Tark's Australian landscapes

[Tark]

Location: Edith Falls, Northern Territory, AU
Olympus E-3, f/10, 1/640sec/ISO-250/23mm
A popular swimming hole, crocodile free,
guaranteed, trust me ...

Below: My rendition in Oils with wife in the pool ...

 

[koraks]

The scenery is lovely, and I have to say I think in particular the painting is wonderful!

 

[Tark]

The scenery is lovely, and I have to say I think in particular the painting is wonderful!

Thanks, Koraks — that means a lot. Edith Falls is a special place for us, and the painting was my way of holding onto the memory. Glad it resonated with you.

 

[Tark]

Me !

 

[koraks]

That's nice, although I'd wager to say that the dodging or photomontage is a little obvious.

 

[Tark]

Then you would lose your money, korak - it is not a photomontage. The image was shot by my wife.

 

[koraks]

Im referring to the unnatural edges around the body and the inconsistent lighting of the figure in relation to the scene. That's either rather crude digital restoration of shadow detail or photomontage. I'd be happy to assume it's not the latter, but that still leaves the former. Now, there's no accounting for taste, but I find it a little...idk, crude. For me, it doesn't work very well this way, sorry.

 

[benderscameracorner]

Title inspired by the permanence of the subject, Eddystone Point, Tasmania. Exif: Olympus, taken 2002, f/2.8, 1/800, iso100

One of my favourite places, we used to camp here (and the nearby Boulder Point) often growing up.
Photo below was taken by my (press photographer) grandfather of his boat beached for an incoming storm. My mother says it is likely from our 1987 trip but may have been earlier.
(image is a scan of an inkjet print, hence the quality... image originally taken with Nikon F3, possibly a Nikkor or Tamron 35mm, likely Delta 400. Original print Pop would have developed himself).

 

[Tark]

What a great photo Bender; that looks like a very serious tinny your grandfather had, and how serendipitous that the broody cloudscape is somewhat similar to that in mine. Do you know in what year that might have been? My wife and I also set up camp there overnight, Oct., 2003.
Olympus compact, f/2.8, 1/60sec, ISO-100

 

[Tark]

Im referring to the unnatural edges around the body and the inconsistent lighting of the figure in relation to the scene. That's either rather crude digital restoration of shadow detail or photomontage. I'd be happy to assume it's not the latter, but that still leaves the former. Now, there's no accounting for taste, but I find it a little...idk, crude. For me, it doesn't work very well this way, sorry.

Fair enough — digital files can throw up odd artefacts. The original is exactly as shot, though, so whatever you’re seeing is just the camera and the light on the day.

 

[benderscameracorner]

What a great photo Bender; that looks like a very serious tinny your grandfather had, and how serendipitous that the broody cloudscape is somewhat similar to that in mine. Do you know in what year that might have been?

1987 is our best guess but it may have been earlier... my earliest trip there was when I was still in nappies circa 1980/1981. Unfortunately dementia started to get the better of my grandfather in his last decade of life (he passed in 2024) and that coupled with his relative indifference to this photography in retirement (it was a job, not a passion) meant that getting dates and details out of him was increasingly difficult.

The old boat is still about too (my uncle has it) though the original Chrysler 75hp has long gone to the unreliable-two-stroke-outboards-graveyard-in-the-sky. Keeping all the Mercury blue labels company ;-)

 

[Tark]

1987 is our best guess but it may have been earlier... my earliest trip there was when I was still in nappies circa 1980/1981. Unfortunately dementia started to get the better of my grandfather in his last decade of life (he passed in 2024) and that coupled with his relative indifference to this photography in retirement (it was a job, not a passion) meant that getting dates and details out of him was increasingly difficult.

The old boat is still about too (my uncle has it) though the original Chrysler 75hp has long gone to the unreliable-two-stroke-outboards-graveyard-in-the-sky. Keeping all the Mercury blue labels company ;-)

At least the old boat will always be there with your uncle as a kind of memorial to your grandpa. Sadly, I no longer live in Tasmania, only wish I did. I moved over to NE VIC in 2010 to care for a close friend with dementia who passed away in 2015, so I know how devastating that disease is.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

I moved over to NE VIC in 2010 to care for a close friend with dementia who passed away in 2015, so I know how devastating that disease is.

Oh yes, I can relate to that too!
My whole family has been wiped out by stuff like that; sister in 2018 (Motor Neurone Disease), brother-in-law (Alzheimers, ongoing); Moose in 2021 (cerebrovascular minute, no doubt from smoking a pack a day of Winfield and half a bottle of sherry for afternoon tea!); Gramps back in 2005, heavy drinker, smoker, sedentary (violent episodes as a run-up to dementia — started in 1995 and twisted and tortured him for 10 long years, leaving the rest of us under a huge burden over that time).

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Location: Edith Falls, Northern Territory, AU
Olympus E-3, f/10, 1/640sec/ISO-250/23mm
A popular swimming hole, crocodile free,
guaranteed, trust me ...
View attachment 418706
Below: My rendition in Oils with wife in the pool ...
View attachment 418707

No bull, I love the painting more than the photograph!! A very, very good interpretation of the scene with a sort of cubist interpretive quality to it.

I toured around Australia solo (tenting it!) in 2011 for 9 months, with highlights being Karlu-Karlu/Devils Marbles, Coober Pedy, Darwin, Kununurra, Broome and especially 80 Mile Beach, then the Gasgoyne region south down to (boring) Perth. Did some charcoal drawings of 80 Mile Beach, copping sunburn into the bargain! I do remember Edith Falls in the NT, along with the more popular (perhaps far too popular) waterfalls that doubled as famously crowded swim spots, along with Mataranka thermal pools.

___________________________________________
L to R: Pinhole camera 6x6 of a rock outcrop, Devil's Marbles;
Evening afterglow at Devil's Marbles, and
6x17 panorama from a home made 6x17 camera with an ancient Komuranon 90mm lens (the camera no longer survives); and Sturt Desert Pea, Gasgoyne beaches region, WA.
The two panorama prints were RA4 printed and framed; both in private collections with two Estate editions at home.