my portfolios
Each of my portfolios (1 and 2) are based on a series of themes depicting a place or concept. I add new themes and switch images on a regular basis. Check the top of each portfolio page for my most recent additions!
Recent themes in portfolio 2 include: kelp magic on the Limestone Coast; summer resilience; silvered; when the world is mine; wind braiding; forest transitions; sandcrafted; shadows; monochrome magic; right side up?;
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kelp magic on the Limestone Coast
The Limestone Coast in South Australia is marked by a limestone ledge extending into the sea which is fed directly by waters from the Antarctic. This coastline harbours a more diverse range of kelp and algae than anywhere else in the world. In Ngaranga/Port MacDonnell, I discovered a plethora of colours and textures around the time of the October supermoon when the tides allowed more species to either be washed onto shore or revealed in the shallows. Join me on a journey celebrating diversity on a relatively untouched shoreline.
summer resilience
After a cold and wet Spring in Melbourne, Summer arrives. Puffs of cumulus scoot across an unfamiliar blue sky and I feast my eyes on the sun-washed leaves of new grass dancing in the breeze. I wonder at the resilience of dandelion heads that have remained intact, despite torrential rain and wind storms bearing Antarctic cold.
silvered
I just love the way that the spirit of logs shines out as they are weathered by sand and sun and tossed by storms and tides. Remarkably, they still form a carbon sink, gifting a carbon source that is often overlooked on this northwest coast where there are cubic tonnes of logs along the shoreline. Logs script their own time-log onto their surfaces, as well as within their core. I discovered the first four images in July 2022 when the shore was immersed in sea fog well into the day, creating a natural filter for my lens.
when the world is mine
č̓aḥayis (Cox Bay) was mystical again on this morning in June. Most of the beachgoers were still sleeping while I was in a fog dome, the whole world mine to dream and mine to Know.
wind braiding
The wind currents weave cloud patterns that shape part of a cosmic net. There are times though when the wind does more than weave. One June evening in Clayoquot, I was entranced not only by the tightly spun cloud-braids, but also their gentle unravelling as they drifted toward the north-east.
forest transitions
We humans are often challenged by life transitions, such as aging. The birthing, releasing, and shedding in the forest highlights the beauty of transitions, be they different colours in Fall, a skeletal baring in Winter, rebirth in Spring, or the sumptuousness of Summer. There is also something grounding in the rhythm of the seasons over time. Francis Weller takes transitions to a cosmic – and sacred – realm, positing that we are: “an entwined and entangled net of connections reminding us that we are in a continuous exchange with light, air, gravity, thought, color, sound, all coalescing in an elegant dance that is our shared life.” Nowhere is that more apparent than in the shift of seasons in the forest.
timuut (skunk cabbage)
ponga unfurling
sandcrafted
Nature is the artist when wind sculpts sand images, shaped by stones, rocks, logs, grasses that bend the air flow.
shadows
I am usually seeking light through my lens. I had captured the sun shining on alder trees on a Spring afternoon and continued to search for light-infused images. I paused and turned around to see the beauty of alder and cedar trees silhouetted against a spring sky. It reminded me how important it is to honour and spend time in the shadows as well, literally and figuratively.
monochrome magic
Monochrome images offer a different lens, one that invites me into the world of shape and form.
right side up – or is it?
Our brains do a great job of converting the upside-down images that reach our retina to what we think or “know” is real. However, sometimes Nature tests these concepts of which way is up, as in the first three images where trees are reflected in water. Reflections like this can also sharpen our lens, for example, spotlighting trunks washed in morning sun. I’ve inverted the last two pairs of images to further tease our senses.
helen mavoa photoartist 