Once the land was baren, no animals, no trees, no water, no mountains and no valleys. The land stretched as far as the horizon and further, it was flat, nothing lived and nothing died.
The plains lacked colour, there was no black nor white, no red nor green, all was merely grey.
Ngalmudj slept soundly un-desturbed by the world above. She slept for many moons, the light came and went, the days and years pasted, time meant nothing to her.
As she slept, she grew restless, the life within her grew as she took her first breath of the land.
As she slept the colours developed within her. She dreamt of times past and forgotten, of times when there was more then grey, when there was life and beauty.
She grew ever more restless, churning within, barely able to contain her thoughts. They enveloped her, they became her, she embraced the colours contained within the land, the reds, the yellows, the green and the blues.
She obsorbed so much colour from within the land, it filled her to the brim.
She ached from the colours, they swelled within her until she could not contain them anymore.
She awoke from her slumber with tremendous anticipation. She travelled up, away from her resting place, towards the grey, towards the endless nothingness.
She slithered out of her hiding place, emerged as a being of this land. She travelled, further than she ever knew. She turned and trailed, she slept and woke, she became one with the land.
She travelled so far that her skin was torn to the bone. She bled, she bled the colours she had dreamt about, the reds, the yellows, the ochres and blues. She continued to lay the rivers and hills all the time the colours kept spilling from her side. The colours lept from her wounds and took on there own being, they encompassed the land, they merged to make other colours and the land was filled.
She felt no pain, her wounds did not stop her, they mearly made her dreaming stronger. She finally crossed the land and looked back at what she had created. A land full of colour, full of valleys and mountains, rivers and lakes, animals far and wide.
She looked at what she had created and was content, her dreaming was complete, her land was before her and it was all she had dreamt about.
It was time to leave it to become whole, to become the land of the dreaming.
This is my dreaming.
Written by Mitchell Mclean
This is taken on Lanecove river. As I travel I often try and spot regions where Aboriginals may have found camp, or have left significant signs of occupation.
Lanecove river is one of those places. It has an abundance of fresh water, turtles in most lakes / ponds and vast rocky out crops with huge caves.
To get this shot I needed to be in the water. This was taken whilst chest deep in the river. I also needed to use most if not all of my rock climbing technique to get myself in here. I doubt whether this little fall has been photographed before me, let alone been seen. Well of the beaten track, I only came across it due to leaving the track and wading up the river.
In a few certain points of the track surrounding I get a distinct feeling that, I shouldn't be there. Infact shortly afterwards I have experienced some dramatic events.
In this area I felt welcomed, almost invited to be there. I took the oppotunity to take this shot as well as a quick bath in the river after the 6km walk.
Hope you enjoy.
Last edited by Lumen Miner; 10-02-2010 at 11:33 PM.
Great shots Mitchell, the first one has some great colours. Its always fun to see whats up stream or down a certain track, usually makes for a great photo, someone told me once that you have to suffer for your art, standing chest deep to get the shot, i think it falls into this category
Nice shots Mitchell, the colours on the rocks in the first shot are great. Just my 2c worth but wondering if you maybe should have cropped out just above the rock shelf (i.e. sky) and some of the scrub and just focus on the falls & rocks...
Regarding suffering for your art, I have a photo book at home of rainforests and the photographer (can't remember his name now) has travelled the world taking the most amazing rainforest fauna and flora shots but in the process has been covered in leaches, bitten by all sorts of ants and bugs, crawled through mud & slime as well as the worry of his gear recked by moisture and fungus but the end result of his photos is remarkable
The first pic is beautiful Mitchell - wow, in waist deep water!! I would have slipped, and camera taken a dip too
Thought the written verse was from aboriginal dreamtime lore, but you have written it!! Well done Mitchell Beautiful explaination of the 'bleeding' colours, esp in 1st shot. Very clever of you.
Great shots Mitchell, the first one has some great colours. Its always fun to see whats up stream or down a certain track, usually makes for a great photo, someone told me once that you have to suffer for your art, standing chest deep to get the shot, i think it falls into this category
Thanks mate! it definatley paying to venture of the beaten track. Normally the beaten track is the most logical passage of quick avenue to get from point A to B. Sometimes point C is where the real magic happens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by telecasterguru
I like both of these images and it was well worth the effort.
Frank
Thankyou! Must say though, wasn't much effort for me, the water was rather inviting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lacad01
Nice shots Mitchell, the colours on the rocks in the first shot are great. Just my 2c worth but wondering if you maybe should have cropped out just above the rock shelf (i.e. sky) and some of the scrub and just focus on the falls & rocks...
Regarding suffering for your art, I have a photo book at home of rainforests and the photographer (can't remember his name now) has travelled the world taking the most amazing rainforest fauna and flora shots but in the process has been covered in leaches, bitten by all sorts of ants and bugs, crawled through mud & slime as well as the worry of his gear recked by moisture and fungus but the end result of his photos is remarkable
I think you are right about the crop. The scrub is useless apart from I wanted to de-saturate it to make the foreground stand out more. I have several other versions (30 or so shots taken) so I will continue and try to get a better version. Thanks for your critique, it is one thing to comment and say it is great, it is another to help in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Liz
The first pic is beautiful Mitchell - wow, in waist deep water!! I would have slipped, and camera taken a dip too
Thought the written verse was from aboriginal dreamtime lore, but you have written it!! Well done Mitchell Beautiful explaination of the 'bleeding' colours, esp in 1st shot. Very clever of you.
I think it was chest deep Liz. The verse roughly corresponds with dreamtime stories, yet I couldn't find the verse I liked on the net, so re-wrote it.
I would have slipped, and camera taken a dip too 
Beautiful explaination of the 'bleeding' colours, esp in 1st shot. Very clever of you.
