Category: rocks

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an intertidal zone

It is now autumn in South Australia and I am  very slowly adjusting back  to the bleak, dry landscape  of  the Fleurieu Peninsula after my   brief but enjoyable sojourn briefly walking  Wellington,  New Zealand. I  flew over at short notice  to participate in Photobook/NZ and  to link up with, and re-join,  PhotoForum. 

For better or worse  South Australia  is where I have made my home,  and the coastal landscape of  the southern Fleurieu Peninsula   is, to all intents and purposes,  my  photographic backyard.

purple quartz

This  is where a body of work —The Littoral Zone—is gradually evolving  from walking through and exploring the ever-changing interface or habitat between the land and the sea along this  particular coastline.   Continue reading “an intertidal zone”

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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”

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clouds

The very changeable, early  summer  weather that we have been experiencing at Encounter Bay in South Australia,   has meant that there  has  been some good clouds along the coast.  We have had hot  days, cold days, sunshine, rain, lots of gusty wind from the south-west, calm days and striking  cloud formations:

storm clouds, Petrel Cove

We have been walking along the coast, rather than the Bluff, and we’ve  often we’ve been caught in the wet weather  whilst walking in the morning and the evening,  and I have had to find whatever shelter amongst the rocks that I could until the quickly moving squall  had passed.  Continue reading “clouds”

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wet weather

Cold, wet weather  that came in from the south-west replaced the few days of hot weather after my Sonex  flight along the coast of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula earlier in the week.   The temperature is  now roughly half of what it was  during that hot spell.

Suzanne and I got very wet on a couple of occasions on our walks  — we were caught in the fast moving rain  that swept in from the southern ocean whilst  out walking with the poodles.

granite, quartz, sea

There is little shelter along  the coast west of Petrel Cove.  On an afternoon walk  Maleko and I had  little choice but to continue  walking and  to get wet in the process.  At least it was not as cold as it would have been  in winter. Continue reading “wet weather”

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Aerial: The coast from above

I had the great fortune to  experiment with  some aerial photography yesterday. I was given the opportunity   to  fly along part of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula coastline,   courtesy of  Chris Dearden  in his yellow, homebuilt    Sonex aircraft– a Xenos motorglider.

It was the first time  that I’d  had the opportunity  to  experiment with  aerial photography and flying in a recreational aircraft was a blast.

Rosetta Head

We took off from Goolwa airport and  flew along the coast from the Murray Mouth near Goolwa  to Newland Heads in Waitpinga, then back again.  The above image  is a picture of Rosetta Head, Petrel Cove and Dep’s Beach, which is  where  we  do a lot of  our coastal poodlewalks.  Continue reading “Aerial: The coast from above”

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on The Bluff

Whilst Suzanne was away walking the Wilderness Trail on Kangaroo Island with her walking friends, I looked after, and walked, the two standard poodles twice a day.  That’s the daily  routine with hunting dogs.

Maleko + Kayla

These portraits of Maleko and Kayla was made whilst we were on an early morning walk up, over and down Rosetta Head  (or The Bluff). Ari had  just died a few days earlier, before Suzanne  went walking on  Kangaroo Island.

We were hanging about on the top of The Bluff having a bit of fun as it had been the first time I’d walked up Rosetta Head in the early morning for ages

Continue reading “on The Bluff”

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photographer

By Thursday the cold south westerly and easterly winds that had been blowing for the past week had dropped away. By the late afternoon on Thursday it was very still and warm. There was cloud cover and soft light, the tide was very low, and there were no small flies. These were lovely conditions for both a late afternoon walk with Maleko and for me to do a bit of scoping about this place.

seascape

I went back on Friday afternoon at the same time of the day to this particular spot with a film camera and tripod. The weather conditions were very similar but I was dismayed to discover that the tide was much higher, and that it was impossible to gain access to this gap in the rocks.
Continue reading “photographer”

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portraiture

Kayla is still on restricted walks. Though the courses of anti-inflammatories has finished, she continues to be walked on her own both morning and afternoon to allow the ligaments around her knees to heal. I walk her in the morning and Maleko in the afternoon. Suzanne does the opposite. We are playing it safe. No rough chasing games.

This allows me time to continue to work on The Littoral Zone project. Some recent examples:– an abstraction; a rockpool granite rocks along the coast; and an open air studio images.

A portrait of Kayla at Petrel Cove:

Kayla

These solo walks will change tomorrow as I am off on a photo trip to the South Australia Mallee for 5 days, and so Suzanne will have to walk both dogs together. She will need to exercise her skills to prevent them from playing their mad chasing games, or chasing kangaroos.

Continue reading “portraiture”

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at Newland Head cliffs

Suzanne caught the zombie flu whilst she was walking on Kangaroo Island, and so I took Kayla and Maleko on yesterday’s afternoon walk. We walked along the Heysen Trail to Kings Beach, along the edge of the beach, over the top of Kings Head, and dropped down to a rocky outcrop at the base at the eastern end of the Newland Head cliffs.

It was a spring day: sunny, with no cloud cover and little wind. I was wanting to avoid the hot, dry blustery north-westerly wind that was on its way.

quartz, Newland Head cliffs

I haven’t been to this spot for ages. The last time I was there to photograph was several years ago, and I wanted to familiarise myself with the location. The last time I’d been there was in the early morning during the winter when the rocky outcrop was buffeted with wild waves, south westerly winds and passing showers.

It was much calmer yesterday as we walked around the site , but the rocks were very slippery underfoot. Not that it worried the four legged standard poodles. I remembered how I’d lost my footing the last time I was here, and tumbled over onto the rocks whilst trying to stop my Rolleiflex SL66 from falling onto the granite.

Continue reading “at Newland Head cliffs”

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Lichen

With Suzanne is away enjoying her walks and the wild flowers in the south west of Kangaroo Island I am taking the opportunity of walking Kayla and Maleko in both the morning and evening to start to return to some of old haunts along the coast that I haven’t visited for a couple of years. Have things changed along the coast? Do I see the rocks and sea differently now?

Yesterday we walked along the coastal cliff top path to Kings Beach. Instead of going along the beach and around to Kings Head, or over to the base of the Newland Cliffs, we made our way back along the coastal rocks in the direction of Rosetta Head.

lichen near Kings Beach

It is not possible to walk all the way along the coastal rocks from Kings Beach to Rosetta Head, even when the weather is fine and the tide is low.

Continue reading “Lichen”