The Shearers Ballet

This is one of my favorite shots. A real challenge.

I worked in this woolshed on and off for a week and a half while six shearers and several support crew fleeced 17,000 sheep.

It took me quite a few days to figure out how to get the shot. It all had to do with the time of day.

I don’t work with lights and I couldn’t light this place anyway. In the mornings though the sun is low and light streams in through the doors where the shorn sheep go out into a holding pen.

There’s a wooden wall on the other side and the light bounces off that back onto the shearers.

The other good things about the timing was the men had just started work.

They were all more or less at the same stage in their work, so to get them all with their heads down and in line had to be done at the start of a session.

All the arms working gracefully as one – well that was just a fluke.

You’ve got to hand it to these blokes, they work bloody hard. This is the Beltana Station Woolshed in March and most days it was around 40C degrees inside.