I just got back from a shoot in Kinglake, where it was so cold after 20mins of shooting I could no longer feel my fingers. A stark contrast to feel so cold when surrounded by trees still blackened by the fire that ripped through over 18 months ago. At one point I huddled around a small heater that was set up on the construction site I was on and warmed my fingers with one of the tradies. They just hurt.
On the drive back to Melbourne I stopped to take a few shots of what I was seeing. Trying to make sense of how it might feel to be rebuilding here. Some houses look as old as the hills and I wonder how such flimsy looking structures are still standing when every tree surrounding it is charcoal. Streets are picketed with signs from builders ‘proudly helping to rebuild’. Some houses look like they’ve always been there, then just off to one side you notice a concrete slab, scattered with debris.
Here’s a couple of shots I took on the drive. A reminder that regeneration and rebuilding is a slow process.
