With the new year started it is all hands on deck to complete our photographic shoots and start creating our outfits. The landscape is looking magnificent with all the rain; water holes full, fields of green and plenty of wildlife. A time to find a spot that will showcase our environment at its best - so many to choose from. Excited to recommence this project.
Rain clouds, a gentle cooling breeze, droplets of water off a tin roof with the backdrop of the McDonnell Ranges is a magical way to start an afternoons photoshoot. For the artists it was a special day as we had our first senior couple. 'Unity' was the perfect word for this piece. A lifetime of memories and shared experiences and a firm conviction that Central Australia was the perfect place to retire to thirty-two years ago. For a total contrast we then headed to the wide sandy bed of the Todd river with the tall gums that run along its banks. Heat radiated from the sun which then bounced straight back from the sand, so different from the earlier dark clouds. Bleached bones was the perfect adornment for this shoot.
Sunday afternoon at the glorious Olive Pink Botanical Gardens - a snippet of the image taken of our Spinifex elder and an interloper, the synthetic bowerbird. Camera at the ready, Sabine managed to capture some beautiful images showcasing the pearl like seeds of the spinifex and the composed and unruffled profile of our elder, at peace in her surroundings.
The scene is set - Sunday afternoon sojourn with car packed two artists, senior and photographer head out to Simpsons Gap. The clouds are moving fast with large drops of rain hitting the windscreen; unfortunately, this was but just a passing sprinkle! The white gums spread their way through the sandy river bed and the rocks are a glorious burnt orange in the late afternoon light. So many perfect sites to choose from - the decision was made to trial three. Like a lion with a full mane our senior reposed on the wide branch of a red gum that spread with ease out over the river bed. Perfect. Senior, photographer and artist set out to capture the black wattle tree in all its glory. The perfect specimen had to be sort out – standing tall and proud against a blue sky we found it. The tell-tale signs of the blacken branches; woven together to form a pod like cocoon, it resonates with us all as being an indelible part of the Central Australian landscape. Hiking across the road armed with tripod and camera pack we scrambled up the embankment, navigating our way through the long fronds of the buffel grass and prickles that lay in our path. Ever aware of snakes, we took extra care on how and where we placed our feet. In all its glory the black wattle looked magnificent. It presents itself as a place of safety where one can be supported, protected and cocooned from the outside world. Sliding between the upright branches our senior was swaddled in its long black tendrils. |
Sarah, Simone, Bronwyn & SabineUnfinished Lines Archives
September 2017
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