I think windmills are awesome. For me they capture a certain flavour of classic rural Australia, touched with a tinge of nostaliga. They perch on a landscape that often as not is as flat as a billiard table, framed against a changable sky in an act of defiance against an inhospitable climate. I’ve seen many photos of them backlit by a moody sunset sky, or standing among a collection of ramshackle farm buildings surrounded by parched earth and signs of man’s efforts to eke out survival.
This one we found just off the Oodnadatta Track in South Australia. This isn’t a great photo, nor even a great example of a windmill. It also happened to be sitting (as is often the case) next to a great big water-hole lined with tarpaulin that was photographically terribly inconvenient- hence no sweeping horizon to accompany the shot (though the horizon did indeed sweep). However it was the closest I came on this trip to realising my desire to catch a shot of a good old-fashioned Aussie windmill.
I’m hoping to be in rural Australia in a few weeks’ time. If I get more luck this time round, I’ll be sure to let you know…
