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SENTINEL PEAK – THE GRAMPIANS

Australia, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

It has been quite a while since my last update (my apologies); things have just been very hectic at the office with the usual pre-Christmas insanity. I really do not understand what it is about the pre-Christmas period that makes people act as if the world is coming to an end. The desire to get everything finished before Christmas for no other reason than getting it finished before Christmas makes little to no sense to me. Anyway, despite the madness I did manage to sneak away the weekend before last to the Grampians for a couple of days for some photography. The Grampians was actually ‘Plan B’ – ‘Plan A’ was Mungo and the Walls of China; which if you have been following my blog at all will know I am destined not to visit due to the God of Thunders uncanny ability to pour rain for days prior and during any potential visit – such is life. I will keep trying though.

Exiting stage left at around 11am and leaving the kids with my somewhat understanding wife I made a beeline for Halls Gap and the Grampians Saturday morning. The Grampians are around three and half hours drive from my house; which gave me plenty of time to make a sunset shoot. Even though I did not as yet know where I would be shooting and the Grampians is an awfully big place. Arriving in Halls Gap early afternoon after some fairly atrocious traffic through the city outskirts I had  a good chat with one of the Rangers about the current state of the waterfalls and weather conditions. On his advice I made for an area of the Grampians near Dunkeld called Sentinel Peak.

Sentinel Peak is a steep three and a half hour trek virtually straight up from the main road from Halls Gap to Dunkeld to the Summit which looks North East across the main peak. The views from the top are spectacular (some of the best in the Grampians) although its a tough hike up very uneven rocky ground that saw me nothing short of shattered on reaching the summit. I contribute a good portion of my weakened condition on reaching the top to the twenty plus kilograms of camera equipment I hauled to the top. Not having photographed or even walked to the top before I did not want to be caught short of the wrong lens. In the end I used my trusty 50mm F1.2L and could have left most of the rest of the kit in the car.

This photograph was shot from the summit proper looking North East as distant rain showers and sunbeams streaked through the patchy cloud. There is a lovely play of light at work here that really works for me. You cant see it in the small jpeg on screen but there are two rainbows in the distance on the right hand side of frame. The light is warm late afternoon light that is often encountered this time of year in Australia and makes for wonderful landscape photography.

The Australian bush is very difficult to photograph at the best of times. Making order out of the chaos can be extremely challenging. If you have never visited Australia or attempted to photograph the Australian bush you may have a hard time comprehending what it is I am driving at with this statement. Those of you who have will understand what I mean when I say the Grampians (although exceedingly beautiful) is very challenging photographically. In this case, I am very pleased with the result.

I ended up getting back to the car around 10:30pm after the hike back down (nearly treading on a Tiger snake in the process) and decided that after dinner and a few hours sleep I would get up at 3am and hike back up for sunrise (must have been a brain fade moment). I did trek back up for sunrise but needn’t have bothered as the best light was most definitely the prior evening with the distant rain showers.

THATS THE LAST TIME I DO A RAIN DANCE…

News and Updates, Uncategorized

No real rains for a decade in Australia, years of drought, parched farm land and dried up creeks, lakes and rivers. Lost crops, top soil blown away, water shortages the list goes ever on. This wide brown land of Australia has really been just that. For more than ten years now Australia has been gripped in one of its worst droughts on record until just a few months ago when it finally started to rain. Roughly around the time I started to consider a trip to Mungo and the Walls of China if my memory serves me correctly. That trip was a wash out with the road into Mungo closed – hey.. it happens. The truth is I have been yearning for it to seriously rain for years. My disappointment at being denied access to the Walls of China was minimised by my shear delight to actually see it rain. Parched earth and dying foliage are not the prettiest of subjects for landscape and nature photography. They are no less interesting than a field of flowers or flowing stream; its just that after so many years of drought there are only so many parched landscapes you can look at before becoming rather jaded with the whole affair.

Since that wash out trip earlier this year it has kept raining… and  raining… raining…A few sunny days have graced us with their presence; but on the whole its been nothing short of wet.

Now; less than 15 hours hours before I am scheduled to depart for The Walls of China it is still raining and the roads are well and truly closed – with no sign of opening in the foreseeable future. No more rain dances for me. Mungo and The Walls of China will just have to wait yet again.

The best laid plans can easily go astray – especially when blessed Mother Nature is involved. Which means it is time to implement the backup plan. I am heading up to the Grampians instead to photograph the many waterfalls which are now flowing again with all the recent rains. Many of them have been dry for years or a trickle at best. It should be quite a site to see them in full force and hopefully with a little luck the weather offers some good light. See you in a few days…

SEND JOSH TO THE NORTH POLE – IN SEARCH OF SANTA CLAUS

News and Updates, Uncategorized

Call this one a definite post from left field – But here is a chance to send me packing to the far flung top of the world where I could possibly get lost, eaten by a polar bear, kidnapped by a renegade band of Santa’s elves or even freeze to death. Yes, in my desire and passion to go to the worlds last pristine places in the most hostile of environments in pursuit of my photography I am trying to win Quark’s Blog your Way to the North Pole competition. If you have been a regular reader of my blog, enjoyed any of my photography or just stumbled on my site whilst browsing the web I would greatly appreciate and value your vote. Please take a moment from your busy day if you can and register and vote HERE. Whilst you are there be sure to check out Quarks amazing expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic. Thank you for your vote!

WALLS OF CHINA – UPCOMING PHOTOGRAPHY TRIP

Australia, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

I have not had a lot of opportunity of late to get out with my camera for some landscape photography. To say I have been missing time out with my camera in the field would be an understatement. The ‘silly season’ has well and truly arrived and there has just been some sort of social function every weekend for weeks – it seems to start earlier every year. I am positive the Christmas trees go up earlier and earlier each year in the shopping centres. Gratefully I have managed to secure a couple of days in the first weekend of December and will be heading up past Mildura to Mungo and the Walls of China. This is part of Victoria I have wanted to visit and photograph for some time. My last attempt earlier this year was a wash out with the road into Mungo closed. It rained pretty much the entire weekend of the trip. Instead I visited the nearby Perry Sandhills and managed to get some images I was very satisfied with.

Fingers crossed the weather works out better this trip and although its a little to early to predict I am hopeful that being the first week of Summer the weather is good and the roads accessible. There is little in the way of infrastructure at Mungo so I will be camping and taking everything I need with me for the trip.The Walls of China are a feature of the Mungo Lake lunette. Over thousands of years, wind and water have carved spectacular formations comprised of sand and clay. Rain washes away the soft sands and muds of the lunette, creating the rilled ridges and residuals that characterise the Walls of China. The dislodged sand is then picked up by the wind and heaped into huge mobile dunes along the back of the lunette.

‘ABANDONED BLUE BERG’ WINS AWARD IN INTERNATIONAL APERTURE COMPETITION

Iceland, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

I am not normally a participant in photographic competitions. Photography for me a is non-competitive passion that I pursue for the sheer love of it. It is the pursuit of the image that drives me – not the desire to compete. I ride my mountain bike for the thrill of competition. That said, a good friend of mine encouraged me to enter some of my photography into the International Aperture Awards this year. So, dipping my toe in the water I did submit one of my photographs from Iceland – ‘Abandoned Blue Berg’. I am pleased to say that I received notification today that this photograph took out a Bronze award for excellence in the Landscape Open category. 

LAND OF FIRE AND ICE AND ANTARCTICA WELCOME PACK

Antarctica, Iceland, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

I feel I am getting close now to mining all the gems from my trip to Iceland back in July / August this year. As I have blogged about before, sorting, editing and processing has been a continuous albeit sporadic affair when time has permitted. The pace of family and work life these days seems to run at light speed. Finding time to slow down in peace and quiet and work in a contemplative fashion is tough. Now, three months after returning from the trip Iceland is starting to feel like a completed project for me. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to go back; because I dearly do. There is still the entire Snaefellsness Peninsula for me to explore as well as the North East corner of the island. Plans are afoot as they say…

I have now processed most of my ‘selects’ and made prints of a good many of them. I have an exhibition coming up in March next year and am very much looking forward to sharing my prints from the trip. I still have many hundreds of trip snapshots to sort through; many of which are no more than a traveller’s record of the trip for me. I will continue to post photographs from the trip to my blog over the coming months.

This photograph was taken during my first visit to the Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon as the sun set behind the distant Vatnajokull glacier [Europe’s largest glacier]. The combination of evening light and ice is magical at the lagoon. It is hard to say any particular location in Iceland is my favourite above all others as so many of them are stunningly beautiful in their own right. The Jokulsarlon lagoon however certainly rates in the top three. I know of nowhere else in the world where icebergs can be photographed carving into a lagoon and then photographed several hours later having washed out to sea on the black volcanic sand beaches.Looking forward to Antarctica next year I received a welcome pack from Quark Expeditions which included several informative booklets on Antarctica, a large detailed map of the area, luggage tags, list of recommended clothing and equipment and associated paraphernalia. Even though this trip is still just over a year away it is now starting to feel very real and I have on several occasions when the moment has been right found myself day dreaming about what it will be like and considering what I will take with me. I have not as yet booked accommodation in Buenos Aires or Ushuaia but have been recommended a couple of different hotels; both of which look really good. I am planning to meet up with my good friend Martyn who travelled  and photographed with me in Iceland for the shoot in Antarctica. We plan to meet in Buenos Aires a couple of days early for some photography to ease any shutter finger aches before we head down to Ushuaia and set sail for the big Antarctica shoot. I cant wait!

THE QUESTION OF HDR AND POST PRODUCTION

Equipment, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Uncategorized

From time to time (and with increasing frequency) I get emails asking ‘how many, if any, of my photographs are HDR or High Dynamic Range?’

The answer is: None.

For any reader who may be unaware: HDR photography is the art of capturing several (usually two or three) different exposures of the same scene. Each exposure will be optimised at the time of capture for either the highlights, shadows or mid tones of the scene. The multiple frames are then composited in Photoshop or alternative program and tone mapped. The final output is a single photograph that captures a dynamic range wider than what the cameras sensor was capable of recording in a single exposure. Usually, but not always, the results are unnatural and somewhat ‘odd’ (at least to my eyes).

All of the photographs on my Portfolio website and on my blog are single exposures that were captured that way in the field. I may well have taken multiple exposures (bracketing) at the time of capture; but this was simply to give me choice of picking the best overall exposure to work with back in my studio – Never for the act of combining for a HDR image. Not that there is anything wrong with HDR photography; but it just isn’t something that interests me, or frankly that I even particularly like.

I am also often asked “if the colours in my photographs are real?”

The answer is: Yes.

I actually do very little post processing work to my photographs in the vast majority of cases. Probably 99% of my photographs never even make it to Photoshop – receiving only basic post processing corrections in Adobe Lightroom. These corrections include adjustments such as white balance, setting white and black points, burning and dodging etc. I am a strong advocate for ‘getting it right in the field’. I use graduated neutral density filters extensively to tame the high dynamic range found in nature and these allow me to capture scenes with a single exposure without resorting to post processing techniques such as HDR tone mapping. I spend many many hours in the field waiting for the right light for my photography and frequently revisit locations for better light.

My shooting style is pretty simple – I like to arrive at my location with plenty of time before the light is at its best. Usually, this means at least an hour before sunrise or sunset (I generally prefer sunrise – the best light being just before the sun crests the horizon). Almost always, if possible I will have scouted the location earlier in the day to ascertain what I wanted to photograph. However, I am always ready to go with the flow, and if I see something happening nearby (maybe the light is reflecting off a pool of water, or whatever) will change my plans accordingly. I shoot with a tripod, mirror lock-up and a cable release. I like to take my time to compose my photographs thoughtfully; I use ‘live-view’ to assist with composition and focusing.

Once I am ready to take the photograph I may make several different exposures so that I can later on choose which is best for my purposes. I will also usually do a number of different compositions and again later in my studio choose which I prefer. During post processing I will endevour to draw out any subtle tones and colours that were captured by the cameras sensor at time of exposure. These adjustments or enhancements if you prefer are usually no more than corrections for the inherent flatness of a RAW file compared to a jpeg; which has already and automatically had post production performed in camera.

 

 

National Geographic Great Migrations

News and Updates, Uncategorized

The Big Picture has some wonderful wildlife photography from National Geographic’s new epic documentary series “Great Migrations“.”Move as millions, survive as one”. That is the subtitle to the new seven-part television series from National Geographic called “Great Migrations”. Animals great and small are on the move around the world, chasing resources in dangerous journeys that might take mere hours or span generations. To capture the images and video for the series, National Geographic’s photographers spent two and a half years in the field, traveling 420,000 miles across 20 countries and all seven continents. There is some stunning wildlife photography previewed at the Big Picture – well worth a look. “Great Migrations” premieres this sunday night in Victoria Australia on Foxtel’s National Geographic Channel.

A Year Old – And Hopefully Many More to Come

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It is hard to believe it has already been a year since I started this blog – where has the time gone? Over the past year  or so I have visited New Zealand’s South Island, Tasmania, Iceland, London, and many Australian locations for my photography. Reporting on my time photographing at these locations and sharing some of the photographs has been almost as much fun as the expeditions themselves.

2011 also has some very exciting photographic expeditions planned including Tasmania in the new year, New Zealand’s South Island mid year and Antarctica in November / December – a trip I am very much looking forward to. I will no doubt squeeze in as many local trips as I can when opportunities arise as there are still many locations I wish to visit in Australia.

In terms of exhibitions I will soon be announcing my Iceland exhibition which will go on display in Melbourne around March next year before it tours the country. I am also currently in preliminary talks for another exhibition in Tasmania and will post details if and when the exhibition is confirmed.

I plan to expand my blog over the coming year with more video footage from the field to better share the experience of wilderness landscape photography. It is no secret that there is a massive convergence of still and video photography underway being driven by the camera manufacturers marketing machines. This revolution has meant that there is hardly a DSLR or point and shoot camera released today that does not have some kind of video capability. Whilst I am strictly a stills photographer I do recognise the potential for video to add value to my online work – so I will be carrying a high definition video camera on all of my upcoming trips and hope to post footage from the locations I visit.

I have also just invested in a new wide format printer to enable me to make larger prints of my photographs as well as some new camera equipment. The next year should be very exciting and I am looking forward to posting more photographs, video footage and associated photographic news.