winter has arrived

A few days after returning from walking the Larapinta Trail Suzanne is off to a 4 day Heysen Trail camp at Cape Jervis Station. I am looking after the three poodles, and working at Encounter Studio on my abstraction exhibition for the SALA Festival. 

We–myself and the poodles—walked along the railway line at Hayborough early this morning. It was stormy and wet. It had been raining overnight. Winter has definitely arrived in South Australia:

morning, Hayborough
morning, Hayborough

At the moment the early morning is the best part of the day, since the rest of the day is overcast, with icy winds and intermittent showers that sweep across the coast. It’s not good photography weather along the coast.
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picking up the threads

Suzanne returned home last Friday from her 9 day walk on the Larapinta Trail plus some sightseeing at Kings Canyon, then Uluru and Kata Tjuta. She has a a few days at home in Victor Harbor, then she is off to a 4 day Heysen Trail camp at Deep Creek Conservation Park over the weekend.

I’m starting to pick up the threads of my photography which dropped away whilst Suzanne was in the Northern Territory. I have done little scoping of photography shoots during that period:

Maleko, Hayborough railway line
Maleko, Hayborough railway line

Most of my effort at the moment is devoted to preparing for the abstraction exhibition at the Light Gallery during the SALA Festival in August, which includes a SALA portfolio.
Continue reading “picking up the threads”

along an old railway line

I’ve accepted the constraints of walking three standard poodles on my own whilst Suzanne walks the Larapinta Trail, and I just go with the flow. It is easier to go with the flow rather than be frustrated by the chaos.

Our early morning walks are along the old Victor Harbor railway line in Hayborough. Maleko and Kayla can play their crazy chasey games in and around the old Port Elliot-Victor Harbor railway line, Ari and I stroll along, my feet stay dry, and I can take a few photos.

railway line, Hayborough
railway line, Hayborough

It’s better than the beach, which is where everyone is walking in the early morning with their dogs. If I walk on the beach most of my time is spend minding the dogs and preventing them from getting up to mischief with other dogs and people.
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living with constraints

Suzanne leaves Victor Harbor today for 2 weeks or so walk to the Larapinta Trail in the western Macdonnell Ranges, and then go to explore other areas east and west of Alice Springs, such as Kings Canyon. I’ve just dropped Suzanne off at the Seaford railway station so that she can catch the train to Adelaide to stay overnight with her friend Sally, before they  both catch the Qantas flight  to  Alice Springs tomorrow morning.

My task is to look after the 3 dogs at Victor Harbor. Our walks in the morning and evening will be in limited areas in order to keep Kayla and Maleko crazy chase and play games contained and controlled. So my photography is going to very limited, unless I can find a way to do it without having the dogs in tow. I cannot do large format tripod based photography with 3 dogs racing around the place.

clouds, Encounter Bay
clouds, Encounter Bay

The best that I can do is some handheld snaps on the walk. The above picture is an example. I was  driving Ari and Kayla   to the Victor Harbor beach  for a dawn walk when I saw this view as I started to drive along Franklin Parade towards  the Victor Harbor township.  I stopped the car, took a snap, jumped back in the car, and continued driving to the township. The trouble is, not every morning is like this one.
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moments of sunshine

The poodle walks blog is now a part of my new thoughtfactory website and over time it will change from being hosted by WordPress to being hosted by my hosting company. It’s part of the consolidation of my various bodies of online work and a more professional look.

Thought Factory will continue to be slowly built over the coming months,  and I’ll provide the new url when this modest blog becomes a part of Thought Factory. I don’t want to let it die.The bog  that is the public face of Thoughtfactory is based on is the   Encounter Studio blog which will be allowed to die.

In the meantime we–Ari, Kayla and myself— have returned to the walking the beach in the early morning now that the weather has improved.

quartz am
quartz am

The rains have gone for the moment,  and there are brief moments of sun in the morning before it disappears behind the early morning cloud cover.

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a fading autumn

Winter is fast closing in. The clear, still, sunny autumn mornings are fast becoming a memory.

We have had a week or so of strong winds, storms, on and off showers throughout the day, lots of cloud cover  and the occasional sunny period. So we have increasingly avoided the southern beaches in our morning and evening walks in order to seek shelter from the incessant wind.

Kayla
Kayla

The poodles love the bush for it is full of fresh animal smells, but I find it extremely difficult to photograph the chaotic messiness of the bush or woodlands whilst we are walking through it. It is almost impossible to try and impose strict visual order upon this subject matter  since  the clear visual patterns  are  not really there.

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cruising along

Most of the early morning walks these late autumn days are with Ari and Kayla and are are in and around the Victor Harbor Beach area or along the Hayborough beach. It’s easy. There are few people around, there is very little junk food, dead birds or decaying fish, the wind is low and the sun rises onto the beaches at sunrise.

Kayla, Granite Island causeway
Kayla, Granite Island causeway

There is not much photography taking place on these walks. Only a few pictures of the ongoing version of the sand dunes around Hayborough, but this does not effect any of the holiday homes as they are on the cliffs above the beach, and there is a railway line between the beach and the base of the cliffs.
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Lady Bay

We have had visitors from Melbourne staying at our place in Victor Harbor over Easter. Since they are both friends and photographers one of the days during Easter was devoted to a photography excursion to the western Fleurieu Peninsula coast.

We went to see the exhibition of the Fleurieu Four Seasons Prize for Landscape Photography at the Normanville Beach Gallery and Cafe Foreshore,  and then spent time exploring   the coastal bays and settlements  that form part of the western Fleurieu Peninsula.

Lady Bay
Lady Bay

The exploration included Lady Bay, Wirrina Cove, Second Valley, Rapid Bay, then finally Delamare before returning to Victor Harbor along the Range Road. It was very bright and sunny in the afternoon,  and these kind of conditions are not good for photography.   Continue reading “Lady Bay”

autumn

Prior going to Melbourne Ari, Kayla and I walked around the Victor Harbor township for our early morning poodle walks. I was interested in finding out what was happening with the early morning light in autumn. The light has been shifting quite quickly.

Victor Harbor beach
Victor Harbor beach

The photographic possibilities are not that numerous in and around the township, and I’m using the poodlewalks to find out what is there. At this stage it’s more about the light than the subject matter. Continue reading “autumn”