in Memoriam

I would walk Kayla in the morning whilst Suzanne walked Maleko then we would swap for the afternoon walk. Kayla avoided the wilder parts of the coast with the booming seas as the sound of the crashing waves reminded her of thunder which scared her.

My fondest memories of Kayla are walking with her in and through the local bushland in Waitpinga. She loved the bushland, with its rabbits, foxes and kangaroos, and we would spend an hour so in the early morning walking through it. In this process she helped me see what was there.

bushland, Waitpinga

Because we spend so much time just being in, and mucking around, in the bushland she also helped to opened my eyes to what could be photographed. I would start to notice little details that I would have normally walked past, if I had been walking on my own.

bark, bushland, Waitpinga

Sometimes these details were momentary — you had to be mooching around in the bush to see these kind of moments or the abstract shapes. The strong winds meant that the hanging bark would not hang for long.

Our time together in the local bush often lead to subjects such as a favourite tree that I would photograph with different cameras in different lighting and weather conditions:

tree, bushland, Waitpinga

Kayla’s other favourite walk was up and over Rosetta Head in the early morning. Sometimes when we did the Rosetta Head walk we would meet up with Suzanne and Maleko and we would all wait whilst Suzanne finished her morning exercises. Then we would usually continue with our separate walks.

Other times on the Rosetta Head walk Kayla would enjoy hanging out on the rocks whilst I took advantage of the overcast conditions on the coast throughout spring to make some seascape photos with a large format camera.

Kayla, Rosetta Head, September 2022

Though I am walking with Maleko in the afternoon I have been walking on my own in the early morning since last Tuesday and it is just not the same. I am finding it boring, and though I’m carrying a camera with me, I find little to photograph. I am just walking through the landscape rather than being in it and I struggle to look at the details or be aware of the moments.

The poodlewalks with Kayla were very much a walking and being together in the landscape. I miss that.

5 Replies to “in Memoriam”

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