Warming Up The Acrobats – PART 1.

The tour is over. And I’m glad to be home.

I’ve just spent 10 weeks on the road, travelling around Australia performing a show called Controlled Falling Project in regional theatres. 20-something flights, thousands of kilometres in trucks and minibuses, funny hotel rooms and pub meals, bad takeaway and amazingly fresh roadside produce, dawn and midnight fishing expeditions, and of course performing in amazing and historic theatres all over the country. It’s tiring though. I found myself on the tail end of the tour, in Townsville QLD, yearning for some colder weather. Now here I am in Melbourne, with no central heating, sitting on my couch with a jacket on in the middle of the day. It’s nice.

Anyway, here’s some shots of what happens before the show. More to come.

Christian Shooneveldt-Reid. This Side Up. 2014.

Shell Beach, Western Australia. The Australian Tour Continues!

 

A couple of days ago, as we drove from Geraldton to Carnarvon in the central coast of Western Australia, the idea of visiting Shark Bay appeared to push itself onto us. The signs appeared, then the conversation started. Slowly at first. “Don’t we have tomorrow morning off work?” was followed by “It’s only a few hours out of the way…”. It seems the decision made itself.

 

 

As we drove from Geraldton to Carnarvon in the central coast of Western Australia, the idea of visiting Shark Bay appeared to push itself onto us. The signs appeared, then the conversation started. Slowly, at first. “Don’t we have tomorrow morning off work?” was followed by “It’s only a few hours out of the way…”. It seems the decision made itself. We turned off the highway with the eventual goal of getting to Monkey Mia, a famous beach where you can feed wild dolphins at dawn. On the way to Monkey Mia was a beach which we didn’t expect and hadn’t heard of: Shell Beach.

 

 

The name really says it all. More than a hundred kilometres of tiny cockle shells, over ten metres deep, form an amazing super-salinated beach that is completely unique. With no natural predators due to it’s tolerance of the salty water, the cockle shell thrives in numbers which are unreplicated elsewhere in the world.

 

 

 

Crystal clear water, fish throwing themselves at your feet and just the perfect amount of warmth and sunshine.

 

That afternoon we ended up at Monkey Mia, where dolphins were fed and other things happened. But for now let’s just focus on the shells. We’re in Port Headland now, and it’s basically a big fucking hole in the ground surrounded by men in high-vis clothing all yelling about coal or iron or something, I don’t know. Kind of like some ground-level version of the trading floor of Wall Street. It’s all completely unintelligible anyway because of the flies buzzing around my ears and the constant barrage of trucks heading down the highway behind the 70’s motel we’re holed up in. GOD, I LOVE REGIONAL TOURING! Even in a place like this there seems to be some sort of magic. How the hell that happens, I don’t know. It’s just like watching a cartoon or something I guess. Anyway, let’s end it here.

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Vince.

Breaching Whale, Travel Photo #86.

From the top of Muttonbird Island in Coffs Harbour, tourists can view whales and their calves frolic in the warming waters of the Pacific Ocean. The occasional boat was in the neighbourhood too, getting as close as they dared. I’m not sure what kind of whales they were, but the most common species to see are the humpback whale or the southern right whale.

It was kind of like watching sports in real life compared to watching it on TV: Quite a different experience. You’re really struck by the size of them. It is the most obvious thing to say, but it’s true. I was suddenly aware that they were quite large creatures. They breach, and they’re bigger than the boats on the surface of the water.

 

Coffs Harbour Jetty, Travel Photo #84.

click to enlarge

I flew back from Coffs Harbour today, after doing a week of the International Busking Festival there. It’s a beautiful seaside town on the mid coast of New South Wales, Australia. Springtime brings whales and their young into the area, among other sea life. About 2 minutes after this photo, was taken a dolphin came to within a few feet of me and said hello before chasing a school of fish off into deeper water.  Earlier in the day, I jumped off the jetty and climbed out to see a large school of manta rays gracefully flapping through the water I had just plunged into.

This was a 30 second exposure with my Samyang 8mm fisheye. It was quite dark, and a few photos didn’t work at all before this one came out exposed perfectly. It’s strange because the scene didn’t look quite this vibrant to the naked eye, but this is quite close to how it came out of the camera (except for some noise reduction and a few little tweaks).

I’ll be posting a few more photos, as well as links to some pics from the festival itself with some pics of my performances.
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Backstage with Circus Oz at His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth.

Tonight is my last show with Circus Oz for this season. It’s been so much bloody fun, and everyone is amazing. I have a Melbourne Fringe Festival show coming up called Papillon, along with many other commitments, so I have to say goodbye to Circus Oz.

These photos are from yesterday, during the pre-show meeting and at intermission. His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth is a beautiful old theatre with three tiers of velvet seating and a lovely energy about it. The plaque on my dressing room door proclaims that the room was also shared by Cate Blanchett in 2009 for a play in which she was performing. Things like that give me a nice feeling, one worth savouring and not over-analysing. It seems as though a rich history can be created in a place like this not necessarily due to it’s age, but just because of the nature of the business that it’s in.

I’ve got half an hour until I warm up, and so I’m going to finish digesting my lunch and then have a cup of tea before heading downstairs. Thanks for stopping by, and subscribe or share if you like the photos 🙂

Anna Pidgeon, Circus Oz. 2013.

click to enlarge

Oz In Arnhem Land, After Dark.

This is a collection of photos I took while on tour with Circus Oz in Arnhem Land.

These are from backstage, bumping out, and general night time activities.

Mason West, Arnhem Land. Circus Oz. 2013.

Beau Dudding in Arnhem Land. Circus Oz. 2013.

Ramingining Dingo, Arnhem Land.

A beautiful and friendly female dingo-cross was hanging around our site in Ramingining, Arnhem Land. She was happy to say hi, play games and politely ask for food while we were setting up. I must admit, i was slightly obsessed.

Click on the images to enlarge, and please subscribe if you like the content. I am currently at Perth Airport about to fly to Albany to rejoin with Circus Oz for a little of their W.A. tour. Then in September it’s corporate work and rehearsals for 2 shows in October: Melbourne Fringe Festival and  busking festival in Coff’s Harbour. Upcoming adventures should be interesting 🙂

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Arnhem Land Camp Dog #5. Old and lumpy!

This poor fellow was hanging around one afternoon in Gapuwiyak, Arnhem Land. he had a lump on his back the size of a baseball and was pretty placid, considering his state. There are no veterinary services in these towns apart form ones that fly in occasionally to spay and neuter dogs en masse, so fleas, mange, strange growths and limps go unchecked. The dogs are basically everyone’s and nobody’s at the same time, which is nice but also means they get the raw end of the deal a lot of the time. Free to do what they want, but not cared for.

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Arnhem Land Camp Dog #4.

Some dogs loiter in the heat in front of the general store in Gapuwiyak, Arnhem Land.

Arnhem Land Camp Dog #2.

So I’ve been touring around Arnhem Land with Circus Oz. For those who don’t know, Arnhem Land is an aboriginal land in the Northern Territory in Australia. Amazing is an understatement. I had no laptop throughout the travelling these past few weeks, so my posts have been thin on the ground. But here’s to new beginnings 🙂 I became a bit obsessive about photographing the camp dogs with my fisheye lens. there’ll be more to come.

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