Thoughtfactory: Rhizomes

bark, trees, roads, bushland

Posts for Tag: b+w

leaves + light

The picture below  is another one of my  attempts  at converting a colour digital file to b+w. A previous attempt on an earlier post  is here. These  pictures of the details of  the landscape were made whilst I was on a poodlewalk in the local Waitpinga bushland in the southern Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia.  

These b+w conversions haven't been successful using an old digital camera and I've never been able to even approach  the rich tonality  that Sebastian Salgado achieved with his  impressive b+w Kuwait photos.   One response has been  to return to using b+w film. 

In both cases my  intimate bushland pictures  were made with a very  old  Sony NEX-7 digital camera (2011),  a  modern Voigtlander closeup adaptor, and a vintage Leica M 35mm Summicron f.2.0 lens (1960s). This  combination is trying to keep my old  photographic equipment going rather than discarding it.

Baum Rd, Waitpinga #4

This is another picture  of roadside  trees made recently whilst  an early morning poodlewalks  with Kayla along Baum Rd, in Waitpinga. Whilst walking that morning I spotted rabbits darting across the road,  a fox moving quickly across the field, and a couple of  kangaroos in the distance.   

 We woke to the smell of  the fires that morning, the 11th January 2020.    The  blueish smoke haze from the bush fires  hung   along the southern coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. It was the morning of the day  that saw some light  rain that was part of a south westerly change.   

Baum Rd, Waitpinga #3

This picture was made in late November 2019 whilst I was on  an early morning poodlewalk with Kayla: 

I made a number of photos along Baum Rd in Waitpinga around this time, prior going into hospital with an infected leg. The wild, windy  spring  weather had eased, the mornings were mild,  and the early morning light was soft. I was attracted by the darkness as opposed to  the brightness of the early morning  light  when I am walking along along the foreshore of Encounter Bay.  

on Baum Rd #2

This picture was made in mid-October whilst I was  on an early morning poodlewalk.  

I was  with Kayla and we had been walking along Baum Rd in Waitpinga since sunrise.  Kayla was on high alert for hares and kangaroos. A fox in the distance  quickly disappeared. We were returning along Baum Rd to the Forester when the photo was made.

In the  few weeks since this photo  the green  undergrowth has turned  yellow/brown.  It is the same with  the fields in the background.  The landscape has  been transformed. It is now a yellow/brown landscape. This is the summer look,  and it lasts until the rains in late autumn. 

on Halls Creek Rd

This picture of the trunk of a pink gum (Eucalyptus fasciculosa) was made whilst I was on an early morning poodlewalk with Kayla in early October this year. The picture was made  prior to the sun breaking through the cloud cover: 

The pink gums are situated at the low point of Halls Creek Rd. This  creek only runs when there has been  a very wet winter. This did not happen in 2019. 

Pitkin Rd, Waitpinga

This  picture of  the corner of Francis and Pitkin Streets was made whilst I was on  an exploratory poodlewalk in Waitpinga. Pitkin Rd runs off Waitpinga Rd. This is  the  road you take to go to both Newland Head Conservation Park and the surf beaches---Waitpinga Beach  and Parsons Beach.

I was looking for different places close to the studio  to walk as I was bored walking along  the usual  back country country roads.    Both Pitkin and its side road--Francis Rd--  are no through roads,  as they just  lead to various farms or properties.  

The light has changed dramatically--I discovered that there is very little time between sunlight on the trees and no lighting on the cusp of autumn and winter.   I had taken a film camera and tripod with me, but I  wanted softer light. so  I went walking.  When I returned there  was no  time to set up  the camera and tripod. The soft light just vanished--there one minute, gone the next.