I have no idea what 13 year old girls do for fun these days.

When I, my sister and all my girl cousins got together, we used to be quite creative when it came to passing time.

As I think back on all the things we’ve done, I giggle with embarrassment. But the truth was… we had so much fun.

We used to make our own TV commercials, then film them using a video camera. We’d act out our favourite movies, we’d make our own video clips, write our own TV shows and plays, pretend to be radio DJs and make radio shows. We’d make our own magazines, newsletters and cook books.

Having said that, we were not always so hip and savvy. We were also quite… how should I put it… down to earth? Feral?

We’d ride around the neighbourhood on our bikes like bored teenagers. We’d go out on hunting adventures, play in the creek, catch tadpoles, make daisy chains, climb trees, explore bushlands, swing on vines and make mud pies.

So we weren’t typical girly girls.

Anyway, sitting around one day, we thought it’d be really cool if we made fashion photographs of ourselves. We pretended to be fashion stylists, fashion photographers, and models.

We gathered all our favourite clothes and accessories, and set out to create a different look for ourselves.

We spent the whole day dressing up, going out on locations (the backyard) and taking photographs of each other. We did a whole lot of giggling and pouting. We had so much fun.

I think I was trying to create some kind of country, horse-riding look.

Me trying to look sophisticated and floral, I think.

As I look back at my photo album, I laugh and laugh.

I cringe with delirious embarrassment and I’m utterly mortified by how naive and artless we were.

But I also reflect on other issues, like how influenced we were by the media, how we didn’t care, how we saw ourselves, how we saw fashion, how we obsessed over magazines, what it was like to be a young girl, and what we believed was cool.

To think that after all these years, I’ve found myself to be a creator of pictures, images and media – passionate about getting the right look, fashion, design, clothes and photography.

It’s kind of interesting and charming. And still a bit embarrassing.