Blue

Here's a couple more aerials from Saturday morning out at Newlyn.......

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Contrasts

Monday started with a calm, serene morning at Lake Burrumbeet and ended with a great sunset at View Point at Lake Wendouree. Both these locations offer endless opportunities at all times of the year. And the aerials from the morning are spectacular.......I'll get to them next!
Make sure you click on the panorama for a bigger look!

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Sunday Morning at Lake Wednouree

Another early start on Sunday morning on the west side of Lake Wendouree for a great sunrise. I started with some aerials above the palm pond, followed by a colourful burst from ground level, and then finished with a nice view across to Mt Warrenheip.

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The Start and the End of Saturday

A very early rise on Saturday morning, and chasing the light saw me finally north at Newlyn Reservoir, where the moon made a great addition to the this landscape scene just before sunrise has lit the fields. Very soon after this I was a bit further east, once again with the moon making quite the statement in the sky overlooking the hills just east of the reservoir. Quite a few more to work my way through that look worth sharing.
And then a big sunset at the end of the day at Lake Wendouree here in Ballarat was a real bonus as we had the best colour I've seen for quite a while.

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Blue with a Touch of Colour

Friday evening ended another week with some blue tones out at Lake Burrumbeet. This tree always makes a nice silhouette, and then just a touch of colour on the horizon at sunset helped add a nice warming contrast to the scene.

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Yes, it really is this blue!

I was out dropping off some books to Creswick Info Centre on Thursday afternoon and I took the opportunity to visit Blue Waters, a surprising location just a couple of kilometres out the Melbourne Road, opposite the road to St Georges Lake. The water really is this colour, especially when you get some sunlight on it,  and makes a striking contrast with the orange cliffs and shore line, topped off by the dramatic clouds we had all day.

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Grand Teton Magic

A very nice early morning at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming from the last trip in early September this year. This is the dam on Jackson Lake flowing out into the Snake River.

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Barkly Morning

I spent Tuesday night at Barkly and there was just enough colour in the sunrise to keep me happy, and make the 5.45am rising time worthwhile!  After this the weather really closed in and led to a very, very windy day throughout the whole state. I did make a quick stop at the tiny Barkly Church on the way home for this image and it seemed suited for a bit of sepia toning. 

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Do You Know Where Barkly Is?!

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to visit a friends property at a place called Barkly, about 110kms from Ballarat, north past Avoca and Moonambel. This old shack caught my eye and then at dusk we were treated to a lovely, almost full moon, and with some reverse sunset clouds in the sky and one of the small dams on the property, I was very happy to capture this scene. It's a place I'll be very happy to return to!

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Greens and Blues

On Monday evening I captured some nice scenics looking across Lake Wendouree from the north west corner of the lake. The wetlands area in the north gardens added an extra splash of blue in the first one, and there was a couple of nice clouds in the sky just to add in that little bit of contrast.

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Precision

On Sunday I was out at Beaufort to judge the photography in the Show. Saw a great range of images and was happy to be involved and to offer my 2 cents worth! On the way home I made a stop north of Burrumbeet to have a fly over some nice harvested fields. I'm still enjoying the patterns I'm finding from the air, they really are quite amazing in their precision.

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Morning Magic

Found this in the archives from our visit in March to Arches National Park in Utah. Not a place you expect to see much water in, the Courthouse Wash had a very nice stream going after some recent snow falls and the morning light reflected off the red sandstone with a touch of blue from the vibrant sky, really came together nicely in this simple scene.

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Up At The Lake

Not much happening on Saturday evening up at Lake Wendouree, though I did manage to capture a couple of interesting images. First one here is the top of the fountain with some nice light behind in the clouds, and then a bit later on this dark, moody end to the day looking across to the Yacht Club.

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Morning Magic at Cannon Beach

Here's a couple of images from 5 years ago (!) when we were at Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast. Had a fantastic sunset the night before I took these. I was so excited about those its probably the reason why I never spent too much time looking at these from the next day. These were taken 22 minutes apart, once again a great example of how much the light can change in such a short time. A 1.6 second exposure on the last one has created a very unique texture to this receding wave.  Just a couple of the thousands of images I still have hidden away in the USA archives.

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The Harvest Continues......

On Friday I made a late morning visit to these great canola fields just north of Creswick. I had visited this particular crop a number of times over the last few weeks and I knew once this field had been harvested there would be some great patterns. The day was quite overcast and I knew this would create a totally different feel to the images when compared to the bright sunny images I caught back on Tuesday. It really is amazing when you get to see these fields from up high as you have very little idea of whats in front of you when viewing from ground level.
And an extra bonus to the day was this great rainbow at Lake Wendouree just before sunset.

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The Fog Bank

Here's another couple of images from Wednesday morning. After spending the sunrise north of Lake Burrumbeet on the freeway, on the way back to Ballarat I thought a look at the lake from the east side was worthwhile as there was still a lot of fog lingering on the lake. Looking out to the west there was this great fog back creating quite a unique atmosphere and I had to move quick to catch these 2 spoonbills flying through the scene. The 2 images here show the overall wider view, and then one that I have cropped down to focus more on the birds. Once again Lake Burrumbeet delivers something totally new...thats why I keep coming back!

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From Nothing to Something

Thursday evening was looking a bit bland, so I was happy when things fired up a bit. I often stop when I'm almost at Lake Burrumbeet to use this tree as an anchor, and a small gap in the clouds worked nicely, as did the 2 birds flying by. Then once at the Lake the clouds put on quite a show in all directions. Just goes to show how some great conditions can appear out of nowhere.

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The North Side of the Lake

Here's a few more from the great sunrise at Lake Burrumbeet on Wednesday morning. The first one here is from the north west corner of the lake, a regular spot for me at sunrise, however I decided to head back down the freeway to the north side of the lake. Though I had initially stopped at this spot to get some aerials, I realised as the sun was just about to break the horizon that I was in a great spot to catch it rising above the sheds and trees on the horizon...it was a touch choice, ground level or aerial? 

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The Early Bird........

With a forecast of calm conditions and the possibility of some low lying fogs, I was up (really!) early Wednesday and found myself before sunrise on the north side of Lake Burrumbeet on the side of the freeway. Just as the sun was breaking through on the horizon, it created these fantastic views, especially the last one. Something very special indeed...and the pics from ground level were also great, they'll be next!

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Harvest Time

I was out at Daylesford mid afternoon on Tuesday, so I took the opportunity to check out the harvest that's been underway for a week or so on the canola crops, this lot at Ullina, west of Smeaton. After they have wind-rowed the fields you get some great patterns, especially when seen from above. Though it was very windy yesterday I couldn't resist a short flight to catch some of the patterns. Certainly worth another couple of visits before they come and scoop them all up and cart them away.
Also, on the way out to Daylesford I caught this great cloud. The high winds had created quite a lot of these clouds, this one really stood out and was worth the stop...are we being visited by others!?

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