More Fog

Another foggy morning on Sunday here in Ballarat...very different from the previous morning with no sign of the sun at all. First stop was a wander through the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, always nice in the fog, especially looking down the avenue with the giant sequoia trees. Then on to View Point at Lake Wendouree. The water was crystal clear and one lone fisherman on View Point was trying his luck.

.

Warrenheip Wonderland

Saturday morning out at Mt Warrenheip was a real wonderland of different views. I didn't get up early and head out of the sunrise, I was at home and initially felt the sunrise had no potential, and  just happened to look outside to see banks of fog moving in, so I quickly hit the road and realised I was heading into something very special. In fact the fog was so heavy in parts I could hardly see much in front of me. There is a spot half way up the Mt Warrenheip Rd that gives you a great, open northerly view, and here I found myself viewing a carpet of fog. I decided to work my way down the slope to get myself into the fog and this series is the result of that amazing hike. So like I said in the previous post, as exciting as the moon eclipse was, this is the sort of conditions I'm always excited to find and capture.

.

More Than The Eclipse

There was a lot of talk around about Saturday nights eclipse of the moon. As it wasn't due until almost 11pm I knew the moon would be very high in a very dark sky, and as you know from earlier posts this week, and in the past, I like to catch the moon close to the horizon with other elements. Anyway, I had the camera set-up to take in the last eclipse for 3 years, and apparently the shortest in duration (5 minutes) this century. These 2 cover around a 45 minute timespan...as you can see at the start the few wispy clouds added some nice atmosphere.
However, the real excitement of the day was the fantastic sunrise we had, especially out at Mt Warrenheip. The image here is just a taste, I'll post some a bit later - it really was a good one!

6

Chasing The Moon

On Friday I drove out west of Ballarat to position myself on the far side of Mt Misery, with the idea of catching the almost full moon as it rose above the hills and the wind towers. I grabbed a number of images before deciding to move on in a search of other possible compositions. I made a number of stops and captured quite a range of moon images - all good practise for Saturdays eclipse of the moon.

.

Scouting Around

On Thursday evening I was doing a bit of scouting around for a particular image I have in mind, and so I wasn't focused on anything in particular for the days images. Out the far side of Lake Burrumbeet I grabbed this image of a hawk - this type of photography is not my speciality so I'm always happy when one of the many I take works out. Then I found myself in Cockpit Lagoon Road which heads north off the freeway just past Burrumbeet (the town) where this group of sheep on the side of the hill were quick to scamper away, though not before I managed this nice combination with the almost full moon. And then just as the sun was about to hit the horizon, the train line that crosses Cockpit Lagoon Road offered some nice leading lines. 
And in case you didn't know, on Saturday night we have a total eclipse of the moon around 10.54pm, well worth the effort to view.

10

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison

One of the lesser known, but one of my favourite USA National Parks, is Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. This is an amazing deep canyon of jagged rock, totally different from the Grand Canyon, though just as impressive in a lot of ways. After doing a 3km hike in snow shoes in the morning, after lunch we embarked on an 8km hike, almost totally on snow covered roads and trails, into the park to witness this amazing place. We only saw one other person on the whole hike -  a lady that came shooshing past us on skis on her return journey into the park. This image certainly gives you an idea of the steepness of the canyon walls and the snow really added something special to the whole scene. One of the highlights of this hike was the half an apple pie we sat down to on the way back!

.

Fun at Fairyland

On Wednesday morning some early colour in the sky had me out of bed in a flash and up to Lake Wendouree. I was heading for the palm pond area when I noticed some nice colour reflected off the water a bit further north at an area known as Fairyland. Some lovely colour in the sky to greet the day, though I think my favourite from the morning is the view up the channel to the Lake Lodge and the begonia bridge walkway.

.