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 > February 2009
 |
Night Photography, 28/2/09, Barry Allwright Planning a visit to Central Australia? Interested in photography? Why not try your hand (and camera) at some long exposure night photography? |
|---|---|
 |
Lighthouses, 19/2/09, Gary Chapman Along with Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast and Bass Strait itself, surely one of the most dangerous stretches of water surrounding Southern Australia is the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. Known locally as “The Rip”. |
 |
We Miss Marysville, 12/2/09, Pele Leung If you do not live in Victoria, you might not know Marysville until its name is now well known to most Australian. I prefer you remain as a stranger to this lovely town 100kms north east of Melbourne if we could reverse what mother nature has done to it lately. |
 |
Road Trip Upon Reflection, 5/2/09, Peter and Jill Myers After travelling more than 4,000 kms, our contributors Peter and Jill Myers brought us much more than just a few words and photos. The immensity of the New South Wales Outback is one of their travel experiences they would like to share with us. |
Barry Allwright - Night Photography, 28/2/09
Planning a visit to Central Australia? Interested in photography? Why not try your hand (and camera) at some long exposure night photography?
During the cooler months the nights are often cloudless – ideal conditions for night photography. I think that I am lucky to live in Central Australia where I have some of the world’s best conditions for my style of photography. Cloudless nights are common. Light and other pollution are minimal.
Elley Creek Big Hole, Central Australia
Equipment requirements are not too extravagant. I use an old manual film camera, sturdy tripod, cable release, a flash or 12 volt spot light, and an alarm clock. Some of the modern cameras can only be used for very short exposures. If you presently use a digital camera or a film camera that needs batteries, I recommend that you find an old film camera – they can be bought very cheaply these days.
Depending of the size of any foreground subject matter, I will use either the flash (with multiple bursts) or the spot light to illuminate it. The spot light is used to “paint” the larger subjects.
Gum Tree painting with Light, Trephina Gorge, Central Australia
Subject matter is as wide as your imagination – trees, old buildings, rock formations. Choosing a camp site out bush now has a new dimension. I not only consider a clear place with no prickles but with fire wood handy and protection from the wind and I also think about possible subject matter for a night photograph.
During winter I am able to obtain exposures in excess of ten hours, clearly showing the star trails as the earth rotates while I sleep.
If you are leaving your camera out until a little before dawn, make some mental notes of where it is located so that you will be able to find it in the dark. If you do not find it before there is light in the sky, your photograph will be ruined.
Different films will give you different colours for such long exposures. Some may give you a deep blue colour in the sky while others may turn a shade of green. Some experimentation may be needed here.
If other people are camped nearby, it is good to let them know what you are doing. Wander over to their camp with a coffee and introduce yourself and explain what you are doing. I have always found that others are very co-operative and do not do anything accidentally that might ruin my photograph.
If you are heading Outback this winter, give it a go.
Gary Chapman - Lighthouses, 19/2/09
Golden Glance
Along with Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast and Bass Strait itself, surely one of the most dangerous stretches of water surrounding Southern Australia is the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. Known locally as “The Rip”. Thousands of ships and an infinite number of smaller vessels make the hazardous journey between Points Lonsdale and Nepean every year. During daylight hours, even on dull days, visibility is a great asset, but how treacherous must this passage be after dark. This job is thankfully made a lot easier since the construction of the Lighthouses built at Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff.
Dawn Over the Rip
Although the distance between the heads is 3km, the actual safe shipping channel is a mere 200 metres across, making entrances by large container ships incredibly dangerous. There have been signal lights in continual operation in the area since as early as 1843 but the current array of towers and state of the art lights is a far cry from the original sandstone structure built on what was then known as Whale’s Bluff at Queenscliff.
The first indication as to the entrance of the bay is the imposing white lighthouse built high on the rocky head land to the south of Point Lonsdale township, which can be seen clearly when approaching by sea from the East and West. This in conjunction with the two towers inside the bay on Shortland Bluff (Queenscliff) is the basis for navigating a safe path through the notorious currents in the entrance channels.
Sailor's Guide
There are actually two lighthouses (and two other signal towers) located at Queenscliff. The “High Light”, is a black tower constructed of basalt and is positioned high on the Bluff. The Low light, which is a similar tower, but painted white, is positioned in front of and below the Black light. When these two towers are aligned from out at sea they provide a rudimentary guide to the shipping lane heading inside the The Rip. Along with these visible navigational aids a pilot service is employed, where experienced navigators physical take control of almost all large ships for the narrow passage through the heads.
Lighting the Way
There are over 150 lighthouses dotting Australia’s coastline with at least that many more off shore and remotely located light stations. Many off them are located on dramatic and rugged patches of coast and providing the willing photographer with a multitude of image opportunities. They are a great point of interest for a coastal vista and can provide essential scale in any composition. Not to mention the dramatic and varied weather conditions that can be seen along the coast. The seaside has a never-ending array of sights and sounds and the inclusion of lighthouses is a fascinating way to record the stunning Australian seascape. Come rain, hail or shine these beacons of guidance are always a willing participant in any landscape photo.
Pele Leung - We Miss Marysville, 12/2/09
If you do not live in Victoria, you might not know Marysville until its name is now well known to most Australian. I prefer you remain as a stranger to this lovely town 100kms north east of Melbourne if we could reverse what mother nature has done to it lately. Although police suspects the bush fire could potentially be started by human, I hope it is not the case - how could people do this unacceptable act to this lovely and innocent town and its people. Let's pray and hope that the whole thing will be over soon. We want Marysville back and shine as bright as what we remembered.
The road leading to the entrance of Marysville
Now my memory goes back to the day I first discovered Marysville in 2002. It was a lovely sunny day. Everything around was green and fresh and the perfect blue sky hung over my head. It was not a completely quiet little town because its features attracted quite a lot of tourists back then. What I remembered most was a place called Sculptures Gardens and it was one of the major attractions in Marysville. I could easily spend half a day there photographing those fascinating sculptures. Every sculpture represented a unique story but I am afraid all of them are probably gone now. I just could not imagine how painful would that be to the owner (the sculptor). As far as I remembered, he was a very friendly person and wanted to make every visitor feel like home.
The Entrance of Sculptures Gardens
A few wonderful sculptures among a hundred of fantastic great work
By reviewing the photos I took in Marysville, Marysville is still alive. Although there are only five buildings remained in the whole trashed town, I believe it will be back and we need every single spare hand to support this wish. One day, hopefully soon, I will be back and revisit a new Sculptures Gardens in a refurbished Marysville. Meanwhile, Marysville is still in our heart and memory.
Peter and Jill Myers - Road Trip Upon Reflection, 5/2/09
We travelled exactly 4197 KM's from beginning to end on this road trip, so I think the first thing to reflect upon is the fact that our car was absolutely flawless. I guess if you are going to travel this far on Australia's long straight roads, at a steady 100KM /hr average, then a 4Litre V8 engine is the perfect tool...with air conditioning!
The Sat Nav system also worked perfectly, although in truth was only really needed at the very detailed end of each journey to find our motel easily, but nevertheless it was good to have.
We were VERY fortunate with the weather. We did not see one drop of rain on the entire trip, but more fortunately we did not suffer much of the horrific heat that Australia in January can throw at you. We had one really hot day on New Year's day in Sydney (39 degrees) and a real "hottie" in Yarrawonga (40 degrees), other than that it was mostly mid 20's to early 30's degree temperatures, with lots of sun....very nice.
We tended to travel from destination to destination during mid morning to early afternoon, arriving in most places in time to check in and enjoy late afternoon and early evening. much better light for photography than mid day sun!
I was testing out my new Canon EOS 5D mark 2 camera, and Jill was road testing her Canon 40D. Both camera's worked perfectly. Apart from the skill of us as photographers, it is really difficult to take a bad picture with these cameras.
We enjoyed all the places we visited. We particularly liked the North East area of Victoria (Petrina was right!) and Bright was our favourite stop off point. Jill's highlight was the "Cemetery of Trees" at Falls Creek. We both enjoyed our walks in the Blue Mountains, and we were particularly pleased with our effort at walking the "Giant Stairway" (1011 steps...I counted them!) on two successive days. We even walked two thirds of the way down, and then all the way back up again on our first attempt!
We both agreed that our favourite area from a photography point of view was Mungo National Park. We were stunned by the wide open spaces, the big sky and the majestic views. This was the Australia we wanted to see...
Sunset at Mungo National Park
We have lived in Australia for nearly 6 years, and tonight we finally went into the outback...the wilderness...the desert...call it what you like, we went to Mungo National Park.
Mungo is relatively accessible from Mildura, a 3 hour round trip. However about 2.5 hours of the trip is on unmade rough roads. Thankfully I was not driving, we went on with a local "guide" in his 4 wheel drive Land Cruiser.
The journey to Mungo goes from civilization (Mildura), through country towns, to remote farms, through outback scrub country, and finally to the wilderness that leads to Mungo, about 110 KM in total.
The pasted life, Mungo National Park
Mungo National Park is mainly comprised of "Lake Mungo", or at least it was a lake about 15,000 years ago. This whole area we now know was inhabited by Australian aboriginals, long, long before we white men stepped on this continent. The lake, and therefore this national park is about 300 KM square, a huge flat landscape. The far eastern side of the lake contains the rock and sand dune formation known as "The Great Wall of China" (apparently named as such by early Chinese migrants who worked here on sheep farms).
The Great Wall of China, Mungo National Park
In the early 20th century, through to mid 1970, this whole area was a sheep farm, and in fact the Mungo visitor centre focuses on the original sheep shearing station which operated here. Goodness me, this must have been atough isolated existence!
The "Great Wall" is the area most photographed by visitors, but the thing is these pictures do not adequately convey the scale of this place. As Jill said, at sunset, it was like we were on top of the world. We watched the most amazing sunset spread 360 degrees around us, and finally we understood the meaning of the term "Big Sky". I have to say, being in a place like this makes you realise just how insignificant you are. 40,000 years ago this was a teeming freshwater lake providing life for all sorts of plants, animals, and early aboriginal human beings!
Time, I think to reflect further on this, and go and have a beer!
If you would like to know more about Peter and Jill's travel, please visit their travel blog for full story.