One of the Greats

On Sunday evening, after a grey, cold week, we were treated to one of the most epic sunsets I have seen for a long time. Luckily my choice of venue for my daily excursion, Lake Burrumbeet, placed me in a fantastic spot to capture all the excitement. On the way out west I realised the sky had some great potential, and even as I walked down to the shoreline, a couple of golden gum images made me realise this was going to be a good one. As the sun set the colours went from golden yellow to the most spectacular deep reds and purples. The always changing shoreline offered me plenty of different compositions, with the last lake image here probably my favourite.
And that was not the end of it.....by the time I got back to Windermere those well known, and often photographed silos, were catching some fantastic afterglow so I had to do a quick u-turn to grab a few more. And one last look down the highway to the fading colour ended what had been a very special night.
I don't usually post this many images (and I have plenty more!) but this was something special - make sure you click on them for the full size view.

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Cascading

On a grey, damp Saturday afternoon the chances of a nice end to the day were looking pretty slim - always a good reason to go looking for some running water that I find always gives you something no matter what the conditions. This series is from the Moorabool River West branch, a few hundred metres upstream from the Mooabool Falls. Water flow is still not that high, I have seen this spot with twice as much water, though there are still plenty of nice areas to work with, and the colours from the moss and pine needles adds some nice touches to the otherwise grey day.

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Mt Beckworth Exploration

Friday was grey and dull, though at least it wasn't as cold as Thursday. I was heading north late in the afternoon when some low lying clouds out to the north west tempted me to change directions and I ended up out at Mt Beckworth. Plenty of mist hanging around so I made my way up the trail to get in amongst it and the varying terrain gave me some nice images. This whole area is littered with granite outcrops and in amongst the mists it created some great views. The clouds did break up enough to afford me some distant views across to Eastern Peake. This is a great location that I feel needs some further exploration, and its only 27 minutes from home!

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Morning Moon Moods

On Thursday morning I checked out the window well before dawn to see what was happening, and I glimpsed a reflection of the setting full moon in a neighbours window. So I knew if I made my way up to Lake Wendouree I would be able to capture some nice images as it continued its descent to the horizon.
This series of 3 images started at 7.18am when there is still this lovely predawn blue to the the light. By 7.32am the colour has changed to sunrises soft pastels, and just a few minutes later at 7.40am the first rays of sunshine are just starting to light up the buildings in the Yacht Club area.

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Morning Moods

A grey Wednesday morning didn't look too promising as I was heading out west in the dark to the wind farm around Waubra. There were some nice pockets of fog swirling around some of the hills and the wind towers and I as headed up north into Waubra, you get up on a nice high outlook and I was pleased to see some colour starting to sneak through on the horizon around Mt Beckworth. Once again I was using the big zoom lens to get in close and spent a bit of time in this spot shooting in different directions. On the way back home to Ballarat I noticed some very bright golden light breaking through way over to the north east and quickly found a vantage point to capture some of it. I love that cloud in the last one!
So all up a great morning and another great example of patience and persistence and a willingness to get yourself out there for those exciting moments when the unexpected happens.

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Foggy Views

A foggy start to the day on Tuesday up at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and at Fairyland at Lake Wendouree. Not as cold or icy as the previous day, and there is no feeling of getting up early at the moment as sunrise isn't until around 7.30am. 

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First Day of Winter

A very cold start to winter here in Ballarat on Monday - minus 2 degrees.  As is often the case on these cold mornings its calm and clear and crisp and a lovely time to be up for the sunrise, as I was at Lake Wendouree.
And though it was a cold day, the sunset wasn't too bad, either!

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