Gallery Pick of the Week
Instead of just showing pretty pictures only, here we have space for contributors to discuss their images every week.
This is a great opportunity to get some insight from the original photographer and the content is entirely open. It could be anything from the personal feeling of the photographer about the image to any photographic techniques or location knowledge he/she would like to share with our visitors.
Gallery Pick of the Week > July 2008
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A Portrait of Launceston, 24/7/08, Anne O'Connor Launceston as a city, does not have any single icon to identify itself by, but its beauty is unique. Sitting between the Great Western Tiers in the West and Mt. Barrow in the East... |
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Australian World Heritages, 17/7/08, Pele Leung When two huge landmasses detached from each other, it probably generated one of the loudest cracking sounds human being had ever heard but our ancestors did not have the chance to hear it... |
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Lake Grace, 10/7/08, Adrianne Yzerman This image is taken in the southern part of Western Australia’s wheatbelt right near the small town of Lake Grace... |
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Right Place Right Time, 3/7/08, David Bruce Sometimes photography is about seeing the world in a slightly different way – but sometimes it is just about being in the right place at the right time... |
Anne O'Connor - A Portrait of Launceston, 24/7/08
Launceston City
Launceston as a city, does not have any single icon to identify itself by, but its beauty is unique. Sitting between the Great Western Tiers in the West and Mt. Barrow in the East lies the heart of the north and third oldest city in Australia population 65,000. Settled in 1805 Launceston was originally named Patersonia after Colonel William Paterson but the name changed to Launceston in honour of Governor King whose birthplace was the original Cornish township of Launceston.
Within Launceston’s walls are a number of icons that are known to locals and identifiable for what they are. In particular, the clock tower and associated building that once hosted the main post office, telegram office and telephone exchange. Now within its walls are businesses and a café from which you can look up into the sky through a glass dome.
Early morning is possibly the best time to capture the details in this great icon as it gives you light on the front and entrance of the main building and tower. Whereas afternoon light gives you light on the back end and corner view which is fine for a straight image of the tower, but the building details are not there . In addition you will find that when taking the tower on a good day with blue sky, you will not need a polariser as the colour of the building tends to create a polarized effect on its own as you can see by these images. Both of these were taken from the front of the building in the morning light. Much later than this and shadows will come down over the face of the main building.
Launceston Hills
The hills around Launceston command great views for the householder, but they make it extremely difficult to capture Launceston photographically because of the shadows. Should one go to the top of one layer of hills, another layer will greet you in the distance.
Winter is possibly the best time to capture Launceston at her best, due to the sun being lower on the horizon and the light being still good late morning to early afternoon when shadows are less. The Western side of Launceston is best taken early in the morning, but the Eastern side is totally in shadow. The reverse would apply in the afternoon. Hence to get a panorama of Launceston, you will inevitably end up with some shadow details, however much you try to avoid it.
Launceston Rivers
The city centre sits in a natural valley at the mouth of the Tamar River, formed by the meeting of the South and North Esk Rivers. The South Esk is the longest of the two and flows from under the Southern tips of Ben Lomond through the Fingal Valley, to form a natural water basin in the centre of Launceston’s Cataract Gorge. Stories have it that this basin is bottomless with its origins a volcano. The best time to capture the basin is early in the morning one to two hours after sunrise for the reflections. Much earlier and the light has not travelled over the hills far enough.
The waters of the South Esk continue from the basin through the rocky cliffs of the Gorge to join the North Esk which comes from the Northern side of Ben Lomond. Both these rivers combined form the Tamar River and meet each other at the City side of the Gorge entrance. Morning or first light is the best time to capture the images of the Tamar, when the water is very still and the reflections are at their peak. Alternately late afternoon, again with still water, but this applies more to winter when the sun is still overhead. This particular image was taken around 3pm at low tide in July.
River Walk
A wheel-chair friendly walking track, starting at Inveresk, follows the river along the North Esk through the Seaport complex and on through the Cataract Gorge to the First Basin and beyond. Many good images can be captured at either end of the day.
On your walk take a look back East towards the Charles Street Bridge. From here you will get some good reflections of the seaport complex with Mt.Barrow in the distance. It is also possible to get the backlight of sunset across the seaport once it goes below the Western horizon. However, once the sun is up, you are directly into the sun and it is time to go back to the hills at the mouth of the Tamar. A finish to your walk could be breakfast at the Seaport.
A beautiful sunny still day in winter with magic cloud formations created this image with the use of a polariser.
To be continued.
Pele Leung - Australian World Heritages, 17/7/08
When two huge landmasses detached from each other, it probably generated one of the loudest cracking sounds human being had ever heard but our ancestors did not have the chance to hear it. Nobody knew how long this enormous sound lasted but the result was that Australia finally broke away from its last adjoining landmass, Antarctica, 40 million years ago. From that moment onwards, the destiny of Australia had been separated from other continents.
After such a long time that almost beyond human's imagination, there is nearly nothing left to remind us of all those historical and natural events. The nature had left behind a few hints and cultural signs are even scarce. It is definitely our responsibility to maintain the treasures we borrowed from our future generations. Among all conservation we have been doing, the world heritage sites probably attract most attention. Does everybody know where all Australian World Heritage sites are and why they are selected to carry the esteemed titles? If you think this is a difficult question, we hope this pictorial introduction can give you more clues. If you are keen on knowing more details, the official World Heritage site is your answer.
Natural Heritages Sites
1st row: Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte Cave, SA), Fraser Island (Maheno shipwreck site, QLD)
2nd row: Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (Danger Falls, NSW), Great Barrier Reef (Heart Reef, QLD)
3rd row: Greater Blue Mountains Area (Three Sisters, NSW), Purnululu National Park (WA)
4th row: Shark Bay, Western Australia (Hamelin Pool, WA), Wet Tropics of Queensland (Barron Gorge, QLD)
Sites without photographs: Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh, QLD), Heard and McDonald Islands (WA), Lord Howe Island Group (NSW) and Macquarie Island (TAS)
Cultural Heritage Sites
Left: Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (VIC). Right: Sydney Opera House (NSW)
Both Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites
1st row: Kakadu National Park (Yellow Water, NT), Tasmanian Wilderness (Cradle Mountain. TAS)
2nd row: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (NT), Willandra Lakes Region (Great Wall of China, NSW)
Adrianne Yzerman - Lake Grace, 10/7/08
This image is taken in the southern part of Western Australia’s wheatbelt right near the small town of Lake Grace. As I was just starting out in photography I took 3 images with a point and shoot Olympus C5000 camera. Later on, I joined the images together in Photoshop and adjusted levels and curves accordingly to match the sky colours and increased the saturation a little.
This image is particularly special because it has won me a major award with such little investment. Also, that location always seems to be experiencing drought, so it was great to see water in it especially with the lovely reflections of the Salmon Gums. I often thought if I had the opportunity to snap this again, I would have used a proper SLR with a polariser. However, in hindsight a polariser would have added no real effect to the clouds as the sun was in the wrong position. So my only change wouldv’e been to take it in RAW and with a bigger mega pixel camera, and perhaps a dedicated panorama camera if I was really dreaming.
A tip on this pic is quite basic. Always use a tripod especially for this time of day (late afternoon). As I was quite inexperienced then, I didn’t use one. In this instance I was just plain lucky my point and shoot handled it well.
David Bruce - Right Place Right Time, 3/7/08
Sometimes photography is about seeing the world in a slightly different way – but sometimes it is just about being in the right place at the right time. This photo was taken from a favourite vantage point of mine near Kalbarri. You can often see schools of fish bunched in against the cliffs by bigger predators, and the cliffs seem to stretch away into the haze in both directions – like REALLY wide-screen TV.
This particular evening it was grey and miserable – as it had been all day – and I was the only person there. I had a hot coffee with me and the camera set up on the tripod as I optimistically eyed a little gap in the cloud near the horizon and hoped for something spectacular. And for about 30 seconds the world was lit by a beautiful suffusing pinky-yellow light as the setting sun burst through that gap. If I didn’t have the camera set up and ready the moment would have passed – but this one time I was ready for it, and for me this image is my permanent memory of that light and those few moments.