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.

Continue reading “moments of sunshine”

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.

Continue reading “a fading autumn”

contained walks

Suzanne and I have started looking for ways in which  one person can walk the three poodles together. It is a question of avoiding the beach where Kayla and Maleko go into their crazy chasing games,  and looking for contained areas that are full of smells so they forget about their mad play.  This often becomes destructive and  is beyond the control of one person.

We have found one–a back country road near Encounter Studio which has very little traffic. Halls Creek Rd is an area  where the poodles can walk freely off lead:

Kayla
Kayla

Halls Creek Rd  is bounded by fences and, as  it has a number of kangaroo crossings,  the poodles spend their time checking things out.  Continue reading “contained walks”

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”

Chiton Rocks

Ari and I have been walking around the Hayborough section of Encounter Bay on our early morning walks this week.  It has expensive townhouses, bush between the houses and the beach and a white sand  beach.  This area is missed by most tourists and is frequented more by the locals—generally surfers, runners and dog walkers due to its access being hidden away.

My photography has been minimal but, I  have been looking for locations along the road that would be suitable for an arial photograph of the beach, sea and sky and then one looking back to the township of Victor Harbor. The best time for this photography is just after sunrise. This morning we walked along the road and the beach around Chiton Rocks.

Chiton Rocks
Chiton Rocks

The early mornings are clear, crisp and there is  no cloud cover. The light is very bright 30 minutes after sunrise. It’s classic autumn weather in South Australia.  Continue reading “Chiton Rocks”

petrol stations

Ari and I have started walking around the Victor Harbor township on some of our early morning poodle walks. We needed a change from walking the beach at the western end of Encounter Bay each morning at dawn and I wanted to start walking earlier that 6.45am. We can wander around the town in the dark because of the street lights, and then I can take photos after dawn has broken.

There are only a few people about the town at this time of the morning–mostly groups of people walking across the causeway to Granite Island and back again.

Shell
Shell

The National Broadband Network people, who were very visible laying cable in the township and around Encounter Bay, seem to have disappeared. I don’t see any crews working on the streets whilst making my way back to Encounter Studio. And there I was thinking that the western end of Encounter Bay where we live would be getting FTTP in the next 6 months. That’s a dream.

The NBN Co appears to have slowed down its broadband rollout under the new Multi-Technology Mix (MTM) and I fear that our area of Encounter Bay will be outside the fibre footprint. Continue reading “petrol stations”

a poodle walk with Heather Petty

Whilst Suzanne walked Ari and Kayla Heather Petty, Maleko and I went on a photowalk along the foot of the cliffs east of Kings Beach yesterday afternoon. We were photographing for about 3-4 hours in the warm autumn weather:

Heather Petty near Kings Beach
Heather Petty near Kings Beach

Heather was using her brand new DSLR —–a Nikon Df—–with a super duper zoom lens—a AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR11— that allowed her do everything she needed along the coastal strip.That big impressive lens looked like Nikon’s workhorse lens. Continue reading “a poodle walk with Heather Petty”

a quick trip

With the power at Victor Harbor of Friday from 8am to 4.30 pm we all drove up to Adelaide for the day to do bits and pieces—-haircuts, dropping off books and records, shopping at the Adelaide Central Market, and taking in exhibitions at the Light Gallery and CACSA. Ari and I were even able to do a small poodle walk in the CBD whilst we were waiting for Suzanne to drop off some old records at ReRun Records and Photography:

Porters Lane
Porters Lane

Whilst waiting we did a quick explore of some back alley ways off Pultney Street and behind Rundle Mall—eg., Porters Lane.