Drought and the Food Chain-Australia

Nice work Justin, its always interesting to see other viewpoints about this wide brown land!

I find it really interesting seeing this, I get the real feeling that you felt there was just nothing here-that this place is just vastly empty- kind of echoing.

Its really different to how I see it, its life force is hidden but its really visceral when you find it and so deeply embedded in my psyche.

Be interested to know- is that what you felt?

Lovely work BTW, always great to see something that makes you think!

well done. the width on the first one gives the sense the sheep are escaping you. effective.

how do you like shooting in south asia, particularly vietnam?

great stuff justin. have fun back in states, and let me know when you’re heading back this way.

hey justin.. visually these images grab me… curious: how much say did you have in the edit of the slideshow? though i would almost echo lisa in that they seem purposefully stark… well maybe lisa didn’t say that.. but they seem almost unfairly desolate (disclaimer: i haven’t been there). what do the homes of these poeple look like? is the drought driving people to leave? if so, are there any abandoned homes or businesses or schools? i see that you have a drought message to send, you nailed that for sure.. maybe there’s nothing more to say in the scope of this story..

Jusin :))

the pics are gorgeous and striking as with all your work. I’ve loved looking at all the work you’ve shown us and particularly the work you’ve shared with us for the TImes. Strong work, but I would also second what Lisa said. The wide, empty expanse is one eternal and defining part of Australia, but so too is the vibrant rush of life there, the pack density of life lived in contrast to the huge elemental land that Australia haunts most by: the intensity of the costs and sea, the way often, beneath the wide empty land, life is intensified in quite intimate ways (im thinking now of songlines, aboriginal paintings which suggest the same, the teeming cities and farms that surround the land)...

not a criticism, just an interesting reaction (i had the same as Lisa)....

here’s a great book: Murray Bail’s Euclyptus:

http://www.amazon.com/Eucalyptus-Novel-Murray-Bail/dp/0156007819

but as always, great photography! :))

cheers
bob

Ah Bob!

How do you manage to keep up with everything?

I am sending a part of a songline with Tamara, but I may even end up checking out the connections personally before the end of the year.

We will see!

Thank you everyone for all your comments. Let me answer a few of the questions asked. I don’t have a say in the final edit but I am usually happy with my editors choice. For this story I shot to match the writers story along with taking my own angle of the drought’s toll on drovers along the Hay/Ivanhoe stock route. The area near Hay has been heavily effected by drought. The stock routes go on for miles and miles in between towns with nothing more than a few scattered caravans and herds of cattle and sheep. I traveled up and down these routes and it felt desolate, I wasn’t trying to say all of Australia is that way.
Again, thank you all for your comments and feedback, much appreciated.
Justin