The Water's Back!

January has just recorded above average rainfall, the first month for quite a while, and so I made a trip out to Smeaton to see how Birch's Creek was flowing, after receiving a tip it was deep enough to stand in. And I was happy to find it was looking great, and gave me my first chance for quite a while to play around in some flowing water. I've taken many similar images in the past and they still look good!
Grabbed a couple on the way home at Allendale West when the sun managed to sneak under the clouds for a few minutes just on sunset.

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A Great Day For Flying

With some great calm weather on Saturday I managed 2 sessions for the day, starting with a terrific sunrise out at Dunnstown where some low lying fog created some great conditions. Another nice addition to my collection of quarry images that I seem to be collecting. 
And then a great sunset at Lake Wendouree where I got up high above the boat sheds to capture these 2 views.

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Friday Flying

Around about 4pm on Friday afternoon I noticed some great clouds in Ballarat, and with a lull in the windy weather we have been having this last week, I went up to the north west corner of Lake Wendouree and captured a couple of views looking across the lake. The good rain we have had in the last couple of weeks seems to have greened things up quite a bit and everything is feeling a lot fresher after the hot weather we have had all summer.

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More Fireworks

Another round of fireworks early Thursday morning......a big storm passed through north of Ballarat and I was up at Lake Wendouree around 4am to catch the show above View Point looking to the north. This was only a couple of hundred metres from where I was on Tuesday night........and  strangely silent as flash after flash went on for a really long time.
The 3rd one here is from the north side of the lake before I settled near View Point, and the last one here I have left at a much larger than usual size....make sure you click on it for a bigger look!

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Black Hill and Blue Lake

Not quite as colourful as the fireworks on Tuesday evening, however Wednesdays sky show was still very nice. As soon as I went outside I realised there was a huge bank of dark clouds moving through to the south of Ballarat, so I thought a view from atop the Black Hill lookout might work. Got there just in time to catch the last bit of sunlight on these foreground grasses, and then a close up of Mt Buninyong was quite dramatic. Driving back home I hovered around Lake Wendouree to see if anything might develop, and sure enough some colour broke through to add a nice end to the evenings excursion.

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Australia Day 2016

Tuesday was Australia Day, and here in Ballarat it gives us our one good chance to shoot some fireworks. I've been doing this for a number of years now, and every year I try to find something different. I find most fireworks images tend to look the same so I like to include something about the location that identifies it with where they are being taken. So I found this spot looking through the trees at View Point that I was happy to work with....and the images I came home with are quite unique. I took many, many images...this is my favourite group so far. And its nice when you can just walk out the front door and be at your shooting spot in a matter of minutes!
Now the challenge begins to think of where I can go next year!

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Saturday Catch Up

This is a series from that great evening I had on Saturday out around Windermere and Bo Peep. First stop out at Windermere where the moon was rising fast above Mt Hollowback. And then down south at Bo Peep the moon tree was worth a few images just before the setting sun made a last minute escape from under the clouds on the horizon. I was driving home when this line of cows on the horizon had me backing up to finish off a great nights shooting.

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Always Worth a Visit

Though the clouds were sparse on Monday evening, a visit to Lake Burrumbeet always gives me an image or two worth bringing home. Some very intense sunset light to start with, and then I happened to notice this wallaby just in front of the slight rise I was on, just watching and waiting. For you tech heads who like some details about the specs, the last one was taken at 10,000ISO!

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Low and Slow

On Sunday evening we had a pretty nice sunset at Lake Wendouree. I've been to this spot many, many times and its amazing how you can still come home with something different. This time I had a chance to play around with some different settings on the camera. In the first one I've got myself down low, almost to water level, and opened up the aperture on the lens to get a very shallow depth of field which has blurred the foreground nicely. In the second, a slow shutter speed has smoothed out the water. Interesting to note the difference in colour/contrast between the 2 images in the short time taken between them.

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Moon Magic

We have a full moon due on Sunday evening, however I find the night before is often the best time to capture it. The day before it's full, the moon usually rises just that bit earlier to allow it some elevation before it gets too dark, and as its about 98% full it still has that complete circle look to it. So on Saturday evening I was mindful of finding a location to make the most of this, and after a few miles scouting from north of Windermere down south to Bo Peep it was this group of trees where it all fell into place. Not long after this the clouds moved in to obscure the moon, and if you click on this for a bigger look you can see a flock of birds taking flight in the left hand corner. 
I did get quite a few other images from this excursion, however I decided to post this one on its own so you don't get distracted with the others....I guess that means I really like this one!

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A Day of Drama

All day Friday here in Ballarat we were treated to a sky show of constantly changing, dramatic clouds. First up was a the tail end of a storm front as it moved east over the lake just after 7am. Later in the day around 4pm the skies darkened once again, and with the calm conditions, I made a visit to View Point to grab a couple of aerials. To finish off the day some lovely pastel colours added a lovely glow to the lake looking to the east and north. Though no strong light throughout the day, a good example of how nice the light can be in these conditions.

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Mt Buninyong Bonanza

On Thursday morning there was a forecast for some fog and calm conditions....my ideal conditions at the moment! When I left home around 5.40am I initially headed north, however one I travelled a few miles I realised the best chances were down to the south east, so I made my way over to Mt Warrenheip and then realised that a bit further south towards Mt Buninyong was going to be it....and, boy, was I right! Some spectacular conditions on the side of the mountain that kept me busy for quite a while....here's a taste......check out those waves!

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A Blast From The Past

I came across a couple of nice images from the end of 2011 on my visit up to northern New South Wales. Both of these captured at dawn at Cabarita Beach. It's amazing what I still have buried away in the archives!

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Rowing

On Wednesday evening a very late visit to Lake Wendouree was rewarded with a great collection of rowing images. At first I thought it was going to be a lack lustre trip until I found this one crew still putting in the training right up to and past sunset...they certainly deserve to do well this coming weekend for their commitment! The last one here shows a common result of shooting directly into a setting sun...it certainly added some drama to the whole scene with the strong colours and contrasts.

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