Tag Archives: Katoomba

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.

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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!