Michelle Fleur : brisbane photographer

Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense there is in the world.

~ Josephine Demott Robinson

You know what they say, how 'time flies', how one day you'll be kicking back drinking up life as it is, you'll blink, and on opening your eyes everything has zoomed 10 years or so into the future? Yeah, you know how they say that? Well, it's true. Between the past and the present things kind of just speed past, it all becomes a bit blurry, the timeline melds into itself and we ask ourselves "where did it go?" "What happened? It can't be so!" Such is life.

And so it is when I look at these images of Uma. Uma is my niece and just turned 13. 13!! Thirteen!!! I can scarcely believe it! Still caught in that strange dreamland called childhood but on the precipice of entering that even stranger transition period into adulthood called the teenage years, she embodies growth, change, and time passing into something else. I look at her and I see a curious girl growing into a vivacious, sensitive and thoughtful young woman who is fearless in her approach to life.

Uma loves horses, and she loves one horse in particular - Jetson. I'd heard a lot about Jetson before taking these photos, but seeing Uma and Jetson together made me realise what a special connection they have. I've always been uncomfortable around horses but I was quickly put at ease by their quiet understanding of each other. There is something very beautiful about witnessing the bonds between humans and animals and watching Uma upon Jetson's back, galloping up grassy hillsides, brought me closer to understanding her love of horse riding. It engages all of the senses. It requires trust, cooperation and a pureness of heart. There is freedom there, abandon, wildness and love.

Horses lend us the wings we lack.

~ Author Unknown

Time is a treacherous fiend. I can't believe it's been two months since I returned from holidays! Two whole months and I still haven't finished going through all of the photos I took whilst away. I am determined not to let this task get away from me so I'm dedicating this week to getting these images sorted and blogged so that I can move onto other things and feel that everything is in its right place. Well, I am very happy with today's progress because I can share with you images from our time on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Phangan.

Koh Phangan is a little island paradise a short boat trip away from Koh Samui, one of Thailand's island tourist meccas. Koh Phangan is probably best known in the west for its Full Moon parties - basically backpackers and partygoers from all over the world travel to this tropical locale every full moon to push their body to the limits. I've heard that they are not for the light hearted! We visited Koh Phangan as an after holiday retreat and to spend time with a dear friend who had been living there as a writer for the past several months. It was the perfect anecdote to the weariness brought on by our hectic Japanese schedule, and our ten days on the island went by in a blur of lounging, eating, snorkelling and cocktail imbibing. Yeah, it was pretty nice work on our part!

We arrived on the island in time for Songkran, or Thai New Year, and our first outing was to Thong Sala (the port town on the island) to experience the celebrations of the day. Basically these celebrations involve drenching everybody in sight in water! Lots and lots of water! Water pistols, water bombs, buckets, and hoses were used to drench anyone brave enough to walk the streets. It was a lot of fun and a great way to participate in local tradition. The celebrations also brought a big thunderstorm and lots of beautiful cleansing rain to the island - rain that they hadn't seen for many, many months. Of course rain and thunder gave us the perfect excuse to do very little for a few days, but we spent much of our remaining time by the sea, or in the sea, or in cafe's drinking cocktails. When too much of nothing was done we headed a little further abroad by the use of bike or a hire car which was not too far away from needing some major mechanical work done - haha, it was dodgy!

I took a lot of photos on the island. I still haven't found the time to look at all of them. But I've made a selection of the best to share in this post and to give a feel for our time there. I'll spare you the happy snaps. Although they are some of my personal favourites you probably don't need to see a hundred images of cocktail consumption! :)

Here's my visual ode to our time on Koh Phangan...

Beaches for days...