After the storms

The recent stormy, winter weather has meant that our poodle walks have been mostly along the back country roads since they offer some protection from the wind. We have only infrequently walked along the coastline because it is usually windswept: battered by the south-westerly winds and intense rain.

The picture below is from one of the rare occasions during July that we ventured onto Rosetta Head. We waited in the Subaru Forester for the squalls to pass through, then we went for our walk around Rosetta Head keeping an eye on the incoming squalls coming from the south.

car park, Petrel Cove
car park, Petrel Cove

Whilst we were waiting in the Subaru for the squalls to pass I took some photos of the landscape through the windscreen of the Forester.
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winter

Winter so far has been wet, very wet, along the coast of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula. Most days it has been raining steadily throughout the day. There are moments of no rain in the morning and afternoon, and these are quickly taken advantage of for our poodle walks.

foam,  am
foam, am

We had a couple of such moment on the cliff top walk this morning–moments between the squalls that swept in from the south whilst we were walking along Dep Beach, which is west of Petrel Cove. Although it is often very atmospheric the weather only allows for quick snaps.
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Rosetta Head

I have been minding the standard poodles whilst Suzanne has been in the Pilbara in Western Australia with Heather Petty exploring the Karijini National Park in the Hamersley Range. They camped at the Karijini Eco Retreat.

It’s been cold, stormy and wet on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula with sporadic sunshine.I have been trying to walk in the morning and the evening between the squalls in areas that provide some protection from the bitter southerly winds and away from the mud. So we have been walking along back country roads in the morning and later afternoon. The only photographs that I have done whilst Suzanne has been away are a few snaps on the poodle walks. On some days I didn’t even bother to take a camera with me.

early morning
early morning

Things were looking up this morning. The wind had dropped, it wasn’t raining, and there was early morning sunshine rather than drizzle. So we walked up Rosetta Head, or The Bluff.
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winter light

Winter has come to the coast of South Australia.

The balmy autumn weather has given away to rain, cold winds, and stormy conditions. We now wear rain jackets when we are walking the poodles. The change in the seasons has been quite abrupt and sudden.

The light is much softer now and it is easier to work with in the early morning:

winter light
winter light

The digital photographers are out in force around dusk in, and around, the Petrel Cove area. They look as if they come down to the coast of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula for the day. They work their DSLR’s on tripods and stay on the coastal path along the top of the cliffs. From what I can see as we walk past them, is that they are using their zoom lenses to photograph the breaking waves below them.They don’t venture down the cliffs, or get amongst, and explore, the coastal rocks.
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moonrise over the southern ocean

Autumn has been quite warm this year with only a few days of rain that suggest winter is an approaching.

This picture was snapped on the evening before a sou’westerly cold front moved across the coast the next day. It was a mild and warm dusk and it was very still. People were out swimming, walking, fishing, playing at Petrel Cove, fishing and running even though it was dusk.

moonrise
moonrise

I was returning to the car park at Petrel Cove from a walk with Ari and Maleko just as the moon was rising over the southern ocean south of Rosetta Head, or the Bluff. I couldn’t resist taking handheld a snap.
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along Jagger Rd, Waitpinga

Suzanne is currently away walking the Heysen Trail around Burra and Spalding region for a week. I’m at Encounter Bay minding the standard poodles and scanning negatives from local poodlewalks and from the Coorong and previous Mallee Highway trips.

I’m also doing the curation administration for two group exhibitions in September–an abstraction one at the Light Gallery and one entitled Weltraum at Magpie Springs for the Shimmer Photographic Biennale.

roadside vegetation,  Jagger Rd
roadside vegetation, Jagger Rd

This is one of the images from the local poodle walks along Jagger Rd in Waitpinga earlier this year. It’s a scoping image that I re-photographed with the 5×4 Linhof Technika the following day.

It was Easter time, as I remember a male sleeping rough nearby. He’d been tossed out of his home by his wife and he was missing his kids. He spun me a story about how he had decided to travel around Australia on the cheap cos he wanted freedom. He added that being disconnected from the digital world—a digital detox?— meant that he could reclaim a sense of self, freedom and creativity and so lead a more authentic and fulfilling life. I wished him luck in his quest.
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a tree study

This was one of the last images I made on a poodle walk before the digital SONY NEX-7 went into the camera shop to have its sensor cleaned. The sensor had become really dirty on the road trips to the Coorong and to Wallaroos and the camera’s cleaning mechanism was up to the task. I needed the sensor to be cleaned for the road trip along the Mallee Highway next week.

tree study
tree study

I see the same objects every day, in slightly different light and from slightly different angles on specific poodle walks. This is what contributes to my overall impression and memories of the object: it isn’t a single encounter but a series of experiences. So I select the most suitable–in this case 5×7 format, late afternoon light, and some cloud— rather than going in the composite direction.

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at Currency Creek

We all went for a walk at Currency Creek on the previous long weekend–Adelaide Cup Day. I hadn’t been there for ages–several years in fact. The photography that I did then was rather disappointing, and I hadn’t been all that keen on returning. This was a family outing:

Currency Creek
Currency Creek

On previous visits we have had the place to ourselves. Not this time. It was packed. People were camping in the picnic ground that is opposite the historic Kingsbrook estate. There are now a lot more people touring around and visiting the Fleurieu Peninsula these days.

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walking in the Coorong

On our return trip to Adelaide from Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road we tacked on a couple of days onto the return journey so that we could stay at Salt Creek in the Coorong. I wanted to go photographing, and to scope the area for the Edgelands project. This stopover was after we had spent a few days in exploring in the Otways.

Whilst at Salt Creek Ari and I walked in, and explored, the nearby edgelands on an overcast day for a future large format photoshoot:

Coorong
Coorong

I had to admit it, but I got completely lost whilst wandering around scoping for some large format photography, and I had to rely on Ari to get me back to the car. I would have remained disorientated without Ari as I had just wandering around completely absorbed in photographing without giving much though to the fact that I was actually “bushwalking”, and that I hadn’t taken any precautions.
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grumble, grumble

People have been having lots of fun along the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula on their summer holidays. This part of the coast has remained as Adelaide’s main summer playground. However, we can’t wait for Australia Day to come and go since that means that the summer holiday crowds will start returning to Adelaide for work and school.

Since Xmas, the region has been full off people, cars, boats and the rubbish of takeaway food dumped where it is eaten. The anti-biking crowd have broken glass all over bike paths up to Rosetta Head, the wooden barriers to prevent the cars going onto nature reserves have been smashed, and there is human shit along the base of cliffs bordering the beaches west of Rosetta Head.

This was one morning when I did the cliff-top walk rather than walking the Heysen Trail. It was very humid that morning and it looked like it would rain:

storm, Petrel Cove
storm, Petrel Cove

However, the clouds quickly disappeared and the humidity, intense sun and the stillness meant that it was unpleasantly hot on the beach. The morning walk was cut short and we returned to the house and to air-conditioning.
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