photography – Page 4 – A Shared Space

The things I see …

There was a time in my life when I loved visiting art galleries and museums and would seek them out where ever I travelled. I am not knowledgeable about art. I just know what I love. So it is not surprising when I see a piece of art, my eye is immediately drawn to the aesthetics of it.

The wall sculpture below is huge on a bigger wall. It is striking and I was drawn to it immediately. I looked at it from close up. I stepped away from it. The beauty was the same. I would have loved to have touched it, run my fingers on shapes and colours and connect with the artist. But when I read the plaque, I realised I do connect with that master artist, Nature, in a different way. thumb_IMG_4834_1024
Art in foyer, Crowne Plaza Casino, Perth, Western Australia
“Reverie of Land, Line and Form by Jenny Nayton is the study of the ancient geology of Western Australia. The artform draws on the distinctive character and connection to place created by the unique colours and shapes of the Western Australian landscape. The sculptural forms are reminiscent of the fluid curves of eroded rocks, such as the local monument Wave Rock in Hyden.” thumb_DSCN5006_1024
Sooty Oystercatcher, Turquoise Bay, Exmouth, Western Australia
I still love art but it no longer just hangs on a wall or from a ceiling.
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Sunrise, Exmouth Gulf, Exmouth, Western Australia
I’ve found the sky, a canvas. thumb_IMG_4921_1024
Bee in flower
I love when still life stills me. thumb_IMG_0713_1024
Succulent, Esperance, Western Australia
And I love looking at the ordinary and find it extraordinary.

The aesthetics of nature may not be visible to all. A blindness to be cured for sure. If it was, would we live differently?

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – Aesthetics

Ahhh! Red!

My favourite colour! Red to me is a colour of celebration, of joy, of anticipation. It always picks me up. thumb_IMG_0837_1024-2
Tomatoes ready for roasting
I’ve been home for several weeks and enjoying cooking for family and friends. I love roasting tomatoes before adding them to soups or sauces. It intensifies the flavour, especially if the stem is left on while roasting.
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Child’s play
Children have taught me, they can make sense of the visual, more than we realise. They watch and learn. They categorise. They learn right from wrong, what goes with what, and where. They are surrounded by teachers, but none more important and influential than the ones at home. thumb_IMG_0930_1024-2
Hotel art, Geraldton, Western Australia
The HMAS Sydney II was lost off the coast of Geraldton during WWII taking with it the crew of 645, mostly young sailors. An unimaginable tragedy. The memorial is one of the most poignant ones I’ve come across in my travels. Although it is a place of loss, it is also a place of hope, of anticipation, of return. I’ve written about the Memorial in another post.
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Somewhere over Shark Bay, Western Australia
My commute to work.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #81 – Find something red

Look into my eyes …

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Green ant, East Kimberley region, Western Australia

It was early morning in the warm and humid Kimberley region, far north of the State, between Kununurra and Wyndham, when I woke in tree tops, to a wonderland. There was a Pretty Face wallaby below at the billabong and I watched anxiously, hoping the resident saltwater crocodile was not around. The birds were waking and the air filled with birdsong. They were all species new to me, some tiny finches and other large water birds, up in the trees. I didn’t know where to point my camera. I didn’t want to miss a moment of the experience. But, nothing could have prepared me for the next few minutes.

The Kimberley region is stunning country. The landscapes are expansive and humbling. The coast, rugged and just gorgeous. The weather can be harsh. Extreme heat and tropical storms. Accessibility to some places can be restricted at certain times of the year as there are some unsealed roads to usual tourist spots. It is country that demands respect for all that nature delivers. This is also snake, spider and crocodile country, so I’m instinctively cautious when I travel in this region. Spiders don’t scare me, but we do have some in Australia that are best left alone. A quick check around one’s environment, is good practice. As I stood above the billabong in the shade of the tree canopy, and went to lean on the metal railing, they caught my eye. A steady stream of ants. Jewel like, they their bodies glistened like emeralds. I had never seen green ants before. I was fascinated.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of an ant? I was mesmerised. The intelligence, the awareness of my presence, the guard, all in one tiny creature. In that moment of connection, I was tiny, and the ant, a giant presence. An unforgettable moment, a moment larger than life!

May you seek and experience those moments, too.

As always

Until next time

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Friday – Macro

Lost in reverie …

The morning was warm,
the breeze soft
Beyond the back door, the garden
where I walked happily
when I caught a glimpse of him
in reverie …

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Karijini National Park, Pilbara region, Western Australia

He was tall as a tree
and just as strong
with roots that ran deep,
underground
under my fingertips
his skin ridged and rough
entwined, his hands gnarled,
unlike mine
above ground
his eyes crinkled in sun, in smile
his veins blue, his blood earthy red
amid the midnight rustle,
the softest whisper, come closer
so on the bough I laid my head

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – Backdoor

Never too old …

Give me an expanse of water, and you’ll find my footsteps alongside it. It has been this way for as long as I can remember although, ironically, a non-swimmer, I’m afraid of being immersed in water. DSCN7127
The silver sands of Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
I’m always interested in what the tides leave behind. Sometimes, it is a landscape of trees. DSCN7132
At other times, exquisite perfection in shells and pieces of coral. DSCN7146
Or stuff that appeals to the child in me.

With photography, I’ve been focusing on ‘inner work’ for some years now to the detriment of every day life, the small stuff, that makes my world go around. This year I decided to turn my attention to my finances and keep track of where I spend the most. I’m not into apps at all. I enjoy spreadsheets. So started 2020, spreadsheet ready.

On reflecting on my expenditure last year it was an uncomfortable truth, I spend too much on books. I go into automatic mode at the airport. I clear security and head to the bookshop. With several trips a month and books costing around $40 each, it was a hidden monthly expense. I’ve been able to overcome my habit of buying chocolate each time I buy a book (because one cannot read without chocolate, can one?!). It was difficult but I was able to achieve it. I now only eat chocolate from Margaret River and I go there a few times a year. That takes care of the chocolate habit.

My first trip to the airport this year was torture. The more I thought of ignoring the book shop, the stronger the desire. I ‘disrupted the circuity’ by telling myself I would go to the Ladies and then to the book shop, 20 minutes before boarding and I set my alarm for this. At that particular terminal it is a long walk to the restrooms but it is flanked by two book shops. I had only a few minutes to spare as I browsed the shelves when I came across the book ‘Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything” by BJ Fogg. I flicked through the pages and, although the theory is familiar to me, it appealed on a personal level. I nearly bought it when the message of the book became clear. I needed this opportunity, a tiny change, not to buy the book. After all I reasoned, if I really wanted it, it would be on the shelf next trip (delayed gratification). Late one night I searched for BJ Fogg’s work and found he gave a TED Talk some years ago. Interesting, on You Tube, and worth having a look.

Since that tiny change, each day before I get out of bed I promise myself I will focus on one small thing. Call it change. Call it fine tuning. I call it behavioural cobwebs that need clearing. They seem to be there, visible, non-intrusive, and one gets used to them until one spring cleans.

So my apron is on, my reach is long, may 2020 unwrap a new me.

May you find creative ways to achieve what you would like to achieve, and here’s to a shiny, new you.

Until next time

As always,

a dawn bird

In response to VJ’s Weekly Challenge – #80 – Habit

“Ancora Imparo”, Michelangelo

At 87 years of age, Michelangelo said, “Ancora Imparo” (still I am learning). It is a quote I love. It guided me throughout my university years and beyond. As a research student the excitement was not finding the answers, but finding more questions that took me down new paths. That excitement stays with me in this blogging world when I come across phrases and words that are unfamiliar. Then there are those that are familiar but have other meanings, new to me.

The word gregarious is not new to me. It is not a word anyone who knows me would use to describe me. As luck would have it, I come from a large, loving, accomplished and gregarious family but I never found my place under their sun. Perhaps that’s why I am quiet, observant, reserved. I learnt from a very young age, the need for solitude was critical to develop into the person I’m happy to be.

Perhaps from the loss of the family I once knew, oddly enough despite having a reserved nature, I’m drawn to gregarious people, especially men. I’m attracted to men who laugh heartily, who can tell a joke and hold people captive when they speak, who can say in a booming voice, “how are ya!” and mean it. Yes, they make me smile long after I’ve met them.
Son’s wedding, Perth Zoo, Western Australia
So the word gregarious is one I associate with the most is, parties and people.
I would use the word gregarious to describe this friendly Splendid Fairy Wren, as well. One that is used to being around people like this one at The Berry Farm, in the Margaret River region. The little cafe is set in a beautiful small garden where wrens, silvereye, honeyeaters and thornbills are constantly looking for crumbs. Elsewhere in the scrub, the fairy wren is a shy, timid creature that disappears quicker than I can blink and a source of great disappointment when I cannot get the picture I want.
My backyard is definitely party time every dusk when the rainbow lorikeets visit.
They love the mulberry tree where fruit is plentiful when in season.
Grass Trees, Wanagarren Reserve, near Lancelin, Western Australia

Like I said at the beginning, the word gregarious is one I know well and associate with people and birds. But I didn’t know until today, it can also be used to describe trees!

I tend to give a wide berth to those who know it all. To me, that is a sure sign of someone with a closed mind and where learning is stagnant.

So may the new year bring lots of moments of “Oh! I didn’t know that!”. There’s a sense of excitement in that phrase that I crave. May you do too.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – Gregarious

On ending the day, with joy …

Oh! my favourite word! Joy!

I’ve just returned after a few days’ work in the South West. One of the towns I love visiting is coastal Busselton. Being school holidays the South West is awash with families, and those getting away from the city or visitors from overseas. I visited Busselton, Dunsborough, Margaret River and Witchcliffe in as many days.

In some ways the tourist season worked in my favour. I kept away from the crowds, returned to my hotel room after work, and completed reports. I came home with almost no residual work! This is something I have been striving for the last few years.

But I know Busselton Jetty on Geographe Bay is beautiful at sunrise and sunset, so I checked the times for sunset and headed there. Being tourist season I could not get my usual hotel I could not go at sunrise as I had to drive to the Bay and time constraints. The sunset is always stunning here.
Geographe Bay, Busselton, Western Australia
Geographe Bay, Busselton, Western Australia

The sunset is vivid on the horizon, and it is just as gorgeous in muted shades of pink, blue, grey and lavender on the opposite side of the Bay.

Somehow the laughter of children, steady buzz of voices, clink of glasses all quietened when I allowed myself to experience this.

Seek these moments every day, it will enrich your mind and body from within.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to On the Hunt for Joy Challenge – Week 1 – Get Outside

When white is warm …

Climatically white is often associated with snow. In the Southern Hemisphere, white is synonymous with the beach and clouds. I’ve added flora and fauna as well. This is a long scroll!
Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Western Australia
Sea wave at the shore, Jurien Bay, Western Australia
White kite, Binningup, Western Australia

Christmas angel, Christmas 2020
Framed in sand, Western Australia
Iceberg rose, my front garden, Western Australia
Snow drops at my front door, Western Australia
Fire whirlwind and summer clouds, East Kimberley outback, Western Australia
Cabbage white butterfly … destructive and beautiful. Pilbara region, Western Australia

Ah! such memories of places and experiences.

Until next time

a dawn bird

In response to Word Photo Challenge: White

Eyes like stars …

This has been one of the happiest decades of my life so why write about the year, when there is more to celebrate!

My work is a labour of love. No ifs and buts about it. It feels I have emerged from automatic mode. A huge gamble to give up tenured government work for the unknown of working for self has paid off dividends in the most unexpected ways.

I travel extensively, never tiring, always anticipating, never knowing what the day will bring me professionally. I love the excitement of this. I do know what it brings me spiritually consistently and that’s what I’d like to share with you.
Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
I discovered, depending where you stand, sand can glitter like gold. thumb_IMG_0515_1024
And gold can be beige like sand.

Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
I accepted sometimes in the most beautiful place, people can walk into the picture for a moment and when they leave, it is still the most beautiful place.

Featherflower (verticordia grandis), Lesueur National Park, Jurien Bay, Western Australia
I found Nature is filled with fountains of vivid colour.
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No more in muted clothing, I wear colours to remind me what keeps me alive inside.
Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
A sunset is not the end of the day, it is a sunrise elsewhere.
Benedictine Monastery, New Norcia, Western Australia
No longer captive, I look through windows because I am captivated.
Oyster Harbour, King George Sound, Albany, Western Australia
I discovered sometimes the light shines brightest on what is not there, to illuminate this truth.
HMAS Sydney II Memorial, Geraldton, Western Australia
That when we pause to remember, family, friend or stranger, we may be left behind but we are never alone. There is companionship in memories.

Wedge-tailed eagle, Midwest outback, Western Australia
Although mesmerised, to be wary of the magnificence of a predator.

Splendid Fairywren, Bunbury, Western Australia
Blue is the colour of sheer joy, not a state of being.
Boab Tree family, Eastern Kimberley region, Western Australia
I found my ‘voice’ this decade, at the foot of the Mother Boab tree where the ancient wisdom of trees healed my grief.
Karijini National Park, Pilbara, Western Australia
In the harshest country, I accepted the gift of peace.
On the way to Diggers’ Rest, East Kimberley region, Western Australia
In the company of strangers, I found family.
Twilight Beach, Esperance, Western Australia
In a moment of silence I found clouds are there to balance a perfect picture.
Frangipani, Karratha, Western Australia
Once an impossible dream, I now awaken to the scent of frangipani, symbol of love and devotion, and also the symbol of new life and renewal. Oh! the irony to find this in mining country!

Thank you for your presence in my life. May the next year and next decade fill you with hope for a better world. Look closer, not in the distance or in someone else, and you’ll find it, like I did.

Happy New Year!

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Labor

In response to RDP – Tuesday – Stellar

This evanescent life …

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Theresa

I love this quote. Time is never fleeting, never wasted if we have the courage to begin, to explore, to re-calibrate from where we are.

This year I spent more time in the Midwest outback than I have in any other year and hopefully this will continue.
I’ve worked along the coast from north to the south and enjoyed the intense company of seagulls.
In the Wheatbelt town of Merredin I found a silent space within me while listening to the raucous squawking of red tail black cockatoos, high in the gum trees.
In the Midwest outback town of Mt Magnet I found these beautiful succulent flowers. The ant and granite sand gives some perspective how tiny these flowers are.
I loved this deserted Masonic Lodge (circa 1899) in the outback town of Cue.
The pink flower carpet that surrounded the ghost town of Big Bell, just outside Cue, was stunning.
We enjoyed dinner here in an outback pub where dusty cowboys propped up the bar.
And even in the outback one could not get away from American politics! This was Herbert Hoover’s bedroom when he worked as a mining engineer in Western Australia in the late 1800s. This is now a lounge room at the motel where we stayed.
There were long drives on lonely highways in the company of road trains.
And waking to outback sunrises.
This was a big wall of tattoo photographs at the Billabong Roadhouse, in the Midwest outback. I thought it was pretty cool!
I spent a lot of time at airports with miners and where I met Muse.
I found I’m patient when faced with barriers. This forced me to drive between 5-10 kms an hour (speed limit was 110km/hour) for over 40 kms in the eastern Wheatbelt.
I visited The Leaning Tree, Greenough, outside Geraldton. Just because I love it so.

“I am Wirnda Ngadara
The leaning tree
I have grown this way
from too much breeze
My twisted trunk
bowed down to search
and pay respect
to Mother Earth
Stand here awhile
and look at me
I am Wirnda Ngadara
The leaning tree.
Nola Gregory, 2014

I have been brave and adventurous this year. The next year brings with it promise of new experiences with old loves. thumb_IMG_0696_1024
To embrace the new year I found my mantra on the Iron Balls gin bottle.

“You always have options, if you have balls”.

And, that my friends, I do!

May time stand still for you, for just a moment, so you can re-calibrate your compass for the new year and find the direction you seek.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Sunday – Fugacious

In Wheatbelt country …

Courtesy ABC News (Australia)

On my way to Moora I drove through this region a day before the fire. The landscape was beige and beautiful. I turned the music off and smiled to myself for most of the trip. I felt like I was driving through live art, the softest water colours of Hans Heysen, one of my favourite Australian artists, depicted in land and trees. When there is a breeze among gum trees, if you close your eyes and listen, you hear the ocean. But during this trip, the gum trees were still. I knew they were silent, too. It was the calm before the storm. I didn’t know this at the time.

This fire is further away from home. There is a bigger one closer north to my place that has been raging for days which seems to flare up intermittently and causing concern.

The city skies were sepia on Sunday as I drove out to Narrogin, south east of home. Once out of the city, it is a heavily wooded drive for most of the journey. In the distance I could see a blanket of smoke from yet another big fire from the tall timber country of Collie in the south west. I stopped roadside briefly to take a picture. It was silent and eerie in this vast landscape. During the night I woke several times to sirens and speeding vehicles, no doubt headed towards Collie. I decided to come home a day earlier as I didn’t risk getting caught in a long detour and miss the flight I’m taking today.

The lack of rain and extreme heat, a deadly mix, generates a tinderbox for sure. I cling to hope when the areas that are burnt to cinders will regenerate in spring as many Australian flora need extreme heat. It is harder for people to pick up the pieces though, when they lose livestock and homes. And, I cannot bear to think of all those animals caught up in this!

I drove through Foxes Lair soon after I arrived in Narrogin. It was dusk and not a creature stirred. It was the same in the morning when I usually hear the kookaburras and galahs creating a ruckus in the treetops. Coffee in hand, I looked outside my hotel door and saw just a slight quiver among flowers. It was all I needed to make me smile again,

New Holland Honeyeater among grevillea flowers, Narrogin, Western Australia

The other day I flew home from yet another trip. It was 40 degrees celsius on the day. The announcement of clear skies with strong winds and extreme heat made my heart sink. From experience, in that particular region, it can mean a rough flight. I fly dozens of times a year, but it was one of the worst flights I have ever experienced. The poor cabin crew got caught half way in the aisle when we hit turbulence. She crawled on hands and knees back to her seat. Each time I reached to steady myself by holding the seat in front of me, my hand flew so high off course, it touched the ceiling. For a nervous flyer, I’m learning, I am made of steel.

I’m off today for my last trip of the year. And, what a year it has been! A mix of joy and sadness. There will be time to write about this in the coming days when I’m home again for several days.

Until then

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Monday – Mix

Silent Sunday – 1 Dec 2019

a dawn bird

In response to Silent Sunday

Message from a dragonfly …

It’s that time of year again. I am looking for respite in all kinds of creative ways. Five minutes of laundry, a three minute prayer, a coffee mug that needs washing right away. The reports are being completed, one at a time, each around 20 pages, some longer. The pressure is intense. End of school year is three weeks away. Children who are eligible for special needs funding need people to zone out everything else and commit to deadlines. I’m trying to stay afloat.

Having flown in this morning, I made a list of things I needed to do before flying out again tomorrow. My knees did buckle momentarily. There’s only 24 hours in a day. On days like this, that is a revelation and surprise.

I can work late into the night, I reassure myself. I’ll rest in the hotel tomorrow night. It’s something I tell myself each time, but rest is elusive. I always find something else ends up with a higher priority.

As the clothes line got busy with wet laundry, she caught my eye …

As much as I love birds and, a friend tells me whenever she sees a bee, she thinks of me, I have always been drawn to dragonflies. The fact that they fly across oceans with filigree wings, amazes me. I have photographed them as they fly, mate, and with wings poised, alight on surfaces, but I have never seen one at rest.

As I ticked laundry off the list, I stopped. I heard the message through my camera.

Rest, fold your wings
balance awhile
tomorrow, we fly again

And, for a moment, as I looked through the lens, the pressure eased.

a dawn bird

In response to Daily Word Prompt – Alleviate – November 30 2019

Do look back … 30 November 2019

I think reflecting on the past month is a wonderful way to take a breath …
I’ve come to realise in the past few months, it is at home and in my garden is where I find best balance.

Where birds comes to visit me for a change.

I’ve enjoyed a long drive between Carnarvon and Geraldton. This is my favourite roadhouse along the way. I found out this area is prone to flooding when it rains, and quite beautiful with numerous billabongs that attract birdlife. The change between spring to summer has been swift. It was a hot drive.
The highway between Carnarvon and Geraldton is long and lonely. My colleague and I always feel carefree in these parts. We usually stop here and stretch our legs at a lookout that overlooks Gladstone Beach in the far distance.
Geraldton has become my second home. I’ve grown to love this place and the easy lifestyle.
Returning home from trips I found the gooseberries were turning into jam on the bush from the heat. What happened to spring, this year?
The mulberries are plentiful and most out of my reach, except for my zoom.
In Esperance the wildflowers have disappeared and birdlife is plenty. This wattlebird was as curious about me, as I was of it.

The wildflowers have disappeared in Foxes Lair too except for a hardy few. I saw a blur in the bush and found it was the tiny pink trigger plants.
The pied stilt was gorgeous at Chinaman Pool, in Carnarvon, at sunset.
I’ve just returned from being away for nearly ten days and found Perth is sweet home, after all. Now that came as a surprise to me!

It’s the first day of summer tomorrow. I’ll be starting it in the heat of the Goldfields.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to The Changing Seasons – November

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas …

Christmas Lily, Esperance, Western Australia

Around this time of year, the Christmas lily blooms in the garden of the hotel where I stay in Esperance. I love the colours and perfection of the flower. It reminds me to hang in there, the year is coming to an end.

As we prepare for Christmas, Thanksgiving is on the horizon for my family, friends and blogger friends in the Northern Hemisphere.

May you enjoy your celebrations on a day of togetherness and gratitude.

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Cee’s FOTD Photo Challenge –

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