Drought and the Murray River

Canon 1Ds II, f2.8 24-70mm lens, Robinson 22 helicopter.

One of the interesting things around here lately is the number of requests coming through for stock photos of the Murray River dying. One from an international agency requested pictures of the river dry... but not from drought , rather it must be dry from over use of irrigation water. Now it must be difficult for international editors to understand that the Murray River isn't really a river in the true sense of the word. Rivers by nature ebb and flow. During rainy seasons more water flows down them, sometimes causing flooding. During dry periods the amounts of water flowing down them decreases to the point they sometimes stop running altogether.

The Murray River however, is managed more as an irrigation channel. During wet periods huge amounts of water are stored upstream in dams and river flows are tightly controlled to ensure that there are sufficient flows to meet irrigation, human and so called environmental flows. The stored water being released during dry times to ensure that these needs are still maintained. So that now even when water shortages are critical, river levels haven't change dramatically with all the dams and weirs doing their job. But if your an editor needing to illustrate the river in drought, the picture above which looks like a totally normal river, despite the fact that it is a recent shot of the Murray River near Mildura under drought conditions, is totally useless. You really need to show something graphic, like dry cracked river beds, or tree roots exposed by unusually low water levels, or dead or dying marine life.

That leaves me in a bit of a predicament. Do I continue to resist the temptation to fudge reality and start submitting images which although not factual, do illustrate the rivers situation? Or do I forgo the income and only submit images that are genuinely of the Murray as it is now? It's really easy to find some swamp that is currently dry, take a few shots and flog them off to buyers who probable don't care that much about truth anyway.

That my friends is the problem for me. I know a number of my competitors have elected to supply what the client wants. More stock images of the Murray River and it environs can be found here, and our good friend Paul Atkins has some new shots of the lower lakes of the Murray here.

Hey its raininig

Yep its raining on the outback photographers world and I’m so happy about that. This isn’t heavy rain but its rain and thats great. No big deal for most people but when your in the midst of a seemingly never ending "dry spell’, rain is the best medicine you could possibly imagine.

You see for those of you who are not from the south eastern parts of Australia, we are going through the "worst drought in a thousand years", something that I doubt myself but its a good line for governments trying to escape criticism for years of failing to develop infrastructure to cater for growing populations and subsequent increases in demand for water. Our current rain fall for this year is under 25% of normal and that follows years of below average falls. Farmers drawing irrigation water from the Murray River near Mildura were this year restricted to using just 48% of there water allocation, but next irrigation season face far greater restrictions on the amounts of water they will be allocated. Less water, obviously means less production and in many cases they will be forced from the land and in many cases their land may be retired from production permanently.

One of the things about being a photographer based in the Australian outback or the "Bush" as locals often refer to it, is our dependence on rural families for much of our client base. When the rural economy suffers, rural photographers feel the heat in a big way. That requires looking further afield for jobs, which is not all that bad of a deal, because photographers should always be pushing themselves to get outside their comfort zone and events such as drought, fire and even some times flood all help to make us think outside the box.

Dry lake

Canon 1D II with 16-35mm f2.8 USM lens.

I guess it's what you'd call irony... When I get to go to an awesome location in a dry lake bed surrounded by old dead trees and acres of dried, deeply cracked mud, that mother nature decides to turn on a couple of hours of dull cloudy whether punctuated with the occasional light shower of rain. But who cares, I've found a fabulous location for some fine art nude photography, all I have to do now is wait for the weather to get a little warmer ( some that the model doesn't turn blue0 and hope that the dry lake doesn't become a wet lake before then.

Weather...

Canon 1Ds II with 100-400 f 4.5-5.6 lens @ 100mm

Weather, happens every day, in fact every minute of every day. For some it is nothing more than an inconvenience for others weather occurrences can be life threatening. As we here in South Eastern Australia enter Autumn, where days are gentle, warm, and generally pleasant, today we have a forecast of strong damaging winds, high fire danger, locally raised dust with a slim possibility of rain. Rain would be nice but it seems to have forgotten how to do that around these parts.

Today the outback photographer awoke to the sounds of strong winds buffeting trees around the yard, the air already filling with dust whipped up from the parched land and the promise of a very ordinary sort of day. On the bright side the only two shoots we have today are both in the studio and the sunrise this morning over the Murray River was simply stunning. The shot above grabbed as strengthening winds chopped up the surface of a normally smooth river, reflecting the sunrise and creating amazing patterns of light.

52 years on...

Canon 1Ds II 16-35mm f2.8 @16mm

While doing a quick location search around Lake Wendouree the other morning, I couldn't help myself, I had to shoot a couple of the usual corny pictures of an empty lake. The shot above appealed to me for a number of reasons. The Olympic circles mounted proudly as part of the Ballarat Olympic Precinct, the repetition of the circles in the foreground monument, a small child cycling to school along a well used exercise track and a dry lake bed directly behind the child.

The irony of the shot is that Lake Wendouree was the site for the 1956 Olympic Rowing, Canoeing and Kayaking events, with the rowing finish line almost directly behind this young child. Oh how drought and time change things.

Biggest Blokes Dayout!

The tiny township of Deniliquin has a long and proud history. Nestled on the edge of the New South Wales Outback, and long associated with the grazing and irrigation industries the local community is feeling the undeniable effects of a prolonged and particularly nasty drought.

Concerned at the effect the drought and associated stress was having on the male population, many of whom spend weeks at a time on isolated properties with little or no social contact. It was decided to put on a "Blokes Day Out". Over two thousand Aussie males crowed onto the Pretty Pine Sports Oval, to enjoy a day just looking at "Boys Toys", chatting, being entertained fed and watered all for FREE. Thats right free entry, free food, free soft drinks and water, plus an array of talented performers all for free.
The outback photographer was sent by his good wife Robyn, just to have a look around and to catch up with old friends. "You might take a few photos while your there! You just never know what you might come across." were her parting words as I headed out the gate of our Yelta based studio, crossed the Murray River and headed south.

Now I know the ladies are going to think the idea of a Blokes Only Dayout is a little unfair, but statistics indicated that the male population is having more difficulty coping with drought related stress than the girls. This born out by the increasing numbers of men taking their own lives in drought ravaged rural communities. Ladies shouldn't be too concerned though as I hear there is to be a "Ladies High Tea Day" to be held near Deniliquin some time in November. A day of fashion and fun for all women.

Among the many attractions at the "Biggest Blokes Day Out" were line up of vintage Indian Motorcycles in all stages of repair and disrepair. The image above of the blue Indian Motorcycle was shot by holding my camera at ground level while attracting more than a couple of strange looks from passers by. This bike caught my eye not because it was all that outstanding but because it had a split personality. The bike is an India, but the motor was very clearly out of a Vincent. Now I'm a photographer and not into bikes but I know the Indian is American made, and the Vincent was a British cycle, which to my mind makes this bike a bit of a character. And characters there were quite a few, including the bloke with the beard above.

Water... are we serious?

The other day while driving back from a location check, we took a small detour through an area that I hadn't visited from probably 20 plus years. A once thriving farming area is now not much more than a wasteland. As water for irrigation has become more expensive, the farmers, mostly dairy producers have been forced off the land, leaving vast tracks of land weed infested and unused. Now you could argue that poor farming practices led to the downfall of these farmers, and I would have to agree. flood irrigation of crops, to me seems to be entirely wasteful.

A number of resilient an innovative producers are making a go of farming their land, turning to newer farming and management practices, while producing higher value products. But the one thing that stood out most to me was the method of delivering water to the farm. Open earthen channels criss crossed the area. Large wide dirt channels. A channel system right out of the stone age, in fact this is the most primitive way of delivering water in existence and its still in use. These channel systems are maintained by semi government authorities and have been for over a hundred years. In that time it seems to me that these delivery systems have had nothing other than cosmetic changes made to them. Farmers have paid ever increasing amounts of money for their water. The revenues from the sale of water have been steadily flowing back into government coffers and in return the irrigators have been getting little in return. They have admittedly received their water, delivered to them in via the most primitive methods available.

It must really hurt farmers to be now hear governments talk about taking a long hard look at the viability of these areas and closing down pumped districts which still use channel systems. Favoring instead to make land available to large corporations who will bring to the areas modern irrigation practices that small farmers are unable to do. Quite funny in a way. Successive governments have milked the water cash cow for years, by taking the farmers money, but refusing to reinvest any of the earnings back into the irrigation schemes, then when the going gets tough, pointing a finger at farmers, telling them they are inefficient uses of a vital resource and they'll have to go.

Making the most of the drought

Canon 1Ds II, 24-70mm lens

The drying lake bed of Lake Boga near Swan Hill, Victoria, is a very popular water ski-ing and holiday destination but this boating and swimming sign give us an indication that there may not be much in the way of water sports at the popular lake this year.

A day of inspiration

After a 4am start yesterday and a 3 hour drive to my first location I was reminded of how successful people always seem to take advantage of adversity and turn it in a positive.
Shooting for a corporate client, my first location yesterday was a large and successful cereal grain growing farm, where despite the currently drought conditions the farmer is achieving very impressive yields from his crops using newly developed farming techniques.
Then it was another hours drive to an irrigated property which has little or no irrigation water available to it this year. The farmer has responded by taking advantage of this unique opportunity to redevelop a large area of his property, because normally the ground is to wet to allow major earth works to be undertaken. So while there is no production on his property this year, there is major redevelopment being undertaken so that when conditions finally improve he will be able to take full advantage of the new technologies that his is putting in place.

Big Dry

In keeping with the drought theme this photograph was taken recently on a trip to Adelaide, strong winds were kicking up a large amount of localized dust. While I'm the first to admit this isn't a great image, it is a true look at what happens in the Mallee region of Australia during a period of drought. I'm really glad my Canon 1 series cameras are dust and moisture sealed, because the middle of a dust storm isn't a good place to have your cameras.