Rural Australia
Read MoreA friend and I had the very sad honour of attending John Finnan's funeral in Toowoomba on Wednesday. John was a passionate photographer who touched so many lives in so many wonderful ways. He was so generous with his knowledge and his photographic equipment and was a brilliant landscape photographer winning many awards and accolades. The sky all day on Wednesday was incredible - wispy clouds everywhere (John would have loved it and would have been keen to get out photograph them) so after the funeral my friend and I and decided to do a sunset shoot in John's honour. RIP John, you will be greatly missed. Uralla in the snow this year will not be the same without you. https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnfinnanimages/
A friend of mine once told me that I don't take enough photo's of trees and that they ground you. So I thought about this, did some research and have been conscience of taking photos of trees more often. This excerpt is taken from a blog I found by Kate Mills. The art of grounding can take many forms, though they each involve the creation of roots. Think of hope, resilience, and ambition; think of forgiveness, honesty, and dignity. These are the roots that are the strongest, and the ones that will sustain you in your recovery. The idea is simple: in order to grow, we must change. Like the tree, we must outstretch our branches without knowing what the world will give back to us in return. We must be willing to accept the seasons, no matter the weather that comes along with them. When we are grounded—to the Earth, to the present moment, to our recovery—we bring our energy to what matters. With feet firmly planted on the ground, we let our roots take hold, introducing our attention to the good that is happening around us. “Be like a tree,” Rumi wrote. “Let the dead leaves drop.” Be like a tree; let yourself be grounded in growth.
I took a drive out to the Darling Downs to stay with my brother and to search of sunflowers. Unfortunately there are only a handful of fields blooming at the moment as the drought has delayed the farmers planting. I had heard about this field near Toowoomba that was way off the beaten track so my brother helped me find it. I headed out at 4am the next morning as I wanted to do a sunrise there. I got a bit lost (don't you just love GPS's? I think its time I got a new one as mine always leads me astray) anyway I finally found the field and it was just lovely to be out there. The sunlight that was hitting these sunflowers after the sun rose was absolutely beautiful don't you agree?
A friend and I had the very sad honour of attending John Finnan's funeral in Toowoomba on Wednesday. John was a passionate photographer who touched so many lives in so many wonderful ways. He was so generous with his knowledge and his photographic equipment and was a brilliant landscape photographer winning many awards and accolades. The sky all day on Wednesday was incredible - wispy clouds everywhere (John would have loved it and would have been keen to get out photograph them) so after the funeral my friend and I and decided to do a sunset shoot in John's honour. RIP John, you will be greatly missed. Uralla in the snow this year will not be the same without you. https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnfinnanimages/
C 96 I love a Sunburnt Country
I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror The wide brown land for me! The most famous part Dorothy MacKellar's poem The Wide brown land for me - this is so true at the moment - a good portion of our country is in severe drought - This was Boonah over the weekend and would you believe that this is a Jacaranda tree, its supposed to be covered in stunning mauve blooms at the moment but it is really suffering from lack of water. Just after I took this image a thunderstorm rolled through so hopefully it will have helped a little.
I saw this tree blooming in the face of adversity whilst out on a country drive last week and just had to stop to get some shots. Just look at it - its bent out of shape, it looks like its been knocked to the ground and yet its still blooming and is still beautiful. so what is Resilience? “Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes.” I think we can all learn a lesson from this tree - no matter how many times we get knocked to the ground we must continue to bounce back and bloom beautifully.
C 102 Oh No I forgot the sunscreen!
Don't forgot to "Slip Slop Slap" when out in the sun. Slip on a shirt, Slop on the 50+ sunscreen, Slap on a hat. Stop Skin Cancer in our hot climate. to view the original song that aired in the 80's click on the link below. youtu.be/tGgn5nwYtj0