Since 2013 I have been taking photographs of my surroundings on my phone, including examining topography and geomorphology of sites including: the Merri Creek, Anglesea environs, Warratah Bay, local construction sites and the sky. The sky photos were initially a way to document the weather of the day, to add a datum point for the soil/construction images, however I soon realised that it was a project in its own right.
The initial sky images are primarily urban in nature, reflecting my immediate locations. They also reflect time and the importance of place attachment by locating the viewer within and subject to the environment, and the resulting subtle or dramatic changes of climate.
The idea of being more connected to the natural environment as we travel through our lives prompted the concept of ‘Looking Up’, to admire, notice and appreciate our daily weather and cloud systems. At this point, the project is located in Melbourne and I am using a small mobile device to document and capture the vastness of the sky and atmosphere. It seems both a fitting and ironic choice to then translate the photographs into much larger digital prints. Below are the first prints of this series.
Heather Hesterman 