Field Notes from a Wandering Photographer - Week Three: Last-Minute Calls, Big Feelings and The In-Between

This past week has been one of those chaotic, nothing-goes-to-plan photography weeks where everything arrives at once. It started with a Front Door Session with two teenagers and their mum, a sweet, soft little session even though the kids were not thrilled about being photographed where people from school might see them. Then I fell straight into my usual Canberra rhythm: my Saturday morning lap around Lake Burley Griffin, matcha in hand, catching up with a friend before the city woke.

And just as I was settling into that peace, my phone started buzzing like it had some personal vendetta against me. A baptism to cover. A rush job. Another Front Door Session. And then a last-minute intimate wedding someone needed urgently. So Saturday became sprinting-with-a-camera mode, Sunday morning was another doorstep, and Sunday afternoon I was photographing a wedding I did not even know existed 48 hours earlier.

It all blurred together, the new faces, the shoots, the editing, the rushing. And then suddenly I was back in the car, headed home to Orbost. I did not realise how much I needed that last drive until I pulled in and the smell of fireplaces and cool air hit me. That tiny exhale of, “I am home.”

And now, as I am writing this, it is Friday. I am literally driving to Canberra again, with two Front Door Sessions waiting for me this afternoon. Then tonight I will drive straight to Melbourne, and tomorrow is a wedding. It is a lot. But it is also my life right now, this weird, beautiful mix of constant movement and longing for stillness.

Between Shoots

This has been a deeply in-between kind of week for me, the kind where your work is full-speed but personally you feel like you are standing in a doorway between two versions of yourself, not fully belonging to either one.

Coming home to Orbost after all that chaos felt like slipping into something soft. The sunset behind the Telstra satellite dishes, the empty lawn bowls green, the smell of fireplaces in the air, it made me feel like I could breathe properly for the first time in days. It is funny how a place can hold you like that. Even when everything else feels confusing, home still feels simple.

I keep feeling like I have outgrown the version of me that existed even a few months ago. The old things, old habits, old patterns, old dynamics, they do not fit anymore. But the new version of me is not fully formed yet, and living in that space feels strange. Not bad, not good. Just completely uncomfortable. Like I am trying on a new skin that has not softened to my shape yet.

There is also this situation with someone incredibly important to me, honestly my best friend, and it has hit harder than I expected. He wants space, so we are not speaking until next year, and even though I am trying to let life keep moving, it feels like there is this quiet ache underneath everything. Every drive, every homecoming, every moment alone in the car when my mind finally has room, it is just there.

In between shoots I have been trying to do the things that make me feel okay. Focusing on my home, my garden, my routines, the little rituals that usually anchor me. I have been lifting weights again and of course yoga, which never fails to make my body feel grounded. I have been thinking about the little projects I want to do around the house next week, the things that make the cottage feel more like a sanctuary, not just a place I land between trips. And I cannot wait to show you.

This week I put flyscreen around my back deck, added a vintage flyscreen back door and put up a clothesline that makes the whole space look totally romantic and dreamy. Clean laundry hanging on a clothesline is honestly one of the most romantic things to me. When I was in Europe earlier this year, I could not help photographing every laundry line I walked past.

I think that is why the in-between space feels so loud right now. My work is hectic and alive. My inner world feels muted and tender. The contrast between the two is impossible to ignore. But maybe that is just part of becoming someone new. You shed the old version, you stretch into a new one and for a while you live in the awkward middle. That is definitely where I am right now, in the middle, in the stretch, in the figuring-it-out stage.

Currently Loving

Listening to:

Hilary Duff Essentials Playlist on Apple Music. Yes, I know I am old school. The old, the new, the pure serotonin.

Snack situation:

Qukes and strawbs with this new string cheese from Woolies. Honestly the easiest combo for long car trips.

Outfit of the week:

This amazing dress from New Look at ASOS paired with my favourite oversized brown knit jumper and my Birks. This combo has been on repeat.

Other things keeping me going:

My New Editing Desk, my new vintage flyscreen back door that changed the whole mood of the deck, my dreamy laundry-line moment, the tiny home projects making the cottage feel like a sanctuary again.

This week has been about finding small pockets of comfort in the middle of the chaos. The tiniest things are carrying me, grounding me and reminding me that even if I am in the in-between, I am still moving forward.

What’s Next

Right now, literally right now, I am driving to Canberra. I have two Front Door Sessions this afternoon, then I will get back in the car tonight and make the long drive to Melbourne. Tomorrow is a full wedding day, and Sunday I am hoping for at least a tiny moment to breathe before heading home again.

Next week I want to slow down a little. A few home jobs. Some grounding time in the garden. An old colleague is staying in my backyard glamping tent, I am meeting with a couple about their wedding and hopefully getting a moment to reset before everything picks up again. Maybe even a chance to catch up with myself, the version I am becoming and not the one I have already left behind.

If there’s something you’d love me to write about, maybe a behind-the-scenes topic, a favourite shoot, or even what I’m packing for my next trip — leave a comment below or DM me on Instagram at @hello.ro.photography. I’d love to hear from you.

If you’d like to see more of my work, visit www.hellorophotography.com or find me on Instagram at @hello.ro.photography.