live green | travel light

2012-01-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

Today is my 77th birthday and for weeks I have been wondering how to celebrate it in true Capricorn style. A few days ago, I started this illustration.

The 8.5 tonne rock was a birthday gift to myself back in 2006. A watery cascade reticulated through and over the rock that sat in a small pond – display centrepiece in the orchid igloo. Perfect setting for Dendrobium – my favourite orchid family.

Here, Dendrobium fimbriatum sits foreground, Dendrobium Gatton Sunray lower rock, and Debdrobium chrysotoxum top of rock.

A backdrop of palm frees and a bamboo overhang, supporting various Hoya species, completes the picture. How many shots were taken of Orchid Rock over past years but, somehow, this illustration is the way I shall best remember the scene as I get ready to plan a new (and much smaller) orchid garden here in Brisbane.

Friends from afar

2011-04-26T13:56:00.001-07:00

Orchids survive in the strangest of places and sometimes the pampered greenhouse pet takes a shine to life in the great outdoors. A homecoming so to speak. One of the beautiful Laelia Cattleya crosses from tropical South America is such an orchid. Set free to grow on the log of a fallen tree on the banks of a creek in South East Queensland, it provides a glorious site. Seems quite at home among the gum trees and the Australian wildlife.

Probably infra dig according to some environmental enthusiasts, but in my books one little orchid is not going to do much harm. And the Kookaburras are laughing.

Who knows. Maybe way out there un the jungles of the Amazon some guy is planting an Aussie Dendrobium at this very moment.

Lunch by the river

2011-04-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a great Aussie tradition. A feed of prawns. Never better than during Easter break. Balmy autumnal weather. CityCats gliding silently by the Regatta Hotel ferry stop on the far banks of the river. Plump and pink Australian Banana prawns cooled in ice with the trimmings near at hand. Baker's rolls, spring onions, lemon wedges, unsalted butter, green capsicum and red ripe tomatoes. Quick! One shot for the records. No cooking and very little cleanup. A good white wine and tangy citrus lime juice for non-drinkers. Happy Easter!

Man of many hats

2011-03-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Max Fulcher wears many hats. Author, city born and country raised, Max was college educated, served in National Service (Royal Australian Navy) and trained in advertising (The Myer Emporium) to become a MYER director at 27 and co-owner of a successful advertising agency at thirty. He encouraged a raft of talented baby boomers in their professional start and led an experienced marketing and promotional team before setting his cap on Asia and the Pacific - travelling with camera and sketchbook creating a goodly amount of freelance material for mass print media and glossy magazines.

From his working residence in inner city Sydney, a garden he called Rangoon, MaX edited a black-and-white monthly entitled GRAPHICS in which interviews with celebrated artists, photographers, and designers revealed the how-two of successful careers to young up-and-comers in the creative business. The workshops and consultancies followed. Invitations to parties and product launches at Rangoon were hot ticket events.

Having returned to home state Queensland to grow orchids (2000 of them in a six acre garden he created in the Noosa hinterland) the author now resides in West End, overlooking the Brisbane River. MaX draws freehand on the Mac from real life orchid specimens - reinventing his previous pen-and-wash and watercolour originals as fresh works of art for today's most exciting web of communication - the internet network.

Available for interviews, creative consultancy and as a speaker at garden/boutique events he continues to encourage and educate those wanting to extend their creative skills email max@maxfulcher.com or feel free to browse the Max's orchid and travel photofiles

The Big Mo makes a good read

2011-02-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

A warning for spin doctors. We may not know WHO you are but we are wakening to WHAT you are up to. All thanks to The Big MO. What an informative read. Mark Roeder's new book alerts us to the overwhelming forces working inside momentum (big mo). Putting the banking fiasco to one side, The Big Mo focuses on havoc created in human affairs as we follow-the-leader like a bunch of lemmings. Momentum being the leader. Boom/bust and random reporting spring from nowhere overnight to take hold as established fact. We comply with 'popular' thinking. The author asks why is it so difficult "to dissent from the crowd even when an individual knows it is the right thing to do." Don't ask me. Go read the book. Like I said, it is an easy read and a wakeup call for all. The chapter on the environment is a real eye opener.

Songbird visits the new apartment

2011-02-23T04:32:00.000-08:00

Our first visitor to the new apartment. Six stories up and well on the way to heaven a friendly little Australian Butcher Bird has arrived to make acquaintance. In glorious voice just on daybreak he gets to visit us around mid/late morning. Perches on the glass balcony railings to survey the Brisbane River and refuses to accept food offerings – probably a good thing. Feeding wildlife is not the right thing to do. They best fend for themselves. No doubt our little hero visits other apartments but he is such a joy to share. And that glorious voice. Regular as clockwork. Just on daylight. Rain or shine.

They're killing our Cats

2010-12-25T03:12:00.001-08:00

CityCat ferry service picks up and drops passengers along the inner-city reaches of the Brisbane river. We love our Cats. Shining white. Bright blue and yellow detailing. Perfect alternative to traffic-jams and land-locked highways. Except for Gootcha, catamaran number sixteen.

No doubt Judy Watson’s award winning artwork Shoal looks grand as a wall feature, but smothering our newest Cat like so much World War ll camouflage net translates as graffiti.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman explains council’s ‘long-standing practice to use indigenous names for CityCats’. And that ‘Gootcha is a head-turner’. If so are we are looking in the wrong direction? Backwards. Others promote this as ‘a floating canvas’ to represent sun dancing on water, fish nets and fish scales. Art and bureauracy gone mad I say.

CityCat sixteen looks like a dog’s breakfast. Fish scales? More a cat’s dinner. Bad pussy!

The Jade Street trader

2010-12-23T02:14:00.000-08:00

"Life is a library - and the books are only on loan." Miss McNally, Cecilia - Cec to friends - dealt in jade, old gold and antiques. A leading light right along Australia's eastern seabord she adored her trips to Hong Kong and sometimes I went along for the ride.

Miss M chose to stay at the Y adjacent to the Peninsular Hotel. I stayed at The Pen. Through a flurry of white liveried bellboys she would enter The Peninsular, greet friends, and exit via a side door into the Y. "Why spend on big hotels - the YMCA is quite safe. Buy jade and finance your next trip."

The lady travelled light, jade jewellery in her handbag being the ticket to London should she decide to trade and travel on. "Westerners undervalue jade. The best pieces in Hong Kong are from Australian deceased estates. Tomorrow, we go straight to the jade market - early, six-thirty on the seven one two bus. If you see a chemist I need bobby pins." Hair pins are central to this story.

Street barter has its moments. Scribbled numbers on old newsprint proffered by a gummy Chinese trader. Cecilia breaking eye contact to turn to me - the decoy, "Satisfied?" She would pivot back to harangue the seller. "This is not old jade. This is new jade. Not good jade." He would look suitably offended. I'd disappear into the bitumen. A thousand eyes watched.

At a precise moment McNally would reach into her untidy French roll, withdraw a trusty bobby pin and scratch the bottom of the jade carving. "See! Very bad jade. Soapstone." Feigned concern by the vendor, then his toothless grin,"Oh Kay."

Cecilia to me. "Show your money and pretend to leave." Money exchanged hands as a jade trinket gift slipped to Cecilia from an appreciative vendor. "No matter how low you go you will never beat China in a deal. There is always something left in there for them." True, bless her. more on jade

Outing orchids

2010-12-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

Orchids photograph better in natural environment and capturing them in exotic locations is a bug that bites deep. Even in your own back yard natural settings create more powerful pictures. Let them breathe open air when you take your shot.

Soft early light is all the camera needs to weave a magic spell. Unlike night-blooming cactus that shuts up shop by sun up orchids are awake and awaiting your arrival at first light. There is a genuine rush of good feeling as orchids come tumbling through the camera lens. "Take me! Take me!"

You need to be up early to bag a really good orchid study. Cold starts and pre-dawn wake-ups aside and (while acknowledging the difficulty in shinnying up palm trees in half light) the silent morning scenario pays off big time. You may be unexpectedly bushwhacked (lying belly up in mud for the sake of good angles does not present a pretty picture) but dawn starts promote healthy habits. Photographing orchids is inclined teach humility, patience, and perseverance. And ever tried growing one?

Occasionally, very occasionally, the reward in first light is a vision so unforgettable that you carry the image for life. Pick up the digital and let’s go bag some blossom.

MaX

Touching on Tai Chi

2010-12-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Tai Chi practice, Wuhan, Yangtze River, China

There is no photograph of that foggy dawn In Beijing when, as mist lifted, I found myself in a vast arena of people, silently swaying, forming one enormous flow of humanity. Each appeared centred on self, but united into a massive swirling ocean of accord. My first encounter with Tai Chi in China, and on a scale so overwhelming I failed to lift the camera - decision being to let the experience burn into memory for all time. It would be more than two decades later and many trips to Asia before I hesitatingly began to practice the form myself.

It was mesmerising to be witness to that early morning sight in Tiananmen Square and somewhat reassuring, a decade later, ferrying along the Yangtzse to Chongquin in small boats, watching Tai Chi morning ritual right along the great river and in every single Peoples Park at the village stopovers, soon to disappear. China was preparing to dam the Yangtzse.

Hong Kong, Guangzhou's Pearl River, Shanghai waterfront, the garden city of Suzhou, the splendid mountain scenery of Guilin, wherever – Tai Chi was ever present as part of the fabric. It is the way of China. My feeling was to join in, but fear blocked the way - fear of looking foolish - of intruding - until now.

It is important to wait and find the right teacher. Now I have found mine. For one gold coin every Monday and Friday at 8am we are found as a small group in my local home town park. Beside Cooroy creek. Beginner yes, and awkward still. But a world opens and I walk through the door. Stay tuned. MaX

The wooden spoon award

2010-11-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

Botanists and adventurers have climbed Mount Kinabalu since mid nineteenth century. It soars 13,455 feet above sea level - the highest peak between New Guinea and the Asian mainland. Orchids grow there. Cool. Cool growing that is.

Ever chasing orchids along the pathways to Asia and the Pacific I found myself in a bus load of tourists screaming along the shores of the South China Sea heading up the mountain - following an angle on group travel for some magazine or other. Sweeps of sacred lotus streamed by and it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel to stop for the shot but (like most pre-determined package deals) ever onward and upward. No lotus stop. Learn to avoid tour groups.

Passing clouds misted the forest and soaked us to the skin while we anticipated lunch - wrong season. Not a solitary flower to be found. I raced around searching alternative landscapes and, suddenly, fainted dead away. No lunch and no orchids. Lack of oxygen and hyperactive. I should have known better.

Coming to after a little R&R I noticed an honesty box beside a few rough hewn wooden spoons. Twenty cents each and lovingly hand made. The local craft shop. Rough, but real. The spoon was well worth the coins I dropped into the box.

A lesson learned Shop close to the source where money does most good. AND a good lotus shot beats a fanciful orchid hunt any day. Just remember to jump ship when when the Sacred Red Lotus starts flashing. MaX

PS Twenty years on, the spoon still makes a great stirrer.

Go where the wild things are

2010-11-30T15:18:00.000-08:00

Rainforests are richly fertile environments - beautiful but perilous places to dwell. Hazardous mountainsides, dank undergrowth, impossible heat and humidity, darkness - everything struggles for light. Strange and often dangerous plants and animals, malaria and a host of other tropical diseases are waiting in the wings. Compare creativity and electrifying big city living to that same steaming scenario. Push comes to shove in the attempt to reach tree tops. Hostile climate. Social climbers. Shy violets. Weeds. Short fuses and tall poppies. Win/lose, law of the jungle prevails. Mind-set works in the same way.

It takes self-assurance and awareness to dumb down and write an important speech in a language that all understand. It takes self-determination and confidence to dam the flood of fear you feel preparing to sway a live audience. Writer, actor, artist, only the singularly sure footed succeed. Courage friend, there are ways to live in sunlight, breathe fresh air, and arrive at a peaceful place. The orchid in the canopy of the dense evergreen forest does just fine.

Be the orchid. Adapt to climate change. Find an environment that works best for you. Science reveals orchis has flourished for a hundred million years, doing its own thing. Similarly, I write in midnight hours when locals are asleep but my world is awake. By day, I play the mechanic oiling works. To each his own.

ps. Henri Rousseau was a self-taught artist who began painting in his forties. He was unique and unaware establishment artists considered him untutored. People said he painted like a child. Rousseau's paintings have humour, and mesmerizing, eerie beauty. He said, "The landscapist lives in silence". He never left Paris to paint his jungle scenes. MaX

Gazinias brighten Noosa home front

2010-07-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Long after the orchid collection vanished from the igloo dazzling little Gazinias continue to brighten the home front at Cooroy Gardens in the Noosa hinterland. The flowering cycle continues as we make our farewells to the garden – and no doubt will rally as a welcoming sight when new owners move in (July 31). However, gardeners should be careful which way the wind blows. Airborne, the seeds carry far. South Africa's dazzling Gazinia is now classified as one of Australia's most noxious weeds and does untold damage to the local flora – especially on the Sunshine Coast beach front. Let's recognise it as the cane toad of Botanica.

White Ibis save the day in Noosa hinterland

2010-04-11T10:02:00.000-07:00

For three weeks in Feburary/March monsoonal rains drenched the lush Sunshine Coast hinterland, then a plague of nasty lawn grubs invaded the lawns surrounding Cooroy House near Noosa. Mercifully a flock of up to 100 White Ibis arrived to save the day. Shining white they flew out of the west to earn the respect of Sunshine Coast gardeners and playing field groundsmen alike. Natural pest control – no toxic residue. City dwellers who refer to White Ibis as tip trash need to rethink. While there were photo opportunities galore, artist Max Fulcher decided on this freehand computer illustration to best introduce the district new found friends.

healthier, happier – all thanks to you jon kabat-zinn

2010-04-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

I found my way into a little book called Wherever You Go, There You Are (well, the title tells you the story before you turn a page. Love it).