A few weeks ago I went down to Clifton Springs near Geelong in Victoria to photograph the remains of an old pier that was constructed in the early 1900’s. The top deck of the pier has long since been removed and all that now remains are the old pylons.
Pentax K7, Pentax DA* 16-50 mm, ISO 100, f/16, 1 min.
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Pentax K-01, Pentax DA* 16 – 50mm, ISO 1600, f/7, 1/15 sec.
This photograph was taken just as the sun was about to come over the horizon during a trip to the Alpine National Park in late March this year. The wind was blowing at over 60 km/h making it incredibly difficult to get a sharp photo. This one was the taken during a brief break in the wind and was the only one that was sharp from a morning of shooting.
Earlier this year I purchased a Pentax K-01 as a backup for my Pentax K-7. As the K-01 is a mirrorless camera I initially thought that I would miss the viewfinder, and while I did at first, I have come to really like using the LCD screen and find it much easier to compose a photograph on the LCD rather than with the viewfinder; especially as I wear glasses. Although it was supposed to be a backup camera I am finding lately that I am using it more and more. I find it a joy to use and out of the K7, ME Super, or K-01 the K-01 is the camera that for me at least begs to be used, when you pick it up you want to take photos with it.
Last week I purchased a Pentax DA 21mm F3.2 Limited lens to go with the K-01. This lens is one of Pentax’s ultra-thin pancake lenses and its small size makes it a great match with the K-01.
To try out the new lens I took it and the K-01 down to Aireys Inlet along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria (the ME Super came along too, but I have to get the film developed to see how those photos turned out). The photograph below was taken at Fairhaven beach which in 2008 was rated as one of the best beaches in Victoria.
Pentax K-01, Pentax DA 21mm f/3.2 ltd, ISO 100, f/8, 4 sec.
I am really happy with the DA 21 mm f3.2 limited lens. The images it produces are incredibly sharp with stunning colours. I think this lens could be the start of a collection of limited lenses; time to start saving for the 15 mm one!
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On Friday I went down to Wilsons Promontory National Park, or The Prom as its affectionately known, for a spot of camping. Over 50000 hectares in size The Prom is the southern most tip of mainland Australia, and has been a national park since the late 1890s.
Unfortunately the camping didn’t exactly turned out as I had hoped as it was school holidays (which I forgot about) and it seemed like every body in Melbourne had the same idea; needless to say it was extremely crowded! Nevertheless it was too good an opportunity to let it go to waste, so I headed out to Whiskey Bay to see what the nights sunset had in store.
This first shot was taken while the sun was just above the horizon.
Pentax K7, DA* 16-50 mm f/2.8, ISO 100, f/16, 1 sec.
This second one was taken over 45 minutes later once the sun had gone and it was almost dark.
Pentax K-01, DA 18-55 f/3.5-f/5.6, ISO 400, f/5.6, 30 sec.
While the camping may not have been great, the chance to visit Wilsons Prom and do some photography was too good an opportunity to pass up.
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The photograph below of alpine wildflowers was taken at the end of December 2012 near the start of the Crosscut Saw in the Alpine National Park.
Pentax K7, ISO 100, f/11, 1/50 sec, Pentax SMC DA* 16 – 50 mm f/2.8.
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This year in Melbourne we have had one of our driest and warmest summers in decades, and last Sunday I went down to Chelsea Beach to photograph the sunset.
I have put a couple of the shots from my visit below and the colours in the first one reminded me of the movie poster for the classic 1960’s surfing movie Endless Summer.
These shots have not had their colours changed in Photoshop, I used a 8 stop ND filter when the images were made, and the sunset of the evening did the rest of the work. These shots were taken with a Pentax K-01, which is really starting to grow on me and in many ways it is better than my K7.
This second shot of the pier I found more difficult, but maybe it’s just me, but I found it challenging to symmetrically line up the pier such that the poles were evenly placed at the start of the image while the end of the pier was centred. Anyway after a bit of mucking around I finally got there and came away with this shot.
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This is a shot of Pretty Valley Pondage at Falls Creek in the Alpine National Park (Victoria). It was taken at sunset a couple of weeks ago just before the fog rolled in.
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A couple of weeks ago I spent a few days in Falls Creek to do some photography. Falls Creek is located in the Alpine National Park and provides a convenient starting point to explore the Bogong High Plains. The high plains were used for many years by local families to graze cattle during the summer months; with several of these families building Huts for shelter after driving their cattle up onto the plains. Other huts were purpose built as shelters for cross-country skiers and bushwalkers. Some of the huts date back to the 1880s. The photos below show a small selection of huts.
This first hut is Cope Hut and was built in the late 1920s as a refuge for cross-country skiers, however in summer without any snow the area is covered with wildflowers.
This is Fitzgeralds hut and while the original hut which was built in 1903 was burnt down in the mid 1980s, it was rebuilt in the early 1990s in the original style.
Kellys Hut below is not an original cattlemens hut, this is an old SEC 1928 (electricity commission) hut that is on the site where a hut built by the Kelly family used to stand.
I saved the best for last. This one is Wallaces Hut and is the oldest hut on the high plains being built in the late 1880s, it has survived numerous bushfires and after some recent maintenance is still going strong. 
Each time I visit these huts I feel as though I get to step back in time and witness how early pioneers lived in the high country. If you ever get the chance to pay a visit to Falls Creek the huts are well worth visiting too, especially as most are within an easy day walk.
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On the 7 February 2009 Victoria was ravaged by a series of bushfires that became known as Black Saturday. Tragically over 170 people lost there lives, while more than 7500 people were left homeless. The fires burnt an area of over 4,500 km² (450,000 hectares, 1.1 million acres). Two weeks ago I paid a visit to the forests around the town of Marysville (which was practically destroyed during the blaze) and the alpine ski resort Lake Mountain. Below is a small selection of photos from my trip.
View towards Lake Mountain showing Alpine Ash skeletons.
Myrtle Beech re-growth near Marysville.
Road towards Lake Mountain summit.
Forest canopy remains near Marysville.
Alpine Ash skeleton at Lake Mountain.
Many businesses in Marysville have re-opened and Lake Mountain is also open. Its a great area to visit with many attractions including bushwalking, day spas and restaurants.
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Last Sunday I once again paid another visit to the Alpine National Park in Victoria. While it’s over a 4 hour car trip each way the amazing scenery that awaits you more than makes up for the eight hours stuck in the car. Of course the camera, tripod, and various filters came along for the trip.
Also this week Pentax Australia started their new monthly Facebook challenge – breaking the rules and coincidently dpreview.com published an article on this very topic. As far as landscape or nature photography goes, asides from the various rules relating to composition, there are a couple of “rules” that tend to stay in mind when planning a shoot, namely always try to shoot during the hours of sunrise and sunset when the light is softest (the so-called golden hours), and what to do with all the photos when you get home; in particular go easy with Photoshop!
So since it is a 4 hour drive to get to the park and I have the flu at the moment I wasn’t too keen to head off at 1 am to catch the sunrise, and I ended up taking my photos between 10 am to 2 pm, which is generally the worst time of day. I have also heard the light at this time referred to as pool light as the only thing it’s good for is sitting by the pool. So since I had already broken the first rule of when to shoot I also broke the second rule (probably a guideline) and went for broke in Photoshop.
So to the photos….
This is Howitt Hut on the Howitt High Plains.
This is the first of three shots of Guy’s Hut on Bryce’s Plain.
This is Pieman’s Falls at Bryces Gorge, which at over 230m is one of the largest waterfalls in Victoria.
Except for the black and white photo which was overexposed by 1 stop and then converted to infrared, all of the ones in colours have had their colour saturation (dramatically) increased, and they have been softened as well.
While I wouldn’t make a habit of shooting or post-processing like this. I tend to like these shots. The colour ones in particular have, to me at least, a dream like feel to them, and given that these were taken in the middle of a bright sunny day it goes to show that sometimes it doesn’t hurt to break the rules!
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