WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE
Here you’ll find what makes me tick as a writer and photographer.
I have spent much of my life in country areas of Queensland, and my writing often reflects my rural roots and love of the land and its people. This life experience—along with other landscapes, seascapes and mindscapes encountered in my travels—provides the settings for my literary and visual pursuits.
I have to admit that I have always preferred research, photography and writing to my ‘day jobs’ which have variously been educator, writer of computer software and educational texts, adviser in technology in education, thinking skills instructor, partner in a computer sales and printing business, teleworker and policy officer, editor and typesetter, horse and cattle breeder.
Living now in the serenity of the Blackall Range in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, I have found a new ambience for my creative pursuits and I enjoy exploring a variety of genre. My passion for pictures and words is evident in my books which include adult fiction, children’s stories, historical non-fiction, poetry.
I see the world about me as a series of images, and my work, both prose and poetry, is often associated with photography in some way—perhaps providing a background for a chapter of a book, inspiration for a poem or a theme or topic for an essay. Wherever I am, whatever I am doing, you will frequently find me with a camera in my hand, viewing life through the lens.
Through the Lens
Through the lens I have reached out
to the velvet smoothness of eucalypt bark,
followed the folded lines and graceful sweep
of branch and trunk to their extremities;
juxtaposed earth and sky
and found skyscrapers building bridges to nowhere;
climbed mountains and stumbled into valleys,
felt the presence of lives lived before
in places where stories are told.
From the graceful lines of a racing yacht
to the trim buttocks and thighs of a triathlete,
I take pleasure in shape and form,
contours, texture and movement.
I have discovered a sense of the absurd
in the vision of an eighty-year-old
learning to ride a scooter,
and the frantic antics of dogs
copulating in the rain.
I have searched through the mist for seabirds
heard calling above the edge of cliffs,
with the wind driving hard from the sea
forming icicles on my face,
my fingers numb from waiting
for that perfect shot.
Through the lens I am an abstract;
in the environment but not of it.
I’m not a participant
striving for a goal,
just a watcher on the sidelines
viewing life through the lens.
Judith Bandidt © 2010
I have to admit that I have always preferred research, photography and writing to my ‘day jobs’ which have variously been educator, writer of computer software and educational texts, adviser in technology in education, thinking skills instructor, partner in a computer sales and printing business, teleworker and policy officer, editor and typesetter, horse and cattle breeder.
Living now in the serenity of the Blackall Range in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, I have found a new ambience for my creative pursuits and I enjoy exploring a variety of genre. My passion for pictures and words is evident in my books which include adult fiction, children’s stories, historical non-fiction, poetry.
I see the world about me as a series of images, and my work, both prose and poetry, is often associated with photography in some way—perhaps providing a background for a chapter of a book, inspiration for a poem or a theme or topic for an essay. Wherever I am, whatever I am doing, you will frequently find me with a camera in my hand, viewing life through the lens.
Through the Lens
Through the lens I have reached out
to the velvet smoothness of eucalypt bark,
followed the folded lines and graceful sweep
of branch and trunk to their extremities;
juxtaposed earth and sky
and found skyscrapers building bridges to nowhere;
climbed mountains and stumbled into valleys,
felt the presence of lives lived before
in places where stories are told.
From the graceful lines of a racing yacht
to the trim buttocks and thighs of a triathlete,
I take pleasure in shape and form,
contours, texture and movement.
I have discovered a sense of the absurd
in the vision of an eighty-year-old
learning to ride a scooter,
and the frantic antics of dogs
copulating in the rain.
I have searched through the mist for seabirds
heard calling above the edge of cliffs,
with the wind driving hard from the sea
forming icicles on my face,
my fingers numb from waiting
for that perfect shot.
Through the lens I am an abstract;
in the environment but not of it.
I’m not a participant
striving for a goal,
just a watcher on the sidelines
viewing life through the lens.
Judith Bandidt © 2010