Navigators Bluestone Railway Bridge

I've driven by the Navigators Railway bridge a number of times and so on Tuesday I decided to make it my target. Built around 1860 the bluestone bridge is classified by the National Trust and is part of the line that heads down to Geelong. Not much risk of trains these days, the line is pretty quiet and some late afternoon sun helped with some nice colours. Looks good in black and white, too!

r

The Scottish Highlands

Just west of Smeaton at an area called Lawrence, about 30kms from Ballarat, there's a really interesting area that borders Birch's Creek. I call this the Scottish Highlands as it reminds of similar scenics I have seen from Scotland and I made a visit here on Monday as there looked to be some nice autumn colour on the trees along the banks of the creek. Initially skies were grey, but with some dramatic clouds floating through, and I even found a nice cascade on the creek. Whilst intent on shooting the creek down in the valley I looked up to notice a bit of colour starting to form on the horizon, so I dashed up higher to get the amazing sunset that developed. With a big burn-off out in the west, the smoke filled sky lit up in some amazing colours and cast this very surreal purple glow across everything....certainly one of the more bizarre ends to the day I have seen for quite a while.

.

Birch Creek Blur

Just playing around with a bit of selective blurring on this image from Birch's Creek last night.......

.

A Sunday Stroll

Out north of Creswick after a quick visit out to St Georges Lake. Just enough colour in the sky before sunset to make these quite nice...the "Sunday Dinner" title refers to the cows happily eating, not me going home for a roast dinner! 

r

Vertical Saturday

On Saturday I had a great time leading a workshop around the district with 4 fellow photographers....2 from Ballarat and 2 from Ararat. We covered a lot of miles for the day, starting with sunrise from Mt Buninyong, where some spectacular clouds appeared from nowhere. Ending up at Lake Burrumbeet for the sunset, we also made quite a few stops throughout the day around Creswick and north of Creswick, where there is always great subject matter to work with. This is a small selection, surprisingly all verticals and it gives you a great idea of whats to be found in just one days local travels, in fact these were all within 25kms of Ballarat.

.

Autumn is Really Taking Off

The colours are looking great around town, I reckon its reaching its peak...these couple from a walk around the neighbourhood...and surprisingly mild, too.

.

The Beginning and the End

At Lake Wenouree, here in Ballarat. Some great colour at either end of the day, sunrise at the end of the rowing course, sunset at the beginning of the rowing course.

r

Going...Going...Gong!

I was pretty happy with Tuesdays images from out at the Gong Gong Reservoir, but felt another visit was worthwhile as I knew the almost full moon would provide something special if the conditions were right. What I didn't plan on was the fantastic conditions with the rainbow beforehand! Definitely worth clicking on for a bigger look!

.

Going to the Gong Gong

The Gong Gong Reservoir is about 11km from home (I used to run out there from home) but I've never been there with the camera until last night. I'll be spending a bit of time in the future working on a project to photograph the Central Highlands Water catchments and this was my first serious scouting trip. And there looks to be some great potential here....can't wait to go back!

.

Wollomombi Falls NSW

This is from the last day of 2011 up in northern NSW. At one time Wollomombi Falls were believed to be the tallest in Australia. However, recent geographical revisions place them at second or third tallest, depending on the source, after Tin Mine Falls (New South Wales) and Wallaman Falls (near Ingham, Queensland). The Chandler Falls are located to the right of the Wollomombi Falls when viewed from the main lookout, back in the distance here in the middle of the image.  The Wollomombi Falls are formed from the Wollomombi River and the Chandler Falls are formed by the Chandler River. The Wollomomobi Falls joins the Chandler river at the base of the gorge.
From the very top to the very bottom the height is approx 220 metres although its biggest drop where the water "falls" is only 100m.
I suggest you click on this for a larger view.

.

George and Mildred Duck

On Monday evening I ended up at St Georges Lake in Creswick after making quite a big loop out east before settling on the lake. I've been here a number of times recently and every time I have come across these 2 ducks. I don't know much about ducks mating habits but these 2 look a bit mismatched but they go about their business happily side by side...by the time I left here they had settled on the banks on the far side of the lake. So I felt they deserved names.........

r

Hidden Canyon Textures

From our last morning at Zion National Park in Utah....we did the hike to Hidden Canyon and I found some great sandstone textures to work with.

.

A Touch of Green

Sunday turned very dull and grey....so off to Lake Burrumbeet where I know I can still play around on the shoreline with the rocks and slow shutter speeds. The receding shoreline has a left a few rocks with some nice green algae that adds just a touch of colour to the scene. To get the water this smooth I'm shooting at about 30 second exposures, on a tripod, of course!

.

Trippin' Around

Here's a selection of images from some recent trips that haven't seen the light of day and I felt were worth sharing. First up is an early start at Cabarita Beach, far north NSW from December 2011, then onto a couple from my 2nd trip to Flinders Island earlier this year, and the final is from the Grampians in February. 

.

Autumn Colours

I found some nice colours in a local laneway that I visit every autumn. The vines along this spot come alive every year and so I wandered over there on Saturday afternoon. OF the range of images I took, this was the first one.....could have saved myself at least 10 minutes! And then another colourful end to the day at "The Jetty" up at Lake Wendouree. I've taken many pictures from this spot and it always delivers a strong composition.

.

Smokin'

Friday afternoon I was out looking for autumn colours, but because of the very dry summer and autumn its no where near as vibrant as last year. I spotted a burn-off whilst out at Pootilla and luckily it was right on the side of the road, with the strong winds blowing it right through these great trees and grasses. After spending quite some time here (it was freezing, too!) I gotta say my clothes spent the night outdoors because of the smokey smell...and I almost got booted out as well!

13.41

Rockface Falls

Actually its McKenzie Falls at the Grampians from the early February trip. I'm trying to work my way through the images from this visit, I have so many to sort through.

.

A Couple of Lakes at Creswick

On late Thursday afternoon I was back at Creswick....some great clouds to work with in a couple of locations. First one here is the small lake you pass coming into Creswick opposite the golf resort (I'm sure it has an official name!) and then on to the well known St Georges Lake for a wander along the shore. 

.

Back to the Grampians

From my trip to the Grampians National Park back in early February...a lot of images waiting for me to sort through...this is from the first night at the top of McKenzie Falls. Some intense colour reflected off the walls to the right of the falls really gave me some great light reflected in the water and rocks. 

.

Wednesday Wanderings

Took a trip out past Creswick on Wednesday and spent some time around Kingston...quite a range of subjects to work with, some great examples of rural life on the farm. Its still pretty dry in the district..we could do with some decent rain to green things up.

r

Way, Way Out West

On Tuesday evening I headed out to the Clarkes Hill area, about 16km north east of Ballarat. A grey looking sky was mostly all around me  but over on the horizon was a gap letting through some interesting light. There has been plenty of farm burn-offs lately, and way out west looking across the Waubra Windfarm the sky had a distinct orange look to it. Taken 25 minutes part, these 2 panoramas show some amazing colour change and they are another great example of using a big zoom lens to bring in some detail from a long way away. Don't think landscape photography is all about wide angle, big vista views! And you gotta click on these for a better look!
Just added this extra image of the sinking sun........

.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Right down on the Mexican border in southern Arizona, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is one of the most out-of-the-way locations we visited on the recent trip. Known for these amazing cactus, I risked life and limb to get this early morning image from within the stand of spiky trunks!

.

Lake Burrumbeet - of course!

I keep going back to Lake Burrumbeet, as you probably have realised from previous posts. Usually when I head out every afternoon I scour the skies to see where I think the action will be, and if I'm not sure, I know if I head off to Lake Burrumbeet I can always come home with something nice. With the receding shoreline now so evident, its like I'm visiting a new location each time, and then when you get conditions like shown here its always exciting. I was pretty happy with the visit here and was heading back up the bank to the car when just a faint glow of colour started to appear...so I raced back down to the waters edge and finished off with a couple of terrific images.

r