Shooting at shadows on Lake Hume
October 1, 2015
Lake Hume is a moody beast – especially in the depth of winter when the shadows are at their longest.
Over a series of three days in June this year, Albury aerial photographer David Taylor took to the skies above the lake to capture its very essence. The result is an exhibition, titled “Shooting at Shadows” Portraying the raw beauty of the exposed lake bed at just 30 per cent capacity. The river channels snake back on themselves, skeletal fence lines are reminders of a bygone era and the terracotta hues of the washed clay lake bed emerge to bake in the winter sun.
The exhibition will open at GIGS Gallery, Wodonga, on November 4 and continue until November 29.
Well known artist Jo Davernport will open the exhibition on Friday November 6th commencing at 5.30 pm.
Imbued with an intuitive sense of colour and light, David has won acclaim for his images of outback lakes including Torrens, Frome and Eyre, the Cooper Creek, Diamantina and Warburton rivers, and Toko Range.
Selected images were published in 2011 in the books, Desert Channels and Desert Lakes. David’s photos are hanging in many private collections. A work depicting Lake Gregory, in the western Tanami desert, hangs in the Nevada Museum of Art, USA.
David’s love of aerial photography began as a hobby during forays across Australia in his Cessna 210. It culminated in a successful first exhibition, Timeless Land, in Wodonga in 2010, and followed by a second 18 months later called “Land Matter”. Whether it is desert or lakes, the Australian outback is a beautiful place, according to David.
“I love the peace, the colours, nature and the sheer rawness of the landscape,’’ he said. “Nature has a way of selecting the colours and patterns. Aearial photography has the ability to be raw and expose man’s abuse of our fragile land”. “It’s about listening to the land and being aware of what you are feeling and seeing. “Nature is so powerful and our supreme ruler. Humans think they are the ruler, however nature will always have the last say. It is so important to pause and observe”
These days he shoots his images from a four-seater Glasair Sportsman, a tail dragger ideally suited to bush flying. He flies an average of 100 hours a year, crisscrossing the continent at 130 knots and armed with a medium format Phase One camera and Canon 5d SLR.
Aside from photograpy, David is the stud advisor for Paraway Pastoral Company’s Pooginook Merino Stud, Cooinbil Station and Borambil Station, in the Riverina. He has a combined flock of 54,000 ewes under his guidance, supplying classing expertise, genetic selection, pasture and grazing management advice. The Taylor family’s connection with the iconic stud stemmed from 1912 until the stud and property’s sale to Paraway Pastoral in 2008. David is a fifth generation farmer.
David developed a deep spiritual connection with the land, based on years of being at peace with nature and what it offers.