Welcome back to Midweek Moment 2016!  Despite the holidays and the festive atmosphere, we’ve both been reflective in our choice of photo for the week.

I took my photo on our recent trip to Queensland, while on a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef. On land, the sky was densely overcast, but the further away we got, the more it opened up, so that by the time we reached the reef, the sky was a vast, never-ending blue.

I chose this photo because I like the crowded sky and the steel-coloured sea. It looks ominous, yet there’s light, drawing the eye towards the horizon at the centre, where there’s a hint of sun.

Monique has faced some challenges lately, so she took herself to the park, armed with her camera, for some much-needed space and fresh air. She wanted to clear her head, or at least escape it for a while. This one-legged seagull caught her eye because he was standing strong and proud even though life had obviously thrown him a challenge or two, and she identified with him.

‘Sometimes we get knocked over,’ she wrote, ‘and some of us can get up and face things again. Not everyone is able to do that.’

It’s an emotive photo, with beautiful, rich colours. I think we all relate to feeling like this one-legged bird at times, brushing ourselves off and standing tall, like everybody else.

Midweek Moment is a weekly photographic project in which Monique Mulligan and I team up to share our favourite photos on our websites. It’s a way of stretching ourselves creatively and a nice distraction from writing. Click here for more of our Moments.