No Country For Old Men, a photo from New South Wales, East

Photographer's Note

This is a photo of my family's old property Cornucopia near Narromine, western New South Wales. The townlet is actually called Timbrebongie, but Craig and Andrew won't believe me, so I'll just say Narromine.

What you see here used to be a running creek. In the drought it ran dry. The land was in my family from 1885 until just after the Second World War, when its original 20,000 acres was subdivided and sold off. The property ran sheep, cattle, wheat and bred draught horses. There are still family members living on different sub-divisions of this land.

The township has a population of about 4,000 people today. it was settled in about 1882 and originally took the name Narramine (from the Aboriginal meaning "honey person"). It was changed to Narromine in 1900. Although it's a very small country town, it has bred many famous sportsmen and women, such as Australian cricketer Glen McGrath, sprinter Melinda Gainsford, and footballers David Gillespie and Justin Smith.

Apologies if the image is a little fuzzy, there was a huge wind blowing at the time.

In my Workshop you can see an old photo of some of my family working the land.

Canon 30D
f/32
1/60 seconds
ISO 200
70mm using 70-200m lens

Sonata11, jjcordier, tyro, ikeharel, Silvio1953, mirosu, macjake, Gigidusud, thebest has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Sonata11 (28341) 2013-01-22 20:40

Hi dear Lisa,
frankly, this story about your family's old property is sooo sad, that this happend. As we can see, how the weather can destroy everything. I hope you're ok!
Thank you so much for sharing, Lisa.
I wish you all the best,
Barbara

tyro (13101) 2013-01-23 1:07

Ciao cara Lisa,

Your note is so very interesting and I love your workshop picture of some of your ancestors working the land here - a real treasure. But perhaps this land was not as fruitful as that in other areas - it must definitely have been a very, very hard life for those trying to survive and scratch a living.

Your main picture definitely demonstrates the arid nature of the landscape, though I do see a field of crops of some sort on the left of this dried up creek.

I agree that this picture might not be one of your most artistic or very best, but it does show the landscape perfectly - definitely not a land for the faint hearted.

Lovely!

Kind Regards,

John.

P.S. But why, in windy conditions, did you use a microscopic aperture of f/32 and a slow shutter speed of just 1/60 second - surely you didn't need that much depth of field? Or, like me, did you just get muddled up with the settings? :)

carlo62 (12610) 2013-01-23 1:28

Ciao Lisa
non è certo una delle foto più spettacolari che hai fatto, ma porta con se tutto il sentimento legato alla famiglia, al suo percorso, alle glorie ed alle difficoltà che portano gli anni.
Un abbraccio
Carlo

lousat (57674) 2013-01-23 2:09

Ciao Lisa,ci mostri un pezzo di storia della tua famiglia che e' molto importante per te,una foto che sembra scattata nella mia campagna in Agosto..ehehe..semplice ma ricca di significato.Buona serata,Luciano

ikeharel (37356) 2013-01-23 3:43

Hi Lisa,
Thought you had to give evidence with the WS's, and yet I find the story really interesting.
Dry and red land, hard life was 100 years back to cultivate such land: not that I am scholared with agri.-techniques...
Fine conveyed a massage, wind blowing not good for the camera - but show this just fine.
Cheers,
Ike

Silvio1953 (98183) 2013-01-23 6:13

Ciao Lisa, interessante la storia, ma io qui non ci posso andare che son vecchietto, gran bella prospettiva, splendida luce e magnific colori caldi, brava, un abbraccio, ciao Silvio

Sergiom (39259) 2013-01-23 6:29

Ciao Lisa

No country for old man indeed. When it rain, it really rain, and when it is dry, it is really dry. I always tought that your family came from Italia not so long ago and that your original name was Del Pipolo. My mistake I guess. It is fun to make storys in our head.

Have a nice day

Serge

ACL1978 (5783) 2013-01-23 17:56

Oh, I believe you. I find it endlessly hilarious, but I believe you.

I'm sorry the story of your family's ownership here came to such an unfortunate end, but I'm glad some members are still around. Interesting POV looking down the dried creek from inside it. At the very least, the soil appears to be good for growing healthy grass - nice bright greens there, though sparse. What's growing there on the left?

Andrew

mirosu (5533) 2013-01-24 4:19

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for intersting introduction. No Country for Old Man, but I love your country, that why I'm visiting it as often as I can. I like this view along the dry creek and the typical red soil. My dream still is to see a part of Australian outback. Well done.

Noel_Byrne (7374) 2013-01-24 12:45

Gidday Lisa.
How cool to have such a personal connection to a shot. It's a sad thing to know that drought destroyed this heritage, but in saying that, a cool thing to come back,and share an image like this with the world so we can all appreciate it. Back its glory days, I guess the idea if somebody on the other side of the world seeing this place like this is unimaginable. How things have changed.
From the thumbnail, I actually thought this says a road way, my Irish eyes are not used to seeing dry creeks or rivers, so a cool thing to see. I have to admit, when I did think this was a road, I was picturing that scene from the tv show the hulk, where the lonely david banner walks away at the end of the show with the lonely theme music. Sorry, an insight into a strange mind there :)
Lolly rich and colourful shot, and the personal history makes it the better. Thanks for sharing, and have a fantastic weekend

All the best
Noel

ifege (9440) 2013-01-25 1:09

Hi Lisa
I hope that you've read the book (or at least seen the film) - looks much safer than settings in the book! Didn't know you had this bush connection - hope to see more.
A great rural Oz view.
cheers
Ian

macjake (39235) 2013-01-25 22:19

Hi Lisa
this is another one of your posts that comes from the heart - you have one of these every few weeks or so.
its not so much about the photo, its the importance of the story behind it.
and most often it involves family members from the present or the past, if not both.
the WS photo adds to the interest too.
nicely done!
see you around!
cheers
Craig

Gigidusud (8078) 2013-01-28 13:24

Carissima Lisa,
Un'immagine ricca di significato con questa terra legata alla tua famiglia.Interessante la note e il WS.Mi piace molto la terra rosso del tuo paese.
Un grosso abbraccio.
Ghislaine

thebest (3370) 2013-02-06 16:47

Hi Lisa,

Sounds like a movie title???
Excellent depth of field... I think that is the correct term... So much to learn.
Yes the harsh rugged landscape & the dried up creeks is sad to see - Gus & I saw a lot of creeks [ water [ irrigation ] canals ] around the agricultural properties in & around Griffith & signs '' NO WATER NO GRIFFITH '' These remote area's rely so heavily on rainfalls.
Seeing your image is a sad reality of what happens when there's no rain.
There does appear to be life though & a bit of greenery around.
Interesting notes Lisa.

Kindest regards,
Dawn.

fritzi007 (7580) 2013-02-12 4:20

Hello Lisa,
The title is really very good, the picture quality and the commentary informative
Wish you a good time
Wolfgang