Foggy Fridays Farewell to Autumn

It was very wet again on Friday here in Ballarat, the last day of what has been a great autumn, however not much colour around today. I thought a visit to Lake Learmonth would give me a chance to play around with some water images. I changed plans on the way out as I could see the area north of the Lake was shrouded in low lying clouds. First stop was on Mt Saddleback that overlooks Lake Learmonth, then a drive around Addington and the wind farm gave me another couple of images. In all the time I was driving around the wind farm area I didn't see one tower....but you could hear them swooshing away through the fog...quite an experience. And I thought these all worked well with a bit of artistic license to convey the mood out there.

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Paria Rimrocks Flash Flood

This is a series from our last trip in early March. The Paria Rimrocks and Toadstool trail is a popular spot in southern Utah, just north of the Arizona border, and is one of the must-dos when you're staying in Page. We had visited here a few years earlier when we got clear blue skies. This time we were very fortunate to get some great, totally unexpected flash-flood conditions, which made this location so much more interesting. There must have been a lot more water flowing before we got here as a lady we spoke to said she couldn't cross the river for a long time. Fortunately we timed it just right and this is a series I captured even before we got to whats supposed to be the highlight of the trail...the toadstools. I'll get to them next!

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A Series of Trees

On Thursday afternoon I ran about 14kms around Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park and it was wet, it rained the whole way. As I couldn’t see the top of Mt Buninyong or Mt Warrenheip because of the low clouds, I figured this would make a likely destination for the days photo trip. As expected Mt Buninyong was really fogged in, and on top of the tower was very windy. What was unexpected was the fantastic conditions that started to unfold as I came off the mountain, chased a rainbow over to Yendon, and then got a super sunset  a few minutes later.

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Birds at Sunrise

On Wednesday morning I headed up to Lake Wendouree and was rewarded with a very nice, colourful sunrise. These 2 images, taken only 3 minutes apart, shows just how quickly the light, and colours, can change. In the first image you can see a large tree on the right hand edge...thats where all the cockatoos in the second image were resting before one of them decided it was time to leave and they all took off as one...making a huge racket!

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Lower Ebor Falls

Going back to the last day of 2011....I'd forgotten about the images I took here in the afternoon as I was so excited by the conditions I got that night and the next morning....I thought this afternoon view with rainbow was pretty nice and worth sharing.

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Late Autumn Colours

With only 4 days of autumn left, there is still some nice pockets of colour around Ballarat. On Tuesday afternoon a visit up to the west side of Lake Wendouree, and a look through the Botanical Gardens produced some nice results...that huge Swamp Cypress is reaching its peak for another year. And later on at sunset there was still plenty of colour around.

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Returning to the Dunes

It seems quite a while since our last trip...this is the Algodones Dunes (sometimes referred to as the Imperial Dunes) in early March in south east California at sunset. I'm a big fan of sand dunes and it was great to spend the late afternoon here tramping up and down the dunes.

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Zooming in from Mt Warrenheip

On Monday I went out to Mt Warrenheip, put the big zoom lens on and grabbed a few distant images. Even though we haven't had a lot of rain, the paddocks are starting to green up, and the late afternoon sun always gives them a nice golden glow, and then coming down the mountain this bunch of gum leaves caught my eye.

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The Watchman at the Kitchen

On Sunday afternoon I took a trip down to the Devils Kitchen Geological Reserve, a location I haven't visited for quite some time. As expected there was no water running in the Woady Yalloak Creek, so I was more focused on the granite rockwork that makes this site so special. The light was pretty flat though there were some nice clouds with plenty of drama in them. Whilst scouting around I noticed this side view of one of the massive rock faces and was instantly taken by the profile and knew it would work particularly well as a black and white/sepia image. And here's a few facts about the area: The Devil’s Kitchen, which sits below the old gold mining town of Piggoreet,  is a steep-sided gorge of basalt cliffs flanking the Woady Yalloak River. From the top of the gorge cliffs the din and activity from the hundreds of miners below would certainly have made the place appear like the Devil’s Kitchen. The diggings around Piggoreet were all part of a very rich and active mining area 25 km SW of Ballarat, south of the town of Scarsdale, on the Woady Yalloak Creek. Piggoreet was the town located on the east side of the Woady Yalloak Creek, the Devil’s Kitchen itself was the gorge of the creek in which there was great mining activity. In 1866 there were sixteen mining companies listed for Piggoreet such was the level of activity there. Not one house or building assoiated with mining remains in the area today, the only evidence being large scattered mullock heaps. 

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A Bit of Everything

On Saturday I headed out past Creswick and up to Lawrence, so I could have a look around under Wheelers Bridge and along Birch Creek again. As you can see from this selection there is a lot of different elements to work with, and all topped off by the full moon rising just after sunset as I was heading back home into Creswick.

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Birds of Lake Wendouree

Here's a continuation of Fridays images....from a seagull in the morning to a magpie lark(mudlark) thats landed on the railing right next to me whilst I was shooting the sunset, and the duck working his way across the lake as the sun sets. Go on, click on them for a bigger look!

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Ballarat Botanical Gardens

The fantastic Friday morning conditions gave me some great conditions in the BBG....this is a selection.

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Fantastic Foggy Friday

I had a look out the window at around 2am on Friday morning and there was a big fog building, so I was excited to see what the morning would bring. Up to Lake Wendouree before the dawn and over to the west side where I figured I'd get the best results with such a heavy fog. No huge sunrise eventuated, instead some gradual lightening of the sky that produced some great subtle colours, and then a bit later when it did breakthrough there was plenty to work with. And this is just a beginning selection...I also got some great misty Botanical Gardens images, and then later in the day around sunset, the moon was awesome!

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Claire's Day

A good friend of ours had a birthday on Thursday so I made sure I captured something special for her to remind her of some of the highlights of Ballarat and district. Once again I headed out to Lake Burrumbeet via a stop off at St Patricks Point at Lake Wendouree where there was some terrific late autumn light, and then another great selection from Lake Burrumbeet's south shore, and ending with a super, crisp, clear almost full moon - Happy Birthday! And make sure you click on these for a bigger look!

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A Grey Day...actually a Sepia Day

Wednesday was pretty dull and drab and I ended up out at Glendarual, near Mt Beckworth. On the way there I stopped off at the Coghills Creek Cemetery before finding myself once more out on Mt Beckworth Road, facing west. Looking north, though, is this great tree that makes a nice subject, and with some nice clouds to work with, both of these seemed like a good black and white conversion idea, and even more so as sepia toned images.

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Pelican Island

Some more from last nights visit to Lake Burrumbeet. This group of rocks is a common element in my images from this spot at the Lake, and lately its become a home for a number of birds, mainly pelicans and cormorants. Very hard to get to without scaring them off, so last night I made a roundabout detour to sneak up on them, and managed a great series before they all left. And as I was leaving and it was getting dark, they started to return.

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