A HDR Photograph of Tawonga Huts.

A couple of weeks ago I went up to the Bogong High Plains to photograph Tawonga Huts which are a 4 km walk from Pretty Valley Pondage.  Cattlemen’s huts have been located on the site since the late 1880 and have been rebuilt several times over the years with the most recent one being constructed in the early 1970s.

I arrived at the site around 10:00 am (unfortunately well after sunrise) while it was a cloudy day there were prolonged periods of bright sunshine which made for some challenging lighting conditions.  Ordinarily I would use graduated ND filters to bring down the exposure of the sky however in this instance they would have also unnecessarily darkened the hut I was trying to photograph.  Therefore to try and capture the full dynamic range of the scene I decided to take a bracketed series of photographs (with exposure values of 0, +/-2 and +/-1) with the intention of HDR processing them through Photomatrix Pro.  For these images I used my Pentax K7 and DA* 16-50mm lens, the camera was mounted on a tripod and the shutter was fired with a Pentax cable release.

I have included the 5 shots taken below that were used to produce the final image.  These images are the RAW files and are unprocessed, however as you can see I have been able to capture the full dynamic range of the scene with good detail in the sky in the -2 and -1 EV shots, and in the +1 and +2 EV shots I have got a lot of detail recorded in the log fence, shadow areas of the hut and some detail in the overhanging snow gum.

-2 EV

-1EV

0 EV

+1 EV

+ 2 EV

Below is the final image once the above 5 were processed through Photomatrix Pro and Photoshop CC.

5 image HDR composite of Tawonga Huts on the Bogong High Plains (Alpine National Park). Pentax K7, Pentax DA*16-50mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1/15sec.

 The final HDR image turned out much better than I had hoped and it is a great representation of the scene; I am really happy with it, it certainly made the 10hrs of driving and 8 km round trip walk worthwhile!

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Sunset Over West Peak.

This photograph was taken on an extraordinarily windy night from the Crosscut Saw looking towards West Peak in the Alpine National Park (Victoria, Australia) late in 2013, just 4 days before a bushfire burnt through the area.

Pentax K-01, DA 15 mm limited, ISO 1600, f/4, 1/60.

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Wallaces Hut

Out of all the huts in the Victorian Alpine region, Wallaces Hut is one of my favorites; its a hut I have visited on many occasions and is something I will never tire of.  Built in 1889 from slabs of snow gums with roof shingles made from woollybutt it is the oldest hut in the Alpine National Park.  Wallaces hut was frequently referred to as the Seldom Seen Inn as it is located among a grove of old snow gums, however it is easily accessed by a short walk from the Bogong High Plains Road approximately 7.5 km from the rocky valley dam wall at Falls Creek.

The photograph below was taken on a particularly chilly morning during late spring after a night of light snowfall.

An old Parks Victoria sign at the hut which has now been replaced gave an evocative description of the location.  I have repeated the text below.

It’s the 1890’s… David Wallace and his three sons Arthur, William and Stewart had recently built the “Seldom Seen Inn”.  They made the hut as a shelter for their visits, when they mustered their cattle off the high plains before the winter snow.

Sitting around the open fire with a cup of billy tea they’d recall their days.

Like when the lean-to door was left ajar and a cow got stuck inside and died!

Or when William was stuck here in bad weather and there was no dry firewood!

With numb hands, a knife and patience, a fire was made…necessity being the mother of invention.

No easy access through the high country in those days, just rough tracks made by cattle and the few bush characters who came here.

If ever you find yourself at Falls Creek take the time to visit Wallaces Hut, its certainly something you won’t regret.

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Dawn in the Alpine National Park

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.

Cope Hut at First Light

I took this photograph of Cope Hut in the Alpine National Park a little over 4 weeks ago just towards the end of dawn.

Pentax K-01, DA* SMC 16 – 50 mm f/2.8, ISO 400, f/14, 1/4 sec.

Wildflowers in the Victorian High Country

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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Murder at Howitt Hut

The title of this post is probably a bit misleading; but it makes the post sound exciting!  Yes there was a murder at Howitt Hut, but this post doesn’t really discuss it all that much, if you are after more information on the murders then Wikipedia is your best friend.

During a trip to the Alpine National Park at the end of 2012 I stopped off at Howitt Hut located on the edge of the Howitt High Plains.  This particular hut has a rather gruesome past as it is connected to a double homicide that occurred in the high country in 1917 and 1918 and have become known as the Wonnangatta murders.  The victims were John Bamford and Jim Barclay and it has long been thought that Bamford killed Barclay, however Barclay’s body was found under a pile of logs near the Howitt Plains hut and to this day the case remains unsolved.

A history of the hut can be found at the Kosciuszko Huts Association website.  In brief, the hut was originally built on the site in 1889, it was rebuilt in the 1920s and then clad with corrugated iron in 1938.  All that remains today of the original hut are the timber roof shingles that can only be seen from inside the hut.

The photograph below dates from approximately 1925 and is from the Museum of Victoria website.

original source: http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/769761/negative-howitt-hut-mount-howitt-victoria-circa-1925

Visiting the hut today it looks very little like it did in the past.  In all honesty its not a very picturesque place to visit, it just looks for all the world like a tin shed in a paddock plus vandals have scrawled graffiti all over the inside to the point where there is no bare space on the walls remaining.  Having said that, these points make it a challenge to photograph and come away with something interesting.  Below are two photographs of the hut that I took in late December 2012.

A shot of the hut taken in November 2012.  A bit over processed but the colours on this particular day seemed to be very bright, so I just went with it!

The inclusion of a couple of additional elements into the scene such as the fence, the trunk of the large snow gum, or the conversion to a gritty black and white each helps add interest to what would otherwise be a rather drab scene.

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Pretty Valley Pondage

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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Huts on the Bogong High Plains

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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Snow gums of the Bogong High Plains

Earlier this week I spent some more time in the Australian Alps and while the Alps are not high or extensive by world standards, they are unique in Australia as they make up just 0.3% of the Australian land mass.

The area I visited was the Bogong High Plains and is part of the Alpine National Park, during winter the plains make up one of the largest snow covered areas in the country.  The majority of the Bogong High Plains are above 1500 meters and the only tree that will grow at this altitude is the snow gum.  These trees often stunted and take on a twisted appearance away from the direction of the strong blasts of prevailing winds.  Below is a series of black and white images of these incredible trees.

The Alpine National Park is a remarkable place to visit and while the weather can be challenging, the spectacular scenery more than makes for it.

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