Melbourne APUG get together - MAY 2012

[Briand]

Great shots Marc,
Im back in Seville tonight, going to Flinders tomorrow,with the 4x5 off course
Cheers Brian

 

[Colin D]

Excellent shots Marc, the weather looks fitting for the rugged landscape. As it turned out I spent Sat night at the hospital helping the duty nurse pacify belligerent patients, take note Baillieu that's not the public's job, got home at 4am and gladly went to bed so getting to the Cape became impossible as I suspected.

 

[Wyno]

You're a bugger Gary, reminding me of the Otways and how much fun it is. Not fair.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

You're a bugger Gary, reminding me of the Otways and how much fun it is. Not fair.

Mumsy loves her little explorer bugger!

<sigh> Mikey, you are missing soooo much! When are you coming down?

Today's damp and grey soirée to Hopetoun Falls and the evergreen Aire almost came unstuck just getting here: the road form Gellibrand to Beech Forest is lethally slippery from flattened leaf litter, and poor visibility. The fog-shrouded Aire Valley Road is a bumpy and holey travesty all the way down to the Aire. Chilly indeed (gokart said it was 7 degreasies outside at 9am: I was almost tempted to stay put and munch jelly beans).

Hopetoun Falls is flowing very nicely indeed, ditto the rushing Aire. I pottered and fossicked downstream with Pentaximus, getting 6 pics on 67 then switching to Brutus for 8 more choice cuts while Country Road-esque digi-toters with tots eyeballed me suspiciously from that ugly viewing platform (they seemed to have spent a lot more time staring at me instead of enjoying the sublime beauty around them). Overall, a most productive and enjoyable, if filthy day out, with light down to EV8 in many places and exposures of 30++ seconds routine under 0.7 polarisation. Rolly Falls at Mount Buffalo is my next whistle stop.

By channels of coolness
the echoes are calling
and down the dim gorges,
I see the creek falling:
it lives in the mountain
where moss and the sedges
touch with their beauty
the banks and the ledges...
​

 

[Molli]

Nice poem excerpt, Gary. The couplet, a tiny bit further into the poem always reminded me of driving into Sherwood Forest in the Dandenong Ranges when I was younger. (I was terribly disappointed to discover at a later age that this was NOT the home of Robin Hood!)

"...
And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,

The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing. "

- excerpt from Bell-Birds
- Henry Kendall

I haven't thought of that poem in years, Gary. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Spot on, Molli. And I think I can recite it from memory:

...those silver-voiced bell-birds –
the darlings of day-time
they sing with their voices,
the songs of the May-time.
When shadows wax strong
and the thunderbolts hurtle,
they hide with their fear
in the leaves of the myrtle.
When rain and the sunbeams shine
mingled together,
they start up like fairies
that follow fair-weather;
And straight-away the hues
of their feathers unfolden
the red and the purple
the green and the golden.

Nice to find somebody here on APUG has a grasp on the works of Kendall. I've liked his works since the 1970s. His reflective poem, "The Light Above" and melancholy "Once were happy" has featured in three family Order of Service (funeral) booklets so far since 1997!

 

[Wyno]

Hi Gary,
you'll be pleased to know that I'm coming down to see my brothers on 1st of August. Playing table tennis on Wednesday (1st) night and visiting selected chums on 2nd and 3rd before heading to Wallan to see more friends and then home to freezing Canberra (it's supposed to be -5 3 days in a row at the end of this week). Can I make a time to come and see you on the 2nd? I won't be bring the camera with me this time though.
Mike

 

[Molli]

Nice to find somebody here on APUG has a grasp on the works of Kendall. I've liked his works since the 1970s.

I have to admit, I've never been much of a fan of Australian poetry for the most part. I stumbled across Kendall when I was quite young after seeing 'The Man From Snowy River' and tracking down the poems it was based on. (I went to kindergarten with the daughter of composer, Bruce Rowland who wrote the score for the movie.... my only brush with fame ) So, from Paterson to Lawson to Kendall. Unlike you, I can't quote poetry, regardless of how much I've read or written. I only remember those few lines because it resonated with the area I lived in and the sights and sounds of it.


... and just to bring this thread back on track, Wyno you should definitely come down. It's a balmy seven degrees just now... 'twill seem like summer!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Hi Gary,
you'll be pleased to know that I'm coming down to see my brothers on 1st of August. Playing table tennis on Wednesday (1st) night and visiting selected chums on 2nd and 3rd before heading to Wallan to see more friends and then home to freezing Canberra (it's supposed to be -5 3 days in a row at the end of this week). Can I make a time to come and see you on the 2nd? I won't be bring the camera with me this time though.
Mike

Most definitely do drop in.

 

[Wyno]

I think I'll wear my shorts and a t shirt.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I think I'll wear my shorts and a t shirt.

Well if you're that high with a fever I'll lock the door and you can sit outside and talk to me with sign language!

 

[Nige]

'The Man From Snowy River' and tracking down the poems it was based on. (I went to kindergarten with the daughter of composer, Bruce Rowland who wrote the score for the movie.... my only brush with fame )

My wifes uncle rode a horse in it... he's on camera several times especially in the great chase. Is that less than 6 degrees of seperation?

 

[LJH]

(I went to kindergarten with the daughter of composer, Bruce Rowland who wrote the score for the movie.... my only brush with fame )

I went to primary school with Bruce's (late) son, Adam, in Mooroolbark. I'm pretty sure that Bruce's daughter was also there...

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Effervescent and endearing Sigrid Thornton was our back fence neighbour when we lived in Chapman Street, North Melbourne in from 1977 to 1989. We did "babysitting" for her two dogs while she was out and about on film commitments, including her first, "All The Rivers Run" (1982, filmed over 8 months in 1981), shot in Echuca. She sold her home in 1990, and a year earlier we had moved too, to Castlemaine.

The Man from Snowy River was an absolutely beautiful film for me to see. I can recall being rapped by the wickedly energetic downhill horse chases, expecting any minute to be a fatality. It spurred me to research just who the Man from Snowy River really was, and that research took me to Corryong and the grave of Jack Riley, upon which acknowledgement is made of his history each year during the Corryong Festival.

"... and up by Kosziusko
where the pine-clad ridges raise,
their torn and rugged battlements on high
Where the air is clear as crystal
and the white stars fairly blaze
at midnight in the cold and frosty sky.

And where around the Overflow
the reedbeds sweep and sway
to the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide,
the Man from Snowy River, is a household word today
and the stockmen tell the story of his ride."​

 

[LJH]

Effervescent and endearing Sigrid Thornton was our back fence neighbour when we lived in Chapman Street, North Melbourne in from 1977 to 1989. We did "babysitting" for her two dogs while she was out and about on film commitments, including her first, "All The Rivers Run" (1982, filmed over 8 months in 1981),

Gary,

"Snapshot" predates this by a couple of years.

It's important that I comment on this, as there is a great scene where a photographer is shooting Sigrid topless on what looks somewhere around Mentone.

Of course, I don't mention this due to here "toplessness"; the close-up scenes of the guy loading his Nikon film camera should be the reason people look this video up!

 

[Molli]

(I went to kindergarten with the daughter of composer, Bruce Rowland who wrote the score for the movie.... my only brush with fame )

I went to primary school with Bruce's (late) son, Adam, in Mooroolbark. I'm pretty sure that Bruce's daughter was also there...

You're not going to tell me you went to Pembroke Primary School, are you???

It's wonderful to hear of so many people remembering this film (The Man From Snowy River) and their connections with it. As a side note, I hum Clancy's theme when I'm stressed out and trying to calm myself down. No idea why, but I've been doing that for a couple of decades.

I went to Bruce Rowland's house for his daughter's 5th birthday. I've been wracking my brain for her name for a few years now since scanning all of my old photo albums. She's in my kindy group photo. At any rate, it's a standout memory from my childhood because I ate 6 of those pink clown lollipops (the ones with a white wrapper with blue and yellow polkadots on it). This was a VERY bad idea for me as I couldn't eat sugar AT ALL growing up, not even fruit. So, the end result was an incredibly large pool of bright pink vomit on the green rug in my parents' sitting room. I can still picture it perfectly.

You all REALLY needed to know that, didn't you?

Back to the topic of this thread (and in line with the nausea), I finally printed a couple of dozen images from the Cape Schanck expedition Sunday last. Does anyone who was there have any objection to me posting a few of them in this thread? I'm referring to those with 'recognisable' faces in them?

 

[Joachim_I]

Does anyone who was there have any objection to me posting a few of them in this thread? I'm referring to those with 'recognisable' faces in them?

Hi Molli, No problem for me and my wife. Thanks for asking. Looking forward to those prints! Joachim

 

[Molli]

I'm so glad you said that, Joachim, as YOU were central to quite a number of my photos. In fact, the only 8x10 print I made (the others being a mere 6x4) was of you.... although no one but your lovely wife will recognise you since you're not facing the camera. Speaking of your wife, could you please tell me the correct spelling of her name? I label all of my photos so in a year's time when my mind has completely gone, I'll still know who everyone is.

The 8x10 was the last thing I printed at around 5am today, so it's still dripping on the line. The first batch done a couple of days ago are currently being squished flat in my homemade print press. I'll try to get some scanned as soon as possible. Just please keep in mind that, me being me, these are snapshots by comparison with the art you all create.

 

[Joachim_I]

Now I am even more curious... Her name is Zhen.
Joachim

 

[Molli]

I guessed correctly

Don't be curious... it can only lead to disappointment