The Exhibition

The project on South Australian country pubs is coming to an end. During the past week-end we had the final exhibition at the school on our respective projects together with the art course. It was well attended and quite a jolly day.

We were allowed to exhibit 3 images each. There’s more of course, in the form of a presentation and a photo book, but for the exhibition there were 3 images. I tried to select 3 that went well together and that formed a coherent image together. Did I succeed and does it present a fair image of the country pub as social center?

Friday evening at Darke Peak Hotel

At the Streaky Bay Hotel

Streaky Bay Hotel

Poochera Hotel Revisited

Having returned to home country I have had the opportunity to develop some of the film I took during my road trip. Yes, I carted around an analogue camera as well. It’s an entry model Canon SLR bought for next to nix on eBay. The shots here are all shot on TRI-X and scanned with a Reflecta crystal scan 7200.

When I stayed at Poochera Hotel I thought some of the interior would come out better in BW than color. In particular the dining room that was beautifully preserved from, well, perhaps folks from Down Under can pinpoint the epoch better than I. I thought it was very homely. More’s the pity that it was empty.

The dining room at Poochera Hotel

The dining room at Poochera Hotel

There was some beautiful items there. From the 50ies?

The dining room at Poochera Hotel

The front bar was almost as empty as the dining room on the day I was there.

Poochera Hotel, front bar

I stayed overnight at the hotel. The rooms were, as they usually are in country hotels, basic. They do serve the purpose for which they are offered: for the weary traveler to get some sleep.

Guest accommodation at Poochera Hotel

I do think that B/W captures the atmosphere quite a lot better than the color images I took.

Back to Streaky Bay

I had decided that I wanted to see the Nullarbor. Not necessarily cross it, since it’s a rather long ride and what’s more I would have to drive back the same way. After a reasonably long day’s drive I had arrived. It’s a rather magnificent sight and experience. This time I did not feel I needed to see all 1000km of it.

The Nullarbor plain

Besides, once I was there I realized, somewhat to my horror, that I had left the charger for the computer in Poochera. Even worse, the power adapter was also in Poochera and the camera battery was just about to go flat. On the upside, my analogue camera got a bit of use.

Have you seen Wallace & Grommit? A Grand Day Out? In one part of my journey I wondered if I was somehow part of a Grand Day Out.

A Grand Day Out

After a while I came to the belief that the farmers in this part of the country recycle their old fridges as mailboxes.

After having retrieved charger and adapter from Poochera I had 2 days to spend before meeting some locals with whom I’ve had e-mail contact. In the end I decided to go back to Streaky Bay, it’s such a lovely place. As a bonus, the hotel is great to stay at.

Front bar, Streaky Bay Hotel