Lost Galleon

Description

I’d heard through many sources - and seen examples of aerial images captured there - that the Yorke Peninsula, in South Australia, was a fantastic opportunity to photograph the many dried lakes in the region. In November 2025, I set out, with a couple of photographer friends, on the 12-hour, two-day drive from my home in Melbourne to Stansbury on the east coast of the Peninsula. There were photoshoots along the way - but they are for another day. We spent the first two days on the Peninsula and while some of the shots I captured might be interesting, overall by day three I was becoming a bit despondent that nothing had really grabbed me. Then late on that third day, we were cruising down a dirt road towards a much-touted lighthouse, when one of my friends pointed out a small orange coloured lake, off the road toward our left. It was not one I had previously identified as a possible photo opportunity. We stopped and I put the drone up, not really expecting to see much. But as the drone approached the shoreline, I noticed heaps of old driftwood, rotting fenceposts, rusted and salt encrusted vehicles and even a few burned out bonfires. ‘Lost Galleon’ is one of a series of images captured over that little un-named lake, late in an overcast day. The almost upright shape at the centre hints at a broken mast, the more horizontal shapes are in fact shadows of fence posts. I invite your imagination to wander over this image and think of the wind, the waves and the power of the elements to create such fury and sadness at the loss of a once-beautiful ship.