The End of Summer

Last day of Summer on Monday, and a leap year as well, so an extra image day! I headed north out of Ballarat towards the Bald Hills and Blow Hard area (never thought I'd be using those two locations in the one sentence!). No clouds out to the west, so I had to make do with what was on offer. There were some very promising clouds out to the northeast that I felt might colour up at sunset, so I raced north up to Glendonald, north of Creswick, where I know there's a couple of great ghost gums that would be well positioned with the colourful clouds behind them. So that's the end of summer, though the forecast for the next week looks very summery. I'm looking forward to autumn as we already have a few patches of colourful leaves appearing.

6

Where Am I?

On Sunday evening I was heading west out the freeway, intent on seeing how Lake Burrumbeet was coping with the continued dry weather. However, by looking around I realised the best chances for some interesting clouds was far to the south, so I headed that way down through Cardigan Village and kept going til I found this fantastic old tree, and with some great clouds coming up from the south, and a large flock of sheep milling around, decided this was the spot. As the sun slowly sank, I grabbed a multitude of different compositions, even getting some great starbursts alongside the gnarly old trunk. I've only now looked up to see where I was...Haddon North. Not an area I know particularly well as its pretty flat with no real stand-out areas of interest, so maybe I need to give it more time...one good tree and some great clouds can make anywhere pretty spectacular!

.

A Dean Drenching

On a clear Saturday evening I was out around the Dean district, scouting for subjects when I came across this irrigator, well placed to offer a range of images as the sun was setting. There were some perfectly placed foreground elements to really bring these to life and its interesting to see the change in intensity of the suns colour as it sank towards the horizon. The spray was a bit too close at times, I did manage to cop a couple of drenchings, though the camera was safe!

8

The Lines in the Landscape

Making the most of the continued calm mornings I've been getting this week, on Friday morning I was out west at Windermere, where the lines of the freeway and the Burrumbeet Creek created some interesting compositions. Just a touch of colour in the sky to the north east as the sun made a brave attempt to break through, though I do like the warm early morning glow in the first one here, well before the actual sunrise. 

.

The Tower

Been meaning to post for a few days now....this is probably my favourite image from Mondays fantastic sunrise at the Ballarat Railway Station.

.

In Amongst The Fog

When I hit the road on Thursday morning before dawn, my initial direction was out to Mt Warrenheip as I had spotted a nice cap of cloud over the top of the mountain. By the time I got out there, and its only about 15 minutes, it had just about cleared away so, looking north, I could see out towards Clarkes Hill there might be chance to get something. I drove around a bit trying to find something worthwhile as the fog was actually too heavy in parts to really do much with. I finally settled in Boundary-Church Road where I was able to get some nice aerials of St. Peters on the side of Clarkes Hill sitting in the fog. And then coming home, I made a quick stop to capture the top of Wombat Hill shrouded in the mist as 2 galahs flew past.

7/3-13.42

Moon Set, Sun Rise

Before the big fire on Tuesday afternoon, there was a pretty nice moon set and sun rise at Lake Wendouree. I caught the moon as it made an appearance between the clouds with the lake full of the school rowing crews getting in some last minute training for this Friday's Head of the Lake regatta. On the other side of the lake a few minutes later, more rowing crews were out and about, and when the sun did break free it created some great reflections.

.

Getting Ready

A lovely, warm, calm morning on Wednesday enabled me to capture some great images of the 2 school boat sheds on the north side of Lake Wendouree. This Friday we have the Head of the Lake Rowing Competition in which all the local Ballarat schools take part in a time honoured traditional event. So there has been a lot of early morning activity on the lake for a few weeks now, in fact I've never seen the lake so busy. Shown here iare the sheds for Ballarat Grammar on the right, and Ballarat High on the left, and I've never seen them with the lights on before, so it was a great time to be out shooting aerials. The last image here is a view looking to the east just on sunrise, no exciting skies, however I like the way the tree on the shore sits in the spotlight of the gap in the clouds reflected off the lake surface.

.

Mt Bolton Ablaze

On Tuesday I had a very nice moon set and sunrise at Lake Wendouree...back to them later on.......
The big event of the day was the fire out at Mt Bolton. After smelling some smoke around in the afternoon, a walk up to Lake Wendouree produced the first image here.....and soon after this I could see the clouds start to develop into huge, billowing masses. The following images I captured out near the fire, but still far enough away not to get in anyone's way. It was an incredible sight to watch unfold, and really gives you some idea of what the fireys are going through. At one stage I moved in under the smoke downwind from the fire, thinking it may be an interesting viewpoint...however, once you get in under you can't see anything! I can't imagine what it must be like to be right in amongst, these guys and gals really do deserve our thanks for the amazing efforts they put in.
I think my favourite is the magpie...no doubt wondering what all the fuss is about!

8

Monday Morning Magnificence

Well before sunrise on Monday morning I could see some colour in the sky, suggesting that we were in for a pretty good sunrise. As I was heading out of town a glimpse of the Ballarat Railway Station's tower convinced me to head there....the tower was lit up, something I haven't seen before in the mornings. And it turned out to be a great decision as a spectacular sunrise unfolded, almost unbelievable in its intensity when it reached its peak. There's about 13 minutes between the first and last, once again showing just how much the light and colour change in such a short space of time.
I've got a few more to post a bit later on, too.

.

Dean Delight

On Sunday evening I was heading out to the Dean Reservoir....there were some promising clouds around, and though I have been here many times, I wanted to get some aerials shooting from the east end of the reservoir. Turned out to be a great choice as the clouds opened up nicely to let in some fantastic light across the landscape. Though the rainfall still eludes us after some good falls 2 or 3 weeks ago, this part of the district is definitely the most vibrant. Does the first one here suggest the bottom of Australia to you? And the last one is looking in the opposite direction where an almost full moon was lurking behind the clouds.

8