The Creatives - Telling Stories

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!

Planes and Trains and Automobiles, O My!

The thought of going to an airport, even when I'm not getting on the plane, makes me slightly heady.
I love the idea of all the different 'big' stories colliding. I love thinking about families meeting up after long separations, backpackers setting off on life-changing journeys, lovers reuniting.
I'd like to say it's because my Beloved and I met for the first time in an airport, but truthfully, I loved airports long before that rather inauspicious meeting!
My Beloved and I caught the plane up to Sydney last week, and it lived up to all expectations. As we caught the ferry across the bay in the early morning I found myself nudging my Beloved and saying, "You know, for a place that isn't Melbourne, Sydney's not half bad, eh?"
And there's something about the vast space of the bay, the houses all tumbling down to the sea, the clear light, that is little short of intoxicating. Fuelling my love of travel we also caught trains (be still my heart!) and a bus! We even passed a Central Station, although not NYC central station, it held reflected glory!

I was a little infatuated by the ferries. I have always thought the Melbourne trams particularly appealing, but ah, ferries! And look, look, moi, with the opera house! I always feel a bit odd posting photos with me in them, so please look beyond at the iconic!