Local wanderings and wonderings

Since our return from New Zealand in May, we have tried to venture around our local environment with a view to obtaining images which are different to those we have photographed ourselves or those we have seen from other photographers.  There are a few ‘hotspots’ for photographers around Adelaide , notably the  coastline. Putting a different spin on some of these areas has been a great exercise in either exploring the area further or exploring photographic options with deeper thought. These are some of our forays with a brief story behind the images.

The Dousing!

After extended periods of rain, the lower two waterfalls at Waterfall Gully really start to flow. I have already taken quite a few images of these falls and wanted to achieve something different. One of my favourite elements of waterfall photography is capturing the way water splashes off rocks. Instead of a rock, I inserted myself into the scene (with plenty of warm clothes and a thick towel on standby after the 10 or so attempts it took to get this right!)

A cold cleansing at Waterfall Gully.

Still Water

After the Waterfall Gully effort, I wondered if I could put the same principle into practice with a seascape! Basham’s Beach at Middleton has some very dramatic rocky outcrops but once again, I had been here several times already and wanted to try for originality. It so happened that a 52 week project on flickr had its theme for the week set at ‘Still Water’ which gave rise to this shot. Because I don’t have a good remote shutter release, let alone one that might withstand salt water, I took a timelapse of this scene as I did not know how long it would take for the water to settle after I broke the surface of the pool.

Still waters at Basham’s Beach

Up River

In 2012, Marianne and I took our first trip ‘upriver’ to Mannum in winter. We loved the tranquility and peace away from home and the scenery around the Murray River, so we decided to partake in the very South Australian weekend away up-river again this year. This time, we headed to Barmera along the southern shores of Lake Bonney. The weather during this particular weekend was wild and cold and Charlotte was also a little ill at the time. This meant that we couldn’t explore as far as we would have liked but the lake is home to fantastic landscape opportunities and the night skies are clearly visible when the cloud abates.  Incidentally, I have noticed in our recent catalogues that we have been taking far fewer very long exposures. Personally, I’m going through a phase where I like to see texture in clouds and water but on this weekend, with Charlotte running around, it’s actually easier to set up a long exposure before turning my attention to her for the duration of the bulb exposure. These are some examples of long exposure images from that all-too-brief weekend away.

Long exposure at sunset from the eastern shore of Lake Bonney

Long exposure of Barmera town jetty

The night sky looking toward dawn from Lake Bonney

The Ruins

The South Australian countryside is strewn with old, unused buildings with a rustic and aged charm. This hall at Bondleigh (20 minutes from Callington) made for a beautiful subject in quite different conditions. On my first visit, I was hoping for a good sunset but ended up with drizzle and greyness. On the second visit, the Perseid meteor showers made an appearance though in the wrong aspect for shooting the milky way. Nonetheless, this was a great evening out spent with local photographers Peter Fuller, Joel Dawson and Kelli-Ann Maddern. I will be looking for more of these locations and would welcome any suggestions!

Bondleigh in grey light

Bondleigh beneath the milky way!

Lessons from the field

Marianne and I have been trying to create a series of tutorials stemming all the way from field capture to the final product. I chose to visit Ingalalla falls to record a video regarding waterfall photography. Unfortunately, one of the lessons learned about using external microphones is that you need to remember to turn them on! I ended recording alot of hand gestures with no sound but may still produce the video with a voice-over though that lacks a certain authenticity. Finding a different aspect to photograph the falls was also a challenge so this was my attempt from the top of the falls.

From above Ingalalla Falls

The Landscape Impostor

One of our ‘bucket-list’ locations for the future is Karijini National Park. I would love to see the waterfalls cascading through narrow canyons with the vibrant rock colours and textures. Thankfully, closer to home, we have a miniature version to fulfill these needs for the time being. Mannum falls is located about 10 minutes drive from Mannum. After a short walk from the parking lot followed by a slippery scramble , you will end up at some picturesque rock pools at the end of the falls. At the time of this visit, the falls were barely flowing but this meant the rock textures were well exposed for me to attempt my Karijini impersonation.

Home sweet home!

Lastly, while it seems like we’ve done a fair bit of travelling lately, most of these shots have been taken on a premeditated weekend opportunity with limited planning. Luck had to play a large role in getting good conditions and when luck was not evident, we had to improvise! There have been an amazing number of striking sunrises and sunsets which I have seen from the window of our loungeroom while playing and feeding Charlotte in the early hours of the morning. These are just as fulfilling from a different standpoint.  Nowadays as Charlotte looks at daddy gorking out the window, she is  learning to appreciate and tell me about the ‘pretty clouds’ 🙂

Our next stop is as guest speakers at Merredin for the WAPF annual meeting! Another report from that trip as well as a round up of the Epson Panorama awards will be the topics of our next posts. Thanks for reading!

-D

Striking sunrises have been common from our lounge!