Laugh lines

I shot this photo during our rain inspection outing the other day...

... it makes me smile.

I just love that my husband smiles with his WHOLE face - one of the very first things I noticed about him actually. Right after those mesmerising blue eyes... they caught my attention but it was the crinkling smile that did me in.

My mother also smiles with everything she has - her delight reflected in every corner of her face. Her lines are happy reminders of a million smiles. They tell the world about her character and it's a beautiful thing.

Do you think celebrities (and others) who freeze their faces realise what they steal away, when they try to steal back years? That the very light in them that made them beautiful to begin with is dimmed by that effort?

Smile crinkles rule.

Tears from Heaven... and some Soapbox

I am looking for some distraction today - as you may have guessed from yesterday's post, we had some terrible news yesterday. A family friend, a fabulous lady I have known my whole life, passed away suddenly. She was a woman of the city and of the country too. A special woman. A survivor who had endured much but smiled for the world. The shock has yet to ease, and my heart goes to her beloved husband and daughter.

This morning we woke up to rain - heavy, steady, soaking, gorgeous rain. And my first thought was "Jan is at work already". And I knew it for sure when we rang my brother and found the rain is widespread (for a change). They are getting it at their house too - up until now the rain has fallen in strange isolated areas. Last storm we got almost four inches (97mm) while my brother's place got less than half an inch (10mm). So call me a sentimental fool, but this rain I am crediting to Jan.

So while the rain falls steadily outside (and my dryer gets a workout) I have been trawling the blogs to distract myself. One in particular has given me pause today - Stephen Baird's wonderful photo blog Nikon Sniper, in which he discusses a comment I made there recently. I found myself rambling in response, and decided to re-post the comment here to share with my wonderful (unfailingly positive) readers.
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I had mentioned that I found Stephen positive and encouraging and a non-photo-snob, despite his obvious talent with a camera. I abhor photo snobs - those who think that the measure of a photographer is their technical know-how and the cost of their latest camera. Don't get me wrong - I love me a shiny expensive camera, and an all-the-gadgets lense. I work with a battered Nikon D100 and a bashed-up, scratched Nikon 17-200mm lense. That's it. And I am aware of my dearth of expertise in the technical field - I have much to learn, and I am quite possibly too lazy to take it all on board!

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Photo snobs (for those lucky enough to have avoided them til now) can be found in many places, but I had discovered them mostly in camera shops and printing businesses. They have the knack of making people self-consious about their abilities, their expertise, their equipment. Who knows why? I have overheard some awful things - things that would make people put down a camera and never try again. And it makes me cranky. I watch these people walk away dejected and think:

"What a loss! What photos will never get taken because the joy and confidence has been stolen from that person?"
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For those newish to this blog, I should confess that I'm an ex-news photographer, so my teeth were cut on pretty action-packed imagery. I learned on-the-run rather than from a text book. I still cannot believe I got a real job with such little technical experience... but I did. And I took some horrific photos, and the occasional pretty nice photo. THE MAIN THING was that they told the story. They captured a moment or an emotional or a relationship. I am still catching up on the technical stuff. Oh Lord, am I wanting in this department.
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But I reckon I can capture a moment pretty well - and seeing as how all I am doing is documenting MY life, and the pics make ME happy (and show my kids what their world was like when they were little) then I reckon it's all OK. (Of course I still yearn to improve. I'm quite normal!)
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I love that people like Stephen encourage everyone. This world is full of knockers (and I don't mean of the ribcage variety!). I am very lucky that positive people visit me and comment - I am sorry that not everyone has this kind of experience. They should.
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To me, my comments section confirms what I think I know - that people would love my part of the world, given a chance to glimpse it. That they might find something here to identify with. It's the little bonus I never really anticipated in blogging. And it's one I look forward to every day. Every comment made is appreciated - I am not frightened of constructive critisicm either. If people want to share their knowledge or tips with me, I am all ears.

How else do we learn?

But what I really love is that people seem to feel like they have experienced something, the thing I am trying to show, without getting caught up in the photo itself?

Does that make sense?

So expect more random images from my world this year. Expect some slightly fuzzy and out-of-focus and not technically perfect shots that are there because they help me tell my story. I hope I never press the 'publish' button just to make my comments count skyrocket.

And even if I my posts are all written just for my kids and for me, I hope you keep coming back to share them anyway. You are part of my community.

Delight in the details: the anti-anti-aging post

I have to admit to being a little hot under the collar lately...

about all this anti-aging attitude on TV.

One Aussie show in particular - Ten Years Younger in Ten Days - has really bothered me. It promotes botox injections and surgical eye lifts among it's 'tools' to 'improve' people's appearance. It bothered me not ONLY because I think of makeovers involving surgery as 'Only in America' activities (sorry my Yankee friends) but because it seems to reflect how society (the global village society) looks upon the more mature citizens of this world.

The ones that have actually DONE SOMETHING.

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Now I am not devoid of vanity - I make the occasional effort to look good. I have no issue with people making the most of their looks, in buffing up, fixing teeth, feeling better about themselves. (Heck I should do some more of that myself!).

But when we clear our faces of expression, of our trademark lines and natural responses, aren't we clearing our personal history and even a piece of who we are?

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What does it say when we decide someones worth is in how young they look?

What does it tell our kids when we elevate lack of laugh lines to 'must have' status?

What does it give away about our own sense of being when immobile brows and surgically-enhanced eyes - to the point it's possible our own families wouldn't recognise us - is seen as essential to our state of mind?

Something bloody frightening, that's what it says.

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You know, I don't get het up much - and I really have liked Sonya Kruger (the presenter of this TYYiTD) who is generally pretty and sharp and funny. But I swear - if I hear her say

"Your kids won't know you"

(and giggle like it's a good thing)

one more time - I will scream.

I take photos of people and things. Old and young.

And let me tell you something, Ms Kruger:

It all gets more beautiful (in my eyes) the older anything is.

Sure the paint might not be perfect and line-free,

but the stories of adventure and life and strength lie in each crack, each flake, each non-sheer inch that faces the world, make it something to gaze at in quiet appreciation.

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And sure, the odd hinge might be a little rusty...

...but it's changed patina echoes the incredible job it has done throughout the years

and the weathered pieces surrounding it have a charm no buffed-up new planks could possibly hope to share.

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And, in certain lights, the surreal glow of aging metal - earned through years of service and dependability and practicality - can pretty much stop you in your tracks. The elegance and character born of years of gravity and the elements is impossible to achieve with anything less than the teamwork of Mother Nature and Father Time.
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Even weeds rejuvenate naturally with the seasons - beauty in the bloom and in the fading flower. One no better than the other.
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Why do we think it's any different for humans?

Why can't we cherish & revere faces that have stood the Tests of Time,

as we do weathered sheds

and antique furniture

and fine wine?

Damn it.

I think we should.

My friends, my heroes

Just a short one tonight - my internet is playing silly buggars and I am tired.

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But I cannot go to bed without properly acknowledging the incredible interview my friends Toni and Dave did with the Sunday Night program, which aired on Channel Seven in Australia tonight.

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Put simply, they were magnificent.

Magnificent and brave in the face of the most unimaginable grief for the beautiful, healthy baby girl they tragically lost to whooping cough just a few weeks ago.

Talk about a tough gig - knowing that they are putting themselves up there for the anti-vaccination groups to target and try and discredit. Knowing that they will be (from this point on) the face of an immunisation campaign, in the worst kind of way.

That was something they never intended, never could have anticipated.

They know their lives will never be the same.

And yet they did - they took a deep breath and faced the camera.

For Dana.

For their own peace of mind.

As Toni said:

'The only thing worse than the pain we are going through now, would be watching it happen to someone else and know that we could have said something, and didn't.'

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I admit I cried pretty much the entire way through the story.

I knew I would.

How could I not?

Watching my friend's face crumple as she described what happened to her baby...

Excruciating. Mind-blowing. Surreal. Awful.

I hope it has some effect...

on the people who matter.

On our communities at large.

On parents who can be logical about this debate and make rational decisions.

On governments to properly shoulder the responsibility to keep our babies (and the vulnerable among us) safe from preventable and untreatable disease.

And to remind all adults that they too need boosters to stay immune and help protect the 'herd'.

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Apparently J-Lo is also pushing the pertussis vaccine in America...

whatever it takes, I guess.

But really, it shouldn't take a celebrity, and it shouldn't take a baby dying, to get people to act as a community to protect themselves and others.

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I will climb off my soapbox now.

You know me, you know I don't get up there often.

But damn it.

My friend's baby died.

And someone bloody well needs to say something to make sure her voice is not lost in the low roar of everyday life.

Someone needs to dwell on the final words Toni said in tonight's interview, after footage showed them planting a tree for Dana on the day she should have been christened.

She said:

'I feel anger when I look at that tree.

I didn't want a tree.

I just wanted my little girl.'