Category: Landscape

Quiver Trees

You may have guessed, but posts have been a little out of order. The Quiver Tree Forest near Keetmanshoop was our first real stop after a long drive from Windhoek.

First, we arrived in the afternoon and spent an hour or two in the forest as the sun set. There were no clouds in the sky this day, but we still managed to get a lovely colour transition in the western sky as the sun set.

In disappointing news, this was the first shoot with my new 3 Legged Thing Winston tripod. Although the tripod was generally great throughout the trip, on this shoot, one of the feet came unscrewed and became lost among the grass and boulders. Similar happened to at least one other photographer durig the trip, with their much more expensive Really Right Stuff tripod. A handy reminder to regularly check your gear and make sure everything’s done up secure and tight.

The next morning, my jet lag paiud off with a 4:00am rise to take advantage of the moonless sky just before the morning twilight. The darkness of the sky without the moon allowed us to capture the Milky Way, which was lying pretty much parallel to the horizon by this time of the night. We did some light painting of the trees, but I much prefer the photographs with the main subject silhouetted against the sky. For me, the subtle light on the other trees in this shot (from others light painting their own composition) kind of works. A happy accident.

As the sun rose, we took a short drive to the Giant’s Playground, a vast pile of dolerite rocks, with the odd quiver tree dotted around.

Namibia Dunes

A rare sight as we left Luderitz, with clouds and rain over the dunes. The way the light and shadow was falling on the sand resulted in the first “Quick! Stop!” of the trip.

And then onto Sossusvlei for the real dunes. The tallest, and highest in the world. We spent a a couple of pre-sunrise mornings crossing the dunes to Deadvlei for *that* photo. Made famous by Frans Lanting a few years ago, this shot is achieved by waiting for the sun to illuminate the dune in the background. You have just a minute or two while the petrified trees stay in shadow and before the clay pan of Deadvlei begins to lighten.

Hobart Dawn

I recently spent a weekend in Hobart. I didn’t take many photographs because, well, it wasn’t that kind of trip.

I did get up early one morning and drove to the summit of Mount Wellington, where it was 2.7 degrees, with crazy winds making it feel like -8.2 degrees. The drive back down was much more pleasant, so I stopped when I saw this golden dawn light falling on the foothills and Lenah Valley.

Sleeklens Lightroom Workflow

I’ve been meaning to get out and shoot some landscapes for the last couple of weeks, after the folks at Sleeklens sent me a copy of their “Through The Woods” Lightroom Workflow for Landscapes. I finally managed to get out the door early this morning and head out to Oxley Creek Common, an area of grazing land not far from home.

Turns out it’s not a great spot for my usual wide-open landscapes, with power lines and warehouses running through the background, so I focused first on this fence running away into the early morning fog.

Here’s the straight-out-of-camera photograph. A little dull, huh?

And below is the final product after running through the Sleeklens workflow. Remember that word “workflow”. More on that later.

And of course, although it’s called a Landscape Workflow, the presets can be used on non-landscape photos too. I came across this kookaburra sitting on a low branch, no doubt waiting for some prey to stir. Again, the straight-out-of-camera versions of each shot is first, followed by the finished product.

I’ve tried a lot of Lightroom Presets, most of which are a blunt instrument – one click results in broad scale changes which, if you’re lazy, give you a final product. Or, of course, you can use them as a starting point for further refinement.

The Sleeklens presets work differently. Sure there are some “All In One” traditional-style presets, but the real power comes from the stackable workflow, which allows you to select a base tone, then make some exposure adjustments, colour corrections, tone and tint adjustments and final polishes.

But it doesn’t end there. Sleeklens also includes thirty local adjustment brush presets, which let you go in and make adjustments and corrections to specific parts of the image. The end result is a much more customisable use of presets and adjustment brushes than the one-click “instagram filter” approach of many other presets.

If you’d like to try the Through The Woods workflow yourself, it can be purchased for $39 USD from Sleeklens.

Point Cartwright Dreaming

I had a trip up to the Sunshine Coast last weekend, to shoot the Sunshine Coast Marathon. Since I had to arrive the day before, I figured it would be a great opportunity to get out and shoot some landscapes, which I haven’t done nearly enough of recently.

The weather didn’t really play along, but I did manage to beat the storm at Point Cartwright for these dreamy seascapes before running back to the car just as the thunder and lightning struck.

Springbrook National Park

Recently, I’ve mostly been photographing people. Corporate portrait, events, promotional, sport. They help pay the bills, but gosh I love getting out and photographing some nature.

As long as I’ve lived in Brisbane, I’ve only been to Springbrook National Park a couple of times, usually opting for the slightly shorter drive to Tamborine. But yesterday, I decided to drive those extra few kilometres along winding mountain roads and across single lane bridges to Purling Brook Falls.

After which, I paid my first visit to the very popular Natural Bridge

From Japan to Namibia

If you’ve known me for a while, you might remember that I took a trip to Japan in January 2015, to take part in one of Martin Bailey’s Hokkaido Winter Landscape tours. And I loved every minute of it.

Firstly, for the opportunity to meet photographers I’ve known, or known of, for a long time on line, including Martin and David DuChemin. But also it was fantastic to meet new people from all over the world, and develop friendships with a bunch of people who share a passion for photography and travel. Among others on the trip I took, we had a Scottish guy who lived in Sweden, a Romanian who lives in Dubai, an American who lives in Shanghai, and a Brit who lives in Hong Kong. It’s fair to say it was an eclectic bunch!

Add to that, the opportunity to visit locations that I never would have otherwise, and to shoot amazing minimalist winter landscapes that I’ve never experienced before, and you can see why it’s one of my favourite experiences of recent years.

So, I’m sure you can imagine how thrilled I was to chat with Martin this week and be invited to accompany him and help lead his 2017 Namibia Tour and Workshop. Taking place in June 2017, the tour is a 17-day adventure through Namibia in open-top Land Rovers, visiting National Parks and shooting wildlife, landscapes and people in some wonderful looking locations.

My participation depends on numbers – I’ll be the co-host in the second vehicle if enough people sign up for the tour before July 15 – and it looks like places are filling up pretty quickly. So, if you’ve ever thought of taking a photographic safari through Africa, or you’d like to have an experience meeting new, like-minded people from all around the world in a great location, head on over to Martin’s page and sign up now.

Weekend Wanderlust – The Great Ocean Road

Those of you who have known me for a while may remember that, back in 2010, I drove from Brisbane, through Western New South Wales and South Australia, to Adelaide. After meeting my wife in Adelaide, we then drove across the southern coast to Melbourne, via the Great Ocean Road.

I’ve been thinking about that trip recently, particularly this snake which I lay down on a boardwalk and got very close to in order to photograph. Mostly, I found myself wondering what kind of snake it was, and how much danger I placed myself in. Turns out it was a White-Lipped Snake. Slightly venomous, but mostly harmless.

While digging these photographs out of the archives, I thought I’d revisit a couple of landscapes from the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road. You can click on the second one to download it as a desktop wallpaper.

Click the image to download a desktop wallpaper version Click the image to download a desktop wallpaper version

Mountain Biking Friday

Sometimes, not having a regular day job has its benefits. Like spending the morning with a mate who has a day off work and taking photos of him mountain biking.