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| Map of Tasmania - Red Pins indicate 'Ghost Towns' |
I’ve been heavy on the research for my new project, gang, which is why the new post is only coming now. I thought I might tell you about some challenges I’ve discovered with the project, and I think we should probably break it down by zones, so...
Northwest Tasmania
Of all the locations
I’m considering for this project, I think Moina (right) is going to be the
easiest to work with. You see, Moina (red pin) is not a huge great distance
from where I live (yellow pin). That means I can just travel from home to the
site for all my shoots. The scouting shoots will be easiest, because I will
mostly be looking for features to serve as subjects for my project and learning
about how and where the light comes into the location. For the final shoot I
might have to get up unsociably early and get home uncommonly late in order to
get the right light, but I think I can cope (I think...).
The three locations
in the Northeast of Tasmania (left) offer more of a challenge. To start with,
the area on the map is a good 260-odd km from my place, so it won’t be a quick
jaunt like Moina. Instead, I think I’m going to have to go stay in the area,
which offers its own challenges. You see, there are about 60-70 km between
Boobyalla (top pin) and Mathinna (bottom pin) as the crow flies, and as you can
see the roads don’t follow the crow (The middle pin is Lottah). So now I have to decide whether to pick a base
central to all three locations and plan my days accordingly, or to approach
each location separately and organise accommodation appropriately. I think I’ll
have to visit the area and do a quick driving tour. Then I’ll have a better
idea of what I’m dealing with. Maybe the scouting shoot could be from a central
base, and then separate bases for the main shoots? I’ll let you know.
Central Tasmania
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| Location of Waddamana |
This is another easy
one; there are no real decisions to be made, accommodation-wise at least. Waddamana
in central Tasmania is 200km from where I live, meaning I’ll be looking for a
hotel or caravan park or similar to stay at. No, the big challenge with
Waddamana, and with some other locations on my list, is something I’ll cover at
the end of this post. It’s an important consideration for the project, so I
think it deserves its own segment.
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| Adamsfield (left pin) and Tyenna (right pin) |
Tyenna and
Adamsfield are in central southern Tasmania, not far from Hobart
(comparatively), and I think they are going to give me a chance to indulge
myself a little bit. You see, I’ve been wanting to get down to Hobart since the
last time I lived in Tasmania back in 2008; I could just never justify it. But
now, with Hobart being so close to two of my sites, I’m thinking I can stay in Hobart
for my scouting trips. That way I get to scout my locations and I get to visit Hobart. Win! When it
comes to the final shoots, there is a caravan park in the area with a good
reputation that might just do for a spot to pitch my tent (keep tent-pitching
in mind, I have an idea about that).
West Coast
It turns out that
the universe loves me! See this line of pins (right)? See Queenstown in the
middle there? Regular readers will know that Queenstown is where my super-secret contact
lives, which means that half of the ghost towns on my list are a short trip
from my super-secret contact’s house! Lucky or what? Yeah, I will again find
myself having to get up unsociably early and get home uncommonly late and yeah,
that might be inconvenient for my super-secret contact but... well... he should
have thought of that before having a second kid, shouldn’t he? (And now I have
nowhere to stay in Queenstown!)
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| My Tent - Pitched! |
Remember the 'Tent-Pitching' thing from earlier? Well, when I think about
going out to these ghost towns my instincts tell me that what I really need to
do to get a feel for each location is camp
in the ghost town. Think about it - spending days
immersed in the environment you are photographing. Drinking in the atmosphere, living inside the history of the place. What better way can there be of
coming to know how the place needs to be portrayed? The problem is that I just
don’t know if it is allowed!
The first problem is
that I’m kinda vague on the exact location of some of these ghost towns, and
some of them might turn out to be in national parks. If they are I will need to
abide by the rules of each park and I may have to seek special permission,
which can get complicated fast!
But even if none of
my locations are in national parks there may still be rules about camping in
ghost towns. Are they heritage-listed? Are there special provisions for the
preservation of these sites? I don’t know. Hopefully, though, I can camp at
these ghost towns so I can get that experience I described up there ↑!
Potential Project Problem!
Here’s the thing; my
project is called Abandoned Spaces,
right? Well some of these ‘Ghost towns’ seem to be populated. Confused yet? Me
too! Let me explain and let me use Waddamana as an example:
Waddamana is the
location of one of Tasmania’s first hydro-electric power stations. According to
the ‘Discover Tasmania’ website, the station is now a museum that tour groups
can visit, with accommodations at the Waddamana Field Study Centre. And
the Field Study Centre is apparently in the original village where the dam
builders lived. Now, here’s my question:
If people are
living in Waddamana to run the museum, and Waddamana is now basically a hotel (follow this link to see what I mean), how can it
be a ghost town?
And I’m seeing
similar problems with other locations that are supposed ‘ghost towns’; they
would appear to be occupied. That does rather negate their ‘ghost town’ status,
wouldn’t you agree? Even if you allow there ‘ghost town’ status to remain
against all evidence, they still aren’t Abandoned
Spaces, are they?
Final Thoughts
So there are my
problems. Most of them are inconsequential; so long as I’m not sleeping naked
in the rain I can cope with most types of accommodation, and I like driving, so
it’s all good. But that last one? That’s a doozy! A photo story about Abandoned Spaces with no abandoned
spaces is going to be incredibly empty. In fact, it might turn out to be the
only Abandoned Space.
I hope you enjoyed
the read! As always, I invite comments, compliments, concerns or criticism. And
if you happen to have knowledge of Tasmania’s ‘ghost towns’, please get in
touch!
And look me up at:
Or:
And I am @BobCartPhoto on Twitter
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