From Punk Rocker To Pink Rocker

Nature's Fairy Floss Comes On Delicate Branches

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

One of the many things I really love about living in Melbourne is the fact that the winter solstice arrives on 22 June, exactly three weeks after the official start of winter on 1 June. In other words, our days actually start get longer even before we are one-third of the way through winter.


Then the trees start to herald the promise of warmer weather. There is still ice on the cars and cruel frost on the ground when the wattle trees begin to bloom, with golden clouds of miniature blooms that dance in the cold breeze.

Come the last week of July and the fruit trees start to show puffs of light, dreamy pink. By the middle of August, the sun’s embrace brings a different quality of light and warmth.


These images were shot on the weekend, showing the most vivid promise that our winter only has two weeks remaining. The football season is drawing towards the business end. There is less need to wear a scarf on a cold morning. The sunlight breaks through our windows earlier than ever. And the light brings great promise for photographers.


When I shot these images, the sun was mostly hidden behind thick cloud and wild winds hit the state hard. All in all, not the best conditions to photograph tiny blooms like these. But that's the real challenge - of being able to work with Nature, to depict Nature.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.