Current Journal Entry

The small plane bounces into Normanton with the storm clouds curling on the horizon but the rain staying obstinately away. It is 37 degrees.

Sixteen of us start our day in the air-conditioned comfort of the school, discussing composition and design, the technicalities of the cameras, and where we will go for our photo shoot. The old jail, the train station, the rodeo grounds and the cemetery are the places of choice. Normanton spreads itself out in the ample flat space and we drive in our air-conditioned cars from one chosen spot to the next, cameras slung around our necks, and in my case, lots of sun cream and shawls to protect from the blazing heat. It is a hot little crowd that slinks back into the welcome cool of the school later in the day.

Sunday is a big day of show and tell and we enthuse over each other’s work, and think about what we might try with composition or lighting to bring the beautiful images that everyone has captured even further into life.

The course is rounded off with sounds and images of Antarctica as I talk about community life at the stations where I spent my artist residency a few years ago. The cracking of the ice, the frozen white landscape brings a whole new world in to the steamy days of Normanton.

Image: Judith with a workshop participant.