Australia Archives - Street2Stream

Taking Time Out

ImagePosted on February 25, 2020by Keith2 Comments

After spending the last four years as a Trainer/Assessor, my voice has finally gone from a sexy growl to a downright rasp. Time then to take stock at what is important in the work/life balance and so have decided to tip the scales more in favour of the life scale. To that end, I have taken a few months off to rejuvenate and headed south to a little village on the NSW South Coast. I am house sitting for a relative who is away for a bit so it has worked out nicely.

Now I would tell you the name of the village but no one here is keen to see the crowds that exposure would bring. Suffice to say, it is a sleepy little village that somehow managed to survive the fires that ravaged this part of the coast earlier this summer. Surrounded by burned out National Parks, this village is nestled in a small oasis of bush where the native fauna and flora can recuperate peacefully as they rebuild their numbers. The fire ground is starting to show signs of life although there are many places where there seems to be little green showing through.

Waking early when there is little that needs urgent attention seems so much easier and, to make the most of the day, the lake calls for a spot of fishing. The choice here is to fish the shore, paddle the kayak about or perhaps take a surf caster to the ocean to try for a tailor or two.

The easy option is always fishing the lake shore where this morning it yielded two nice flathead; not big, but big enough for the pan.

Now it doesn’t come much fresher than hooked at 0730, on the barbecue at 0830, and eaten before 0900.

And so it would seem that the work balance is fading fast as an appealing option for this traveller. Maybe it is time to get serious about seeing what there is in this world. Please leave me a “Like” as that is what it takes to get a blog like this off the ground. Would love to hear comments you may have about your travel experiences.

Blood Moon Eclipse

ImagePosted on July 29, 2018by KeithLeave a comment

Woke early on Saturday morning to see the eclipse just beginning through the window. I put a triple shot coffee in the thermos and headed out the door. My plan was to try and get the moon from across the river on a dark stretch of road where the lights of town didn’t fade out the stars.

By the time I had set up my tripods the eclipse was almost half done although it was still an amazing site, with Mars shining brightly nearby

As the eclipse progressed the colour became a deeper red as it slipped into the shadow of the Earth

The morning sun began to lighten the sky in the east and the moon began to fade as the trees along the river slowly came into view from the darkness where they had been hiding.

In the dawn light the river seemed at peace. There was barely a ripple on the water and the blue sky promised a glorious winter’s day to come

I packed up and set off for home and a hearty breakfast when, as I came around a corner, I came across a landscape of fog carpeting the fields all the way to Mt Coolum which appeared to struggle to hold its head above the misty air. Behind it the first rays of the sun burned the air with a golden glow.

Did anyone get up to see this once in a blood moon spectacle?.. Did you get some good photos? Please share them for all to see if you did.

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100 Strangers… Facing the challenge of talking to strangers and doing it anyway

ImagePosted on July 1, 2018by Keith2 Comments

Meeting Strangers can be a way of opening up one’s world. For those of us who are less outgoing, it can be challenging, but when faced with the need to photograph a stranger, it can be terrifying, even for people who find it easy to mix and mingle.

The challenge to seek permission from a stranger to take a photograph can be daunting and the easy road is to stand back and take the long shot with a telephoto while hiding in the shadows. There are so many opinions of what is the right thing to do when it comes to pointing a camera at a total stranger that the novice has difficulty in finding the correct path. Sometimes it is necessary to take the quick candid shot, especially when the moment cannot be recreated, while on other ocassions, it may be better to strike a conversation and seek permission to make a photograph and so be able to take a series and have a deeper story to tell. Remember, everyone has a back story and most of them are fascinating.

There is no right answer to this delema, but I suggest that even when taking the candid shot, permission to use it should be sought after the fact. This has two benefits.. It provides an opportunity to get a model release signed so that if you make a masterpiece you will be able to sell it on and you have the opportunity to make a new friend.

All this being so I still have not mastered the courage to comfortably point a camera at someone I don’t know and so as a way to develop my skills at street photography, I have taken up the challenge to make photos and stories of a new 100 strangers on this page…