at Cape Jervis

Ari and I went to Cape Jervis yesterday afternoon on a photoshoot for the Fleurieu Four Seasons Prize for Landscape Photography. Cape Jervis is where you catch the ferry to Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

The recent storm had given way to sunshine, light cloud and gentle winds in Victor Harbor. So we took our chance, hoping that the weather on the western Fleurieu Peninsula would be similar to that in Victor Harbor. It was, but there was little cloud.

Ari, Cape Jerivs
Ari, Cape Jerivs

We—Ari, Suxzanne and myself— had gone there a week before, but we’d arrived too late to walk out to the point. Hence the need for me to return.

historic Adelaide

On Sunday mornings when we are in Adelaide Ari and I generally walk the CBD. It’s reasonably quiet and safe to wander the streets and this allows me to concentrate on photographic scoping with my digital camera.

This particular building–Sir Samuel Way Building, which was formerly Moore’s Department Store –is at the end of the street in which we live. It fronts onto Victoria Square and it was transformed from a department store into a comprehensive law courts building in the early 1980s.

Sir Samuel Way Building
Sir Samuel Way Building

Whilst walking the streets that morning I kept on thinking how the photographic culture has changed as a result of the digital revolution. Its not just the steady improvement in digital cameras or the existence of community-based photo sites like Flickr; it is also the emergence of online galleries and photography magazines, such as Refractions which are sifting and winnowing the published work that is a core part of the culture of 21st century image-making.

Mad March in Adelaide

‘Mad March’ is here tomorrow and that means its Festival time in Adelaide. Fringe, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, the Clipsal 500 and Womadealide. There’s even a state election for political junkies.

Ari and I continue to cruise the CBD in the late afternoon looking for spots with interesting interplay of light and shadow:

Ari, Young St
Ari, Young St

It’s the 1picaday2014 project that has motivated me to get out and walk the city–to get away from the computer and working on images for an exhibition in April.

cliff top walk

The days and nights are cooler now and there is a touch of autumn in the air along the coast at Victor Harbour. The sun is still hot but a strong south westerly was blowing on last evening’s cliff top walk to Kings Beach.

I was on the look out for pictures of shadows for the 1picaday project, but the cloud cover came in whilst we were walking.

cliff top walk
cliff top walk

I ended up driving to a spot near the cliff tops after the walk; a location I was considering for a large format shoot.

finally, the rains come

The last walk just before the end of the heat wave was difficult. Everything was hot and dusty. Walking was an effort for all of us.

Reflections, King William St
Reflections, King William St

The heatwave conditions in Adelaide finally broke on Thursday. It has been raining pretty much non-stop for the last couple of days. It eased late Friday afternoon and it was possible to walk the city in comfort.

Raffi

I am very constrained with respect to my photography at the moment, as we have an 8 week old silver standard poodle pup that requires a lot of attention to burn off the energy. We have taken a weeks holiday to adjust and are down to Victor Harbor to help ease him into our routines. Despite the high energy the places that we can go to are limited.

Raffi, Victor Harbor
Raffi, Victor Harbor

I’ve pretty much lost the early morning photography as I am walking Raffi along the foreshore to get him used to the life of the seashore whilst Suzanne walks Ari. Then I am walking Ari and Raffi in the early evening.

a momentary respite

Today Adelaide had a one day respite from the heatwave. It was actually cool enough for Ari and I to be able to drift around the western part of the CBD in comfort. I was even able to do some photography in the form of making digital snaps.

Exercising, working, or even walking at a fast pace becomes difficult to sustain at temperatures above 35ᵒC. During the heat we just sought out the shade around Veale Gardens and we moved very slowly in the shade to avoid overheating and heat stress. Fortunately, the city had cooled down over night and it was no longer a heat island. So we were able to walk the city in the late afternoon for an hour and a half.

AdelaideyellowwallAri

I was looking for photographic ideas to explore. In drifting around the Hindley Street part of the CBD and then city west I was wandering around in the seedy or scruffy side of Adelaide.

a different way of walking the city

An important aspect of poodlewalks in the city is that Ari, who loves walking the city, takes me to nooks and crannies of the city that I would normally miss. I wouldn’t even notice them as I walking too fast or I have pre-conceived ideas of what I want to photograph.

Ari’s mooching around these nooks and crannies slows me down, and it means that I am able to look more closely at what is around me, rather than just walking through the environment.

style
style

I have time to actually look as a photographer at what is there in front of me or at my feet.

searching

Suzanne is currently in Brisbane for a conference whilst Ari and I are down at Victor Habor. We return to Adelaide today.

The days are still coolish, overcast, and with south easterly winds. The tide has been very low at this time and so we can venture further out on the reef.The evening walks now happen between 6pm and 8pm because, with daylight saving, that is when the afternoon light along the coast softens.

The afternoon walks have been spent looking for material for the gallery and, in particular, this rock form which I’d snapped on a walk the last time we were at Victor Harbor. It looked suitable for the Victor Harbor book, and I wanted to see whether it was possible to reshoot it with a large format camera.

white rock form

It was a small shape and I couldn’t remember where it was on the rock foreshore between Petrel Cove and Kings Beach. It took two evening walks and 4 hours to find it. I finally found it last night, around 7.30 pm, just as the sun was disappearing behind the hill.

picking up the pieces

I’ve recovered enough from my illness to start photographing again using more than a small hand held digital camera. I feel that I’ve lost most of this year and I’ve a deep sense of being wasted. There was so much that could have been done (especially with large format) and wasn’t. The momentum has been lost. It’s like starting all over again.

This was a picture of roadside vegetation I took just before things disintegrated around me:

tree + rubbish, Victor Harbor

It’s the road to the old Victor Harbor rubbish dump and one that the poodles and I would walk along if it was too windy along the coast. I kinda liked the view towards the southern ocean through the fields as we walked down the road through farmland towards Rosetta Head.