All of the images on this page are produced using Kodak film and processed and printed by me.
The moment I arrived in Australia in 1985, I was amazed by how beautiful and friendly this country was. I was brought up in social accommodation in South East London through the 1960s and 70s with its very bleak, gritty appeal, so you can imagine arriving in this warm and colourful country meant that my senses were completely overwhelmed.
Up to this point I had only been using black-and-white film, seen in the images of the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Apple Tree Creek Memorial Hall in Queensland, but now living in the beautiful beach town of Avalon it persuaded me to start experimenting with colour film. I enjoyed using very slow Kodak film which meant I could experiment with long exposures. I had never used a filter in my life, but I was shocked and surprised at some of the colours that I was producing. On the 9th June 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines had made a surprising eruption which spewed volcanic ash into the atmosphere and this arrived on the Australian shores six weeks later, the particles of ash were reacting with the sun and this produced these extremely vibrant colours.
The image – Long Exposure Early Morning Avalon Beach Headland 1991 – was a 10 minute exposure on a very stormy morning using Kodak Ektar 25 ASA, now discontinued unfortunately. I had to wait a few days for the film to be developed and when I picked the roll of film up, the owner made a point of handing the film over to me himself and said he hadn’t seen anything like this before.
After making some hand made cards, I decided to take 25 down to a local YHA I had stayed at when I first arrived in Australia. I had only just walked through the door 20 minutes later, when the phone rang and I answered to a very excited lady from the hostel, saying “we need more they have all sold”
I was fascinated with the sea pools on the North shore after seeing this image and this lead me to explore and start a small project.
Most were taken at sunrise – the silent time.
My time spent in Australia was a very special time with the people being so friendly and the country so amazing. I didn’t spend too much time in the touristy areas – I really enjoyed experiencing the reality and living the Australian way of life.
Australia 1991/92
