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Wednesday, 25 February<br />Towards the end of last year I had pretty well made up my mind that enough was enough and photographing little children would not be my main stay of employment in 2004.<br />

Portland 2004

Colin Ewington
2006-03-16 10:15:28

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Wednesday, 25 February
Towards the end of last year I had pretty well made up my mind that enough was enough and photographing little children would not be my main stay of employment in 2004.

In the long break that took in November and December of last year until now, I did the occasional wedding and a few other photographic jobs including formals and a large university graduation.

Yesterday I drove from Melbourne to Portland and spent what was left of the afternoon resting in the motel room with the Discovery Channel playing on TV.
It also gave me an opportunity to find out some interesting facts about the area. It seems Portland was Victoria's first permanent European settlement. One of the early families to make a living in the area were the Henty's. They owned a fishing company and hunted whales that frequented the area. Now the harbor is used by all types of shipping that take advantage of the large berths. It is here they load oil, wood chips, grain and live sheep.

The Kindergarten I worked in today was one I had visited before. (Yes I have gone back to photographing little children). There were two sessions and it didn't take long to get into the swing of things. Knocked off work around three in the afternoon. Leaving this late didn't give me any chance to do any sight seeing.

Thursday, 26 February
Today there were twenty eight children. All four year olds. I'm happy my first job for the company this year is a good center. It was only a morning session and I was being a tourist not long after eleven o'clock. Before the afternoon was my own, nine spools of exposed films were posted back to Melbourne.

Twenty four kilometers west of Portland lies the coastal village of Cape Bridgewater. The area was once a volcanic island and is now joined to the mainland by a sand spit. I returned to the Petrified Forest to take more photos. Thousands of years ago a forest was inundated by a huge sand dune. Water passing through this overlaying sand helped form a sandstone crust abound the trunks of trees. At the same time acid from the rotting trees dissolved the sandstone from the inside and in the process pushed the crust out to form the large petrified trunks of sandstone.
Just a few kilometers inland from the Petrified Forest is a limestone hill. Cut into the
side of the hill is a cave that gives a commanding view of the Cape Bridgewater Lakes.

On the way back to town I found a small track that leads to a another hill that overlooks Discovery Bay. The view stretches to the South Australian border and more images were taken of the coast and lakes from the high vantage point.

Friday, 27 February
On my last day in Portland I managed to finish around eleven thirty. I turned the car towards the east and made my way back to Melbourne. Arriving in time to drop off more exposed films to the studio and took the opportunity to check the works diary for future jobs. So far my pre booked dates for centres who have asked for my return looks quite respectable. Mind you, there is not much on the books for the next few weeks. Looks like I will be assisting for another photographic company who spend this part of the year taking portraits and group photos for primary and secondary schools. I have also been assigned a job photographing a formal which is a bit unusual because these events are normally reserved for the end of the school year.