Andrew Thomas Photographer

Another Death Valley Icon

One of the iconic viewpoints in Death Valley, Zabriskie Point is usually best photographed at sunrise or sunset, but on our visit in May 2011 some dark and menacing clouds in the middle of the afternoon produced some great conditions. This was just after we had come down from Dantes View where it was snowing!

Badwater

From the May 2011 visit to Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park. I'm about 280 feet below sea level here!

The Heat is On......

Monday was another very hot day here in Ballarat.....this has to be one of the hottest starts to the year for a very long time, and the lack of clouds has me really searching for images that don't rely on the sky. First here is from a quick stop in Victoria Park late in the day, and then whilst driving around Lake Wendouree the setting sun put on quite a show looking down the rowing course, helped along by some smoky remnants from a bushfire.

Starry, Starry Space Station Night

I've been itching to go out again to shoot some more star images, so on Sunday I headed north out of Ballarat to one of the old gold mines thinking I should be able to find a nice foreground with the stars above. It was very windy and even though I was down low in a small canyon it was still a challenge to keep the camera on the tripod perfectly steady. The first image here was at 10.11pm, and that streak you can see in the upper left is the ISS (International Space Station) as it streaks through the sky. For the next few days its quite easy to see if you go out and wait, looking in a south to east direction. The second image is at 10.27, a bit of light painting to lighten the foreground, and I was quite amazed at the difference in colour glow, a more red/warmer glow just by waiting an extra 15 or 20 minutes. The glow along the horizon is the lights of Ballarat in the far distance. Just shows how far away from major towns you have to go to get complete darkness.