Category Archives: Landscapes

Photo of the Month – April 2013 2

Australia, Landscapes, Photo of the Month, Travel, Walk-About Series, Wildlife • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PHOTO OF THE MONTH – April 2013

Kangaroo anyone?

Every year I try and take a week and basically just walk around somewhere. Backpack, some camera gear, and ideally some good weather.

This month I headed to the Snowy Mountains, in New South Wales, Australia. This is Australia’s highest mountain range, and home to the country’s highest peak… Mount Kosciuszko.

I will cover the trip in a future blog, but for now here are a couple of happy snaps of some of the locals.

Snowy Mountains, Australia

Are You Looking at Me?

Australia’s bush abounds with a lot of wildlife and bird-life, and if you don’t mind getting off the beaten track a little you will get to see it in their own backyard.

Both these images were taken hand-held with a Canon EOS-1Dx and EF100-400 f/4.5-5.6L lens. I can’t say this particular lens is high on my ‘like’ list (for lots of reasons), but as a general purpose travel lens it has it moments… like these two examples.

Magpie in the Snowy Mountains

Magpie in the Snowy Mountains

Had a great trip and will certainly go back.

That’s It… See You There!

Photo of the Month – February 2013 Reply

Landscapes, Photo of the Month, Travel, U.S.A., Walk-About Series, Wildlife • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PHOTO OF THE MONTH – February 2013

This month’s photo comes from Montana, and The Little Bighorn National Park to be exact.

I was in the general area (well I was in the same State) to take photos of a Professional Bull Riding (PBR) event, so I managed to arrive a little early to do some sight seeing.

Wild Ponies in Montana

Wild Ponies in Montana

The park itself contains the battlefield site (as you would expect), as well as the Battlefield Monument and various other memorials.

From the US National Parks site: “This area memorializes the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indian’s last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, died fighting several thousand Lakota, and Cheyenne warriors”.

While I was driving to one of the smaller memorials I came across this herd of wild ponies. They were simply eating and roaming, so I hopped out of the car and took some happy snaps of them. There would have been around 20 of them all up.

Tree at Little Bighorn

Tree at Little Bighorn

A little further along the same way I came across this lone dead tree off the road a bit.  Would have made for a cool photo with a little more cloud in the sky, but a pleasant walk none the less.

That’s It… See You There!

Photo of the Month – January 2013 Reply

Boats, Landscapes, Middle East, Photo of the Month, Structures, Travel • Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

First Photo of the Month for 2013, and the first overseas trip for the year…. not bad given that I left before the first week was done and dusted.

Note: click on the photos to make them larger.

The week prior I drove 3,000Kms (1,800 miles) round trip for xmas lunch, so have put a few road and air miles down this year already.

It is not often you can say that the Middle East is cooler than where you live… no matter where you live. I was in Dubai a few months ago and it was 51 Celsius (124F) in the shade at 7:30am.

Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina

I left Sydney a couple of days ago, with much of the State of New South Wales, and much of Australia for that matter listed as Extreme to Catastrophic Bushfire risk conditions, with a number of bushfires burning out of control. Temperatures in many places (including where I live) were in or above the mid 40s (115+F).

Dubai right now is in the high 20s (80F), and very pleasant. Winter in the desert.

These two panorama photos were taken literally 5 minutes apart. They are both 11 shot handheld Panoramas, stitched together in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina

That’s It… See You There!

Walk About at The Entrance Reply

Australia, Birds, Equipment, HDR, Landscapes, Structures, Techniques, Travel, Walk-About Series • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WALK ABOUT AT THE ENTRANCE

Have you ever heard the name of a place and had little clue as to what it was?

Well The Entrance is one of those places for me. And no I wasn’t that dumb not to work out that it was likely where a river met the sea, but that was about it.

But that isn’t why I went.

Jetty on Tuggerah Lake

A number of Photographers’ have taken some really cool images of some Jetties that are in the water there. Tuggerah Lake as it turns out.

The Entrance is actually where Tuggerah Lake meets the Pacific Ocean via a tidal channel at it’s southern end.

Timing is everything they say. I happened to be attending an Australian Institute of Photography (AIPP) event (called The Event wouldn’t ya know) in The Hunter Valley. So on the way home I made a slight detour and went and had a look for myself.

The term Long Jetty seems to be bandied about when referring to these jetties. As it turns out, Long Jetty is actually a suburb located on a peninsula between Tuggerah Lake and the Pacific Ocean. And… it isn’t one jetty, but three, called: Parrys Jetty, Walkins Jetty, and of course, Long Jetty.

Tuggerah Lake

The Entrance is around 100km (60 miles) north of Sydney and is a coastal resort type of place. A spot you go to on the weekend to hang out, have some good food, and simply mess around at the beach.

The Jetties themselves are nothing spectacular if taken as single structures, but the fact that there are three of them relatively close together, and how they are situated on the lake make them worth a look, and a photograph or two.

On The Jetty

The sun sets straight down the end of the jetty and goes down behind the hill is in the background. So if you are lucky and the right atmospheric conditions prevail the sky is extremely vibrant, as is the reflection off the water.

It wasn’t so great when I was there (not bad though), but I have seen some absolutely spectacular photographs by others. One such photographer worth checking out is Ken Duncan.

Setting Sun

Shallow coastal areas are cool places to see some bird life. No surprise to see the perennial tourist bird, The Pelican strutting around everywhere.

I was surprised to see so many Black Swans. We had them at our house when I was a kid growing up, so I am very familiar with these dudes. My job was to clean their swimming pond… and as a small kid I used to get the stuffing knocked out of me by a big male (called Dudley) who thought he owned the place.

All up the place is worth a visit. Whether it be to simply have some fish and chips near the beach, or to go and take some photos of the Jetties.

Pelicans, Black Swans & a few Ducks

Well That’s It…. See You There!

Photo of the Month – September 2012 Reply

Australia, HDR, Landscapes, Photo of the Month, Structures • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Well here is the next photo of the month in the series. As usual I have provided at the end of the post, the very next image that was taken after this one.

September 2012 - LENNOX BRIDGE

Lennox Bridge in Glenbrook

This photo was actually the one that I set out to take and post last month. I got side tracked and ended up turning right, and not left. See Glenbrook Creek Photo of the Month post.

To get down the mountain from where we live you drive through a town called Glenbrook. Just as you enter the town precinct on the highway there is a sign saying LENNOX BRIDGE. I have driven passed this thing so many times in our short time here that I wanted to check it out. So today was the day.

The Lennox Bridge (also known as The Horseshoe Bridge) is a stone arch bridge designed by David Lennox.

From Lennox’s Biography by J.M. Antill – Lennox’s first bridge was on the main western road at Lapstone Hill. It is a graceful single arch of 20-feet (6 m) span and 30 feet (9 m) above water level, with a road width of 30 feet (9 m); it was constructed by a team of convicts using stone quarried near the site. By direction of the governor it was named Lennox Bridge and the keystones bear the name of its builder and the date 1833. It is the oldest bridge still standing on the mainland of Australia, and for ninety-three years it carried all the traffic from Sydney to the west; until 1963 it was still used by vehicles traveling up Mitchell’s Pass on the initial climb over the Blue Mountains, although the main road was moved in 1926 to a better gradient by way of Knapsack Gully.

EXPOSURE SETTINGS

Exposures: 11

ISO: 100

Aperture: f/11

Shutter Speed: mid exposure = 0.5 seconds – 1/60th to 15 seconds

EQUIPMENT

Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mk III

Lens: Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L II

The exposures were tone-mapped in NIK Software HDR Efex Pro 2 and tidied up in Adobe Lightroom 4.

THE VERY NEXT PHOTO

Lennox Bridge in Glenbrook

The above image was the next one taken, and is simply a little further down the creek than the initial location.

That’s It… See You There!

Photo of the Month – August 2012 Reply

Australia, HDR, Landscapes, Photo of the Month, Travel • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Well here is the next photo of the month in the series. As usual I have provided at the end of the post, the very next image that was taken after this one.

August 2012 - GLENBROOK CREEK

Glenbrook Creek – The Blue Mountains National Park

Following on from last month’s photo, the exploration of my new greater neighborhood continues. Around 20 minutes further down the mountain from where we live is a town called Glenbrook.

Every time that I have been into the town I see a particular sign that says NATIONAL PARK ENTRANCE.

Being the park stalker than I am it finally got the better of me and I went and found this entrance and where it lead to. I didn’t have much time so I literally went in… then came out again. Mind you, I saw enough promise that I will definitely be going back for some exploration. With camera and water bottle.

I did however manage to take 1 photo. And I mean just 1. This one.

Not far in from the main entrance is a small creek, and looking at the depth markers on the road, it turns into a bigger creek when it rains. In fact there was water running across the road when I was taking this image. My tripod was actually in the slight overflow to get this shot.

EXPOSURE SETTINGS

Exposures: 11

ISO: 100

Aperture: f/11

Shutter Speed: mid exposure = 0.5 seconds – 1/60th to 15 seconds

EQUIPMENT

Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mk III

Lens: Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L II

THE VERY NEXT PHOTO

Bus Stop in Glenbrook

After I left the creek I headed over to Lennox Bridge (my original destination on this particular day)… the subject of a future photo of the month.

On the way, adjacent to a school is this bus stop. Many of the bus stops in the area are painted in similar fashion. Looks better than the typical vandalistic graffiti (as opposed to good urban art, which I like).

So I stopped and got my kit out and took a quick HDR image of it. I got the odd ‘look’ from the locals, but that is nothing new.

There is a lot of distortion in the image (see telegraph poles) simply as I got as close as I could to try and get some of this effect (and had the lens all the way out to 16mm with a full frame sensor), plus my butt was on the road as it was so I couldn’t really back up much further anyway.

That’s It… See You There!

Photo of the Month – July 2012 Reply

Australia, HDR, Landscapes, Photo of the Month, Techniques, Travel • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Well here is the next photo of the month in the series. As usual I have provided at the end of the post, the very next image that was taken after this one.

July 2012

The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains

Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains

Well having recently moved here to live I thought it an opportune time to show you my new back yard.

We have lived in five (5) countries during the last 16 years or so, and this is our third time rotating through Sydney. So we thought we would live in the beautiful World Heritage listed Blue Mountains.

The above location must be one of the most visited, and subsequently photographed icons in Australia (Sydney Opera House and Bridge, and Ayers Rock being a few others). For what it is worth, I have climbed over the top of the Bridge and Ayers Rock, but yet to see a major show in the Opera House.

It is The Three Sisters at Echo Point in Katoomba in The Blue Mountains – about a 2 hour drive north west of Sydney.

Taking a photo from this exact spot, while not difficult, is somewhat frustrating as it is also where every person and their dog is trying to take the same photo, or of them with it.

If you happen to turn up on a busy day it is safe to say… that if you have a tripod and some dopey looking remote control contraption hanging around your neck… then you are likely the only one. And with that comes the invariable… ‘excuse me but can you take our photo’. There must be a cool business angle in there somewhere for some young entrepreneur looking to make some cash and help out some friendly tourists.

For me, doing HDR of the Sisters is all about the sky. Nearly every time that I have turned up here during our short time back in Australia there hasn’t been a solitary cloud in the sky, making for a moderately boring end result. The rock outcrops and mountains always look good so that is a given.

I am yet to take a photo here that I am happy with. A good excuse to keep going back. There are worse places to hang out.

I took this photo last week. After doing so I went for a stroll around one of the paths and happened upon some Chinese tourists. After chatting with them for awhile, as it happened, I had actually been to their city just outside of Shanghai (we lived in both Beijing and Shanghai).

EXPOSURE SETTINGS

Exposures: 11

ISO: 100

Aperture: f/16

Shutter Speed: mid exposure = 0.3 seconds – 1/100th to 10 seconds

EQUIPMENT

Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mk III

Lens: Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L II

Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer

Tripod: GITZO Systematic Carbon Series 3

Ball-Head: Really Right Stuff BH-55

Camera ‘L’ Plate: Really Right Stuff

HDR Sequencing Remote: PromoteControl

THE VERY NEXT PHOTO

Well nothing fancy about this photo.

I was trying to have my lunch not far from where I took the above photo (near the Katoomba Falls). Grabbed a sandwich from the local deli and was eating it near my car.

Then buggalugs here (he was a bit more than a foot high) flew in and stood right in front of my face (could touch him) waiting for his piece. Against my better judgment I finally gave him a piece, and just as I did a Magpie flew in and stole it.

Teach him him to give me the Big Yellow Eye!

Grey Pied Currawong if you are interested.

Grey Pied Currawong

That’s It… See You There!

My New Back Yard 1

Australia, Equipment, HDR, Landscapes • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well this entry, while short, incorporates a few firsts for me.

It is the first entry written on my iPad (using the WordPress app), it incorporates some Instagram photos, and is the first written from Australia.

After living overseas in various countries for the second time (this time for around 12 years) it was time to come home so that our kids could get a couple of years in high school before starting University. They needed to get into a southern hemisphere calendar, learn how to speak our version of English… and just as importantly… get to know what Cricket and Aussie Rules Football is all about. And eat an aussie meat pie with tomato sauce… while watching the football. We may be at the bottom of the planet, but we have our priorities straight.

20120527-062443.jpg

Arriving in Sydney on Instagram

This rotation had us in Beijing and Shanghai in China, and the north east of the U.S.A. in Cleveland, Ohio – where they filmed some of the battle scenes for the Marvel blockbuster The Avengers; home to The Drew Carey Show; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; and source of the Charlie Sheen movies about the luckless Cleveland Indians baseball team – ‘Major League’.

We have lived in Sydney two times before, and while it is certainly one of the nicer large cities on the planet… It is still a large and busy city. So this time we elected to go semi-urban and move to the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains at Day Break

From a photography standpoint there is certainly no shortage of things to point your camera at. On the downside side though, given what this place actually is and how popular it is – it will no doubt be challenging to find that particular place or subject that hasn’t already had ample happy snaps taken of it… from every angle imaginable.

I have only been out once (just after I landed)… more to get over jet lag than anything else, so I have not had a decent look around as yet. I took these three images within a couple of hours of each other in different parts of the mountain.

The first one (above) was actually my first photo taken (ever) in our new home. It is a 7 shot HDR taken with a Canon 5D MkIII, with an EF16-35 f/2.8L II lens with a Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer, a Really Right Stuff ball-head on a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod, and a PromoteControl remote. I managed to carry this on the plane with me on the trip back (the mother-load of my gear is hopefully on a ship… and will equally hopefully turn up in one piece in a few months).

The location is Wentworth Falls. As the name would suggest there is an actual waterfall… quite a beautiful one. It is around to the left from where I am standing (see below photo). It looks like about a day trek to get down to a good spot to take a decent photograph of them, so that is a photo op for another day.

Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains

The last photo that I took was probably of one of the most photographed icons in the mountains, if not all of Australia (Sydney Opera House and Bridge being a couple of others). It is of the Three Sisters rock formation at Echo Point near Katoomba. Same sort of deal here as with the Falls, while the tourist lookout offers some great views (where I was standing when I took the below photo), as a consequence, there is nothing great or unique about the photo… and one that has likely been taken  a bajillion times before from the exact same spot. I see some more research and trekking in my future.

The ‘Sisters’ range in height from 922, 918 & 906 metres tall, respectively, which makes them more than 3,000 feet above sea level. You can check out the Legend of how they were formed here.

The Three Sisters at Echo Point

On my brief drive around the mountain I of course located the local camera store. Katoomba Camera House… so if  you are ever in the neighbourhood drop in and meet owner Steve. Friendly and nice guy. I am on a huge commission, so buy something while you are there.

So I am looking forward to the rest of my stuff turning up on the boat, and to exploring my new back yard. If anyone has some cool suggestions on where to go please drop me a note. Thanks.

That’s It… See You There!