My frustration from the rushed Talem Bend photo session has mounted, due to the very gusty northerly and south-westerly winds and continual rain over the last 4 days. The frustration comes from these weather condition making it impractical to make a return trip to Talem Bend at the base of the Mallee Highway. It's 90 minutes drive time each way.
Suzanne suggested that I make things a bit easier for myself in using the 8x10 Cambo by starting to photograph around my local area. I took her advice and I was lucky to squeeze a photo session of roadside vegetation in Waitpinga in one morning after a poodlewalk with Kayla. This just before it started to rain.
I realized afterwards that concentrating on pictures of roadside vegetation was far too limited, and that really I needed to broaden my local image making to include the roads I travelled along by making them more central to the photography. Here was a good model.
I decided to start this exploration off by beginning with the roads that I usually walk down whilst on the poodlewalks. I needed to start with what I was familiar with. The connection between walking and still photography is crucial, as it is on these walks that I see the possible subject matter.
So I spent the weekend of wet weather walking in the afternoon with Maleko along Halll Creek Rd in Waitpinga; then driving along Wilson Hill Road after the walk when it was raining. I was scoping with a digital camera for suitable locations, as well as figuring out to photograph these back country roads in black and white.
What guided me was that I basically needed the sun to be behind me in the afternoon/morning as I could not count on too many overcast days during spring. Without the light the b+w photo would look too drab.