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It has been a little while since I last posted. Truth be told I have not had a lot of time for photography over winter, and those photos I have taken I have been fair from impressed with.

It is now spring in Tasmania, and with it has come the rain. For people who love taking photos of rivers and waterfalls like me, this is the time to get in the car and go exploring. Today’s photo comes from North-West Bay River, which has it’s origins on Mt Wellington south-west slopes. Today the normally dry river has swollen with 2 days of solid rain, making it much more interesting to photograph.

Image Details

Taken: September 5, 2010, 3:07 pm.
Focal Length: 33mm
Shutter: 1.6 Seconds
Aperture: ƒ/7.1

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I was up with the Radio & Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania tonight, and decided to play with some long exposure photography for star trails while up there.

What you see in this image is a view looking over Hobart CBD  and in the foreground is a 2.2 metre satellite receiver used by the club to receive television broadcasts that are typically unavailable to most people.

It’s not a fantastic star trail image as the ambient light from the city greatly reduces the contrast of the night sky, so I probably need to arrange an outing to Mt Pleasant Observatory to have try this in more favourable conditions.

This particular exposure was a little over 30 mins. No noise reduction was done on the camera and I have made some minor retouches to deal with the hot spots on the sensor.

Image Details

Taken: June 23, 2010, 8:26 pm.
Focal Length: 15mm
Shutter: 1922 Seconds
Aperture: ƒ/16

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This past long weekend I had the pleasure of going out with some friends to Mt Field National Park for the day. Was was also an excellent opportunity to meet Amy, a fellow photographer who does extraordinary things with her mobile phone.

This is quickly becoming a regular destination for me given that it is not all that far away to drive and theres a lot of interesting scenery along the way. The trip took me around my usual circuit – National Park via New Norfolk in the morning, and then home via Lake Meadowbank in the evening.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a lot of time to play with my camera of late, and it does show in my photos. Many of them suffered compositional mistakes, issues with white balance and colour and focus. I’m surprised any photos came out at all.

One such example is the photo above – compositional error. Really should not have had the car on the bridge and what particularly annoyed me was that I did not reshoot the photo. I have no idea why I forgot.

There was only one image I took that day I was truly happy with – but I will leave that to Amy to show you.

Thanks to Anders, Tori, Tom, Caitlin, James, Leesha, Carly and of course Amy for the day.

Image Details

Taken: June 14, 2010, 4:05 pm.
Focal Length: 50mm
Shutter: 1/59.999999999999
Aperture: ƒ/8

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Lindisfarne Bay is a suburban bay just north-east of Hobart and about 5 minutes from where I live. I had been meaning for some time to spend an evening attempting to get some photos of the run-down boat jetties found around the bay, but at this time of the year the light is coming from the wrong angle.

Here’s a photo of one of the jetties that appeared to come out ok.

Image Details

Taken: May 29, 2010, 3:30 pm.
Focal Length: 125mm
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: ƒ/8

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This photo was taken on my first trip out with my DSLR. In my first trip to the Tasmanian West Coast in over 15 years, the main purpose of the journey was to experience the wonderful Wilderness Railway, better known as the Abt. Built in the 1890s by the Mt Lyell Mining Company, the railway connected Strahan and Queenstown for a number of years, before being closed in the mid 1960s and rails ripped up. In the late 1990s money was granted to re-establish the railway as a tourist venture.

In the photo here we see Abt Locomotive #1 taking on water at Rinadeena – the highest point of the journey and the lunchtime stopover. This is a tremendous journey and I would recommend it to anyone who happens to have a spare day when visiting the Tasmanian West Coast.

Image Details

Taken: May 20, 2008, 1:05 pm.
Focal Length: 55mm
Shutter: 1/59.999999999999
Aperture: ƒ/5.6

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Over the last couple of months I have not had much time to get out and take photos. In fact, I haven’t taken any photos since Bathurst Harbour, which is kind of depressing. Whats worse is that with my current schedule, I will not be able to get out into the wilds to take any more photos for at least another 3 weeks due to current workloads

I have missed much of the magnificent autumn colour changes that occur each year, but did manage to briefly have a play with my 50mm lens and close up filters in the garden. I find this a nice image so far as colour and texture goes.

Thats all for now! unless I find something from the vault

Image Details

Taken: May 2, 2010, 9:47 am.
Focal Length: 50mm
Shutter: 1/200
Aperture: ƒ/3.2

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The Airstrip and Melaleuca was quite busy. I expected one, perhaps two planes. In the time we were at the airstrip around half a dozen planes landed and took off. They were lining up

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Lunch was had in the dense temperate forest surrounds of Mt Stokes & Bramble Cove

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If was a great day out, and it’s somewhere I definitely want to visit again, although camping really is the only option for the photographer in this area – the day trips are simply not enough.

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This little fella was spotted outside today so I grabbed my close-up filters and went to town with the camera. Theres something about close up work with insects that I find quite fun.

Image Details

Taken: March 27, 2010, 1:24 pm.
Focal Length: 135mm
Shutter: 1/15
Aperture: ƒ/20

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The reason for heading up to Mt Wellington was to take some photos of O’Grady falls. I had previously gone looking for them last year, however ended up on “long way round” track, which I abandoned halfway through the walk.

No problems finding the falls this time, I was well researched. The Wood’s Track albeit the shorter route was very steep though – what was an enjoyable walk down was a recipe for a heart attack back up. However with the wet day, and heavy cloud cover, it was perfect conditions to take photos of waterfalls.

The image really does not do justice to the falls – I would estimate them to be between 6 and 9 metres high. I also became re-acquainted with leeches, which seemed determined t suck me dry by dropping from overhanging trees. Thankfully only 1 managed to “get me” – the others I removed in time.

I feel there is potential to improve on this photo – this is the “tourist” shot many people get of the falls, however it does not really tell the story of the waterfall, so I plan to return when the weather isn’t so prone to leeches and spend more time trying to get the shot I want.

Image Details

Taken: March 8, 2010, 2:12 pm.
Focal Length: 20mm
Shutter: 10 Seconds
Aperture: ƒ/16

I really like this photo. It feels like the branch in the foreground is reaching out to the craggy, skeletal branch of the other tree, as if to save it from the abyss that is veiled in the mist.

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Image Details

Taken: March 8, 2010, 2:58 pm.
Focal Length: 55mm
Shutter: 1/100
Aperture: ƒ/11