Fun times

I love photos. Photos are memories and I’m always snapping, where ever I go.

Every time I release a new book, the call comes for new publicity photos. This is one of my least favourite things to do, because I’m much happier behind a computer screen, or out in the paddock, than I am in public.

Smiling on cue, is fine – I love to smile and laugh, but looking relaxed and natural, when I’m really feeling comfortable, is another thing all together.

Carolyn and I

This was a photo shoot with a difference. I hadn’t met Chelsea from Proof of Life before, but my lovely friend, Marni Topping, who took my photos before, said she was brilliant and I’d seen some of her work on Facebook and had been really impressed.

We decided we’d head out to my best mate’s farm. Carolyn is the Cal you see mentioned in all the acknowledgements of my books. She is sometimes the only reason the timelines work and the book gets finished. I couldn’t do this writing gig without her. She’s a very special person and we’ve been friends for nearly twenty years – I met her the same time I met my husband. And like the times I’ve spent with The Boss, Cal and I have made many memories during our friendship.

Chelsea is a camera totting mama, which two cameras slung around her neck and a quick trigger finger.

What could have been uncomfortable and awkward, was just fun! I didn’t care that I might have looked like an twit as I ran up and down the hay bales with Carolyn, or that there was a few extra rolls around the stomach than there had been the last time photos were taken. Chelsea made me feel beautiful, even when I wasn’t.

It was a challenging shoot, because as anyone who lives in Esperance knows, the wind is always blowing, so the hair looks a bit ruffled at times, but hey, that’s what it’s like when I’m out in the paddock and I don’t change for anyone. I’m just me.

Me ‘n’ my kids. Just missing The Boss.

We finished the shoot with a couple of the kids and I. Rochelle is leaving to go to high school, in town this year and because we live too far out for the bus run, she’ll be boarding in there. I think this might be the last time she willingly has her photo taken with her ’embarrassing old mum’!

Do you like taking photos or recording memories? What is your most precious memory?