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About this photograph
A singer summons a lightning bolt.
A figure on the shore, arm up, at the moment a bolt lands out to sea. It is a joke and a piece of theatre — the title is not subtle — and it is included in the collection because a body of work about a shipwreck should not be uniformly solemn.
The timing is real. Lightning cannot be cued, so frames like this come from standing in the weather with the shutter running and accepting that most of what you get is empty sky.
About Redgate Beach and Calgardup Bay
Redgate Beach sits on the Calgardup Bay shoreline south of Margaret River, on the section of coast now followed by the Cape to Cape Track. It is an ordinary-looking surf beach with an extraordinary thing underneath it: the wreck of the SS Georgette, which grounded here on the morning of 1 December 1876 after her pumps failed and rising water put out her boiler fires.
The wreck lies a few metres down, just offshore. On a rare day — low swell, clear water, low tide, the sand moved off her — the hull shows as a dark line from the beach or from the air. Most days it is invisible, and most people walking the sand have no idea it is there.
The full account of the wreck — the failed pumps, the lifeboat, Grace Bussell and Sam Isaacs, and the inquiry that followed — is set out in the story of the SS Georgette. The research behind it is described in the author's preface.
About the print
Printed to order on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, a 100% cotton archival paper, and supplied with an edition number. Free shipping within Australia.
