More fog-related imagery, but this time almost isolating the object in focus.
Not much to say about this one other than I like the silhouette effect of the fog, as well as the minimalism it creates.
Just a simple photo.
This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week.
I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit.
A lot of what people are submitting will likely end up here.
I hope you enjoy.
Seeing as I wrote about the trip from Sydney to Melbourne, I feel it is appropriate to write about the trip from Melbourne to Sydney, though perhaps it is not. Perhaps my time is better spent elsewhere, but I don’t often spend my time well so this is what you’re getting for now.
Maybe it will turn out well. We’ll have to see and all that other stuff.
It was a start early in the morning. Not the earliest point in the morning, but still early. I woke up around some time between five and six, got ready, then said my farewells to my brothers and commenced my departure from Melbourne at around fifteen minutes past the hour of six.
Leaving Melbourne was quite straightforward. There were few turns; it was mostly driving North along a small amount of roads. Eventually I reached a place where I’d turn to head east which was soon followed by a turn that would lead to The Hume Highway, and thus the one road that would help me get home sooner rather than later in terms of driving along roads.
There were some stops along the way. Some were to take photos; others were to have a break. One in particular was to stock up on fuel, though there were two of those, though in this instance I am referring to one stop only as this stop led to a slight detour where I got to see some stuff that interested me. Also allowed me to stretch my legs for a bit.
The drive back was much more straightforward than the drive to Melbourne. Other than the one early on, there were no detours. That early one wasn’t major anyway. It may have added about fifteen minutes to the driving time, which ultimately meant very little.
Driving through fog on a highway was something I was familiar with, but perhaps not to the same sort of feeling, if that makes sense. There were some periods of fog and I hadn’t driven along The Hume in fog before. It seemed a little more simple than driving through the fog whilst going to The Blue Mountains. Not sure as to why I mentioned that.
But yes, there were stops and they were the main contributor to my getting back home at night. I had hoped I’d get back during the daytime, but frequent stopping and a fair bit of time not driving meant I got home later than I hoped. The stops were worth it though, and I got home before ten in the evening so it wasn’t too bad. I was beginning to feel tired toward the end, however.
Actually, I was feeling tired around the start too. Nothing bad coffee and sugar couldn’t resolve, thankfully.
Initially I’d planned to have breakfast in Albury, but taking my time meant I had to have breakfast before then. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I made did with what I could order and I hope to never eat at that food chain ever again. If I have to, it will be due to no other options available. But I digress.
On the drive back I thought about things, though none too important. I was still enjoying the landscape quite a bit, as once more I found the scenery to be fascinating. At the same time I find it rather unfortunate how much cleared land along The Hume Highway reigns supreme. I understand that some of it is necessary, but surely not all of the land being cleared is. Surely some of it can be returned to an idea of bushland.
Still, I can’t deny that I enjoyed the amount of space showing the shape of the land. I can’t deny that I liked seeing a lot of space due to how it allowed visibility of distance. That said, I’d prefer bushland.
The land stretched out for a while in all directions and the car was merely a small and temporary participant within the landscape. Still, perhaps its impact is far greater than I was considering at the time. It can be easy to not think about these things whilst in the moment, but of course it depends on a lot of things. I was mostly focused on getting home. I had work the following day and I needed to make sure I got home in one piece. I wanted to see my partner again. Of course the drive is not necessarily something to worry about; I handled it fine. Even when I was concerned about how awake I was, it was easy enough to pull over somewhere and walk around for a few minutes and wake up a bit. I also got home safe, which of course is a relief. I still worried a little, however. Perhaps it is due to a lack of confidence in my ability. Oh well.
The landscape was one in a state of prolonged stagnancy, but it was beautiful in its own way. It allowed time for reflection and thought, but that was also allowed by the act of driving itself, and my thoughts didn’t get too inward or deep, so perhaps it was a wasted opportunity.
Eventually I reached Sydney and, when somewhat-near home I took a wrong turn. I then missed two turns I could’ve taken to get home sooner and ended up adding roughly an extra thirty minutes to my trip. It might’ve been longer; I’m not sure, unfortunately. It could’ve been much worse of course, but I’d have preferred to have not done that, but I did.
I think that at this stage I’d do the drive again, just for the landscape. Perhaps I would also think more about myself and who I am and what it is that I do, but I’m not entirely sure. There’s a lot to see out there, but there also is a lot to think about.
A long drive can of course allow a lot, however, so really I could do both.
The time it took to write one thousand words: 20:01:96
Slightly faster than the previous one, but perhaps not fast enough.
Not sure what I was aiming for here. It feels a bit unfocused and indecisive.
Written at home.
Cold and all that stuff and I hope that somehow I can get through the cold so as to complete this bit of writing, but with that being said I think that I need to not worry about this, but something else.
Anyway, that is how this bit of writing commences. I don’t know as to how it will end, but I imagine it will involve the use of words in some capacity. Often that is the way these bits of writing end and so I see no change of the sudden variety occurring. after all, it is good to be consistent and I am doing my best to be consistent, or something.
I don’t know; let us just pretend that I know as to what I’m going on about. It makes it easier for everyone.
So anyway, I sit here and sometimes I sit here, but mostly here and it is a little chilly at the moment. Maybe it is jacket weather, but it certainly is a little chilly, but I keep on mashing away and I keep on trying to get on with whatever it is that I’m getting on with. I shall continue to express in vague terms, though perhaps there is little about this that is vague and I am merely hoodwinking myself once more. Sometimes I am quite good at doing that and perhaps right now that is no exception. Maybe there are other exceptions, but that is not something that I feel much like getting into at the current moment.
The main reason as to why I don’t feel like getting into that at the moment is that there are a lot of things that surround the topic and so I don’t feel as though I can adequately cover them. There are issues with the whole covering and in those issues of covering it means that this will bloat out to what may just be an unsustainable length. This is, of course, something that could be tackled with finesse, but I am lacking in the finesse stocks right now and so I need to make do with what I can, which, quite frankly, is very little, but that hasn’t stopped me before and so it is unlikely that it will stop me now.
However, what will stop me is the art of procrastination and my continual engagement with it, but maybe that is something I also should not worry about too much right now as I am working through things slowly, yet surely, but what I really need to do is finish this off, but the cold is making it difficult as my hands are cold and they’re not responding too well to the cold, but I’ve gone on about that before and so I won’t do so too much here, but maybe I will do it later or something.
Anyway, I think that now that that is out of the way, it might just be the right time to get past the introduction.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:57:82
This was a writing where the aim was “write anything”.
Rather rubbish writing, but it has a flow of sorts.
Written at home.
This seat was seen whilst driving around The Blue Mountains.
When I saw it I felt compelled to take photos.
I don’t understand as to why people feel the need to get rid of their furniture in this manner. It’s wasteful and potentially harmful to a habitat, but on the slight plus side to this one is that I ended up with a photo I’m content with.
I like how the framing helps to suggest space. I also like how there’s a sense of quiet to the photo.
This is my submission into the one hundred-and-forty-eighth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
The theme for this one is “Spots and Dots“.
I’ve submitted this photo due to the couch providing a spot that’s not the ground to sit and view the road from.
The challenge is hosted by four people and cycles weekly:
Week 1 – Patti
Week 2 – Ann-Christine aka Leya
Week 3 – Amy
Week 4 – Tina
This week’s challenge is curated by Leya. Next week Tina is curating.
The challenges are pretty fun and there’s a lot of room for interpretation that doesn’t get in the way of enjoyment. If you’re into photography, then I suggest participating, or at the least checking out what other people are submitting.
I hope you enjoy.
Both quick and long, and a bit of a mess.
This feels jumbled. I’m sure that if I spent time working on it, it would turn into something interesting.
I hope you enjoy.
—
I spent a bit of time
Perhaps more than needed
Trying to think of words
That gave meaning to regularity
It was not enough
As is most often the case
And perhaps that means
I should go and rethink this writing
Sometimes these happen quickly
Sometimes the time taken elongates
In this instance it was the latter
And yet it was not enough
On the most recent Friday past I drove to Melbourne.
Family stuff. Not getting into it as it’s not the point of this writing, other than giving a slight explanation as to why. will say, however, that originally it was just for the purposes of going on a trip for a few days and seeing family, but things change.
Anyway, it was an early morning start. Before the hour known as being seven in the morning I left for what ended up being a drive stretching out for a longer amount of time than I had anticipated, but such is the way of things at certain times.
Leaving Sydney was a fairly straightforward process. I had written turns down the night prior so as to make sure I went the correct way. Certainly made things easier and traffic wasn’t too bad, so I think that it’s fair to say that the whole “getting moving” thing was easy, but then again, the whole trip was mostly easy.
I took a detour through Wollongong for breakfast and, instead of deciding to leave the fastest way out, I instead took a further detour via Macquarie Pass. The aim was to get to The Hume Highway and from what I could tell, the trek only added a few minutes. I can say with confidence that I will do my best to avoid Macquarie Pass as much as possible.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it being a winding road up an escarpment, though I don’t quite handle winding roads too well sometimes; The issue I had was that parts of the road are going to (relatively speaking) soon be quite undercut and potentially collapse. It’s not something I want to be on when it happens.
Saw The Big Potato for the second time on the way to The Hume, which I was somewhat-happy about.
Anyway, took to The Hume, took advantage of cruise control a fair bit and drove on all the way to Melbourne. There were a few stops along the way of course, for there was the need to rest. Sometimes there was the need to eat.
It was a long drive and my detour added a bit more time than I had expected, but such is the way of things. The landscape felt massive in places; something of which I greatly appreciated. It was pleasing to my eyes and I was glad I could take it in without dropping concentration on driving. There were a few spots where I wanted to stop to take photos, but most I didn’t feel confident enough in doing so as there were no rest stops in some of the places and so I didn’t take the risk. Sure, I could have stopped on the side of the road in the emergency stopping lane, but… yeah. Didn’t feel confident in that being a good idea.
I had hoped that I would get into Melbourne before sunset, but due to the added time it was not to be and so by the time I reached Albury the sun was setting. I still had quite a few hours before I would reach Melbourne due to more stops and my being capped at a certain speed due to provisional licensing restrictions, but I kept on going.
I’ve seen a few people say that the drive to Melbourne is fatiguing; that it can be a slog to do in one day. One of my housemates have said the same and my partner raised concerns about it, but in my stubborn existence I did not take heed of the words. I hadn’t done the drive myself before, but I have spent a lot of time driving from Sydney to Melbourne and vice versa. That’s not to say that I was necessarily prepared, but I feel that, even though the distance of time from those drives to now was somewhat-great, they helped in a way. Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself, and admittedly until I took to the road I was feeling a great deal of apprehension and stress about the drive, but I digress.
Personally I didn’t find it that hard a drive, nor that fatiguing; part of which I imagine was due to using cruise control. There was a lot to see and a few things to appreciate and overall it was alright. However, where I felt the drive became more of a challenge was driving at night, as at that point all I had was the road and the silhouettes of objects.
Also cars with their lights being too strong for that kind of driving. It wasn’t fun needing to drive whilst partially ducking due to all mirrors no longer being viable for use. Still made it in one piece, however.
Eventually I reached Melbourne, but instead of heading straight for where my family lived I went to Point Cook. A friend of mine had moved there the week prior and I was dropping off the last of his stuff for him. It was one of the easiest parts of the drive; even when I went the wrong way.
I dropped his stuff off, we had an emotional hug, then I headed back off and to where my family resides, which also was quite easy. There were no unintentional detours and once I knew where I was, it was easy enough to follow directions. By that point though I was tired. I’d been on the road since about twenty minutes before seven in the morning and it was now around eleven at night. Still, I managed to do the drive in one piece. No accidents, though not much thinking and introspection, though of course that’s fine. Not every drive needs to involve getting deep into yourself. Sometimes it’s better not to and instead focus on the goal at hand, which in this case was get to Melbourne in one piece.
That being said, the drive certainly was one that would’ve suited introspection well, but I was fine without any.
The time it took to write one thousand words: 21:27:11
Slower than I had hoped.
Also hoped to talk more about the landscape, but instead this ended up being a meandering summary. Oh well.
Written at home.
This post is at a lookout near Lithgow.
Not sure what it is there for. There may have been a placard in the area that mentioned it, but I’m rather uncertain on that. Might just be imagining that there was one.
It may also have been part of where the lookout originally went to as there are signs that it had been modified at one point, though of course those signs might have represented something else entirely.
Anyway, here is a view involving a post, a fence, some grim-looking weather, close geology and a wide landscape.
I hope you enjoy.
Here’s a photo I keep forgetting about and I’m not sure as to why.
I was trying to frame this in a certain way and I almost succeeded in what I wanted to do.
I think that this is a bit of a peaceful and somewhat-scenic image. There’s a few varying greens and the sky has a nice hue to it.
I hope you enjoy.
A photo of a space that feels abandoned, and perhaps it is due to it being part of the Lithgow Blast Furnace Ruins site… I think.
There is a quietness and perhaps a little bit of sadness in this photo, but there also is history. There’s a story of sorts.
Overall, a moody photo.
I hope you enjoy.
A rather minimal photo, this one.
I like bare branches and I like how they can add a certain kind of feeling to an image if used properly. I don’t think I did so here, but I still like the result.
There’s a nice amount of space that helps things feel quite stark, and it’s easy to be drawn to the form of the branches.
I hope you enjoy.
Stupidity Hole 