The plant has an essential and infinite relationship with light.. ..which is external to the plant, has supreme power over it, and.. ..if the plant were conscious it would venerate light as its god. – Philosophy of Nature, Hegel

…one begins to love flowers. The religion of flowers follows the religion of the sun. – Glas, Derrida

It is hard not to love flowers: their sublime colours, delight in the sun, and heralding of seasons. Hegel observed that plants which sprout in the darkest place can still find their way towards a chink of light as if they knew the way. In fields he saw “sunflowers and a host of other flowers face the sun and turn as it moves across the sky.”

Many flowers like the infinitesimally small Paroo lily, close and go to bed, when shadows fall with daylight departing.

Paroo lily

But what is the…

Barren Grounds Nature Reserve has become my regular haunt this year. If the weather improves a little next weekend, I might head further south looking for flowers.

This series was taken with my Chamonix 045F1 View Camera and Rodenstock Ysaron 75mm lens. As these macro photos are taken in the wild, I aim for a still day when the plants aren’t moving too much, maximise shutter speed at the expense of depth of field when necessary, and use faster film. Focusing can be difficult, because although the plants may be relatively still, there is always some movement and occasional gusts.

The first three photos were taken on TMax 400 and stand developed in Pyrocat HD. Even though two of the photos are epic fails, under exposed and light leaks, I still like them. The last four photos were taken using Fomapan 200 and developed in a mix of Xtol and…

Another week into spring, and more wildflowers have started to bloom at Barren Grounds.

Some of my favourites are now starting to appear – the paper daisies, pink swamp heath, and the first of the drumsticks. Elsewhere the bronzy boronia is creating a pink hue across the landscape.

Paper daisy – helichrysum elatum

Pink swamp heath – sprengelia incarnata

Bronzy boronia – boronia thujona

Drumstick – isopogon anemonifolius

All photos taken in the wild using Chamonix 045F1 View Camera, Rodenstock Ysaron 75mm lens, Kodak TMax 400 film, and developed in PyrocatHD.

Spring is announced by the appearance of tiny flowers in the bush.

On the nearby Budderoo Plateau, at Barrens Grounds Nature Reserve, as each week passes more new blooms herald warmer days.

Often the first too emerge are the parrot peas, boronia, heath and everlastings. Some occur fleetingly, whilst others might remain present for weeks.

Parrot pea

Dancers

Stamina

Petals and buds

Everlasting

Inflorescence

All photographs taken using Chamonix 045F1 View Camera with Rodenstock Ysaron 75mm lens, on Kodak TMax 400 film, and developed in PyrocatHD.

After days of torrential rain in the last week of winter, spring is now upon us.

In our garden the apricot, plum and apple are blossoming, and on the nearby escarpment at Barren Grounds, the first of the wildflowers are blooming.

Just in time for spring, and macro flower photography, a package arrived containing a Rodenstock Ysaron 75mm lens in a Polaroid Prontor shutter. After fitting it to a spare lensboard, I first made a few photos in the yard with some peace roses and apricot blossom, before venturing into the bush.

Maybe it is the time of year, but on developing the film and seeing the negatives, I was overjoyed with the results. In the wild, flowers only stay still momentarily.

Joy

Love

Apricot blossom

Dillwynias

In the wild

All photographs were taken with my Chamonix 045F1 View Camera, and Rodenstock Ysaron 75mm lens, on Fomapan 100 film, which…

Driving along the road to Black Head through Gerroa, we happened to see a sign between two houses saying Pathway.

Behind Gerroa, and down this track were rolling hills meeting the sea, and black cliffs, beyond a rocky cove. We ventured along the beach, until we reached the shelf beneath the cliff. Every so often a large wave would crash onto the platform, creating streams of water flowing along the ledges.

Around an isolated corner, beneath the cliff, a seal was sunning itself.

Rocky cove

Run off

Ledge

Shelf

Tidal zone

Photos were taken with Chamonix 045F1 View Camera, using Rodenstock Apo-Sironar-S 150mm on the first, and Skink 0.4mm f.214 pinhole in Copal #0 shutter on the rest, Fomapan 100 film, and developed in Xtol(1.2)+paRodinal(1.160)

By chance I learnt that Point Perpendicular Lighthouse would be open for visitors on August 15 to celebrate International Light & Lightships Weekend.

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1993 and replaced by an automated, solar powered light, on a steel lattice tower. The new light has none of the beauty or romance of the original lighthouse, which sits high atop the massive sandstone cliffs of Point Perpendicular, on the northern headland at the entrance to Jervis Bay. Every year on International Light & Lightships Weekend the original lighthouse is re-lit and becomes operational again.

Adjacent to the lighthouse is a row of houses where the keepers once lived. The nearby coastline is treacherous and was known as the wreck coast. It must have been a lonely and perilous life for those living atop these cliffs manning the light through long nights, ensuring it always shone for ships out to…

For some time now I have had my eye on the Skink Pinhole Kit for Copal #0 shutter, so finally purchased one and it arrived last Friday.

I installed the 0.4mm f.214 pinhole in a #0 shutter. This had previously housed an older 90mm Schneider Linhof Angulon from which I had carefully removed and packed away the lens elements. The shutter was then mounted on a lens board for use with my Chamonix 045F1 View Camera. Having a pinhole mounted in this way means that I can also use my large format camera for lensless photography, along with multiple film options including sheet, roll, and instant.

With sheet film loaded ready to shoot, I went to Hill 60 near Port Kembla where I made a number of images with shutter speeds of around 9 seconds. Fomapan 100 needs fairly long exposure times to avoid reciprocity failure.

The imaginatively named Hill…

This morning our much loved Arabian horse, Zim, left for The Great Herd in the Sky. His timing was impeccable. It was a Blue Moon in the sign of Aquarius, and from the time it rose last night to its setting at dawn today on Horses’ Birthday, it was exactly 13 hours.

Strong winds blew up after he was buried deep in his paddock to carry him on the way. His paddock mates stood on the mound, and then galloped around a last time for him. They know he is gone.

Zim came to us around 10 years ago from drought stricken Molong, on the other side of the Great Dividing Range, to the green grass of the Illawarra. I had been returning from a conference in Perth, and was talking to my friend Kerry on the flight about horses. On mentioning that we were searching for a horse for…

Sitting in a 6×9 film holder for several months has been a roll of Kodak TMax 400 that I started, but never completed in my Chamonix.

On Sunday I determined to finish the film for testing with my home brew paRodinal at a dilution of 1:25. If the resulting negatives were satisfactory, I planned to use the paRodinal mixed with Xtol to develop some 4×5 sheets.

Forgetting that it was 400ASA film, I metered at 100ASA for the six exposures I took in the garden, and subsequently adjusted for this in development.

Firstly, I took 3 photos of a ripe seville orange with a Kodak Ektar 203mm f/7.7 lens, at 1/50th sec & f/7.7, 1/25th sec & f/11 and 1/10th sec & f16. The last shot (not included here) proved the shutter needs servicing, and the second shot is slightly blurred on the edges under magnification by a sudden breeze…