Life swept Monique and I up in a whirlwind last week so we weren’t able to share a Midweek Moment. My excuses are two book launches, a trip down south, and kid commitments. I’m also trying to make inroads into Novel #2 and preparing my website for an update—there are a few things happening behind the scenes here in the attic, so stay tuned …
Monique’s excuses are a combination of her paid job, running all-day Book Week sessions, Serenity Press meetings, promising she’d finish a scene in her novel … and the need to hang out with her lovely family.
We felt quite disappointed to miss a week, so we’re making up for it this week with a 2-for-1 special:
I took this photo at the same ‘secret’ spot at the Lake where I took MM #55. The best thing about visiting a place every day is that you get to know its hiding places, and where the best spots for photos are.
This spot is quite secluded so there were a million intact spiders’ webs (I’m taking some artistic licence there), all catching the sun at different angles. I especially liked the light in this photo—the way it dappled the water and caught the threads of the web, and made the scene look magical. Who would have thought a couple of tangled branches connected by a spiders’ web could look magical?
At this time of year, the caterpillars are busy foraging for food before they tuck themselves away in their chrysalises (I checked and that is the plural form of chrysalis).
I like the soft browns and greys of the background of this photo. I also like caterpillars and am forever amazed by their metamorphosis—this one will be a stunning butterfly soon, after she’s metamorphosed (no, I didn’t check if that’s a word). I also think she’s beautiful just as she is.
Monique has made the most of spring in her photos this week. I’m in love with her first one—a poppy in her backyard. It was a little breezy when she took it, which is why the image has that Impressionistic, soft-focus effect, but that’s what she wanted.
The red bursts out of the image and keeps drawing her (and me) back in. ‘It’s almost hypnotic’, she writes, ‘the soft background making me think of flowers in a field, rustling in the breeze, and I want to walk there and leave my life-worries behind.’
Monique’s second photo is of an everlasting from a neighbour’s front garden. Her neighbour also invited her to look at her back garden, which was spilling over with flowers like an English cottage garden. As for her vegie patch … ‘Wow!’ Monique wrote. ‘Her broad bean plants were 5ft high even though they were supposed to be “dwarf” plants.’
Monique took this photo in the middle of the day, so it’s very bright, but she’s hoping to pop down again later in the week (and later in the day) for some different shots.
She loves the papery look of everlastings and they give her plenty of inspiration.
The papery look of everlastings always strikes me, too—they never appear real but as if hand-made. The textures in nature are mind-boggling—I love wildflower season!
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About Midweek Moment:
Monique Mulligan and I are writers who share a passion for photography. As a creative digression from the written word, each week we share our favourite photos in a ‘Midweek Moment’. Please click over to Monique’s website to view more of her photography and read her writing. If you’d like to see more of our moments, click here.