The Perks of Being a Writer/Photographer

Out of all the jobs I've had in my lifetime there are two that have really stood out as my favourite. 

One was where I worked on a property in Barham in New South Wales which had sheep and cattle.  This is my 'office view', mustering sheep on the motorbike.  My boss was horrible (think 70 something year old creepy guy that used to put his hand on my leg whilst in the ute and slap me on the butt on a regular basis), but the job was fantastic.  We lived in a house on his property.

Here it is.

 

And this is the view that I had from my veranda...

 

 

Our couch didn't fit in the house so it is there on the veranda.  Actually it was the perfect place for a nap on a warm day, which is something I did quite a few times.  Yes, it was a good life.  Despite the horrible boss.  I also got to attend The Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show where I showed his Border Leicester sheep, something I had never done before.

 



 



A few of the other random things I have done in my lifetime have included this..

 

 

I wasn't brilliant at selling lingerie, as you can tell by my slightly stunned expression.

 

I also run a little online store for a while...

 

 

Actually I look a little stunned here too.  Could be that I was enormously pregnant with my third child.

 

Other professions have included my first job, and my longest lasting, working at my Dad's picture framing business, various receptionist and secretarial positions, working in a bookstore and a swimwear shop, and most bizarre, working on the door of a strip club.  Yes, I did say strip club (and no, I never took my clothes off...trust me, no one would pay me to take them off.  Maybe pay me to put them on....)  Oh..and I worked in a British pub..in St. Kilda.

 

Just before I met my husband I started working as a farmhand and cattle fitter (someone that breaks in cattle for shows) at a Limousin cattle stud, and after I got fired (because of my husband actually!), I had a job as a farm manager on an Angus cattle stud.

 

This is me breaking in a Murray Grey bull for my Dad..

 

 

And here I am showing a heifer at The Melbourne Show..

 

I really enjoy showing cattle.  This is my happy face.

 





This one was in Labertouche, the farm that I managed, which got burnt to the ground a few months after I started there in the Black Saturday fires.  Lost that one due to there being no farm left to manage. 

 

 

This is me after fighting fire at that particular farm on the Friday after Black Saturday.  This was my relatively new ute that forever more smelt of bushfire.  It's probably hard to see but I was covered in soot, and later when I got home and had a shower I discovered my white underwear had turned almost black. 

 

However this leads me to my current job as a writer and photographer.  I got to thinking this morning about all the perks involved.  As well as being able to do something I really enjoy, and actually get paid for it for a change, there are a considerable number of other perks as well.

 

The first of these would include the morning teas.  Err...yes!  I'm talking scones and jam and cream while interviewing a lovely lady about her alpacas, (all while sitting in her gorgeous home with the beautiful view across the valley looking towards the Baw Baw's)....

 



....Gingernuts and a cuppa on a farm in Korumburra after a bracing walk through the paddocks surrounded by happy free range hens....

 





 

and even a free latte in The Red Fox Cafe in Drouin. (I'm not a coffee drinker but it was rather fun anyway.)

 

 

As well as the food and drink I also get to met some fantastic people, go to different places and experience different things.  For example...

 

 

To get this shot I was riding on the mobile starter gate at the Warragul Harness Racing Cup.  Now that was an experience...and kind of scary!  I'd never been to the harness racing either and I also got to go to the special members lunch with famous old AFL footballers and Koko the Clown (what the..?)

 

This was a lovely couple I met at Amber Creek Farm (which weirdly is my name.. Amber..my surname is not Creek Farm.)

 

 

They have the most gorgeous paddock raised pigs.  I swear, I've never seen such happy pigs.  See...

 

 

I had to go down to Fish Creek in South Gippsland for this story, but I've also been out to Toongabbie for my shearing story (which meant I got to visit my husband at work!) and later this year it looks like I'll be heading all the way out to Bairnsdale to do a story on a winery.

 

I love writing, as is evident due to having a blog for my work, as well as a personal blog page at www.mummywhispers.wordpress.com but I really love taking photos. 

 

This is me at work...

 

 

 

 



I was the school photographer in Year 10 and majored in photography at university, but I never thought I would actually ever be paid for my photos.  I have had a few photography jobs in the past doing family and children photography, although I've never done a wedding.  That, I think would be the pinnacle, even though, no doubt, it would be stressful.

 

My job, in a nutshell, is freedom and creativity and travel and fun and meeting people and eating cake and not using punctuation when I should and getting away from the kids AND having a fabulous time.  I hope there are more of you out there that enjoy your job as much as I do!