A little swimming, sunbaking, reading and maybe a nap in the sun too. I'd just strolled up along the waterline at the Murray Rose Pool, AKA Redleaf, turned and saw this young man and the spiral cover, The Bell Jar! Sylvia Plath!
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| Summer - The Bell Jar & the sunbather - Redleaf, Sydney |
All of which took me back to being about the same age as 'the sunbather'. I'm not sure I would even know who Sylvia Plath was if not for my friend Gail Worthington, a poet, who, as it happened liked swimming laps - not here - in Brisbane, at the Spring Hill Baths. I had a 40th anniversary swim there back in January, still the same, Fabulous!
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| Gail sunbaking, Spring Hill Baths circa 1984 |
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| Gail swimming, notebook page B&W , Spring Hill Baths circa 1984 |
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| Poem, by Gail Worthington |
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| Gail smoking , Spring Hill Baths circa 1984 Photography by Kent Johnson |
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| Gail adjusing her swim goggles in the pool, Spring Hill Baths circa 1984 |
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| Looking across the pool and 40 years of time passed. Photo by Kent Johnson |
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| Upper gallery, Spring Hill Baths, January 2025 Photo by Kent Johnson |
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The old and the new - Upper gallery Deep End, Spring Hill Baths, January 2025
Photo by Kent Johnson |
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| Kent at Spring Hill Baths, photographed by Ross Van Haeringen, 07/01/2025 |
All of this, above, one way or another was with me as I asked the young man, "Excuse me young man with a poetry book over his face, may I take a picture of you". "Yes", was the reply. I hope he sees it, there's a lot to that picture, these pictures, being young, summers (Or Autumn, maybe mine eh!).
I might even get a copy of The Bell Jar myself, I can't remember if I've read it or not.
Telling Stories in Pictures all over..
Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.
0433 796 863
