Blog

  • boy on the shoreline low tide Two Hot Days Later - he wanted pets trapped small fish and shrimp in plastic cups © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Cringe I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • Beneath Us a Poem - frayed texture almost silent poetry under foot © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Yarn I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • small white hibiscus flower Monarch in the Garden - stately white flowers hold tall their golden sceptre perfect lined satin © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Illusion I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • piece of a discarded bicycle wheel Dogwood Original Photo Challenge (Week 15) - WEEK 15: Artistic (Metal) Cold, hard steel. Shiny Aluminum. Or even rusted and broken down. Find your inspiration in metal this week. The Dogwood Photo Challenge The Dogwood Photo Challenge is a series of weekly assignments responding to a theme or technique. Participants are encouraged to share their work as displaying your work is an […]
  • Filipino girl with a bottle of shells We Watched the Tide Fall - we watched the tide fall chased tiny fish into cups swimming till sunset © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Commit I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • some marbled paper hanging to dry A Box of Marbled Paper - My mother is a talented artist and has experimented in many different mediums over the years. One of my favourites is paper and only yesterday I was thumbing through some paper marbling she did for me last year. At the time I was home in Australia selling the remains of my Australian life, and she made […]
  • Jerry reaching for fruit on the tree Endless Energy - Jerry my little loop-de-loop from sun to gone, it sleeps but it never stops © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Loop I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • banner in the Philippines protesting martial law Don’t Take Your Freedoms For Granted - When I first came to the Philippines three years ago I thought it would be a great idea to blog about  the issues I was witnessing here. Typhoon Yolanda had just happened and there was a lot of talk about the misappropriation of foreign aid so I really wanted to report back to my friends […]
  • Ice-on-a-Rope - There is alway a little bit of comedy to be had in a large block of ice being strapped to a tricycle or rickshaw or tethered by a narrow rope. Particularly when these huge ice blocks aren’t hand carved from the surreal mountain lakes of Disney’s Arendelle but man-handled by real people (poor people) in the […]
  • glass coke bottles stacked into a truck Reusing the Bottle - Sitting in a bamboo stall drinking soft-drink out of a glass bottle by the Philippine roadside is like an adventure. It’s oppressively hot and noisy and the overcrowded buses and trucks and tricycles dragging bamboo stems three times their length roar by. But the glass is thick and cold in your hand: somehow it feels […]
  • out of focus shot of an old lady handwashing Where Will I Focus? - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts who I am is not a broken total I am the whole © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Total Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus I’m part of Post A Day 2017 Arjen’s mother laments abandoning her jackfruit tree, her brother-in-law sold the land and gave […]
  • stack of think spined books ENFP = Messy - I’m an ENFP (that’s Myers-Briggs talk) and basically that means I’m messy. Yep, by nature I’m one of those creative, messy people that has a desk filled with papers and other junk without a hint of filing. These days I’m tidy to the point of obsession but this is something I taught myself while working […]
  • abstract sketch in blue pen The Mental Health Section - Thumbing the sketchbook I find the mental health section Volume 1: “She Thought She Might Implode:” In Blue Biro. Volume 2: (Out of Print) © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Detonate and Volume I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • papaya blossom and buds Dogwood Original Photo Challenge (Week 14) - WEEK 14: Landscape (Zoomed in) Most landscapes are wide sweeping images. Try an alternative and zoom in instead. The Dogwood Photo Challenge The Dogwood Photo Challenge is a series of weekly assignments responding to a theme or technique. Participants are encouraged to share their work as displaying your work is an important part of growing […]
  • garbage truck in the philippines Men in Trucks - Having worked for so many years as a manager in charge of Workplace Safety my heart always goes out to the men, women and sadly children who have no choice but to accept hazardous working conditions. Just look (in the video below) how close the heads of these guys passed under those powerlines! These photos were […]
  • hand drawn strange fictitious flowers Fiction Flowers - this scribbled blossom I must have dreamed of triffids in a dusty book © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Blossom and Create I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • dilapidated bamboo house Red Dirt Floor - bamboo walls don’t keep out the rain puncture marks © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Puncture I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • graffiti in Iloilo City Unknown Artists - city speaks her name lurid voices piss, the stained human shit a siren behind their streets his only triumph © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Triumph I’m part of Post A Day 2017 This is my contribution for the Blogging-U course Photography: Developing Your Eye II (Day 10 Triumph).
  • little kid and a bowl of spaghetti Lunchtime Treat - lunchtime stains little white shirt spaghetti © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Uniform I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • small pink flowers Celadon - grey, green celadon forest of tiny leaf fronds taper pink entrails © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Taper I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • boy looking for scrap metal amidst an oil spill in the Philippines The First Boy in His Family to Finish School - A very excited Jerry started grade 3 last week, an opportunity denied to most of his brother’s and sisters. This is particularly poignant today on World Day Against Child Labour. Like the other 2.1 million+ Filipino kids already working, Jerry’s brother’s and sisters are all part of these statistics, and this would have been his […]
  • distorted image of a red moon shining over the sea The Red Sea - blood moon the tides divided island to island © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Control I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • stamen of a red hibiscus flower Dividing Lines - heavy concrete wall dissects mine from neighbour’s mine except a red hibiscus © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Farce I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • pair of eyes painted onto a corrugated iron and bamboo shack Street Paint Eyes - street paint eyes broken bamboo bits hang like teeth © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Buff I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • hot pink rose Reaching - mud garden footprint old bottles stem a bright rose gentleness reaching © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Tender I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • experimenting with high high portraiture this little boy and his teddy bear Dogwood Original Photo Challenge (Week 13) - WEEK 13: Portrait (High Key) Expose to the right and create a light, airy high key portrait. The Dogwood Photo Challenge The Dogwood Photo Challenge is a series of weekly assignments responding to a theme or technique. Participants are encouraged to share their work as displaying your work is an important part of growing as a […]
  • island kid covering his face with sand Our Oceans, Our Future - World Oceans Day! Blissfully unaware, of what we’ve done. © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Crisp #WorldOceansDay #WorldOceansDay2017 #OurOceansOurFuture I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • full moon shining over an alley and barbed wire The Moon’s Final Polish - squatting over a mud puddle catch the moon © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Polish I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • Crowds leave the Shrine of Agtalin How do I say friend in a single photograph? - © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine (at the Shrine of Agtalin) Weekly Photo Challenge: Friend Daily Post: Natty I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • Trace - as he writes I ask “Ano ini?” … Man-og! [snake] © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Trace I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • A Great Chance to Learn About Collaboration! - Originally posted on Magic Fish Dreaming:
    Sharing this lovely Poetry and Illustration workshop presented by my friend June Perkins: it’s for kids and it’s free. From a very young age I loved poetry and it’s so wonderful that June is inspiring kids into poetry. I only wish Jerry could be in Australia on 28 June to attend. All the best June. […]
  • section of the front grill from an old tractor Tranche - part, piece, bit, section, chunk, segment, slice, fragment; wedge, lump, slab, hunk, parcel, tranche © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Prompt: Portion I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • little kid in a party hat Back to School - More than two months of summer vacation ended yesterday as Jerry trotted off to class in his school uniform and shiny new school shoes. He was super excited. Part of the excitement is being allowed to get his own tricycle after class (this little bit of independence and autonomy has delighted him). While it is […]
  • Imaginary Swimming Pool - GET MY GOGGLES! PLEASE! PLEASE!, he shouts above below the rain © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Imaginary I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • twin rainbows over the sea Under the Moon - rainbow reaching (a tiny distant moon) both sides rainbow reaches World Environment Day both sides © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Distant I’m part of Post A Day 2017 World Environment Day #WithNature
  • hibiscus stamen Brassy - upright all the day sun-burned pink and pale, orange hibiscus flower © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Brassy I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • overloaded motorbike in rural Philippines Dogwood Original Photo Challenge (Week 12) - WEEK 12: Artistic (Transportation) Our world is one defined by how we get around. Literal or interpretative, find inspiration in transportation. Wandering around a religious festival here in a rural province of the Philippines, I was surrounded in the simple transportation of the thousands who attended. Motorbikes and tricycles scattered under the scorching summer were given […]
  • Don't block the driveway painted on a garage door The City Speaks - © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Radiate I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • Dogwood Original Photo Challenge (Week 11) - WEEK 11: Landscape (Reflection) Find a way to show your landscape/natural beauty in reflection. The mirror world revealed. I just loved the way this neon Billboard from the SM Mall in Iloilo City infused new light into a dirty street puddle. Swapping a landscape for my more readily available cityscape, I had the local street hawkers thinking I was mad […]
  • black and white mural (close up of eyes and fingernails) Fragments of Artivism - creativity an urban reprieve outside collective focus Artivism was a curated street art collaboration of Ilonggo Artists sponsored by the British Council. The gallery in this blog is a collection of fragments I photographed from the complete work which spans a carpark wall (adjacent to Robinson’s Place) in Quezon Street, Iloilo City. Learn more about Artivism here. […]
  • just before sunset over the newly ploughed rice paddies by Melinda J. Irvine Surviving the Trip - Whenever Jerry and I are riding the highway in a tricycle I do have the odd morbid thought about whether we will survive the trip. Tricycles are great for photographs, the scenery is so close you can literally touch it. However when big trucks, overloaded motorbikes or headlight free jeeps come roaring behind you right […]
  • portrait of Jerry in a tricycle Dogwood52 DogwoodWeek10 Dogwood Original Photo Challenge (Week 10) - WEEK 10: Portrait (Environmental) Show a subject in their natural habitat. Their place of work or hobby is a great start. Tell their story with the environment. The Dogwood Photo Challenge The Dogwood Photo Challenge is a series of weekly assignments responding to a theme or technique. Participants are encouraged to share their work as displaying […]
  • thick clouds of the islands of gigantes, Estancia Philippines. Storm - storm’s precipice monsoon strikes the mountain evanescent © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine This poem was published in 50 Haikus (Volume 1, Issue 11) a literary journal featuring only Haiku poetry in open form. Daily Post: Precipice Weekly Photo Challenge:Evanescent I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • Expanding the Reach of My Blog - After my three year hiatus in the Philippines I’m back working, and actively promoting my website and blog forms part of my online portfolio. Just wanted to share these 80+ website directories where I’ve recently submitted my blog for listing. At the time of publishing these websites were operational  and offering a free listing: some require […]
  • Banana Blossom - ripened bract unfolds her music, line and textures dance inflorescence © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Prompt: Impression
  • Collaboration - layers of rain, greened spent leaves over damp soil (earth’s) collaboration © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Collaboration I’m part of Post A Day 2017
  • Unmoored - adrift in the wash bucket he climbed my arm unmoored © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Adrift and Unmoored
  • Qualm - oh there once was a girl called Miss Vine who could hang like a thread from a power-line she hung there avariciously gobbling free electricity until someone pulled the wool from the twine © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Qualm and Descend
  • Jackfruit - every market corner stained with your pungent odour ma’am! you not like this? © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Daily Post: Notorious  
  • Wretched Heritage - i am living a tradition my eyes pieces of tin, metal scraps for hands feet (torn nails) just look at my toes! but don’t get too close you don’t want to see all i’ve got © 2017 Melinda J. Irvine Weekly Photo Challenge: Heritage