Andrew Thomas Photographer

Flying Past

Something a bit different today. On Sunday here in Ballarat we had the Ballarat Ironman 70.3 and the course for the bike leg and the run leg went past the end of the street. So I wandered up to take a look, and with the good overnight rain we had I found this puddle that gave me a great reflection as the bikes flew past. It took a while to work out who was who and when I did I was lucky to grab an image of the winner of each of the mens and womens section. Then onto View Point which was part of the run course...you probably need to click on this to enlarge it but you can see one of the runners coming around the bend. And finally, a nice little sunset to finish off an action packed day....I'm exhausted!

Out West

On Saturday afternoon around 4pm a big front moved in from the west and it looked like we could be in for a big show. A few bolts of lightning here in Ballarat were very promising, so I jumped in the car and headed out west of Ballarat and ended up on the west shore of Lake Burrumbeet. By then, after a few flurries of rain, it had calmed down, and initially all I had to photograph was lone pelican and blue wren. The birds are really featuring in the last few days images! The skies were pretty interesting and I found a spot amongst the rocks that gave me a nice image, and that was about it. The rain set in for a while, and whilst there was one big crash of lightning around 11pm that was it. Nice to see this morning we had around 18mm of rain, that should really freshen things up a lot.

Back to Alaska

Here's another from the recent Alaskan trip...we flew from Anchorage on a small plane to Lake Clark National Park & Preserve....this is the view just before landing at Port Alsworth after flying through the incredible mountain pass that then opened out into this amazing vista.

Lillies and Birds

On my run on Friday afternoon I detoured through the wetlands area north of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens passed the wetlands area to see how the water lillies were looking this year. So later in the day I made a trip back there with the camera to capture a couple of the pink and white flowers. The extra bonus was the great birdlife there - in the first one here of the white crane there was a very short break of sunlight that really added to the overall light of the scene, just before he took off. The other groups of egrets (?) are always plentiful and always make great images when you catch them just right.

Lake Learmonth Light

Thursday was quite warm and still, but by late afternoon the clouds had moved into take away any chance of a big sunset. I headed out west and ended up on the south shore of Lake Learmonth to a spot I don't visit too often, though I think that may change after this visit. The water has dropped considerably and its created these vast mud flats where the birds like to gather. There was just enough of a break in the sky looking north/north-west to give some nice subtle skies.

Up Close and Personal

Here's another series from Tuesday's visit to Granite Falls when I got in real close...perhaps too close in the last one here?

Kayaking Around

Wednesday afternoon was fine and warm here in Ballarat - perfect conditions for launching the kayak onto Lake Wendouree. We made it right out into the middle of the lake where there are some great areas you are not really aware of from the shore, including some lovely reed beds, and there is a whole bird sanctuary section that will be great to follow up on when there is some better light to work with. My underwater camera got a good workout, and later in the day I popped back up to the lake for a nice sunset.