Polaroid Diaries - The "Suburban Landscapes" Series

60 and Yellow 2.
Thursday, April 12, 2007, 4:02 PM

Dear Diary - I simply reduced my shutter speed slightly and look at how much more saturated the yellow became...

	A small patch of indigo sky stippled with the dark green patching of the trees, before the lush, solid line of the saturated yellow sound wall...the 60 sign holds itself away from the taunts of the passing traffic as it defiantly speed by...there is a break now in the almost constant flow of vehicles...
	Trucks and cars hurtle past...the sound of their passing sharpens slightly in pitch as they approach and then flattens suddenly as they disappear again leaving me striving to remember the name of this phenomenum...a motor bike revs by, its sound arcing, and I recall the doppler effect... Listen to a sound bite from this location... (*.mp3 format, 940KB)
	As ever, there are fumes and dust and soil and even a hint of tan bark and woodchip...
	The slightly rough and abrasive edge of the concrete barrier...the splintered edges of the wood chips which cover the softness of the dusty earth...
	I ate some sand once...the dust and woodchip bring a memory of this to mind...

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60 and Yellow 1.
Thursday, April 12, 2007, 4:01 PM

Dear Diary - This wall of the freeway falls just outside the borders of Moonee Valley, but I love the yellow and it is something that can be seen, pretty much as it is in the snap, from the MVCC side of the boundary line...simply jump back over the creek...

	The 60 speed limit sits huddled against the yellow soundbaffling wall, keeping itself out of the way of the passing traffic...
	Cars...trucks...the wind displaced by the passing vehicles...the sounds of people going from here to there... Listen to a sound bite from this location... (*.mp3 format, 940KB)
	As ever there are the fumes from the cars' exhausts...there is a plant nearby and I occasionally catch its grassy smell on the clumps of wind that are thrown toward me...
	The soft and dusty soil...the light slapping of the wind on my lens...the caressing warmth of the autumn sun...
	I take a mouthful of dust and mixed with a generous helping of petrol fumes...

Under The Freeway I Can See The Orange Sticks.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 8:09 AM

Dear Diary - another morning but this time found me , by contrast, surrounded by concrete and traffic, freeway and sculptural structures...

	The low slung starting rise of the freeway's bridge forms a dark and shadowed region between its underbelly and the ground...a razor's slash of light spurts forth the sight of sun blazoned, bright orange sculptured "sticks", rising from their concreted baseland, revealed in this letterbox gash...this scene is captured through my viewfinder...
	Cars and trucks hurtling past...light buffets of wind stirred up by the passing traffic... Listen to a sound bite from this location... (*.mp3 format, 940KB)
	The air is tinged with the fumes of the passing traffic...there is the smell of dust from the dry earth beneath the bridge...
	The concrete of the overpass is cool and its solidness reassure me...the dust beneath me is soft and cushions my tripod...
	It is dificult in some ways to swallow because the dust is easily kicked up and has dried me out slightly...this is the taste that arises when one is slightly parched...I wonder if this is what it tastes like to have chewed on a packet of desiccant...

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Horsey - Spring Gully Reserve.
Monday, April 09, 2007, 1:31 PM

Dear Diary - no matter how fast "horsey" goes, poor "horsey" never actually goes anywhere..."C'mon, Horsey! Giddy-up!!"

	Burnt orange playground horsey perched atop an industrial strength spring...bright and colourful in the strong sunlight, casting a clear and hard edged shadow on the woodchip covered ground...
	Birds (some type of parrots, I think) play in the nearby tree...the sound of cars on the freeway (only a matter of a 100 meters or so away)...a dog barks in the distance...a car speeds by... Listen to a sound bite from this location... (*.mp3 format, 940KB)
	Eucalyptus trees, tanbark, soil and grass all merge together...
	The metal of horsey's handlebars is hot...so is the seat making me glad I am just a camera and not a kid who would have to deal with the dilemma of simultaneously experiencing the pleasure of being able to "RIDE THE HORSEY!" whilst feeling the burning heat of the seat seering away at their bum...
	Some of the birds must have been eating on parts of the nearby gum tree because I can definitely taste the distinctive flavour of eucalyptus in the air

View from Ian Potter Gallery.
Monday, April 09, 2007, 1:04 PM

Dear Diary - through the shade mesh I noticed the shapes of the buildings rather than the buildings, themselves...

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Sign - Keep Off (The Train).
Monday, April 09, 2007, 10:39 AM

Dear Diary - although it wasn't immediately apparent and I had initially thought that it might be safe to step of the bridge and onto the passing train (thereby avoiding the need to purchase a ticket), once I noticed the sign it seemed to make a lot of sense all of a sudden...maybe it would not be so prudent (nor a budgetry saving) to attempt to "catch a train" in such an unorthodox manner...
thankyou sign, for your timely and (in retrospect) rather sensible warning...