A Bounty at Buninyong

On Thursday morning I ended up covering a lot of miles chasing the best light, initially ending up out around Bungaree, before doing an about face and heading over to the south east side of Mt Buninyong, just as the sun managed to escape the heavy cloud to put on quite a show for the sunrise.  The view across to the distant Black Hill near Gordon was something quite special. The last one here shows how keeping an eye in the rear vision mirror can often pay off...I was heading home back around the base of Mt Buninyong and just caught a glimpse of the tower poking up through the clouds. The first image of the tower was the best...within a minute or so the fog had movoed in to totally cover the top of the mountain.
Oh, and by the way, in between the sunrise images and the tower finale, I did get in some aerials of the mountain as it lit up with the early morning sun - wow!...I'll get to them next!

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The Park and the Lake

Some calm weather on Wednesday evening gave me the chance to capture some aerials above Victoria Park. There are some great avenues of trees through the park that I felt would look good from above and with the the sun setting in the west the light was just right. This view will look even better in a few more weeks when the autumn colours set in.
On the way home I was still in time to catch a very intense sunset at Lake Wendouree. With a lot of local paddock burn offs in the district at the moment, the smoky clouds gave the sunset an intensity far greater than normal.

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Grey with White

As I was driving around Lake Wendoure on a very grey, dull Tuesday evening, I came across a couple of interesting bird opportunities. The Eastern Great Egret's are a regular visitor to the lake, but are very timid and usually fly off when you get any where near them. And the the White Ibis is very common, though not so much on the south shore of the lake like this one, and he wasn't overly concerned about my presence so close to him.

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1956 in 2016

Whilst initially looking a bit flat and grey, Monday morning turned out pretty nice at Lake Wendouree. First stop on the south shore looking across to the Fly Fishers Clubrooms where some pre-dawn light finally managed to add some life to the morning, and then just a few minutes later some nice colour looking east from St Patricks Point. Deciding to go home via a lap of the lake, it was as I got to the end of the rowing course and the Olympic Precinct that I captured my favourite from this mornings shoot - "1956"

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Sunday Morning at Mt Warrenheip

Sunday morning looked very promising as I headed out of Ballarat towards Mt Warrenheip...however, once out on the side of the mountain the fog was grey and the wind a bit too strong to fly too high. So I captured a couple of the 2 ways up the mountain. And then this early morning local resident caught my eye. In fact, as I was driving up the mountain I don't think I have ever seen so many kangaroos and wallabies. And one last view of the moon between the trees ended a nice selection from such a grey, dreary morning.

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Stampeding

On a great, overcast Saturday afternoon I travelled to Bo Peep, on the shores of Lake Burrumbeet, to see if there was any water in the creek. There some flow in the creek which was looking quite full, though the light was pretty flat, so I decided to ad a bit of artistic toning into the image. I thought that was it for the day, however not too far away from this spot I came across a herd of cows being harassed by a flock of hawks, which quickly led to a mass stampede of the cows into the distance. Luckily I caught a couple of nice images of all the action.

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A Pretty Good Friday

Late on Friday I travelled out to Lake Burrumbeet. I haven't been out here for a while, and once again the lake continues to diminish in size. Some interesting, almost abstract views across the surface followed by a pretty intense sunset between some rocks down on the shoreline. As I was making my way back to the car I grabbed one final image of a paddock burn off just as the clouds caught a bit of the setting sun. That was a pretty good Friday.

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The Sheds

On Thursday afternoon I made the most of some calm (ish) weather to capture some aerials on the north side of Lake Wendouree, just next to Durham Point. I've often photographed the 3 small boat sheds here and they always make for a nice subject. It's only from the air that you early get to see the great colours of the roofs, too.

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Wednesday Wonder

A very early touch of colour in the sky on Wednesday morning quickly had me packing my gear and getting up to Lake Wendouree for what turned out to be a hugely colourful sunrise. On the west side of the lake there is a small dock that's used for the paddle boats, and it made a great foreground prop for a number of images. Once again I have a lot more aerials to work through that I'll get to soon!
And the 3rd one here is just a quick snap of the Phantom just before it took to the skies!

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The Sunrise at the Reservoir

Some fantastic conditions on Tuesday morning....I chased the fog down to Lal Lal Reservoir to capture this pair.
I've got plenty more to post...when I get the time!

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The Catch of the Day

Some nice morning moods on Monday morning out at Leigh Creek, which is basically right next to Mt Warrenheip. However, the catch of the day was just after lunch. I was on my run around Lake Wendouree and on the north side of the lake near the North Gardens there is a culvert that runs underneath the road, channeling water from the wetlands area into the lake. As I ran past I noticed this bird crouching in there.....2 kms later he was still there...so I hurried home as quick as I could, another 3km, grabbed the camera, and was pleased he was still there when I returned. Took a heap of pictures and finally his, and my, luck came good as he grabbed this small fish. Just after this another duck crashed the scene and everyone went flying off!

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Sunday Scenics

Started Sunday with an image from Lake Wendouree on the west side of the lake near the Judges Box at the end of the rowing course. Nothing too exciting about the colours in the sky, though it gives this image a nice mono tonal feel.
Then later in the day I caught 2 contrasting images out at Mt Warrenheip...one looking east to the almost full moon, and then directly behind me to the west where I caught the few clouds that floated past. Always pays to look in all directions!

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Just In Time

Saturday was grey and flat, and it was only at the last minute I found this nice view of the Ballarat Yacht Club at Lake Wendouree to give me something worth sharing. However, it also allows me to post a few catch-up images from the week that got missed out on the first run-through.

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