Coal Creek.
Film and Digital Part One
Coal Creek is a Community Park and Museum a recreated Coal mining village located in Korumburra Victoria
There’s been a bit of a lull with the photo walks lately. Some personal stuff has been going on, and honestly, I just haven’t felt like getting out there. Which I feel it’s a good time to mention that this is a regular thing for me. If I am not consistent with something, I will literally lose interest.
But today is Tuesday, and with class tomorrow, I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer. I realised it’s been almost two weeks since I last picked up my camera, and even though I wasn’t really feeling it, I knew I needed to get outside and just start somewhere..
This time I asked ChatGPT to give me a suggestion of where I could go and photograph. They suggested Coal Creek, strangely enough I drive past there every week and I have never even thought to go and take a wonder. so off we went. I had a roll of colour film in my camera I wanted to use and I still have film trauma from previous adventures so I took my Z6iii with me as well.
as it is school holidays I had my daughter with me and surprisingly it was really calm and quiet. Which for me is great, the less people the better. I could just get right into it.
I started off pretty strong today, taking the same image twice—once on my Nikon FA and once on my Z6iii.
But honestly, it didn’t take long before it started to really irritate me. I just couldn’t relax. I kept pushing through, looking for interesting places to shoot, and trying to remind myself that this project isn’t about getting the "perfect" photo it’s about the process.
The whole “art of letting go,” so to speak. And yet, I’m still finding that part a real struggle. Today it finally clicked why: I think it’s because I’m using two cameras. I know I’ve mentioned before that switching between cameras was a bit annoying, but today it properly hit me. My lack of motivation to even go out and shoot today was probably because deep down, I just wanted to walk and be present, and juggling two cameras completely got in the way of that.
Thinking back, a couple of weeks ago when I only took my Z6ii to the beach, that walk felt the most rewarding and the most relaxed. So, moving forward, I’m going to keep it simple and only take one camera with me on each walk. I think I’ll enjoy it more, and it’ll let me actually focus on the experience, not the gear.
Once I found a bit of a rhythm today, though, things started to shift. I noticed that familiar feeling of easing into the walk where everything stops feeling forced and I’m just there. It wasn’t immediate, but after a while, I realised I wasn’t overthinking every frame or second-guessing myself. I was just walking, noticing, shooting. That sense of ease is exactly what I’ve been chasing with this project, and it felt good to finally tap back into it.
It was a good reminder that sometimes you just have to push through the uncomfortable part before you can find the flow again.
I remember taking this image. I was drawn to the tracks and the way the leading lines pulled my eye through the frame.
The train track is broken, but it still functions — it still leads somewhere. And the bridge above feels like a symbol of taking an alternative route.
Different paths, different ways of moving forward. All tracks lead somewhere, even if they don’t look perfect
