This worked out well for me as our workshop was held just around the corner at Karriview. I formed the advance party unlocking doors and opening windows in the house where we were staying. Janet came down with Mark and Michelle (of Pink Zulu, FNBistro and various other events fame). We went for a short walk soon after they arrived and then retired to the balcony for sundowners. I took this photo of my wineglass with the sun setting through the glass. (Post note: unfortunately this and the next photo got burnt out).
77. “Sand on my feet”. In the afternoon I went for a walk along the beach in Gracetown. I looked for shells and other interesting things for making mobiles. I love finding old, broken and worn shells that are either interesting in form or colour (or both). I like the way their beauty is reborn in their seaside graveyard of shells and stones. Afterwards I took this photo of my feet which were still covered in sand. (Post note: not that you can see much in the overexposed photo – curses!).
78. “Bottlebrush Bright”. The red bottlebrush flowers have been everywhere this month! I would like to plant some on our Margaret River block. I took this photo of some flowers just outside the house we stayed at in Gracetown.
79. “Rose”. On Sunday, after a respectable sleep in and hearty breakfast, we went for a walk along (a very short section) the Cape to Cape trail. We all felt surprisingly good despite an excellent wine tasting and dinner the night before. Having worked up an appetite, we went to Lamont’s for lunch. But we popped into the Yallingup Gallery on the way. There, tucked away in a back room gallery, we found a small painting by Matt Doust. We had seen his work before, but this painting, title “Rose”, jumped out at me. So we bought it and worried about where we would hang it later. Monday was a full-on work day, so I decided to photograph Rose as my photo of the day.
80. “Vegie Patch”. Another long day in the office and not much time for anything else. Met with our architect again this afternoon. The house plans are going well and he liked some of our suggested changes. After a hectic day of rushing around we spent a few minutes in our front garden, checking the progress of our herbs and vegetables. I decided to take this photo of the marigolds and flowerpot in the centre of the garden.
81. “Last Resort Car Shot”. I wanted to get my film in for developing today, so I was desperately looking for a shot as I drove to Fitzgerald’s at lunchtime. A magpie landed on my windshield when I stopped at a traffic light. A perfect quirky shot, but the bird flew off before I could get my Holga from its camera bag. Then it started raining, so in desperation (and laziness) I photographed the steering wheel of my car just so that I could finish the film. Not my most inspired photo!
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