Johanna Beach

Oh What a Beautiful Story

I remember taking this image as it holds quite a few memories for me and another version of it went on to be my biggest selling Limited Edition Print. Let me sort of start at the beginning.

 I grew up in Perth, one of six kids, I ended up settling in Victoria in 1996 after spending ten years of living and traveling Australia in an old bus that was converted to what we now call Motor Homes. One of my brothers was transferred to Victoria for work, so of course when he and his wife arrived I took them on a 3 day tour of The Great Ocean Road. We arrived at Johanna on dusk, we had booked a small cabin on a farm and the farmers wife showed us to our accommodation. Well I kid you not she was 3 parts full and funny as a wheel but we couldn't get rid of her. She finally left us alone and an hour later my brother pranked me by gazing out the window and saying " Oh no she is heading this way with a bottle of Sherry"
The next morning Ashley and I rose early and drove down to Johanna Beach, he was going to fish and I was going to take photo's. We could see there was a massive storm coming, I took a few images, the light was amazing and there was a fisherman in  bright yellow gear down the beach. It started to rain and I looked at Ash and he looked at me, we retreated to the car and the heavens opened and to this day I still think of that fisherman getting drenched on the beach.
I produced a Limited Edition version of this without the fisherman and sold many copies, it was an image that people just loved. I didn't sell many with the fisherman but one went into The Andrew Love Cancer Centre in Geelong hospital.

Fast forward to a month ago and I booked a cottage at Johanna Beach as my partner and I are celebrating our first amazing year together. (not the same cabin BTW) I was looking forward to getting back to Johanna and exploring the coastline around there with her as I hadn't been there for a while.

And THEN two weeks ago I received this email:

Hi Dean
I am contacting you in regards to a photograph in The Andrew Love Centre.
To cut a long story short my mother in law has had cancer and during her treatment she spotted one of your photographs on the wall. After viewing it for quite some time she came to the realization that, the man in the picture was her husband. What a surprise!
Seeing the photo for them was a special moment, as times were tough during her battle with breast cancer, this just seemed to put a smile on their faces. It also means a lot because Johanna is where they often camped together and then continued making trips down there once they had children. And still continue to visit every year and have family get together's with the grandchildren. So it's a fond childhood memory / family memory for everyone.
My father in law is turning 63 this month and my husband and I would really like to surprise him with a copy of this print. I know it will be a treasured memory for years to come.
Thanks for taking the time to help us with our request.

Isn't it amazing how an image can hold so many memories and how many years later it can connect people. Over the last 16 years I have given away many photos for fundraising and charities but giving this family a print was better than getting a Gold at APPA'S for me, to know the story of who the fisherman is and how they came across the image is absolutely priceless . It also reminds me of how important it is to make images and for people to see them, who knows what stories they will create in years to come.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share or leave a comment.