Creative Life Journal
Reflections on creative life, photography, natural history, and fine art — shaped by a lifelong connection with nature.
Joined at the Hip
Images and words have always travelled together for me. While a photograph can speak powerfully on its own, words can guide, teach, and open new ways of seeing.
Here, in the quiet heat of the day, a young Lumholtz tree kangaroo gently settled the debate — climbing onto my shoulder and reminding me that presence sometimes matters more than progress.
Readers often begin here
Many of the ideas explored here form the philosophical backbone of my teaching and workshops.
Photographing Australian Outback Horse Culture
Photographing Australians:Country & OutbackHorse CultureAn extract from Photography Australia: The Ultimate Travel GuideMany storytelling themes can be applied to photographing Australians, but perhaps none is more obvious or more visually appealing than that of...
Creative Life: Lindy Warrell’s Word Journey
Creative Life: Lindy Warrell's Word Journey It Started Like This Steve Parish asked me to talk about how words and nature connect in my creative life, but I am shy in the shadow of his body of work, finding it difficult to know where to start. I am an...
Photographing Australia: Choosing a Camera
Photographing Australia:Choosing a Camera‘Remember, photography is not about camera brands and models, it’s about capturing someone’s heart.’ Steve ParishYou would be forgiven for going cross-eyed when you either Google 'buy a camera' - About 3,710,000,000 results...
Photography: The Art of Seizing the Moment
Photography:The Art of Seizing the MomentIntuition and spontaneity should be objectives for all creatives.- Steve ParishI am often asked, 'How many pictures did you take to get that one?' Iconic images are rare and, in my case, are rarely the primary objective during...
Creative Life: The thrill of creative collaboration
Creative Life:The Thrill Of Collaboration'If you strive to please everyone,you may find no one will be pleased.Just be sincere in finding your own styleand then celebrate it with your community.The people that matter will soon find you.'. – Steve ParishOne of the most...
Creative Life: Navigating Through The Noise
Creative Life:Navigating Through the Noise'Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don't simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.' ― Cal Newport"I can't ever find the time, so my creative life just goes around in circles, and I never...
Creative Life: Seizing Pivotal Life Moments
Creative Life:Seizing Pivotal Life MomentsPeople with creative life goals succeedbecause they know where they are going.– Steve ParishAt 79, I can look back on a life shaped by pivotal, life-changing moments. The first — and perhaps the most significant — occurred...
Connecting with the Essence of Australia
Connecting with the Essence'If we are to create images that are windows to our soul,from time to time, we need to remember to laythe camera aside and invest in "soul time".Soul time can open pathways that enhance our sensoryand interpretive skills in unique, visual...
Gary Bell: Underwater Landscape Photography
Underwater Landscape PhotographyText & Photography Gary BellWhen I made my first underwater picture on the Mornington Peninsula in 1974, I had no idea where this would lead. My understanding of photography back then was very limited, but I knew I wanted to be an...
Digital Art: Australian Birds
The Art of Birds‘We can choose to follow the paths of others.Or we can inspire our own creative life purpose and truly feel the wind beneath our wings.’ Steve ParishAs of 2014 Australia and its offshore islands and territories have 898 recorded bird species. Of the...
Creative Life: Striving for Originality
Striving for OriginalityIf you strive to please everyone, you may find no one will be pleased. Just be sincere in finding your own style and then celebrate it with your community.The people that matter will soon find you. - Steve Parish We can choose to...
West MacDonnell Ranges an Artists Paradise
The West Macdonnell Ranges:an Artists ParadiseExtending more than 200 km west of Alice Springs, the West MacDonnell Ranges dominate the Northern Territory’s central range country. Great folds of sedimentary rock stand above arid spinifex plains separated by narrow...
Digital Art: Australian Wildflowers
Digital Art :Australian WildflowersAustralia’s flowering plants, also known as angiosperms, a number some 21,000 species, 93% of which are endemic – compared globally that around 7% of a total of 268,600 species. Although not entirely, my focus has been Western...
Creative Life: Unlocking the Creative You
Unlocking the Creative YouWe can choose to follow the paths of others.Or we can inspire our own creative pathwayand truly feel the wind beneath our wings.- Steve ParishWhile creativity is an abstract concept, after fifty-six years of making images of many styles for...
Photographing Australia: The Kimberley Division
The Kimberley Land DivisionThe Kimberley Land Division lies under the influence of the monsoons, which bring cyclonic rain during the hot summer wet season, then retreat, leaving the land pleasantly warm but dry. I suggest you time your visit for winter for best...
Creative Life: Determination
Creative Life:Determination“If the goal is achievable,the desire remains unquenched.The inspiration undimmed.The determination to succeed alive.The dream can be realised.” — Steve ParishAny creative endeavour requires determination. It is easy to give up during the...
Creative Life: Finding the Time
Creative Life:Finding the Time‘We never did take timeuntil it was too lateIt passed awayeven while we lay on grassand every plan we madewas an assumption it would wait…’Heather Farmer, poet from the book ‘Of Dreams and Discoveries’ with Steve Parish Time can be a...
Natural History: A Mammal Connection
Natural History:A Mammal ConnectionPhotography and Text Steve ParishCharles Lamb, an English essayist, humorously suggested in the early 1800s that the newly discovered kangaroo’s short forelimbs were useful for picking pockets. It was satire, of course, a comment on...
