Melody Day

It’s really getting to be a bad habit, this. I should go to church tomorrow but I don’t know where to start.

It is difficult oscillating between my Galaxy and my camera… today I had lunch with J at Bomb Cafe in Abbotsford and I ate something called Vegan Fry Up which is more delicious than it sounds, with spinach, avocado, chutney, toast, tomatoes and mushrooms, with chai latte by the side. We wandered through Fitzroy in search of a garage sale on Elliot St but found no sign of any so took photos of J by flowers in an alleyway. It was drizzling. He drove a few streets down and we went looking for another advertised sale but again, no sign of anything but we found a house that looked perfect with red leaves on vines growing on a brick wall and a perfect looking mini brick cottage that looked like a shed because it looked that small but must have been big and beautiful inside. I took so many photos of J and we put the self timer on the Canon autofocus and took a picture of us together standing on a road hump. That’s the thing with digital pictures, you think you have a million chances to get the right shot that you keep taking and taking and taking. Shooting film again made me rethink composition, but I still often feel stuck for different perspectives to take in terms of interesting compositions and with a fairly reluctant model, not the best recipe. I went through many shots very quickly – I probably need to think harder about my film photos next time. But I haven’t shot film in a long time and it just such a nice feeling, I look for different moments and things when I’m shooting with my SLR compared to the Galaxy with the intention of Instagramming it…

Anyway today was really such a lovely day…. I really wanted to go to as many garage sales as possible for the Garage Sale Trail and drop by Topshop on Chapel to catch a glimpse of Susie Bubble… but it was cold and wet today and just the perfect day to catch up with J and meander through the back streets of Fitzroy taking pictures and doing nothing really, with a nice finish at Storm in a Teacup on Smith, having a cup of Russian Caravan with pear and raspberry cake and cream. There is nothing important I want to say, but days like this make me remember what I really do enjoy doing (exploring, taking pictures, relaxing in cute teashops/coffeshops). The last time I remember getting this feeling was that wet day with J when we had a chai latte in Ormond and ate potato cakes from the local fish and chips shop then went to Abbotsford Convent and took pictures and ate at Lentils before finishing up the night at Nova watching Submarine which made him really depressed about Belle and I drove him home and farted in the car so I quickly wind down both the front windows and he got really annoyed but I just smiled enigmatically. I winded the windows back up and the fart smell was gone but I had missed the exit for Springvale Road because I was on the right lane and so ended up going through Eastlink all the way to Rowville and cost me $11+ just for that trip some few weeks later. I remember telling J he had a compelling face to shoot last time. He asked me today if I took a lot of pictures of Toan back then and I thought about it for a second but said no… and I always did ask myself that, why didn’t I? Especially if I want to remember moments and the people around me that mean a lot to me. I think deep down I knew that this wasn’t how I wanted my boyfriend to look like, because boyfriends in good pictures don’t look like that. Having these two days with J that I remember so prominently, do they mean something? I felt something back then in October, I am sure of it, but I know there is nothing now. I measure my life in pictures and perhaps it is when I have the time to be slow and move through my days slowly, photographing it, I can remember the sense of peace of shooting my way through those moments – of See Ann, of coffees, of the scenes that I saw. It is in my blood to venture out, to explore. I may like to claim that I am lazy and a homebody now, because maybe I am afraid of challenging myself to find people to go out and do things with me. Catch up with old friends due very soon.