The sounds of war
Echo across
The oceans of time:
We remember
Our local war memorial in High Cross Park, Randwick. I took this photo earlier today to mark Remembrance Day. The memorial was originally dedicated in 1925 and contains a scroll with the names of over four thousand Randwick residents who served in the First World War. Over time plaques remembering the soldiers of the Second World War, Borneo and Vietnam have also been added. Lest we forget.
Photo and haiqua © CJ Levinson 2012
In my dreams
I am a bird
Flying high above the world,
Truly free
A rainbow lorikeet perched on our balcony, looking around to see if anyone’s home. Several lorikeets have been visiting us every day recently and they’ve been very friendly. This one posed for a photo in return for an apple slice.
If you haven’t seen them before, rainbow lorikeets are a species of Australasian parrot most commonly found in the eastern states. They’re beautiful and very colourful but can be very loud at times and quite aggressive, particularly when defending their territory.
I edited the photo to look more like a painting as I wanted to give it a bit of a different effect. The original photo is here if you want to compare them.
Photo and haiku © CJ Levinson 2012
Stone tombs
Looking out
Over an endless ocean:
They still remember
Took this panorama looking out across Waverley Cemetery and the ocean during the Bondi to Bronte beach walk we did last week. It’s a very peaceful spot and one of my favourites along the entire walk; the view is spectacular and I often like to stop there for a few minutes to think and enjoy the peace and quiet.
I know a lot of people find cemeteries quite eerie places but I’ve always found them interesting, particularly as subjects for photography and my writing. As a child we lived next to the cemetery at St. Jude’s Church while my parents worked there as vergers and I remember thinking about all the tombs and how sometimes they almost seemed like trees, listening silently to the world go by. I’m often reminded of that when walking past Waverley Cemetery as well, with all the old tombs looking out across the ocean, and that’s what inspired the haiku.
You can click on the photo to make it larger to see it in more detail as well.
Photo and haiku © CJ Levinson 2012
Walking across
Ancient shores,
Thinking of a time when
This land was free
Went for a walk with the wonderful @AlexandraRobin3 on Sunday and took this shot looking across Bronte Beach around midday, just before the beach started to fill up for the day. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun taking photos, although we got badly sunburnt unfortunately – think it’s worth it though when you get shots like this.
Bronte’s one of my favourite beaches in Sydney; I like Coogee and Bondi too but Bronte has a different, more relaxed feel and it’s a great place to spend the day. If you ever visit Sydney, I highly recommend doing the Bondi to Bronte beach walk. It takes in most of Sydney’s most famous beaches and has beautiful views.
The finished photo is actually a panorama consisting of four separate photos which I combined in Photoshop Elements to give the elongated effect. I took it with my Canon 7D but most cameras (even phones) can do it if you like the effect – you just need to remember to keep your photos level and let them overlap enough so that you can join them together in something like AutoStitch (free) later.
The haiku was inspired by a feeling I had later in the day, when I was sitting with Alex and looking out at the ocean, thinking about what it must have looked like 250 years ago to the original Aboriginal landowners, before the intervention of Europeans. There’s a lot I’m proud of about modern Australia but I often feel sad about the amount we have lost as well and particularly how we have treated the first Australians… I couldn’t help but think of that while I sat there, watching the waves crashing against the sand, and so I guess that found its way into the haiku as well.
You can click on the photo to make it larger as well if you’d like to see it in more detail.
Photo and haiku © CJ Levinson 2012
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