Identity

Since I was young, I’ve always had questions asked about where I’m from, where my family are from and what my accent is.

In brief, I was born in Adelaide; when I was 9 and a half, my family moved to England and when I was 18, I moved to Melbourne on my own.

Now I guess this isn’t too unusual; a family that I know moved to America for a slightly longer period of time, with children of similar age, and I’m sure we’re not alone in that.

Living in England was meant to be a temporary thing, a two year contract, and then we’d return to Adelaide. Of course, this didn’t happen, so we were settled over there.
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Mostly due to my age, I quickly developed an English accent, and as such, people who met me after that, considered me to be English. Even when people found out that I was from Australia and had spent some time at school there, most would still consider me English due to living there for an extended time.

I distinctly remember that during the World Cups of 2002 and 2008, I was asked why I didn’t support England; during the Ashes, it was the same. For me, it seemed logical. I was Australian, I could see myself moving back, and none of my family were from England. But for my class mates, they thought that I had lived in England for long enough, I couldn’t remember most of the time in Australia and therefore I should consider myself English.

I had a British passport, but only because my mum is Scottish, so why should I in any way consider myself English?

I know that the children of the family who spent time in America are similar – even though they moved when they were younger, they still think of themselves as Australian. Now that they have moved back here, they, like me, have lost the overseas accent and sound Australian again.

Now that I’m back in Australia, people ask why I don’t consider myself English after such a long time there. I think the main thing that it comes down to is that it was meant to be a short time. If I had gone over there not thinking I would be returning soon, I’m sure my experience would have been different and I could (and that’s a big could!), to a small extent, have considered myself English. Obviously, the Ashes would still have separated me from my classmates!

However, knowing that it was only going to be a couple of years, it was a case of, ‘I’ll be going home soon’ – Australia was home and England wasn’t.

I’m not sure what my point is with this – I guess I just wanted to put it out. It wasn’t the most typical of childhoods, but I know that living in England provided a great many experiences to me that weren’t available if I had stayed in Adelaide. I learnt languages, travelled in Europe, we were closer to my mum’s family in Scotland and I was close to London. However, nine years is a long time to spend over there.

The idea of moving back to Adelaide after living close to London was barely considered. I had one of my school friends and a tiny amount of family, but very little else.

Melbourne seemed lively enough to keep me occupied, and I knew some people there, so I wouldn’t be starting from scratch with a social group. It seemed like a good idea and it’s turned into a great idea – Melbourne has become my home.

As the Melbourne Silver Mine’s Unsensored 09 exhibition closes on Wednesday, I highly recommend heading down if you get the chance. It sounds like it has been quite successful, with a number of people passing through and some of the pieces have sold (multiple times!) My image hasn’t sold, but I was aiming to bring it home to adorn our wall instead. It certainly would have been nice to make a sale, but after agonising over the images, I decided to hang them just for the sake of hanging, rather than to make money. This is the first time my work has been displayed in public, and I’m quite content just to be able to see my work large and on the wall!

While on the subject of photography, I visited Scienceworks Museum last weekend to see the Star Wars exhibition. Taking my camera and a couple of lenses was the easy bit, but with many of the displays poorly lit and behind glass smeared with children’s fingerprints, getting the photos was a bit harder. I took my still new-ish 40D with my 50mm f/1.8, and by using my adaptor, I also had two Nikon mount lenses – 85mm f/1.4 and 24mm f/2.8. Unfortunately the former of these was of little use in the crowded rooms, but the 24mm was useful on occasion to get some close-ups of pieces.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to see any more movies at MIFF, but I did see the Whitlams playing at the Corner Hotel last weekend. Their show was quite extensive, with only one support and playing one album in full (Eternal Nightcap). It was a fantastic show with an intriguing crowd. Thankfully, MUFF starts soon, and I should be able to see a few more of those.

Just this weekend, I saw ‘Drag Me To Hell’ as it’s cinema run is finishing. I thoroughly enjoyed this, despite mixed reviews. There were moments where I momentarily cringed and thought it would go down hill, but it managed to redeem itself. The acting, for the most part, was very good, but I felt there were too many ‘jumps’ to be fun. It ended up distracting from the story and acting. On the whole though, it was fantastic. Hopefully this week I will manage to see District 9 too.

While I’m remembering, I never got around to mentioning the latest Harry Potter movie. As a movie, it was fantastic. The darkness, the acting and the effects were all very good and the movie moved along nicely. Obviously, as a comparison to the book, it’s disappointing. Many, apparently unimportant, aspects and scenes were left out, and there were huge chunks missing. Also, the scene of Dumbledore’s death, which could and should have been amazing, was a huge letdown.

So last month my parents were in the country – mostly in Adelaide, but flew in and out of Melbourne so there was a chance for us to catch up. I took them around to a couple of places and showed them the city. We had an afternoon at Fairfield Boat House, and I treated them to a dinner at Punch Lane Wine Bar. Both were delicious and I strongly recommend them if you have a chance to try either.

Other than that, it’s been the same old photography/knitting/reading/socialising mess for me! I’ve been knitting a cardigan for a friend who is expecting a new baby, and I’ve branched out a bit with a striped pattern and different stitches – it’s coming along very nicely and pictures will be posted once it’s completed. I’ve also been using a very easy bootie pattern and made a few pairs with leftover yarn. It’s very basic, but quite productive as you can do them almost with your eyes closed.

Photography-wise, as per my last post, there’s an exhibition of film photography next week run by the Melbourne Silver Mine group. I have a set of three photos displayed at this, which have been printed and framed but I haven’t had a chance to collect them just yet. What I know of the other shots are very good, if a little ‘Melbourne-y’, and I’d highly recommend you head along if you get a chance.

For my birthday I was given a Holga 120N with a small flash, and I eagerly tried these out at the last Melbourne group Flickr meet. Although I mixed up the film size without a mask, the photos came out quite nicely on Neopan 400.

Last night I managed to see the first (and probably only) movie of the Melbourne International Film Festival, a Norwegian one called ‘Dead Snow’. It was a story about Nazi zombies attacking a group of young, attractive students. I really enjoyed it; there were laughs and jumps, and the writer knew how to make fun of himself. It turned out very well, and it’s made me want to see more movies of a similar vein – many of which I own on DVD but haven’t watched yet. I’ll get to them!

I don’t know that I’ll get time to see any others, which is a shame as there seems to be a lot on (even with those pulled out for political reasons). I’ve heard good things about Tony Manero and Chocolate though.