Last month I journeyed up to Sydney to take part in Jodi and Tim's the creatives workshop.
A gentle day, with soft light and supportive company, it was the perfect time and place to be recharged.
In the shambolic of the everyday, I lose focus. I take the easier, more comfortable options, often skimming the surface of attention, my mind half on half a dozen things and not fully on any one. Throughout the day, inspired by other peoples journeyings to create and document their lives and stories, I started rethinking the choices I make.
While each of the participants, who journeyed from so many far-flung places, came away with different gifts, I came away with a new awareness that in all I attempt, I'm really aiming for one thing: to tell the story. Whether it's one of my fantasmagorical novels, the story of a moment, of an adventure, or the story of my children's early years, it's all about telling stories. (And yes, I hear the Tracy Chapman refrain - I'm just telling stories/ there is fiction in the space between/ me and reality)
Ideas for the books I'm writing, for what I truly want to do with my photography and blog, new patterns of living, unfurled. New knowledge makes me feel so much more confident about capturing the moment - the story - on film. As I play with all I learnt, I'm beginning to achieve the richness of tone I've always seen in my head and never been able to quite 'get.' Love, caught in touch and light. Context, shown in settings and framing. Lessons about photography were instantly juxtaposed into ideas for my writing world. My hands itched to write, and write, and write.
This, and this, and this!
They are quite the dynamic duo, Tim and Jodi! And for me, the story, and those I'm telling it to, are everything. x
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