a welcome break

Suzanne has been away in Brisbane this past week and so Kayla, Maleko and myself have been hanging out at Kings Beach and Kings Head. There is no one around here apart from the Heysen Trail walkers making their way back to their cars parked at the Kings Beach Rd lookout. That lockout has become a bit of a destination.

granite, Kings Head, Waitpinga

These afternoon poodlewalks are a welcome break from sitting in front of a computer during the day, working on the Abstraction: Different Interpretations exhibition at Encounters Gallery, building the Light Paths website, and writing the third Thoughtfactory newsletter and well as the introductory newsletter for Light Paths.

the Xmas break 2018

The weather along the coast of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula over the Xmas break was surprisingly cool; surprisingly so,  given the record breaking heatwave across central and south-eastern  Australia.

Despite having several  friends  stay with us in and around the  Xmas break, it was  a quiet holiday  for me.  I’d  sprained my right shoulder one morning just before  Xmas day  whilst helping Suzanne  to make the bed.

bark abstract, Encounter Bay

The shoulder  became  inflamed and,  as it involved shoulder bursitis pain,    I was obliged to rest the right arm in a sling  for a couple of days over Xmas  before  seeing a physiotherapist late in the Xmas/New Year Day week.  I was given a set of exercises to do  for a week to strengthen the strained shoulder muscle.

Then the injury  would be reassessed. The prognosis was that it could take 2-8 weeks to heal, depending on  how I responded to the various exercises. I’ve  had good days and bad days so far.   Continue reading “the Xmas break 2018”

close-ups

After the wildness of the stormy days, which  stripped the local beaches of their sand we experienced several days of humid weather and gentle misty rain. Then the cold front rolled in from the south west and the temperature dropped dramatically.

I spent my time on the morning and evening poodlewalks  exploring the nooks and crannies amongst the rocks,  looking to do   some handheld macro  photography of seaweed.  I  quickly  discovered that  the piles of seaweed that had been thrown onto the rocks by the storm  were mostly seagrass and not suitable.

seaweed +Rocks, Kings Beach

The poodles in the afternoon would spend their time look for golf balls among the granite rocks,  whilst I looked for subject matter for macro photography. We moved slowly across the rocks  on our way beyond  Kings Head finding what  shelter we could  when there was a bit of rain.   Continue reading “close-ups”

stormy days

South Australia was  been battered by a violent  storm from the south west during the last three days– from Thursday to Saturday. We  experienced gale force winds, solid rain, high tides  and  surging seas along  the coast of  the southern Fleurieu Peninsula.

storm,  Dep’s Beach

Our usual morning and evening poodlewalks  were curtailed due to  the water cutting off access to parts of the littoral zone. So I could not photograph the water flows.  It was also  too dangerous to venture around the rocks to Petrel Cove  to do some macro due to  the huge waves.   Continue reading “stormy days”

at Kings-Head and beyond

The pictures in this blog post are from an afternoon poodlewalk in 2017 initially to Kings-Head in Waitpinga,  and  then on to a rocky outcrop just west of Kings Head. The rocky outcrop  is on the Coastal Cliffs walking trail to Newland Head and, as a result,  we often meet walkers coming from Waitpinga Beach.

rockface + sunlight, Kings Head

The rocky outcrop is near the foot of the Waitpinga Cliffs,  and it is  not possible to continue walking much further around the bottom of the cliffs. The Coastal Cliff walking trail  from Waitpinga Beach  to Kings Beach is along the top of the Waitpinga cliffs. Continue reading “at Kings-Head and beyond”

2 still life images

One  early morning poodlewalk  along the coastal rocks west of Petrel Cove last week  with Kayla was very enjoyable and relaxing.  The light was soft, there was little wind, and the light cloud cover meant that there was  soft early morning light  for an hour or so after sunrise. We were fortunate as  the early mornings of late have been sunny, bright  with blue sky.

These conditions  allowed me to spend a   a bit of time doing some  photography amongst the seaweed, quartz and granite:

Cuttlefish still life

We have been having this part of the coast to ourselves in the last week or so.  The only person I saw was Allan, who we see regularly. He does a  daily walk from his home in Encounter Bay along the Heritage Trail to Kings Beach Rd, then walks back. Our paths often cross.  Continue reading “2 still life images”

sand patterns

As mentioned on the Encounter Studio blog   when  I am on the recent  morning or afternoon poodlewalks I have started  looking for suitable subjects that would work as an image when  the  colour file made  with a digital camera is then  converted  to black and white.

The subjects have usually been  granite rocks  but of late, I am turning to  sand  patterns.   This is a recent  example:

sand, Deps Beach

The above  image   looked very ordinary in colour when I viewed it on the computer screen,  in the sense that it was  not deserving of a second  more considered look. It  look more interesting when I converted it to black and white as an experiment.   Continue reading “sand patterns”

at Petrel-Cove

Many of the coastal morning poodlewalks with Kayla incorporate the  return walk along the coastal  rocks  to the car park  via Petrel-Cove. Incorporating Petrel Cove  is more frequent in the early spring,  due to my  allergy to the rye grass growing along the side of the coastal path.  It irritates my eyes and causes sneezing fits.

Occasionally there is a photographer on the beach or a surfer  but more often  than not,  the  only other person in  Petrel Cove at that time of the morning is  the odd fishing man:

fisherman, Petrel Cove

Often it seem as if the fishing men  standing on the edge of the sea with their lines are meditating in nature,  and are  not overly  concerned if they don’t  catch any fish.  I can understand that as I often just sit on the rocks and watch the action of the waves.  Continue reading “at Petrel-Cove”

sea-mist

The sea-mist doesn’t happen that often along the southern coast of  the Fleurieu Peninsula. It happens maybe about once or twice a year,  and it can be quite localised.

The sea mist  briefly appeared early one morning  late last week on the coast:

sea mist, Petrel Cove

When I saw it I hoped  the it was thick  enough for me to photograph some of the granite rocks amongst the seamiest,  as  had happened on a previous occasion.       Continue reading “sea-mist”

seaweed, quartz + granite

Prior to my solo  Balranald photo trip  for the Mallee Routes project the morning  poodlewalks with Kayla  had started to shift from exclusively walking amongst the seaweed and granite  rocks the foreshore  below  the Heritage Trail  to walking along the back country roads.

One   reason for the change in emphasis  is that sun is  too bright  early in the morning  for photography,  so the coastal walks with now  take  place with Maleko in the later afternoon. This is when the coastal rocks are in open shadow and the contrast is softer:

quartz + seaweed

However, it is hit and miss with   finding the  seaweed, bird wings, dead birds or fish for the  open air studio.   For a while it   has only been  the odd bit of ephemeral seaweed lying amongst the granite rocks that I can  use to construct  a still life.  Continue reading “seaweed, quartz + granite”