30 / The Sydney Dust Storm
The newspaper called it 'The day the country blew into town.' Where were you when our world turned red and we were biting dust?
I got up early, grabbed my gear - I thanked Canon all day long for making a dust proof camera - and made for the city. It was estimated there were about 5,000 tonnes of topsoil in the air. Some people thought Armageddon had visited them or believed it to be God's doomsday judgement. Farmers were accused of mis-managing their land, allowing the topsoil to be blown away - and weeks later it would be said that the dust, once blown into the ocean, provided many nutrients for the see, enhancing fish stocks. Cool.
Anyway, I have never seen so many photographers in one place, amateur and professionals alike. One hobby photographer wore a dust-mask over his mouth - I advised him to rather wrap his camera in it; but I was met with a blank stare. I wonder how many cameras have ceased functioning since Sep 23?
As the morning wore on the colour changed from a deep red, via orange to a light brown - the colour being as much the result of the early morning sun-light as the pigments in the dust (the colour in the photographs is not manipulated.) Just after midday the whole spook was history - due to the same strong winds that brought the spectacle on in the first place. Click here for more pictures.