27 Sep 2020 FILM DIARY

Yesterday I visited Palm Grove National Park with my stills camera to see if I could find any giant stinging trees. At the place where the Moreton Bay fig tree was felled by ex-cyclone Oswald in January 2013, the path diverges. To the right it leads to the Curtis Road entrance near the State School, to the left it embarks on a circuit exiting at the start of Palm Grove Avenue, 200 metres before the main entrance to the park. There was a lone giant stinging tree growing to the left of the school path, its leaves too far off the ground for filming. I retraced my steps to the junction and took the circuit path. I had barely walked 50 metres when I caught sight of a giant stinging tree with four leaves, emerging next to the path. It was only a few centimetres above the earth. I took six photos of it.

Today I returned to film it, taking shot after shot. I concluded the shoot by spreading the tripod on the ground for a series of low angle views of the underside of the leaves and a close-up of the minute stinging hairs on the surface of the smallest leaf, which in due course should make a revealing frame for the website.