On days like this one I captured I feel so grateful for the beautiful paradise where I live. I live on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. We are 1 hour from the capital city of Brisbane, and 1 hour from the beautiful Byron Bay. There are so many beautiful little places to visit within the span of the SEQ coast and one of my favourites is Farm & Co at Byron Bay. Farm & Co is a farm that sells fruit & vegetables, but the main attraction is the beautiful sunflower fields and Macadamia trees that line them. During sunflower season you can barely scroll through anyone’s instagram and not see a photo taken among the sunflowers.

I love that sunflowers represent the sun, and face towards the sun. They are light seekers, they were planted in the dirt and bloom and rise to follow and seek the sun. That is how I feel about God.

We go through tough times in our lives but all the while if we seek Him we will be living in the light and the darkness will be beneath us.

I love getting to explore these places with Chynna, she really is my soul sister ♡

I do like the E100 film – slide film is such a cool thing I want to try more often, however I found the colour tone of this particular roll to be quite brown which is not to my taste as I like bright colours. However, I think this is a scanning issue as the slide film looks really nice and doesn’t have a brown tone at all. I have a couple more rolls of it I’m shooting so we will see how it goes next time.

All photos taken with Canon AE-1 Program and Kodak E100 slide film.

A few weekends ago we were lucky enough to have a long weekend on the Gold Coast! My friend and I decided to make the most of it and head an hour south to Byron Bay to see the sunrise. We got up at 3:30 am and got there at the perfect time. We walked for a few minutes in the pitch black darkness of night and before we knew it the darkness subsided and gradually the landscape was illuminated by cool daylight.

At 5:59am the sun was rising and had shone its brilliant warmth over the lighthouse and the scenery in front of us. The ocean reflected and shimmered with its magnificence, and I felt so at peace.

Whenever I see a sunrise or sunset I feel a rare sense of belonging and tranquility. To see the breaking of dawn on Saturday morning made me feel connected with the world, when I often feel disconnected from the wonder and instead stuck in the mundane, monotonous existence of everyday life.

the dawn is breaking

a light shining through

We had breakfast at a local cafe afterwards and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the empty streets and the early morning.

On our return to the Gold Coast we headed to Springbrook National Park where I shot most of my photos on film (coming soon) and I am so excited to revisit it in summer and swim in the lagoon under the waterfall.

All photos were taken with my Pentax Spotmatic, 28mm lens, and Fuji Pro 400H film.

I was fortunate enough to be gifted a Canon AE-1 by a lovely older man a couple of years ago and although I’ve only put 3 rolls through it so far, I always love the results.

Over the last few months I’ve been to Melbourne, Byron Bay, Crystal Castle, and the park with my friend & her babies and brought the AE-1 along for the ride.

The camera is so easy to use and always gives beautiful results, especially when using Kodak Portra 400. Hope you enjoy x

Can’t wait to shoot the next roll!