HOST

Photographic Excellence – from the Outback to the Coast
Kimberley Captures
Abstract Nature’s Macro Art

A Little about Me
My background is actually in English Literature :)
I was persuaded in high school that there were too many “starving artists” in the world and that Writing (with an eye to film scripts or journalism) was a much more practical option. After completing my undergraduate degree, I did some further study and became an English/Drama teacher… a very frustrating situation, as I never had any time for my own creativity. In 2008, I discovered photography as a creative medium, and since then, I’ve never stepped foot off my path to learning all there is to learn about it… outside a classroom :) I may take a course one day, but I’m enjoying learning through experience at present! I currently live in the far North-West of Australia, in a rugged and remote (but incredibly beautiful) area known as “The Kimberley”, and I’m a librarian. Thanks for coming to visit my Host Hulabaloo Gallery!

GALLERY

All the Colours of the… by Mieke Boynton	In all its Glory by Mieke Boynton	Breakers by Mieke Boynton	Flowers in the Valley (Mt… by Mieke Boynton	Take a Bough by Mieke Boynton	A Vision Splendid (Derby,… by Mieke Boynton
Tree by Mieke Boynton	Fallen by Mieke Boynton	Reflections on the Beach by Mieke Boynton	The Fisherman by Mieke Boynton	Glow (Monochrome) by Mieke Boynton	Sunlit by Mieke Boynton
The Olinda Falls by Mieke Boynton	If you go down to the… by Mieke Boynton	Painted Boulders by Mieke Boynton	Flow by Mieke Boynton	Glorious Morning… by Mieke Boynton	Hopetoun Falls (The… by Mieke Boynton
Lily #3 by Mieke Boynton	Sand Forest (Broome, WA). by Mieke Boynton	Green Dragon by Mieke Boynton	Yellow by Mieke Boynton	Ummm… by Mieke Boynton	Aglow by Mieke Boynton
Dancer by Mieke Boynton	Docklands Design by Mieke Boynton	Melbourne Central by Mieke Boynton	Reed Vessel by Mieke Boynton	Tea Time by Mieke Boynton	Ted by Mieke Boynton
James Price Point by Mieke Boynton	Cape Leveque Sunset, WA by Mieke Boynton	Turquoise and Terracotta… by Mieke Boynton	Shine (Jan Juc, VIC) by Mieke Boynton	Strange and Impressive by Mieke Boynton	Cape Leveque, WA by Mieke Boynton
The Calm Before… by Mieke Boynton	Amsterdam by Mieke Boynton	Winter Whispers by Mieke Boynton	Heading off to Work by Mieke Boynton	Winter Walk by Mieke Boynton	Silent Snowgum by Mieke Boynton

In all its Glory
by Mieke Boynton

I live in a region of Australia up in the far North-West ‘corner’ that’s known simply as “The Kimberley”.

It is a place of great beauty, and great spiritual significance to the Aboriginal peoples who live here. There are so many places you can visit where you feel like the only person alive on Earth… but there are also places where you feel the distinct and awesome presence of something ‘other’. A spiritual presence. The ancient landscape is imbued with spirits of power, whose stories have been passed on through song and story for generations. Many places I camp at, I have the distinct feeling that I’m only tolerated in these places, and I am conscious of the many times I have heard locals warn of the dangers of stumbling upon places of power unannounced. Visitors must be ‘welcomed to country’ by the Traditional Owners who ‘speak’ for that country, in order to be given protection from harm. When I travel, I try not to stray too far from the ‘beaten path’ so that I do not cause offence…

Flowers in the Valley (Mt Buffalo, VIC)
by Mieke Boynton

Love is Born

Somewhere, sometime,
a seed is sown.

The seed is good.
The earth is rich and deep
but the seed does not grow.
It is not yet time.

Seasons pass:
the tingling Spring mornings, sparkling with birdsong;
the warm Summer evenings, where light lingers softly;
the subdued noons of Autumn, when trees shed leaves like teardrops;
and the bitter, cold nights of Winter, when silence shivers in darkness.
Seasons pass.

Somewhere, sometime,
a seed that was sown
is ready.
And love is born.

A Vision Splendid (Derby, WA)
by Mieke Boynton

Boab trees (also spelt ‘Boabab’) are amazing. They are so easily recognised, with their smooth bark and distinctive shape. They have the most exquisite flowers, and Aboriginal people carve the most incredible artworks into the large nuts that litter the ground each year. They grow only in Africa, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and the North of Australia.

Fallen
by Mieke Boynton

I believe that when we die, our souls do not. But I respect that cemeteries are the final resting places of others’ loved ones, and so there is a certain reverence I feel whenever I step foot in these places of peace. I took a series of photographs at the Kew Cemetery in Melbourne one misty, mysterious morning. It was a very memorable visit.

The Fisherman
by Mieke Boynton

I love this photo of my dad. He came to visit me when I was going through a ‘rough patch’, and we decided to go fishing at the Derby Jetty at high tide very early one morning (3:30am). When we arrived, I remarked that it seemed an abnormally low ‘high tide’. We had plenty of interest from mud-crabs, but didn’t catch a thing :(

After we’d gone home and had a little nap, I checked the tide-chart I’d given to Dad… he’d read the dates incorrectly, and we had indeed gone fishing at 3:30am on a low tide!!! We had a good laugh about it afterwards.

And this ended up the best ‘capture’ of the morning!

Sunlit
by Mieke Boynton

I love black and white photography for its ability to emphasize lighting and texture, and areas of high contrast. It can also unify a ‘busy’ image. I usually decide very early in the post-processing stage whether a photo would work better in monochrome, but in this case, I didn’t immediately see the potential as I really liked the colour version. At the suggestion of a fellow bubbler, I did convert it, and it has since become one of my most popular photos!

If you go down to the woods today…
by Mieke Boynton

Starlight

The night is dark and brisk and alive.
The stars sprinkle memories into the breeze
and I remember
other nights…

sitting on a beach with a champagne
being massaged by warm loving hands
in the sightless dark;

walking down a deserted lane
streetlights vaguely penetrating the cold blackness
surrounded by a warm black trenchcoat
talking quietly;

standing in the rain under a dripping tree
laughing;

leaning together on an old stone balcony
gazing at the glowing silver moon
in silence;

two pairs of footsteps in the sinking sand
two forms enveloped in a thin white sheet
listening to the soothing lull
of whispering waves
sparkling in starshine;

waiting at a train station
dressed up
shivering
held close
content;

sitting on a park pench in a rainforest
not noticing the drenching downpour
falling all around
not noticing anything at all.

The memories the night chooses
are bittersweet;
I smile longingly as my eyes blur
and the glimmer on my cheeks
reflects the same distant stars
that used to watch me
a million miles away
when I was
home.

Flow
by Mieke Boynton

Hope

It’s a strange thing, Hope.
You don’t choose it;
the stubborn belief in the radiant dawn
that follows the sightless night
so bitterly bleak and dark and empty…

Most consider it a blessing.

Mine plagues me like a festering sore
that resurrects unexpectedly,
deep and bright and painful
when I thought I’d killed it off last time… and the time before…

When I met you
I didn’t fall for you like a landslide,
I floated like an Autumn leaf
and didn’t realise
I was in love
until I saw where I’d fallen from
and knew I could never get back.

I was seventeen.
I thought I was grown up.
I wasn’t.

That night I rang you from America
and you didn’t want to talk
and you kept putting my friends on the phone
and then you said you’d kissed Kim –
my best friend Kim –
who suddenly wasn’t my friend anymore –
and I asked you if you wanted to be with her
and you said,
“If she’ll have me” –
that’s when I grew up.

I could say it took me years to get over you.
I do say it took years.
But I lie.
Because when I hear “Lovefool” from Romeo & Juliet
and when I drive past that park where I was late for your soccer game
and at night when it’s quiet
and when I see the brown latticed fence that still has our names etched in the paint
eleven years later
and when I watch the Autumn leaves fall

I hope.

Hopetoun Falls (The Otways, VIC)
by Mieke Boynton

Sand Forest (Broome, WA).
by Mieke Boynton

This photo is not an aerial photograph. It is a macro photo of tiny sand patterns that I found on the beach in Broome, Western Australia. At the time, I really had no idea how lucky I was to find such a perfect formation. I’ve seen many similar patterns since, but never one so beautiful and symmetrical. My favourite part is the ‘birds’ in the upper left hand corner of the photo :)

It’s humbling to find that Nature can create artworks that are so much more perfect than what I could hope to produce!

Anyone who subscribes to Camera Magazine can see this photo in the current edition :) :) :)

Yellow
by Mieke Boynton

Aglow
by Mieke Boynton

I really love the delicacy of flowers, and the way that light often interacts with shape so beautifully in a photograph. I do like to ensure that the background is very plain when I photograph flowers, so that it is the flower itself (and not its surroundings) that are ‘on show’.