Tag: Fleurieu Peninsula

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recovered archives

I have been going through my old archives from a PC that died many years ago.  The images had  been backed up on Lacie hard disc which also  crashed,  and they were eventually recovered by a  tech specialist.   The 13,000 images are all jumbled up, there are many repetitions, others are jpegs,  whilst large numbers  are corrupted and so useless.

This is one rescued image from along the coast west of Petrel Cove, and it was made around 2008 when Suzanne and I were coming down to Encounter Bay for the weekends. We  were living in Adelaide’s CBD then, and  we were both working full time.

lichen + granite

My reason for returning to these archives is to see the  images that I have made around the River Murray since 2008.  I wanted to see the relevance  of these archival images for the proposed Our Waters  project with Lars Heldmann.   Continue reading “recovered archives”

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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”

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Spring has arrived

The  noticeably warmer days during  this last week in August suggest that spring is  arriving.  The sun  now rises before 6.45am and it sets just before 6pm. It is also warmer  and have started going on the early morning and late afternoon poodlewalks without a coat.   I am also  now able to enjoy breakfast on the balcony in the early morning sun.  I am sure that the wet weather weather will soon return.

Surprisingly,  my poodlewalk photography   during  the  cusp of spring/winter in 2018,  when the light becomes special,   is becoming  darker:

granite, am

The reason is not  just the low light capabilities of the Sony digital camera. I spend a lot of time being in the  coastal space  of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula,  but  as  I am isolated  in Adelaide with this kind of photography,   I have  been searching to find   what other artists representing coastal Australia in their work  have been doing.   I notice that some  work in the dark mode with their explorations of   impending storm clouds towering over the land or the wild stormy seas.

The dark mode appeals, and   I have started looking at  group exhibitions to  find a visual  affinity with the ways that some  artists have approached   representing the  ocean, waves,  rocks and sky. Continue reading “Spring has arrived”

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squalls

During the winter of 2018 the southern coast of  the Fleurieu Peninsula has  been battered by king tides squalls and gusty, cold  northwesterly winds  off and on for a couple of weeks at a time.  It is off and on because in -between  these intense,  northerly winds we have the winter’s standard south westerly winds bringing  rain in from  Western Australia.

rain + sun, Waitpinga

The rain eventually clears after a couple of days,  we have a fine day,  then we are back to the gusty northerlies again. Sometimes these changes in the weather  can be quite  atmospheric.

On the days of rain it is a matter of trying to  go on the poodlewalks inbetween the passing showers,  and then  hoping that we don’t get caught in a squall out in the open.  Often we see a lone surfer, and on other days there are groups of people standing on the cliffs look out to sea, presumably whale watching.  Continue reading “squalls”

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King-tides

The recent king-tides along the coast of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula  made it difficult for us  to walk  amongst the coastal rocks  both in the early morning and the late afternoon on  many occasions. We stayed on the clifftop heritage trail and looked down on the wild seas crashing over the rocks  we would usually walk amongst.

Kayla and  I  were able to venture  to walk along the  littoral zone one morning between my return from  photographing in Melbourne  for the SALA exhibition   and before I left to go on the  photocamp at Balranald  for the Mallee Routes project.

quartz+granite, am

It was one of those infrequent lovely winter mornings— cloud,  sunshine  and very  little wind–that allowed time for wander around, look at  how things had changed due to the king tides and  to do some photography.    Continue reading “King-tides”

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at Kuitpo Forest Reserve

We usually visit the  Kuitpo Forest Reserve for the afternoon  poodlewalk when we are on our return journey  to Encounter Bay after  the poodles have spent the day at  the  Mt Barker dog groomers. These  occasions are once every six weeks–poodles are high maintenance— and we when we are walking in the forest we routinely avoid walking in  the pinus radiata  plantation areas .

We prefer   to  wander  within the small sparse areas of eucalyptus in the forest reserve:

Kuitpo Forest

All goes smoothly on the walk, if we  avoid the campers, the campsite foreplaces   and the various kangaroos in this part of Kuitpo Forest.

I usually walk around with a digital camera. The light in the forest after  4pm during the winter is often too low  to be able to use  hand held film cameras:

Kuitpo Forest

And during summer months  the light at 4pm is very bright and contrasty. The gates are closed around 4pm during the fire season  to prevent any camping.

So winter is the time for photography Kuitpo Forest Reserve as the sun in the late afternoon is low enough to gently lighten up the trees.

 

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along the Heritage-Trail

These clouds and early morning light  are   what I saw on early on  Friday  morning   when  Kayla and I were walking along the Heritage-Trail  through a familiar coastal landscape.   It was so very still that morning.

These are the  kind of conditions that  indicate that a dramatic change in the weather  is about  to happen; usually, they mean that the hot weather is coming to an end,  and  a  big  storm will be sweeping into the coast of the  Fleurieu Peninsula  from the south west.

am, Dep’s Beach

It was the morning  of  the 13th April, which is when  the cold front  with its  wild winds and  driving rain,  hit the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the late afternoon.

I was taking advantage of the lull before the storm  to walk   to a specific site  amongst the granite rocks around the point from Dep’s  Beach; a site that  I had selected for a large format photo session.   Continue reading “along the Heritage-Trail”

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bush-fires in April

We now have  bush-fires  in the Inman Valley,  or more specifically,  in the hills east of Yankalilla  in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia.   As mentioned in an earlier post    there has been little to no rainful  in South Australia  this year, so  the land   is very dry; dry  to the point of being parched. Bush fires make the permanent impermanent. and evoke a pathos or heartbreaking.

We have experienced  some  sustained heat during these last few days in April, (Sunday 8th—Tuesday 10th inclusive): the  temperatures have been around 34 degrees C on the coast  along with the   hot and dry  northwesterly winds. These bush fire conditions are  unusual  for this time of  the year,  as these  are summer temperatures and conditions.

gull + granite

In these conditions  Kayla and I  need to start  walking in the morning before sunrise. We try   to take advantage of the early morning cloud cover that sits along the coast,. Cloud cover is important  as it gives me greater leeway to photograph the ephemeral and  the melancholy of the fleeting moment.   Continue reading “bush-fires in April”

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back home

I am  now back home after a hectic period of travelling  during March.  There were  a couple of trips to Wellington to photograph around Wellington quickly followed by one  to attend Photobook/NZ.  After that   I made   a couple of trips  to Swan Hill in Victoria for the  Mallee Routes 2018 exhibition. 

We are  now easing  back  into  our daily routines and poodlewalks at Encounter Bay.  The Easter holidays  are a few days away. That means huge crowds in  the coastal towns and along the coastal walks.

seaweed strand, Petrel Cove

It is autumn in South Australia.   The light has softened,  there is  now  more in the way of morning cloud cover,  the winds have eased,  and the temperatures are  mild  (in the mid 20’s C) . It is still very dry, as there has been no rain.  Continue reading “back home”

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such a bleak landscape

We were stunned at how dry, brown and bleak the South Australian landscape was when  we were driving down to  Encounter Bay from Adelaide. We had   just flown into   Adelaide from spending a couple of weeks travelling, walking and photographing in New Zealand.

It was a real shock after experiencing the greenness and  lushness of the New Zealand landscape in both the North and the South Islands.  After experiencing frequent rain, flowing streams and rivers, and  lush green bush, we  were taken back by the dryness. Hell, we thought, we live in this dry, bleak landscape.

early autumn

I had noticed the brown landscape as we flew  across Victoria and South Australia on route from  Melbourne to Adelaide,   but up close  and walking in this landscape was a shock.

Yesterday afternoon,  when I walked along the coastal  path and  the rocks on a  late afternoon  walk with Maleko, I didn’t even bother to take a camera with me.   I couldn’t see  the point.   Continue reading “such a bleak landscape”