photography – Page 3 – A Shared Space

Changing Seasons: End of summer 2020

It’s the last day of February, being a leap year, summer has lasted a day longer. Today the sun is already out and it is warm. My washing is done and on the line. I needed this. Yesterday at this hour the sky was filled with resounding thunder and lightening flashed vertical in blinding stripes. The Australian summer used to be days at the beach, Sunday afternoons at the pub, watching 60 Minutes at night. But now we seem to be keeping an eye on the weather reports more often these days. The days have been wildly different and with some feeling like the wrath of winter.

February also meant I returned to work in all the regions I visit frequently. This may be my last year I travel to some sites and I feel a sense of sadness about it. But new openings are on offer, so I’m excited for 2021 and open to all that brings into my life.

Frequent travel comes at a cost, mostly relationships suffer and inevitably come to an end. It is a lingering sadness. It has been difficult for me to give up this lifestyle for anybody. I love what I do and I love doing it. I was born to do outreach work and it is a good fit for me. The joy of knowing one has made a difference is addictive and not easy to explain to others. This is my pathway in life and I embrace it, alone or perhaps one day, with someone with a similar understanding of it. DSCN9985
Between Williams and Narrogin, Wheatbelt region, Western Australia
I’ve been to Narrogin twice this year but bypassed my favourite reserve Foxes Lair either due to heat or high winds. With tall gum trees and one way road, I didn’t want to be trapped there, so I spent my time looking at the paddocks that will filled with sheep and wide horizons. DSCN9923
Geographe Bay, Busselton, Western Australia
I started my year in the South West. This is one of my favourite places for an early walk or sunset spot. I’m visiting again next month and looking forward to my time there. DSCN7306
River gums, Carnarvon, Western Australia
This year I discovered an enchanted forest of river gums along the Gascoyne River in Carnarvon and standing alongside it, felt like an embrace. DSCN7268
Gascoyne River at Rocky Pool, Western Australia
Then there was my trip to a cattle station outside Carnarvon. Such a fabulous trip on previously untravelled roads. These colours of the Midwest outback quicken my pulse. If one painted it, the art would look garish, but Nature does it so well. DSCN7196
Sand dunes, Pelican Point, Carnarvon, Western Australia
I always love photographing the sand dunes at Pelican Point where the wind writes lines like every author aspires to. DSCN7200
A wake up call! Sand dunes, Carnarvon, Western Australia
I usually stay in the car at Pelican Point. It is usually very windy and the sand is blinding. This time I walked around and thought I saw driftwood. I was wrong! DSCN7045
Australian avocet, Woody Lake, Esperance, Western Australia
In Esperance I saw my first Australian avocet, it was the only avocet among dozens of other birds and different species. I was fascinated by the curved, delicate beak that it swept from side to side in shallow water to feed. DSCN7059
The end!

My diary for March is full. No doubt, there will be a lot of opportunities for more time outdoors as well. That’s how I’ve come to accept the gruelling schedule, work equates photography. And, I’m happy with that!

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to The Changing Seasons

Six Word Saturday: Siesta with seagulls, sand and sea

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St Georges Beach, Bluff Point, Geraldton, Western Australia

This is my favourite lunch time spot in Geraldton and such a striking contrast to the red dust of the Midwest outback I experienced earlier in the trip.

It made me realise, there’s so much to see and appreciate, if we see familiar views with new eyes.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Six Word Saturday

What do you see?

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The Granites, Mt Magnet, Western Australia

Just nine kms out of Mt Magnet in the Midwest outback is The Granites; a place of cultural significance to the Badimia people where Aboriginal rock art is 9,000 years old (www.australiasgoldenoutback.com). The cited tourism website has more information about this place.

I absolutely loved visiting here. While my travelling companion slept, I went by myself early morning before sunrise to experience this vast landscape. It was silent and inviting. The previous dusk we could not decide whether we were seeing a turtle or a frog! We agreed in the end, turtle!

The rock formation is massive but, interestingly, gentle in pose.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – Pareidolia

Through the lens …

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1910 Hibiscus, Carnarvon, Western Australia

I’m in beautiful, balmy Carnarvon at the moment, north of the State. I found this hibiscus blooming outside my front door this afternoon. Gorgeous! The colours reminded me of the vivid horizon one sees in the Pilbara mining region. It made my heart skip a beat with nostalgia.

Today was one of those days where everything I touched turned to dust. The day rounded off with a know-it-all who annoyed me no end. The emails I sent bounced and those I didn’t want to hear from, arrived in my mailbox. The quote for maintenance to the roof is as high as my home. I really didn’t need to hear that today. I nearly forgot I had to log in for a webinar training and stumbled my way through the technology. All day I longed to go back to my hotel room, pull the covers over my head and stay there until tomorrow. I got to the hotel in one piece. I parked the mother of a 4WD hire car, got it straightened after a couple of attempts, collected my belongings and sighed, I was ‘home’ for the day, when I saw this beauty. Everything else just fell away. I went up to it with my phone and in a stiff breeze managed to get a somewhat fuzzy picture.

This is what photography has brought into my life. Where ever I am, my front door is where I point my camera. It is the gateway to feeling good again. It is my soft place to land after a challenging day.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – Looking out of my front door

Now you see it … now you don’t …

I tried to leave home earlier than my scheduled departure to the Wheatbelt. The roadworks are a nuisance, as are the monster harvesters that slow traffic. I dislike driving in this region at dusk, so I drove with a sense of urgency. As I headed East, just past Muchea I noticed a big swathe of pine trees have been levelled and the new highway that will join Brand Highway is taking shape. It saddened me. The trees are disappearing before my eyes. I can do nothing about it except avert my gaze. DSCN7182
Candy Bush Reserve, Moora, Western Australia
When not at home I seek the company of trees if inland, as much of the Wheatbelt is. The trees here have a delicate elegance to them. Tall, slender limbs and the brown bark is smooth and glows in the sun. This is the main road I take from out of Moora, a good 20+ kms before I get to the main highway. I often park in the shade and eat a hurried lunch before heading back to the clinic. This is farmland country. The paddocks were summer beige and speckled with hundreds of sheep. There were clouds of white cockatoos everywhere. There is something very calming about this journey. DSCN7180
It won’t be long before these trees will be earmarked for destruction, to widen the road, no doubt. In these regions, due to the roadworks everywhere, I seem to have road workers for company, rather than miners. These folks work hard in heat. At dusk, they are on their front porch of the chalets, downing a few cold ones and talking about their day. Much like me, these folks are away from home and family. They create their own community. I’ve learnt to do the same. thumb_IMG_1004_1024
Sunrise, Moora, Western Australia
Like me, they wake early, coffee in hand, some with cigarette in the other and watch the sunrise. It’s an easy feeling, waking among strangers and feeling completely at ease. Or perhaps, it is a feeling that comes from being among trees.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Monday – Evanescent

Homage to the sea

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West Beach, Esperance, Western Australia.

I find the sea inexplicably seductive. I love the feel of the frothy curl of waves around my ankles. The treasures I find when the tide leaves. The gentle rhythm of ocean time. If there is such a thing, I was born with the beachcomber gene. I always find something of interest. Although I seek these moments of solitude on my own, I never feel alone when I’m walking along the shore.

I’ve come to understand, companionship, is the gift of the sea.

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Young seagull, Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Pic and a Word Challenge – Shoreline #220

The first glimpse of …

It was the first trip of the year and little time for anything except work. My plans of walking around town with camera, taking pictures of the magnificent heritage architecture in the Goldfields region, were scrapped. The small mining town felt like it was bursting at the seams with people. An atmosphere reminiscent of the wild, wild, West. I just didn’t feel comfortable walking around on my own. I drove to the sister town of Boulder and it was the same, so I returned to the hotel without taking a single picture.

The next day at lunchtime, as is my habit, I went to the park for a quick lunch and hoped for a longer time with camera photographing the gum flowers and birds. It was nearly 40 degrees C and no shade. I had to return to the office, dejected, without a single photograph of my trip!

As I approached the entrance to the building, it caught my eye. I had seen it the previous day in the garden. It looked like it was some kind of plastic toy wedged against another plant. The next day when I returned from lunch, it was still there. I decided to walk closer to inspect it. thumb_IMG_0983_1024
Echeveria ‘Domingo’

It took my breath away! In the harshest sun in harsher country, this bloomed with such delicacy. I have a desk plaque on a table in my foyer, a reminder to self, each time I enter my home or leave it – “Bloom where God plants you”. When away from home, I needed this to touch base.

I showed the picture to the office staff. They loved it. “Where did you find this?” they asked, thinking it was from one of my travels. “Outside, in the garden, by the front door”. They looked confused and surprised. One staff member’s window opened to this and she never noticed it before! I had no idea succulents are so beautiful. I learnt something new that day. It will definitely have a presence in my new garden.

On my return home, the flight was full. I was seated at the back. Never a good seat on a Friday night when miners are going home and have had too much down time at the bar. I averted my body, away from the odour of stale beer, and towards a succulent sky. thumb_IMG_0986_1024 My trip, fraught as it was with work, taught me to look beyond the desk and when plans don’t work out, respond to curiosity and look beyond.

I brought the vision home, to share with you.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge

In response to A Photo a Week Challenge – Work

I could turn vegan for this …

Eggplant! One of my favourite vegetables! Believe it or not, there was a time I looked forward to my trips to Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields region because dinner on the first night was an eggplant stack. True! Three pieces of eggplant stacked, fresh tomato sauce topped with cashew nut cream and a sprinkle of pine nuts. I didn’t regard it as such then, but a truly delicious vegan meal. But it took only a couple of trips to undo my enjoyment. The first time, my order was obviously sitting around waiting to be delivered to my room. It came cold. I sent it back. The young waiter who picked it up was insolent when I complained, did not apologise but said, “everyone has off days”. Maybe. But when I arrived tired and hungry, and paid $34 for the meal, I expected someone to be on pointe. The second time, after a change in management, my ‘stack’ arrived horizontal in a fancy spread on a smear of processed sauce and cashew nut cream nowhere to be seen. It didn’t look or taste the same. Sigh!

Things happen for a reason. This I know to be true.

Instead of staying in the hotel with room service I started to go into town for my meals and ventured further. Kalgoorlie, a gold mining town, has gorgeous buildings. The streets are wide from the days of wagons. At dusk the light catches the old buildings. I’m looking forward to experiencing that again as my plan in 2020 is to focus on architecture in the regions I visit. But there was a time when I woke really early and before I got to work, went out with camera. DSCN8839
Mt Charlotte, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia
The sunrise over the gold mine viewed from Mt Charlotte is stunning. I would often be in the car park of the lookout by myself. I’ve not done this in a while and need to experience this again. DSCN8818
Freight train from the gold mine, Kalgoorlie
I grew up in a town of trains. The sound of clickety-clack is synonymous with childhood. It is a sound I often hear in the Wheatbelt or mining towns. It is soothing and reassuring as a heartbeat.

Perhaps this is why I was an indulgent mother to a young son and bought him over 100 Thomas the Tank trains! When he was very little I remember taking him to toy train exhibitions and was enthralled by the exquisite train sets grown men obviously enjoyed putting together. I’ve moved on from there. I now enjoy watching grown men. 🙂 DSCN8827
Mt Charlotte
This is obviously lush for the Goldfields regions. It is a memory from one winter. In winter the temperature drops suddenly around 4 pm and being open country, the extremes are harsh. I’m headed to the Goldfields today. The temperature is expected to be in the high 30sC. It will be uncomfortable. But I have other things to look forward to … perhaps eggplant will be one of them! What I do know is that I am drawn to the parks with my camera … DSCN8853
Book-leaf mallee (eucalyptus kruseana)
I love photographing the untidy shrub that is the book-leaf mallee. The honey eaters love this shrub. Their birdsong is sharp and sweet and only overshadowed by the perfection I see when the shrub is looked at closely. DSCN8806
The leaves are perfectly placed and symmetrical. DSCN8562
And from such an untidy shrub, the most delicate and beautiful gum blossoms. What’s not to love about this!

So I’m back to where I started this post … I’ve been mostly vegan since November. I thought I would miss eating cheese, red meat and bacon. Oddly enough my body has adjusted really quickly. I no longer crave it. When I do eat those foods, my body screams in protest.

In this frenetic lifestyle that is of my own making, I love order and predictability. I try and seek it in different ways. So as this is my first trip for the year to the region, it’s quite possible I’ll go full circle and order eggplant again!

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Tuesday – Eggplant

The things I see …

There was a time in my life when I loved visiting art galleries and museums and would seek them out where ever I travelled. I am not knowledgeable about art. I just know what I love. So it is not surprising when I see a piece of art, my eye is immediately drawn to the aesthetics of it.

The wall sculpture below is huge on a bigger wall. It is striking and I was drawn to it immediately. I looked at it from close up. I stepped away from it. The beauty was the same. I would have loved to have touched it, run my fingers on shapes and colours and connect with the artist. But when I read the plaque, I realised I do connect with that master artist, Nature, in a different way. thumb_IMG_4834_1024
Art in foyer, Crowne Plaza Casino, Perth, Western Australia
“Reverie of Land, Line and Form by Jenny Nayton is the study of the ancient geology of Western Australia. The artform draws on the distinctive character and connection to place created by the unique colours and shapes of the Western Australian landscape. The sculptural forms are reminiscent of the fluid curves of eroded rocks, such as the local monument Wave Rock in Hyden.” thumb_DSCN5006_1024
Sooty Oystercatcher, Turquoise Bay, Exmouth, Western Australia
I still love art but it no longer just hangs on a wall or from a ceiling.
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Sunrise, Exmouth Gulf, Exmouth, Western Australia
I’ve found the sky, a canvas. thumb_IMG_4921_1024
Bee in flower
I love when still life stills me. thumb_IMG_0713_1024
Succulent, Esperance, Western Australia
And I love looking at the ordinary and find it extraordinary.

The aesthetics of nature may not be visible to all. A blindness to be cured for sure. If it was, would we live differently?

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – Aesthetics

Ahhh! Red!

My favourite colour! Red to me is a colour of celebration, of joy, of anticipation. It always picks me up. thumb_IMG_0837_1024-2
Tomatoes ready for roasting
I’ve been home for several weeks and enjoying cooking for family and friends. I love roasting tomatoes before adding them to soups or sauces. It intensifies the flavour, especially if the stem is left on while roasting.
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Child’s play
Children have taught me, they can make sense of the visual, more than we realise. They watch and learn. They categorise. They learn right from wrong, what goes with what, and where. They are surrounded by teachers, but none more important and influential than the ones at home. thumb_IMG_0930_1024-2
Hotel art, Geraldton, Western Australia
The HMAS Sydney II was lost off the coast of Geraldton during WWII taking with it the crew of 645, mostly young sailors. An unimaginable tragedy. The memorial is one of the most poignant ones I’ve come across in my travels. Although it is a place of loss, it is also a place of hope, of anticipation, of return. I’ve written about the Memorial in another post.
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Somewhere over Shark Bay, Western Australia
My commute to work.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #81 – Find something red

Look into my eyes …

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Green ant, East Kimberley region, Western Australia

It was early morning in the warm and humid Kimberley region, far north of the State, between Kununurra and Wyndham, when I woke in tree tops, to a wonderland. There was a Pretty Face wallaby below at the billabong and I watched anxiously, hoping the resident saltwater crocodile was not around. The birds were waking and the air filled with birdsong. They were all species new to me, some tiny finches and other large water birds, up in the trees. I didn’t know where to point my camera. I didn’t want to miss a moment of the experience. But, nothing could have prepared me for the next few minutes.

The Kimberley region is stunning country. The landscapes are expansive and humbling. The coast, rugged and just gorgeous. The weather can be harsh. Extreme heat and tropical storms. Accessibility to some places can be restricted at certain times of the year as there are some unsealed roads to usual tourist spots. It is country that demands respect for all that nature delivers. This is also snake, spider and crocodile country, so I’m instinctively cautious when I travel in this region. Spiders don’t scare me, but we do have some in Australia that are best left alone. A quick check around one’s environment, is good practice. As I stood above the billabong in the shade of the tree canopy, and went to lean on the metal railing, they caught my eye. A steady stream of ants. Jewel like, they their bodies glistened like emeralds. I had never seen green ants before. I was fascinated.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of an ant? I was mesmerised. The intelligence, the awareness of my presence, the guard, all in one tiny creature. In that moment of connection, I was tiny, and the ant, a giant presence. An unforgettable moment, a moment larger than life!

May you seek and experience those moments, too.

As always

Until next time

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Friday – Macro

On ending the day, with joy …

Oh! my favourite word! Joy!

I’ve just returned after a few days’ work in the South West. One of the towns I love visiting is coastal Busselton. Being school holidays the South West is awash with families, and those getting away from the city or visitors from overseas. I visited Busselton, Dunsborough, Margaret River and Witchcliffe in as many days.

In some ways the tourist season worked in my favour. I kept away from the crowds, returned to my hotel room after work, and completed reports. I came home with almost no residual work! This is something I have been striving for the last few years.

But I know Busselton Jetty on Geographe Bay is beautiful at sunrise and sunset, so I checked the times for sunset and headed there. Being tourist season I could not get my usual hotel I could not go at sunrise as I had to drive to the Bay and time constraints. The sunset is always stunning here.
Geographe Bay, Busselton, Western Australia
Geographe Bay, Busselton, Western Australia

The sunset is vivid on the horizon, and it is just as gorgeous in muted shades of pink, blue, grey and lavender on the opposite side of the Bay.

Somehow the laughter of children, steady buzz of voices, clink of glasses all quietened when I allowed myself to experience this.

Seek these moments every day, it will enrich your mind and body from within.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to On the Hunt for Joy Challenge – Week 1 – Get Outside

When white is warm …

Climatically white is often associated with snow. In the Southern Hemisphere, white is synonymous with the beach and clouds. I’ve added flora and fauna as well. This is a long scroll!
Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Western Australia
Sea wave at the shore, Jurien Bay, Western Australia
White kite, Binningup, Western Australia

Christmas angel, Christmas 2020
Framed in sand, Western Australia
Iceberg rose, my front garden, Western Australia
Snow drops at my front door, Western Australia
Fire whirlwind and summer clouds, East Kimberley outback, Western Australia
Cabbage white butterfly … destructive and beautiful. Pilbara region, Western Australia

Ah! such memories of places and experiences.

Until next time

a dawn bird

In response to Word Photo Challenge: White

This evanescent life …

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Theresa

I love this quote. Time is never fleeting, never wasted if we have the courage to begin, to explore, to re-calibrate from where we are.

This year I spent more time in the Midwest outback than I have in any other year and hopefully this will continue.
I’ve worked along the coast from north to the south and enjoyed the intense company of seagulls.
In the Wheatbelt town of Merredin I found a silent space within me while listening to the raucous squawking of red tail black cockatoos, high in the gum trees.
In the Midwest outback town of Mt Magnet I found these beautiful succulent flowers. The ant and granite sand gives some perspective how tiny these flowers are.
I loved this deserted Masonic Lodge (circa 1899) in the outback town of Cue.
The pink flower carpet that surrounded the ghost town of Big Bell, just outside Cue, was stunning.
We enjoyed dinner here in an outback pub where dusty cowboys propped up the bar.
And even in the outback one could not get away from American politics! This was Herbert Hoover’s bedroom when he worked as a mining engineer in Western Australia in the late 1800s. This is now a lounge room at the motel where we stayed.
There were long drives on lonely highways in the company of road trains.
And waking to outback sunrises.
This was a big wall of tattoo photographs at the Billabong Roadhouse, in the Midwest outback. I thought it was pretty cool!
I spent a lot of time at airports with miners and where I met Muse.
I found I’m patient when faced with barriers. This forced me to drive between 5-10 kms an hour (speed limit was 110km/hour) for over 40 kms in the eastern Wheatbelt.
I visited The Leaning Tree, Greenough, outside Geraldton. Just because I love it so.

“I am Wirnda Ngadara
The leaning tree
I have grown this way
from too much breeze
My twisted trunk
bowed down to search
and pay respect
to Mother Earth
Stand here awhile
and look at me
I am Wirnda Ngadara
The leaning tree.
Nola Gregory, 2014

I have been brave and adventurous this year. The next year brings with it promise of new experiences with old loves. thumb_IMG_0696_1024
To embrace the new year I found my mantra on the Iron Balls gin bottle.

“You always have options, if you have balls”.

And, that my friends, I do!

May time stand still for you, for just a moment, so you can re-calibrate your compass for the new year and find the direction you seek.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Sunday – Fugacious

In Wheatbelt country …

Courtesy ABC News (Australia)

On my way to Moora I drove through this region a day before the fire. The landscape was beige and beautiful. I turned the music off and smiled to myself for most of the trip. I felt like I was driving through live art, the softest water colours of Hans Heysen, one of my favourite Australian artists, depicted in land and trees. When there is a breeze among gum trees, if you close your eyes and listen, you hear the ocean. But during this trip, the gum trees were still. I knew they were silent, too. It was the calm before the storm. I didn’t know this at the time.

This fire is further away from home. There is a bigger one closer north to my place that has been raging for days which seems to flare up intermittently and causing concern.

The city skies were sepia on Sunday as I drove out to Narrogin, south east of home. Once out of the city, it is a heavily wooded drive for most of the journey. In the distance I could see a blanket of smoke from yet another big fire from the tall timber country of Collie in the south west. I stopped roadside briefly to take a picture. It was silent and eerie in this vast landscape. During the night I woke several times to sirens and speeding vehicles, no doubt headed towards Collie. I decided to come home a day earlier as I didn’t risk getting caught in a long detour and miss the flight I’m taking today.

The lack of rain and extreme heat, a deadly mix, generates a tinderbox for sure. I cling to hope when the areas that are burnt to cinders will regenerate in spring as many Australian flora need extreme heat. It is harder for people to pick up the pieces though, when they lose livestock and homes. And, I cannot bear to think of all those animals caught up in this!

I drove through Foxes Lair soon after I arrived in Narrogin. It was dusk and not a creature stirred. It was the same in the morning when I usually hear the kookaburras and galahs creating a ruckus in the treetops. Coffee in hand, I looked outside my hotel door and saw just a slight quiver among flowers. It was all I needed to make me smile again,

New Holland Honeyeater among grevillea flowers, Narrogin, Western Australia

The other day I flew home from yet another trip. It was 40 degrees celsius on the day. The announcement of clear skies with strong winds and extreme heat made my heart sink. From experience, in that particular region, it can mean a rough flight. I fly dozens of times a year, but it was one of the worst flights I have ever experienced. The poor cabin crew got caught half way in the aisle when we hit turbulence. She crawled on hands and knees back to her seat. Each time I reached to steady myself by holding the seat in front of me, my hand flew so high off course, it touched the ceiling. For a nervous flyer, I’m learning, I am made of steel.

I’m off today for my last trip of the year. And, what a year it has been! A mix of joy and sadness. There will be time to write about this in the coming days when I’m home again for several days.

Until then

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Monday – Mix

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