Episode 56: Zooming In on Photography with Elizabeth Wilson
Bee in Cosmos by Elizabeth Wilson
Soft Pink Rose by Elizabeth Wilson
How to reach Elizabeth and see her work:
Transcript:
Melissa Milner 0:09
Hi, this is Melissa Milner. Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. The goal of this weekly podcast is to help you explore your passions and learn from others in education and beyond to better your teaching. The Teacher As... podcast will highlight innovative practices and uncommon parallels in education. I'm very excited to be talking to Elizabeth Wilson today. She is a garden photographer and I saw her, I believe I found you on a Facebook group, Elizabeth, right?
Elizabeth Wilson 0:40
That's correct. Yes. Hi, Melissa, how are you?
Melissa Milner 0:42
Hi. And I was just like, okay, I don't even care if we tie it to teaching. This is something that I am interested in. I've always been interested in photography. And I love flowers. And I've just, and I know, I know that we can really have a great chat. So welcome. Elizabeth Wilson, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Elizabeth Wilson 1:01
Well, thank you very much for having me. It's an absolute pleasure. And it's lovely to hear somebody who has the same interest when it's photography, gardens and flowers, you put the two together, and you know, you can't go wrong really. A little bit about myself, my background is... I suppose I've had a camera all my life. My dad was very interested in photography, and I had an uncle, who was actually a forensic photographer in the police force. So photographs have always been around, they've always been very important. And really, as a teenager, I had my camera with me quite a lot, I just used to be a little bit snap happy, taking whatever took my interest. And then life kind of gets in the way. And you realize that suddenly you need to pay your rent, you have a mortgage, you get into you know, all the grown up stuff. And all of that goes a little bit to one side. But I kept on going with it and kept on taking, you know, flowers and gardens. And it wasn't until I had sort of a big change in life really when I left work. And I thought, I'm going to do something with my photography. And I decided then to become a garden photographer to take photographs of people in their gardens to take theie gardens is there... I'm not talking huge gardens, you don't have to have massive topiary and acres of lawn, you just need to have your little bit of space that's special to you. And people take their gardens and their photographs a lot, but they're never in the picture. And I thought let's put the two together. Let's marry this up. And that's how it was born really, just with a huge interest in photography, loving plants and flowers. And thinking, I think I can make this work.
Melissa Milner 2:47
That's lovely that you followed that passion, even if it was years later, you know, to be able to really come have it come to fruition and it sounds like you're like a wedding photographer, but for gardeners is that sort of what you do?
Elizabeth Wilson 3:04
I suppose really, I'm not very keen on posing. You know, people pose and smile. I think the more natural kind of look where if you're getting somebody just snipping the head off a flower, you know, having a bit of deadheading somebody just sitting reading a book in a garden, those kinds of more relaxed poses than the very formal I'm...
Melissa Milner 3:23
Like candids
Elizabeth Wilson 3:24
Yes, very candid, rather than, you know, people feeling that they have to pose. And I actually have a friend who is a wedding photographer. But he advertises himself as he's not a wedding photographer. He just takes pictures of weddings. And it's the same kind of candid approach where you might get somebody eating a sandwich and he'll take them, he'll take people dancing, he'll take people not necessarily in that you know, formal pose that we all know.
Melissa Milner 3:55
Yeah, those are always the best photos too.
Elizabeth Wilson 3:58
They certainly are, yes. You get people as they really are not how they want to appear. I love a candid shot. To be honest. They're definitely the best street photography is got to be the best.
Melissa Milner 4:10
Street photography.
Elizabeth Wilson 4:11
Yes, I suppose it's a little bit like journalism. You know, when you see the the reality in street photography is a huge thing where people just go out and literally take people going about their business every day on the street. And I did hear of one man, I think it was in New York, and he was on the subway and he would just go up to people and literally in their face with the camera and take their picture. Which is a bit frightening for them, but he wanted those expressions and he did a whole montage of this of people's expressions on the subway and in New York. So I wouldn't really advocate people do that. But it's it's that kind of you know, that instant gaze, that instant look that you get and you get that with journalistic photography as well.
Melissa Milner 4:59
You know, you're already making me think because a lot of the times, you know, teachers like to take pictures of what's going on in the classroom, to send to the principal so he can put it in the newsletter or send to parents. And I mean, I just got this, like, oh, that, you know, as much as I can. It's it's candids. I'm walking around, and they're in the middle of working and I'm taking pictures, I'm not stopping them and posing them. I didn't even think of that. That's so true that you don't you know, if you want it to look like they're working, just have them work and take pictures. Yeah,
Elizabeth Wilson 5:33
You just capture the moment, that's what you're doing, you're capturing the moment and to be to be honest, the kids, you know, in 20 years time when their grown open, they look at those pictures, they can go, "Wow, you know, I remember that day," or "I remember doing that" or, you know, "Weren't we cute!" back then 20 years ago, and that memory, you know, you are capturing a memory for them. Now we have everything at our fingertips, don't we, we have camera phones, we have phones, that we can take into to a classroom, we have, you know, everywhere, we can capture a moment. And you think that we were on overload with that a little bit. But I think the people are doing it even more and more. Wanting to capture those moments, realizing how important they are. I mean, there's nothing better than looking at an album of old photographs, you know, those old black and whites and how it used to be and you know, we tend to look at it probably a little bit too, romantically. But to look back at that it's a it's a huge thing for everybody. And I think I always think it works better than actual film or video as well, you know?
Melissa Milner 6:38
Yeah, I mean, at some point it does. Absolutely. And I, I mean, sometimes I end up on Instagram doing the black and white, even though it's a color picture because sometimes even just black and white makes it so much more. I don't know dramatic or just interesting.
Elizabeth Wilson 6:55
Yes, it just changes the mood in a lot of things do work in black and white. Unfortunately, flowers don't. I did try with a freesia once I thought okay, let's, you know, it was a very interesting angle and the shadows and I thought I'll turn this black and white and see how this goes down. And I put it on Facebook and it didn't get a very good response. It was a little bit you know, it looked very artistic but obviously it was the color you know, flowers. People love the color so, so I stick with the color. But certain situations it works brilliantly.
Melissa Milner 7:28
You mentioned pretty early on you were taking pictures. Were you doing that on like an old I mean, if you're as old as me, you were doing it with the rolls of film or the Insta cameras and how were you taking pictures when you were a kid?
Elizabeth Wilson 7:41
It was rolls of film yes on just a nice little snap happy Kodak camera. Not that I want to advertise them. But there you go. They were all over the place at one point. And it literally was just an instant camera. And I have a friend actually in Malta. Malta is a very small island in the middle of the Mediterranean. It's about 90 miles south of Sicily, and beautiful place. And I went there when I was 17 and had a great holiday. And she actually recently sent me some photographs of that holiday. And I looked at my 17 year old self and thought. I wish somebody had told me I was that gorgeous for a start. The years have passed. And then I thought what's that by my side? I thought oh yes, it's my old camera. And on every single photograph she sent me my camera was by my side. And but that just jogged all those memories for me as well if that that beautiful holiday.
Melissa Milner 8:42
Oh, that's awesome. And now I want to go to Malta.
Elizabeth Wilson 8:46
Everybody should go to Malta at some point. It's a tiny island. It's I think it's only 22 miles wide and so many miles long. And it has two smaller sister islands called Gozo and Comino. And it's just it's just hot. It's Mediterranean. It's Latin. It's, it's got all the world in there. And it's been a part of British life for a long time. You know, it was heavily bombed in the Second World War and it became known as the George... it was given the George Cross for its bravery. And it's just a beautiful place full of beautiful people that that's my, that's my big up of the island of Malta.
Melissa Milner 9:25
So, either thinking back to when you were a kid photographer, or just now with all of your experience. Do you have tips for students who, let's say you know, there's a high school teacher listening right now, or a middle school teacher and they have one to one iPads and they can take pictures with their Ipad... like when you're working on an iPad instead of you know a camera with cool lenses. Do you have tips for taking good pictures?
Elizabeth Wilson 9:56
Yeah, I think with an iPad, it's always a little bit difficult because the focus isn't quite there. But you know, when you're starting out, that doesn't really matter. I think it's just getting used to taking anything from a different angle, you know, you don't have to take things head on, you can take things from underneath, you can go from the side, you can, you can even take, you know, if you wanting to take, say, a stack of books that were on the table, you don't even have to take the whole lot, you can just take them from a strange angle. And you might still see that it's a stack of books. So I think as well, it's just getting to know the limitations of what your equipment can actually do. I think that's a big thing and don't sort of push it to the limit. With an iPad, I would always want to get in close. And then you're not stretching that I that lens too much. Do you know what I mean? You need need to be a little bit closer to your subject. And I think that that would be the most important thing would just be to start just to start taking whatever interests you or the child you're teaching, it would be just to whatever they want to do, just let them do it, let them go through with it. Because it's got to be a creative process. And whatever they come back with, there's no rights or wrongs. That's the beauty of photography. I think it's a very free subject. And what one person can look at a picture and go, Well, I don't get that somebody else might look at it and go, Wow, that's incredible. You've really caught that angle. So there's a lot of different ways that you can approach it. And it's something that everybody can do.
Melissa Milner 11:30
That's so beautifully worded. It is that it is so free, and there are no rights and wrongs, which really makes it freeing I think for students.
Elizabeth Wilson 11:39
It certainly does. Yeah, because I think you know, when, when kids are getting taught, obviously, there's a right way to work out a mathematical equation, there's a right way to do grammar in English, but in photography, I think it's absolutely it's a free for all, and it is creative, you know, I know in art, there's certain ways you know, you would be taught well if you do this, or you do this brushstroke, but then there comes a point where you have to let your own creative juices flow. And I think photography certainly gives gives you that, it gives you that scope just to take what you want, how you want it, whether it's close or far away, or street photography, black and white, whether you're going to concentrate on just one flower and do a flower portrait and bring out those beautiful colors. So there's so many options.
Melissa Milner 12:22
Yeah, I tend towards I love the flowers, but I also tend towards, you know, trying to get photographs of animals at especially birds. And it's very hard to get to, you know, with my little iPhone to get a good picture of an egret who is way over there. Yes. You know, so like, there's obviously limitations, but at the same time, I can take a wide shot, you know, with the phone and have it this just this little white bird within that larger shot like so I have, but I don't know what I'm doing. I just, you know, go with instinct, and you know, it comes out good or it doesn't, but I do want to ask you, do you like portrait mode on the phones? Do you find... you think it does a nice job, that whole portrait mode?
Elizabeth Wilson 13:12
I do? Yes, I enjoy it. It depends, I mean, phones these days, I use an iPhone 12 Pro max and the camera on that is incredible, you know, but I know that not everybody can afford one of those, it is quite an expensive phone. But yeah, again, I would just work that phone, whichever phone you've got whichever camera you've got, experiment with it a lot. And I know on the iPhone, you can tap the screen and that gives you like a little square of focus on there. So if you saw the bird in the distance on your phone, just tap the screen before you take the picture and you might just capture it and then you can zoom in on you know, once the pictures taken. And you can do a lot of cropping.
Melissa Milner 13:52
Right?
Elizabeth Wilson 13:52
You know, every every photographer enjoys a bit of cropping because when you do take those kind of instant pictures suddenly realize there's a lot of what they call street furniture gets in the way or you know, there's telephone lines or there's things he Oh, I'd never saw that been in the corner on the left. So you just nicely cropped those out. And again, that's part of the creative process. But yes, I would just say get to know your phone as best you can and don't be scared of hitting the different buttons on your phone just to find out what they do. Find out what your phone is capable of. And it's always worth googling you know to to see how far your lens will stretch on one of those phones. But really then they're not very good, I don't think, for taking those long distance shots. They are better for better for your close up shot.
Melissa Milner 14:42
Exactly. Because when you when you crop it, it ends up being blurry.
Elizabeth Wilson 14:46
That's the trouble. Yeah, the focal points are, you know, they do blur a lot. And it's disappointing and you don't want to be disappointed. So you know you want to be taking something close up. I mean I do like taking photographs of birds and I'm fortunate here, we have a nice back garden and a have a bird bath, and a little bit of food for them. For the blue tits they enjoy the food that hangs up. But the bird bath is a major, major focal point for the birds, every everything needs to drink water. So if anybody does have the room, I recommend a bird bath and watch the watch the habitat of the birds, you'll find that you get to know them. And you get to know the times that they're coming in. And you start to notice the habits. So it really opens up the natural world a little bit. And you understand like the starlings, one will come down and then two, then three, suddenly, there's 10 there.
Melissa Milner 15:43
Yes.
Elizabeth Wilson 15:43
...and you've got a pack. And then there's a female Blackbird who doesn't want anybody else in her bath, and she's gonna fight them out, you know? And even the male Blackbird's scared of her. And you can actually do that through a window as long as you make sure your window's clean.
Melissa Milner 15:59
Right? Yeah, over here. It's the Blue Jays. They are such bullies.
Elizabeth Wilson 16:05
Right. You can get birds that are very bullying. Yeah. It's just another another nature. And if you can get a flower in the background of that, but you know, a little bit blurry. It looks it looks lovely.
Melissa Milner 16:19
I also love I love a bee. A bee on a flower just makes my day or a butterfly. Yeah.
Elizabeth Wilson 16:25
Yeah, one of my favorite shots that I took was of a flower called Cosmos. It's... beautiful, beautiful flowers. And there was one that was in almost cupped. It was it was in that shape. It was beautiful. And a bee happened to land just as I was taking the photograph, and it's one of the best shots I ever did. Yeah, just that but I think there's a lot of luck, I could have sat there for three hours and might might never have come and just the way it paused. It was perfect. But yeah, and again, you get to know their behavior, the way that they sort of go into a flower, their twist and turn. And you hear that excited at the height of some of that lovely excited bzzzzzzzzzz.
Melissa Milner 17:06
Oh yeah.
Elizabeth Wilson 17:09
Get that pollen in. And you know, it's gonna be in there a little while, but you have to sort of take them when they're still in feeding, otherwise, it is going to blur, they move so fast as they come out. And then you're getting into, you know, a little bit more of the technical stuff about shutter speeds and being able to catch things as they are flying in or flying out.
Melissa Milner 17:30
Right. So how did you learn all those technical things? Did you take classes? Or did you just experiment?
Elizabeth Wilson 17:37
I did. I experimented. And then I thought I really enjoyed the subject so much, I'll go back to college. So I went back to college, and I did a couple of night classes where they took us really back to basics. And there was a lot of like the history of photography, as well as learning how to develop our own films. And it was great, you know, to learn it from that old angle, if you like. And then I enjoyed that so much. I went back and I did get qualified, I went back and took a qualification in photography and art. So it was it was an interest that became a little bit of a career. And I've never been happier to be honest. When you do pursue your dream, never let go of it. I would say you can get you know, you can pay your mortgage, pay your rent, and if you can pursue your career at the same time. That's just that's life sorted, as far as I'm concerned. Do what makes you happy.
Melissa Milner 18:33
Yeah, amen. Amen. How have you made it a career? Do you sell your photos to magazines? Do you have a podcast? What do you do?
Elizabeth Wilson 18:44
I...yes... I well I do go out to people's gardens and I do take them in there. So that's a little bit of you know, income there. I do have a podcast. And it's if I can, if I can tell you what that is...
Melissa Milner 18:57
Plug plug plug away.
Elizabeth Wilson 18:59
Okay. It's called Garden ramblings. And you can find me on whichever directory you'd like to download. It's fairly new. I think I've done about seven episodes. I have another one coming out next week. And I have a website, a different website. I've actually closed my garden photography website, because I had a bit of an accident. And I've broken my wrist.
Melissa Milner 19:20
Oh, no.
Elizabeth Wilson 19:21
Yes. So at the moment, I'm not taking any photographs. And I thought I better close that because I don't take any bookings. So go onto my Garden Ramblings website, which is www.dotgardenramblings.co.uk. And it's got photographs on and it's got all my podcasts on there. And I'll be letting people know when the next podcast is out. And I'm also on Twitter and Facebook.
Melissa Milner 19:44
Great. What's what's your Twitter handle?
Elizabeth Wilson 19:46
It's @podcastramblings.
Melissa Milner 19:50
Oh, perfect. That's easy. And how do you get on Facebook with you?
Elizabeth Wilson 19:53
Facebook it is Garden Ramblings. Yes.
Melissa Milner 19:56
Okay, that's easy.
Elizabeth Wilson 19:57
It all kind of ties in there.
Melissa Milner 20:00
So, top tips for students who, you know, have a whole bunch of pictures, they've, you know, experimented they have some pictures they think are good? How could they share those pictures? Are there... Do you know of ways that you know, other than like a school project, are there ways that students can try to publish their photos other than Instagram and things like that?
Elizabeth Wilson 20:25
Yeah, it's quite difficult, isn't it to get into the publishing world? I've got a few of my photographs on Pic Fair, which are they go through their process? And if people want to download them as a desktop server or something, then they can and I get a little bit of commission?
Melissa Milner 20:43
Could you spell? Could you spell that?
Elizabeth Wilson 20:45
Yes, it's P, I C. Fair... picfair dot.com. So you can you can do that. Very difficult really, to sell photographs these days, because everybody is taking photographs. And the quality out there is, quite frankly, it's stunning. You know, you get the I mean, I certainly don't consider myself a top notch photographer, you can get top notch photographers, and they're, you know, when they're doing their landscapes, and you know, they're on the top of a mountain to five o'clock to wait for that sunrise, that's a bit beyond me. That's a bit beyond my years now. But you know, and the competition out there is, is quite difficult. That's why I think to make a career of it, you might be better off to look for, you know, unless you are super talented. And you can do that, hey, go for it. Always take your pictures always enjoy it, have a little portfolio, make yourself a portfolio, you never know when that could be asked for in any interview. And it does open doors and career paths. As far as there's recording, you're learning a lot of technical information you're learning a lot of it does involve a little bit of mathematics, you know, to balance that light and to balance the speed of the camera. And it can open doors that you might end up going down a sound route, you might end up going down a filming route. There's a lot of, you know, photographers, and people who work in the film industry, who started out being photographers, and it took them down that path, working in theaters, or literally discovering that you do have a really artistic talent that you you prefer that you go to your pictures and then paint them. There's a lot of people do that as well.
Melissa Milner 22:31
Wow.
Elizabeth Wilson 22:32
So it just depends what sits well with you to be honest.
Melissa Milner 22:35
Yeah.
Elizabeth Wilson 22:36
And what makes you happier to do.
Melissa Milner 22:39
It's so inspiring. When you were talking about you know, having to go up mountains and things to take, you know, for like Time Life and, and it reminds me of that the newer version of the Walter Mitty movie, and Sean Penn up in the mountains trying to get that one picture of the elusive Snow Leopard.
Elizabeth Wilson 22:59
Right. I haven't seen that but yeah, it is like that. Yeah.
Melissa Milner 23:02
Oh, you definitely should see it's Ben Stiller. Right? Yeah, Kristin Wiig and Ben Stiller, it's a it's a, it's a precious movie. It's very fairy tale ish. But it's really, I loved it. And it was very inspiring. Like, it makes me sort of want to go out and get that camera, like with the lenses and everything.
Elizabeth Wilson 23:24
That I think that's the thing as well. Because when you do go out, and you do actually see the places that you've only ever seen on photographs before. It really does take your breath away. I mean, I know in your country in America, you've got some fantastic places. I mean, you know, you look at the canyons you look at, I'm watching the Rider Cup at the moment, you look at Lake Superior, and you think oh my goodness, that's a lake?, you know, that's, that's yeah, that's, I mean, amazing the nature that you've got there. And a few years ago, I was lucky enough, we went to Norway. And I'm quite used to Scotland because we live quite close to Scotland. And you know, the mountains and the lochs and beautiful and when we went to Norway, I was like, this is like Scotland on steroids. This isn't a class of its own, you know, and to be able to be there and to take those fjords and to take those mountains and it just give you another thing. I mean, I was thinking about the kids doing that and starting off with nature, and starting off maybe trying to take a wasp or a bee or an ant or you know, something little, even in the grass, there's things in the grass that you can, you know, get your phone and take a picture of, but it can even encourage children to go down that path of something to do with nature, you know, to work with animals or to you know, work in zoos or to become a zoologist or, you know, you never know, or even something bacteria, which sounds daft but you know, all of these things have to be photographed and have to be looked at.
Melissa Milner 24:54
And also I feel you know, we have students who are amazing writers and I think the photography, you know, a picture that they take could inspire them to write a whole story or a poem or? Yeah, there's so much that yes, I do all those arts are very much connected. If a teacher listening, or even if a student in their class is interested in photography, is there like, do you recommend going to Best Buy or some kind of big chain? Or do you recommend going to like your local camera shop? Like how do people find which camera to get for themselves? Like, that's a hard decision, right?
Elizabeth Wilson 25:37
It is, it's a big decision, because you know, some equipment, you know, it costs an awful lot of money, and you can get a piece of equipment that would just do the job, you know, for $100 less, I would go to your local camera shop, and I would ask their advice, I wouldn't actually buy something on that day, I would ask their advice. And then I would go to another camera shop, and I would ask their advice. If the advice. If the advice is the same, then, you know, it's probably good advice. If the advice differs, go with your gut instinct and what you want. And, you know, buy the best that you can afford. But don't break the bank not to begin with it really, it really isn't worth it. And when you do get your camera, the one piece of advice that I would give anybody above all else is learn your camera, learn it inside and out. So you can flick those buttons, you can go from automatic, you can go into aperture priority, you can go into your shutter speed, and then eventually you will be on manual mode, and you will have complete control of that camera. It's like driving a car, you know, you don't want the car to make the decisions. You want to make the decisions. So eventually you will be able to drive your camera, and it will open up new doors for you. You'll love it. It'll be brilliant once you know how to how to use those manual settings.
Melissa Milner 27:01
Well, that was poetic Elizabeth, you made a metaphor to driving. I'm assuming like everything I learned about podcasting, including editing I learned on YouTube, I'm assuming if all those things you just listed speed, aperture, all that stuff. Like I would have to either take classes like you did, or maybe it's all on YouTube at this point.
Elizabeth Wilson 27:24
Yeah, there is a lot on YouTube. And to be honest, it depends. It depends on the camera that you've got, because you know, whichever camera whether it's Fuji, Sony, Nikon, Canon, once you get that if you go to their website, it's amazing how many of them actually have teaching tools on their own website, Nikon and Canon very much, you could even just get in there, and they will take you through the camera, and they will take you through settings to use your camera. So they're always always the person who has built the camera. I would start with them first.
Melissa Milner 27:57
And what camera do you have?
Elizabeth Wilson 27:59
I have Nikon basically, I mean, basically because I know it now I know the buttons, and I would be reluctant to change. And, you know, it's it's a lovely camera. And I I like Canon as well. You know, I'm not really into the it's when the cameras in your hands. It's what you do with it. It's not so much what the camera is. If that makes you know, yeah, if that makes sense. So don't get too hung up on on the make. Just make sure that you can use it feels comfortable in your hands. You don't want something that's too big and bulky that you know is going to be too heavy for you to carry. You want something that's comfortable. I know. It sounds daft, but I know some blokes, some men who have like really bulky cameras, I couldn't possibly hold them.
Melissa Milner 28:47
Some of those lenses for like the wildlife photography and stuff. Oh my gosh.
Elizabeth Wilson 28:53
They are incredible. Yeah. And there will be beyond me, you know, because I've only got small hands anyway. So I have found a camera that I was very comfortable with. And that's what I would say to anybody. Just make sure that you are comfortable holding and carrying and working with your camera.
Melissa Milner 29:08
I would love to hear what are you zooming in on right now in your work? What are you focusing on? (Zooming In Soundbite)
Elizabeth Wilson 29:16
At the moment, it's the podcast because my poor wrist. So I'm zooming in and I'm doing a lot of history actually, I'm doing history of the area that I live in, which is northeast England. And I'm writing blogs and I'm highlighting how lovely it is here to the rest of England in the world, whoever you know, would like to come and see our gorgeous area. So that's what I'm focusing in on now is is looking at our fantastic history taking pictures of the historical places we have.
Melissa Milner 29:47
...and what's your area?
Elizabeth Wilson 29:49
It's Northeast England. It's Northumbria really and I'm kind of looking at the area that would be from the borders of Scotland, down to Middlesbrough and across to Cumbria. But with it being Northumbria, it's very... it... we have a lot of Anglo Saxon history. And there's one particular church I'm zooming in on at the moment that was built in 674 AD and it's only five miles away where I'm sitting right now. It's, you know, 1,300 years of history in this place. I'm kind of starting to highlight the places that people might not know about. Because because we're not London, you know, we're not Westminster Abbey, we're not these great places that everybody knows about.
Melissa Milner 30:34
Changing of the guards, right.
Elizabeth Wilson 30:35
Yes, so to highlight a little bit about what we have in the North of England as opposed to that kind of tourist. Tourist impression of the South. Yes. Where it's a little bit wilder up here, but it's lovely.
Melissa Milner 30:49
Oh, it sounds just beautiful.
Elizabeth Wilson 30:51
Nice coastline.
Melissa Milner 30:54
Well, this was really... is there anything else you were hoping to talk about before I asked the last question?
Elizabeth Wilson 30:59
We've covered everything, Melissa. It's been an absolute pleasure to be honest.
Melissa Milner 31:02
Absolutely, you're really a pleasure to talk to. So my last question is because I'm a movie lover, what is your favorite movie and why is it your favorite movie?
Elizabeth Wilson 31:14
My favorite movie? Oh my goodness me. I've seen so many great movies over the years. To choose one. Let me have a little think I'm trying to think of the actresses and actors that I've enjoyed over the years. Oh I should have thought of this before I should have known I would have been asked a question like this. Okay, I like comedies. I like things that make me laugh, but I'll tell you a movie that stayed with me for whatever reason. It was a Jane Fonda movie called Agnes of God.
Melissa Milner 31:47
Oh my gosh, I played Agnes. I played Agnes in college.
Elizabeth Wilson 31:50
Did you really?
Melissa Milner 31:51
Yeah.
Elizabeth Wilson 31:52
There was just something about that film and the relationship between those characters. You know, Anne Bancroft, played the nun and yeah, Jane Fonda was amazing. Yeah, they were amazing. And it was just the way that they're gelled together. That was lovely. And I do love Steel Magnolias I'm going to give and, and I like anything with Bette Midler in it. She just makes me laugh.
Melissa Milner 32:18
Ruthless People. Ruthless people is so funny.
Elizabeth Wilson 32:21
Yeah, brilliant. Yeah. And at the moment, I really like the Rock. I like Dwayne. I like the things that he's in. I've thoroughly enjoyed Jumanji.
Melissa Milner 32:30
Yeah, those are nice escapist movies, right?
Elizabeth Wilson 32:32
They're great escape movies. Yeah, so Jumanji, so that would be it. But all time I think for now, I would have to go with Agnes of God.
Melissa Milner 32:39
Wow. You're the first one to say Agnes of God, that's amazing.
Elizabeth Wilson 32:44
Maybe it's because I'm getting older as well.
Melissa Milner 32:48
Oh, that's great.
Elizabeth Wilson 32:50
Lovely. Thank you, Melissa. It's been a pleasure you take care.
Melissa Milner 32:54
If you enjoyed this episode, and have not done so already, please hit the subscribe button for The Teacher As... podcast so you can get future episodes. For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram at Melissa B Milner. And I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. My hope is that we all share what we are doing in the classroom in order to teach, remind, affirm and inspire each other. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.