seaweed, quartz + granite

Prior to my solo  Balranald photo trip  for the Mallee Routes project the morning  poodlewalks with Kayla  had started to shift from exclusively walking amongst the seaweed and granite  rocks the foreshore  below  the Heritage Trail  to walking along the back country roads.

One   reason for the change in emphasis  is that sun is  too bright  early in the morning  for photography,  so the coastal walks with now  take  place with Maleko in the later afternoon. This is when the coastal rocks are in open shadow and the contrast is softer:

quartz + seaweed

However, it is hit and miss with   finding the  seaweed, bird wings, dead birds or fish for the  open air studio.   For a while it   has only been  the odd bit of ephemeral seaweed lying amongst the granite rocks that I can  use to construct  a still life. 

When there is no ephemeral material lying around for me  to set up an open air studio to construct a still life,   I start to  think in terms of abstractions: 

quartz + stone

These kind of abstractions downplay the ephemerality of the littoral zone. They are small details close to the ground and  usually accessible in low tide so  they are difficult to photograph  with a film camera on a tripod.

The downside of  walking along the back country roads in the early morning  is the presence of kangaroos.   Kayla gives chase to them and as she is very determined, she gets through the fences and into the fields where there are cattle or sheep.