It is that time of year again when it feels like there is a new gallery opening every night of the week, even more so this year, with the HeadOn and Reportage photo festivals being on simultaneously. I almost won't have to buy a drink for a month!

​The first of many exhibitions I will be going to was a joint show by Kojo Makino and Kurt Sorensen titled Illawarra. While both photographers' work is about the area and its relationship with the ocean, they tackle it in completely different ways.

The photographs of Sorensen were taken using the wet plate collodion technique to photograph the important locations of the shipwrecked crew ‘Sydney Cove' in 1797 as they trekked back to civilisation. They are much like Sally Mann's photographs of the Battlefields of the American Civil War in that you can feel that the land holds the history of previous events close.

​The photographs of Makino give a glimpse into the Australian Japanese culture present today on the Illawarra beaches. They are an interesting mix of landscapes and portraits.