Rare Desert Blooms - Roadtrip #

Every 20 years heavy rainfall in north Queensland caused a large mass of water to flow down into lake eyre thousands of km away in the centre of the continent. Taking months to move across the expansive desert landscape wildflowers not normally seen bloom in its wake. I’ve sought to capture the beautiful but rare sight of the desert flowers blooming in the early morning sunlight before they fade and landscape returns to dust and desert for the another 20 years.
Inspired by Geoffrey Smarts application of classical composition techniques and application of golden ratio, kept square to ensure the road doesn’t dominate while the sign suggests isolation and that seeing rare beauty mandates investment of time and effort. Using reference images from a road trip to Birdsville with my adult daughters Rosemary and Elizabeth. I build the image in layers, fixing each pastel layer before applying the next to build up intensity, contrast and allow earlier layers to show though adding richness to the image and hopefully, a sense of being there. I kept the image clean and sharp this time to suggest the cold frosty desert mornings and that deserts are very clean places.