EARLY morning walks along Altona Beach have inspired author Carolyn Morwood to take up photography.
Morwood (pictured) recently showed her photos as part of the Altona and Beyond exhibition at the Joel Gallery, where Ross Baring’s pastel works were also displayed.
“The exhibition was great. We were thoroughly pleased with it and we sold well,” she says.
Morwood is probably better known for her gritty crime novels set in Melbourne, but her passion for photography is now rivalling that for writing.
“I cranked it [photography] up when I came to live in Altona five years ago because I fell in love with the beach, sea and the beautiful bay and fabulous walks,” she says.
Although she has done a couple of short photography courses, Morwood says she has taken to digital photography like “a duck to water”.
She says she loves the instantaneous nature of photography compared to writing.
“You can see immediately if it’s going to be good or not.” Her foray into photography comes on the back of her established writing career. In 2002, she won the Davitt award for the best work of crime fiction by an Australian woman.
Her latest book, Death and The Spanish Lady, is part of a trilogy of historical crime stories she’s working on, with the second to focus on the 1923 Melbourne police strike.
Persistence is Morwood’s word of advice for any author or photographer wanting to get their work recognised. “I think if you feel your work is OK, you keep pushing it.”
