The Badlands

On Saturday I visited a spot south of Ballarat that I like to call the Badlands. It's an amazing landscape of eroded hills and gullies and gets its name from the similarities to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I've included an image from a few years ago from South Dakota just to give you an idea...what do you think?

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Improvising

After a run of great mornings with great light, Friday was dull and grey. So I had to improvise a bit......
As is often the case, when its dull and grey you quite often find some nice foggy conditions on the top of Mt Warrenheip and that was exactly what I found. However it wasn't too exciting until I decided to add in a little light of my own....

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The Calm

Looking for the best conditions again on Thursday morning found me once again at Lake Burrumbeet for what turned into a very nice sunrise. These are a bit further south than yesterdays images with the first 3 from up high, then a series from down low when the light really lit up the scene. It was even calmer than the day before as you can see from the mirror-like reflections. Amazing what  I can keep finding at the same locations.

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Favourite Spot Favourite Trees

I visit this spot on the west side of Lake Burrumbeet on a regular basis, always coming home with something special. Just some light haze around on Wednesday morning with the very calm conditions and this pair of trees is one of my most photographed sites. Only one of these images was taken at ground level..can you tell which one?

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Two More Mountains

Another lovely morning on Tuesday had me coming home with some really nice images. I was heading north-west out of Ballarat looking for the fog and made a quick stop on Remembrance Drive where you get a great easterly view of Lake Learmonth well before sunrise. From there I headed out to Mt Bolton for one from ground level and one from up high, looking along the Sunraysia Hwy out to Waubra. After leaving there and scouting around a bit I saw some nice conditions over at Mt Coghill where a row of trees added a nice element as the fog continued to hang around and the streaming sun created some nice shadows. The last was as I was driving off and looked behind me to see the sun just topping the trees on the side of the hill.
Are you amazed how much fog I've been getting? I know I am!

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Not Bad at Newlyn

I couldn't find any fog on Monday morning after chasing a gap in the clouds all the way out to Newlyn Reservoir where the sunrise put on quite a show. The last one here is a close up of the divider between the calm and not-so-calm water that added a nice barrier in the first couple of images. It's not a location I visit all that often, usually dropping in here when I need some water to add to the scene.

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Two Different Peaks

Whilst I did get a couple of nice images on Sunday morning, they are from a location that maybe I should keep under my hat....so here's a couple more from Saturday mornings visit out at Mt Beckworth. The first shows the intense light that was sneaking through a gap on the horizon right on sunrise whilst the second was on the way home when I spotted Eastern Peake sitting above the fog like an island.

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The Lollypop Tree

I know I'm sounding a bit like a broken record but there was another fantastic morning on Saturday. At first I couldn't see any indication of fog as I headed north out of Ballarat though there was a great bank of low lying cloud that promised a nice, colourful sunrise. Once I got a clear view of the western horizon I knew where I had to head...out around Mt Beckworth. Once that sun found the gap on the horizon this is the result......
I've got a few other nice ones from this morning that I'll get to later on, and I've left this a bit larger than normal so make sure you click on it for a better look 

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Friday Fly By

On Friday morning I was out for the sunrise on the north-western corner of Lake Burrumbeet and once again there was some nice pockets of low lying fog around. The first here is looking east along the Western Freeway and the next is the view looking to the north-east.
Once the sun hit the landscape at ground level there was some very intense light and with the big lens on I was looking for things to zoom in on. Whilst I was doing this a hawk came flying by and I had to move quick to capture the last one here as 2 cars rush by on the freeway in the background.

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Catching Up

I've got a huge backlog of images from this week....another great morning on Thursday out at Learmonth where I just caught some nice remnants of fog at the cemetery on the hill before catching the lone tree in the fog from ground level at almost the same spot.
Plenty from the Lorne trip to go through as well...here's a couple from a visit to Henderson Falls after that epic sunrise the same day. 
And this morning well before dawn I captured this nice view looking south from the Black Hill lookout...the fog here really adds a nice feel to this view.

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The Pier

On Tuesday I went down to Lorne for an overnight stay and I was hoping for a nice sunrise on the beach on Wednesday morning........I think I got it!

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Saddle Time

I'm running a bit late today with yesterdays image..... a fantastic morning at Mt Saddleback on the south side of Lake Learmonth with another amazing foggy start to the day. 
I've been away for a day and came back to a very nice sunset at Lake Wendouree less than an hour ago.  However, if you think that's colourful wait til you see this mornings sunrise from a location well south of Ballarat...I'll post those tomorrow!

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Just Enough

I popped out to Lake  BurrumbeetJust Enough on Monday evening, my first time out there for sunset in a long time. Though there were no huge fireworks in the sky, I managed to capture a few that made the trip worthwhile with just a bit of colour to work with.

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No Show Snow

No sign of the hoped-for snow over the weekend as the wet and mostly grey weather continued. The district is starting to look quite wet in most places and the run-off into the creeks and streams is building nicely for the rest of the year. Another small cascade on the Bo Peep Creek here followed by one of my district trees that, year by year, is losing its branches and will soon be little more than the trunk.

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