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Writer's pictureMark Thomson

Finding detritus on the foreshore and inspiration for a photo study

I haven't been out too much lately and had been struggling a bit for a new theme for a photo study. Part of the reason has been that with the number of places we can go to right now, a lot of places are just so damn full of people, it becomes a little hard to maintain social distance, especially with kids and dogs thrown into the mix. So I've kind of kept my outdoors time to a bit of a premium and, quite frankly, I've also been a little bit short on inspiration. Hopefully, with nature reserves and parks opening up from tomorrow again, there will be a lot more possibilities.


In the meantime, I have been out at night on the weekend to get photos of Spektra, a huge light installation that is being beamed out of MONA until the end of the Covid19 lockdown.

The Spektra viewed from just below the Tasman Bridge near Rose Bay

I haven't quite found the optimum vantage point yet, despite getting a few decent shots from near the bridge. However, in posting a few photos on social media, a friend asked if I could get a picture with the Tasman Bridge in the foreground and the Spektra cutting exactly through the middle. Nothing like a challenge to get one motivated, so today and went to investigate some likely vantage points around Rosny Hill.


Although I did take quite a few pictures of the bridge view with some impressively dramatic skies in the background, that didn't end up being the main focus of my "photo walk" along the foreshore of the bluff.

Instead of looking up, I started looking down at the rich diversity of detritus strewn across the stony foreshore. Odd little remnants of objects that didn't belong there - a red Lego block, a broken plastic McDonald's cup, a bright red cigarette lighter...all telling a story of a wasteful, throwaway society. I thought it would make a good theme for a photo study, and the more I looked, the more evidence I found of the consequences of consumerist, throwaway culture.

I submit the exhibits below and you may make of them what you will....


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