How to photograph with your heart and soul.

How to photograph with your heart and soul.

 

If you could photograph with your soul, what would your photos look like?

Art is what you see in your soul. Art is a dream you have inside your heart.

 

How do you transfer what you feel in your heart and soul into a photograph???

1. I photograph what I consider to be some of the most beautiful elements of our earth. Then I add my own interpretation of how I see this picture in my heart. Therefore photograph what you consider to be beautiful. Photograph the things, the people, objects or landscapes that give you pleasure.

2. A painter can paint the thoughts of his heart. A photographer must photograph a scene that is, as it is. If you know what I mean?
Therefore I will remove a piece of rubbish, or add an extra star, or colour the sea a shade greener….and so on. I love to add the painters element to the things I see with my eye. So let your heart dominate when you are editing.

3. Photograph when you get that awesome feeling of…..YES this is what I have been waiting for. Get up early or stay up late. That feeling is often not there, but that is what we wait for. It can be pure chance that the light is right, the land is right, the weather is right….etc. The first image of the lighthouse was one of those days for me, truly magnificent.

4. Some images are when things were not quite in alignment with no awesome feeling, but I practised my art regardless. The sun does not always shine and the moon is not always full.  There are days when things just dont go right. Persist and persist again.

5. Be passionate about your art. Don’t leave it alone for too long. Your passion will come out in your images. They say… “Out of the adundance of the heart the mouth speaks!” We could change that phrase and say. “Out of the abundance of the heart, art is created.”

My images are of the distant lighthouse. Most times the lighthouse stands alone on these sparse and dangerous outcrops of land. Beacons of hope for sailors in the night. The wild ocean is to be revered and auspiciously navigated. A lighthouse illuminates that which is to be avoided.

A lighthouse gives us direction, a lighthouse can be a metaphorical word for a sailors safety…Psalm 119.105. Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

 

pink sunset and a distant lighthouse
Big waves and distant lighthouse
Yacht and lighthouse
A sunset of soft orange and a yacht
waves and Althorpe lighthouse
Yacht race
Light house in the distance
Seaspray
West Cape
West Cape in the big storm
Yacht and Althorpe Island in background
West Cape light house sunset
Cape Spencer lighthouse
Cape Spencer lighthouse

 

A side note…The Althorpe Island lighthouse in many of my photographs is accompanied by three cottages. Three families lived there for many years manning the lighthouse. Their only access to the island was by boat.  A life devoted to preventing shipwrecks.

 

 

 

A strange and eerie place to visit

A strange and eerie place to visit

I am very excited to share this blog because it is a  moment I will never forget.

Whilst out fishing one day, we discovered at the back of Althorpe Island, a tiny inlet. (called Salmon Inlet.) As we drove the boat in closer the water colour turned from sea blue into a magnificent deep oceanic green. Very beautiful, very majestical, and quite strange. We journeyed in as close as we could and dropped anchor under a cloudless sky and glistening sun. The steep cliffs rising straight up out of the green depths were dark, rocky, and cold. The saturated green colour of the ocean kept changing as the sun moved over the sky. A bird or two appeared and then disappeared. The silence only broken by the occasional cry from these seabirds.

Even though it was winter I could not resist a swim. Freezing!!! I certainly did not stay in for long, perhaps not a swim just a dip! But as short as the swim was I wanted to jump in and experience this magical spot to the fullest. To immerse myself in the beauty of nature. To feel this dark green effervescent water on my skin.

After my swim we had lunch and simply basked in the peaceful, and arresting vista.
It’s a feeling, a longing, an ethereal presence that comes ever so gently when you discover something so unique and special, like this amazing place.

Do you know what I mean?

Beautiful beach at sunset
Sparkling turquoise beach
West Cape at sunset
A sunset of soft orange and a yacht
pink bedroom
my armoire
Lounge room
Walking along the shoreline
Waiting for the surf to come up
Galahs in the evening light
Althorpe Island in the distance

I wonder at the creativity of God. Depths that cannot be touched and heights that cannot be accessed by our human brain.

Canola fields are here again

Canola fields are here again

Canola field

The canola fields of South Australia are quite spectacular.
Yellow being the brightest visible colour in the spectrum make these fields an eye catching sight.
The colour yellow is uplifting and joyous, but is also calming and relaxing. I find these farmers fields will certainly add an unexpected lift to your day. Why not take a trip into the country in the months of August or early September to view these fields.
My images were taken in the Barossa Valley, Strathalbyn, and Curramulka all in South Australia.

Canola and old house
Old tree in canola field
tree in yellow canola field
Yellow and green
Canola field and crow in a tree
The beach house, a dream coming true.

The beach house, a dream coming true.

In the last few years we have found ourselves on an endless quest in search of a place to live, a place that belongs to our heart and gives us peace, happiness and quiet. We believe we may have found this perfect spot, a place beside the ocean, a place with memories a place that is quiet……

The love one has for the ocean is beyond all boundaries and can often be traced back to childhood. Long days spent lying on sunny sands and cool nights awaiting sleep while listening to the sound of the crashing waves on worn grey pebbles.The fisherman is indeed married to the sea and the surfer has inexplicable longings to master the relentless, whitecapped wave. The ocean never leaves or forsakes its lovers, it permeates deep into their soul, where water meets water. And the sky meets the horizon, and the sandy land is impressionable upon its inhabitants.

Our family have been holidaying in Yorke Peninsula for over thirty years. On the very first visit, in Casurina camping ground, we encountered a rustic, rugged, and dramatic environment, which tested our bodies and camping abilities to the extreme.Things have not changed much from that time. The huge waves, the rugged surfer, the strange but friendly emus, the orange kangaroos, the enormous cliffs, the lonely uninhabited islands, the shipwrecked coastline, the sultry fisherman, all of this has made for a holiday destination which captivates the heart of the adventurer, the explorer, the sun soaker, the swimmer, the surfer and any other who enjoys the saturating experiences of nature.
All and everything in its finality that we have learnt, is that whilst we are packing to drive back to our homes, our hearts are full and yet silently empty. We cannot speak, words would destroy the beauty of our holiday experiences, and any sound is a sign that we are departing this strange but very magnificent place.
The one point of hope is that we will return, for now/today we have made a claim to a small portion of sandy land and our dream is to build a tiny holiday home to bring all those old memories back to life again!

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