Over the last couple of years I have run some photography related workshops at ACC and I am looking forward to sharing more photography tips in person when we return to face-to-face learning. We had a travel photography workshop planned this year, which seems a bit of a distant idea at the moment … both in terms of meeting up and getting on a plane! But we live in hope. And I am sure we will be able to travel within Australia, if not beyond, soon enough.

In the meantime … maybe you have already been on a holiday with the family, or taken the trip you always dreamed of and want to know what to do with your photos now.

Making the most of your photos is a creative task you can get excited about doing while in lockdown.

To start you off, I recommend that you think about:

1. Sorting your photos. It is a bit boring, but also really the thing you need to do! You could sort them into volumes and categories (eg. holiday locations or your children’s names) or keep it more random and sort by year, like the photo albums of my childhood. The pages from my parents albums were a treasure trove when I was young. Random photos of family, my first bike, a birthday celebration, the family pet. For some reason my parents always took photos of the garden and their cars too! I think it is the details I love looking back on. I remember our kitchen, our front door and our ginger cat. But seeing the photos of them brings things back to me I had forgotten. It is one of the great things about photography.

1. Printing your photos. This is key. Once the photos are stored in our computers I feel they are rarely seen. To help me to get around to printing photos I have a photo wall in my kitchen that I keep adding to. I also regularly make a photo book of all my favourite photos (I’ll write a post about this soon).

But, if this all sounds a bit process-y you could also think about the photos you could take in this time of isolation.

I am starting a portrait series at my house. I don’t know if my models (ie. my family) are going to be that keen. I will try, but if they squirm and lose patience I plan to look through my archives and do something with old photos as well.

Another idea is to document your own isolation experience. A journal of sorts, to remember how you passed the time, and what this experience looked like through your eyes.

If you start a new project, documenting your family, your home or your experience (and the same advice goes for holidays when they resume) my number one tip is to:

1. Look to take photos of the details.

In a room in your home it may be the way the light looks in the afternoon, or your favourite mug on the kitchen bench. If you are photographing people it might be the way your little one has tied their hair that day. From behind you can see it is all messy and sweet. Or just the way they snuggle into cuddling another member of the family.

If you travel it might be taking a photo of your ticket (train or plane), the accommodation you stay in, the taxi you take somewhere! Try to avoid cliches. Don’t photograph your own feet, instead look for the beauty in what is everyday about the place where you are, the unique about where you are.

When you start looking, no doubt you will see many things that are different and interesting, so also remember to get a little closer to photograph the details of them.

Good luck!

This week our letter comes from a tennis playing grandma. Find out what she has been doing and how she’s been coping in her letter to you, her fellow lockdowners. 30 copies of the letter are out to collect - if your daily walk takes you past the Alphington milk bar you should grab one from the window to take home and read.

Want to read the rest … pop past the Wingrove Street milk bar opposite Alphington Station.

Progress today. Books for week one are wrapped … and labelled!

We were recently the recipient of a placemaking grant from Darebin Council and I am personally pretty excited about this because it brings together my first professional job (urban planning) with my current role (community development).

Placemaking is both a process and a philosophy of urban design that capitalises on a local community's assets and potential. Placemaking involves deliberate interventions that enhance the urban experience at the pedestrian scale - to create public spaces that promote health, happiness, and well-being.

Exactly the sorts of lofty things we’re all seeking in these unsettling times right?

To understand what placemaking means in reality you could think about some of the physical changes we’ve made around ACC in the last few years … and how those changes impact on your perception of the space, your sense of belonging to it, and by extension to the organisation itself.

This new Council funded placemaking project that we’re embarking upon is a small scale portable venture - but not a solo undertaking. It is a collaboration with Darebin Libraries and also with Fairfield Bookshop.

And this week we (read Lee) got stuck into turning our idea into reality. By the end of next week phase one should be complete, and we hope to be ready to launch ‘it’ on the street … that street being Station Street in the first instance.

So keep your eyes peeled! We’ll keep you updated on the progress and we’ll provide more details soon.

Plywood, books and sticky notes … what will it all become?

This week the lowdown from a local whose 10 year caught COVID-19 - and is all better now! Collect your copy of this letter from the milkbar window before they all disappear.