The fourth in the series of photographing light per se which broadens the terrain beyond photojournalism, documentary and landscape.
This is looking east over Encounter Bay from the shoreline of a small beach in front of Whalers resort complex.
Another image in the series of photographing light per se which broadens the terrain beyond photojournalism and documentary:
This is looking east over Encounter Bay from Rosetta Head.
This is my second attempt in my little project of photographing light per se:
On this occasion I endeavoured to simplifiy things down to the bare minimum. I'm at the western edge of Encounter Bay on Jetty Rd that runs alongside Rosetta Head in the early morning. I'm precariously balanced on some rocks at the very edge of the sea. It is early in the morning just after sunrise. The advantage of digital is its flexibility as working with a tripod and film would be much more difficult.
I have started to explore the possibilities of seascapes this last month or so using large format cameras -- namely, 4x5 and 5x7-- and photographng in colour.
The location from which I work is Rosetta Head (the Bluff) and the subject is Encounter Bay in the early morning around sunrise. I park the Forester in the top car park over looking Petrel Cove then walk around the northern side of the Bluff and then up the eastern face carrying the camera gear. The 5x4 and carbon tripod are no problem as they fit into a pack, but I struggle with the 5x7 Cambo and the Gitzo tripod.
I have been using the few occasions when I go up Rosetta Head on an early morning Sunday poodlewalk with Kayla to photograph seascapes. That is what you see: the southern ocean.
I am discovering that my emphasis is on the clouds rather than the sea:
I have tried a different compositional approach ---eg., one that is more evenly balanced between cloud and sea and neither dominate the other.
However, I find the latter composition more bland and boring. Boring, tired, done is my immediate response. And they don't look like abstractions. But they promise possibilities.
The fuzzy experiments continue. This time it is Petrel Cove on a stormy afternoon:
I was sitting in the car in the Petrel Cove car park waiting for the squall to pass before I went for an afternoon poodlewalk with Maleko. I was wondering if I could achieve layers and textures in the photo with everything out of focus.
As mentioned in this blog post in the Eye on the Mallee website I spent several days in mid-August at Kapunda with Suzanne's Lavender Trail friends. Whilst they walked the trail around the Kapunda region in the mid-north each day I photographed. I actually spend more time photographing in, and around, Kapunda than I did in the South Australian mallee. Well, I split my time between the two different regions.
This picture is of the Anglican church in Kapunda. It was designed by Edmund Wright, and built around 1857-8:
I ventured up Rosetta Head one cloudy morning recently --the 3rd of August. I decided not to carry my film cameras from the Petrel Cove carpark as I did not know what an out of focus pre-sunrise grey seascape would look like photographically.
This is the first experiment. I was looking east over Encounter Bay towards Goolwa and the Coorong whilst I was making my way to the top of Rosetta Head:
Kayla had gone ahead to join Maleko and Suzanne, who was doing her exercises.
I have been tentatively experimenting with an abstract approach to photography in low light situations. as a break from working on the newsletter and the Walking/photography exhibition at Encounters Gallery.
The low light scenario happens at the end of the poodlewalks with Maleko when we are returning to the car along the coastal path at dusk. When start to return when it is too dark to photograph amongst the coastal rocks. However, there is still light and colour in the sky over the southern ocean so I can hand hold the digital camera (a Sony A7 R111) to make a photo.
A recent example of the experiment:
It's an experiment because this kind of subject just doesn't work as an abstract when everything is in focus--I've made several attempts and it looks ugly. I've also tried it with the lens wide open and the foreground of the subject in focus--but it is a nothing kind of image. Nor does it work when there are small pockets of clouds in the sky over the sea.
The 3 pictures in this post were made whilst I was on my way to make some supplementary photos for the upcoming Walking /Photography exhibition at Encounters Gallery for the SALA Festival in South Australia. The Festival starts in August, 2020.
