Bonnie’s 28th, Boho Bar / Hobbit Hole, Unley South Australia. 18th of November, 2011.

Took my new toy - a Fuji Instax 210 - to my friend’s birthday party last week. Took a tonne of shots - thank the gods for little brother’s who spoil their big sisters with film! Such an awesome night.

The Commute. Outer Harbour Line, Thursday 27th of October, 2011. Haven’t felt very inspired to take any photographs lately. We’ve had a big job on at work that’s been sapping up all my energy - most days I get home and crash, and the times I’ve been out I’ve completely forgotten to get out the phone, or a camera. I guess that’s a common-place problem for those of us who aren’t in the position to devote more energy to our art than to the daily grind. My day-to-day job is fairly creative, too, and whilst usually that inspires me, working on the one massive (and boring) job for the past month has been a major drag. I have some new Instaxy goodness on it’s way courtesy of my ‘lil bro, so hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things when that arrives. This isn’t to say I haven’t been doing anything creative - I’ve got half of the back of a new sweater knit, have been strumming away on my ukulele’s, and have been steadily re-arranging my studio space for some possible paper art projects. I attended a great seminar last night called “How Does Your Arts Grow?”, and came out of it full of ideas for arts paticipation and enabling. Also, weirdly enough, a sculpture idea - good thing I’ve been re-arranging the studio space, I’ll need all the floorspace I can find for this one. Not that I actually do sculpture, but whatever, I’ll maybe muck about with that on the weekend anyway. So yeah, no photographic inspiration, but the creative brain is still ticking away. Meanwhile, I commute every day into work on the train. I wish I had the guts to take photos of strangers - I see some pretty random stuff, but I feel so stupid (and conspicuous) getting out my phone. I guess I don’t feel legitimate as a photographer/street photographer when using only a phone, even though it takes images in a manner I find visually appealing and is damn convenient, since I always have it on me (and it doesn’t entail me lugging a camera bag about). Does anyone else struggle with this idea? Part of my hesitation is probably due to the fact I’ve never studied art, or photography, and so don’t feel legitimate as an artist - even though I do engage in artistic pursuits. I come from a craft background, both in my own practice and in the practice of my mother (whose embroidery and quilting work often transends pure ‘craft’ and into the more ‘art’ realm, not that she considers herself an artist) and my grandmother (ditto), and to a certain extent have been raised to feel (or that I should feel) that pure art - art for art’s sake - is in some way self-indulgent. My practice has always been to make things to use - a knitted sweater to keep me warm, a new skirt to wear to work, a card for a gift - and now I’m moving more into the realm of making things simply for the act of making them, with no ‘end use’ in mind. I find myself feeling like I have to justify any pure ‘art’ project I start - to myself, to the world at large - which often tends to stymie ideas before they fully eventuate. (Wow, this so wasn’t going to be what this post was going to be about. Tumblr as therapy session?) Do any of you out there struggle with similar problems? I tend to imagine that every other artist ever is completely secure in their practice, which whilst I know that cannot be the case it still makes my little ventures into the art world all the more daunting.
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The Commute. Outer Harbour Line, Thursday 27th of October, 2011.

Haven’t felt very inspired to take any photographs lately. We’ve had a big job on at work that’s been sapping up all my energy - most days I get home and crash, and the times I’ve been out I’ve completely forgotten to get out the phone, or a camera. I guess that’s a common-place problem for those of us who aren’t in the position to devote more energy to our art than to the daily grind. My day-to-day job is fairly creative, too, and whilst usually that inspires me, working on the one massive (and boring) job for the past month has been a major drag. I have some new Instaxy goodness on it’s way courtesy of my ‘lil bro, so hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things when that arrives.

This isn’t to say I haven’t been doing anything creative - I’ve got half of the back of a new sweater knit, have been strumming away on my ukulele’s, and have been steadily re-arranging my studio space for some possible paper art projects. I attended a great seminar last night called “How Does Your Arts Grow?”, and came out of it full of ideas for arts paticipation and enabling. Also, weirdly enough, a sculpture idea - good thing I’ve been re-arranging the studio space, I’ll need all the floorspace I can find for this one. Not that I actually do sculpture, but whatever, I’ll maybe muck about with that on the weekend anyway. So yeah, no photographic inspiration, but the creative brain is still ticking away.

Meanwhile, I commute every day into work on the train. I wish I had the guts to take photos of strangers - I see some pretty random stuff, but I feel so stupid (and conspicuous) getting out my phone. I guess I don’t feel legitimate as a photographer/street photographer when using only a phone, even though it takes images in a manner I find visually appealing and is damn convenient, since I always have it on me (and it doesn’t entail me lugging a camera bag about). Does anyone else struggle with this idea?

Part of my hesitation is probably due to the fact I’ve never studied art, or photography, and so don’t feel legitimate as an artist - even though I do engage in artistic pursuits. I come from a craft background, both in my own practice and in the practice of my mother (whose embroidery and quilting work often transends pure ‘craft’ and into the more ‘art’ realm, not that she considers herself an artist) and my grandmother (ditto), and to a certain extent have been raised to feel (or that I should feel) that pure art - art for art’s sake - is in some way self-indulgent. My practice has always been to make things to use - a knitted sweater to keep me warm, a new skirt to wear to work, a card for a gift - and now I’m moving more into the realm of making things simply for the act of making them, with no ‘end use’ in mind. I find myself feeling like I have to justify any pure ‘art’ project I start - to myself, to the world at large - which often tends to stymie ideas before they fully eventuate.

(Wow, this so wasn’t going to be what this post was going to be about. Tumblr as therapy session?)

Do any of you out there struggle with similar problems? I tend to imagine that every other artist ever is completely secure in their practice, which whilst I know that cannot be the case it still makes my little ventures into the art world all the more daunting.