Capturing Coonar

I was really excited to be on the road to Coonar with Brad and Jess and Darling the dog. The road to Coonar cuts through a kaleidoscope of landscapes from newly planted lines of rich brown earth, to abundant ordered  fields of small crops...tomatoes and capsicums...and lavish crops of  sugar cane that seem to encompass everything.   This years cane crop looks perfect...dense, lush and velvet green on top, shimmering gently in the comforting breeze.

On we went through an  avenue of tall majestic pines that guided us  down into a dark wetland which we crossed via a narrow bridge. The wetlands were filled to overflowing from recent rain. Gushing from beneath the bridge ...a small waterfall  reinvigorated the dark and silent, mysterious wetland, feeding it with new life, like a mother feeds a child.

Crunching gravel roads led us onwards towards signs of habitation.   We had arrived at Coonar Beach.

The beach is dotted with a small number of houses old and new, but there was no sign of life. The houses were locked up and unresponsive. Blank facades  hid secrets of the lives that must go on behind those walls...lives that were irrelevant to us today as we had come to the beach.

From the back of Brad's car we extracted, a dress shop mannequin torso, two mannequin legs, three parts of arms, a bag full of wedding veils and our photographic equipment. We were off on another adventure with a mission to 'capture Coonar' in a new way.

Darling loped  about joyfully, sniffing up all that is Coonar... and loving it.

Relentlessly waves rolled in across a large vista of empty beachscape, licking the littoral. Savouring its briney taste.

The big sky above bares down on the landscape compressing it into the thin dark line of the distance.

We head off towards those distant places, where the dead trees have fallen.

We pass a group of beautiful young people camped around a small fire.
"What are you doing?"  they called out having noticed the unusual props we carried.
"We are off to capture Coonar" we replied.
"Good luck!"

Finally at our destination Brad and I set out to take our photos.  Jess helped me with setting up for pictures with the  wedding veil and later set up the tree stump from which the arm emerges.

Brad, ever helpful, persists in his belief that if he remains patient with me, I will eventually master some understanding of photography basics.  He helps me with some suggestions.

And then, in his 'zone' he disappears into the landscape....where I know he will be capturing magic.

The  photographs we took speak for themselves.  The mannequin, Adele takes on a new role as Venus emerging.  She has lost the veil that hid her truth.

As we prepare to leave, the huge grey sky is graced with an enormous rainbow...then soon after, a double rainbow. 

It has been a truly wonderful afternoon.






Photo above:Turner


    Photo above: Marsellos

   Photo above: Turner

 Photo above: Marsellos

Photo above: Turner

Photo above: Marsellos