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If someone were to ask me when is the best time to come photography Sydney. I would say anytime is good! Traditionally winter is a favourite season for landscape photographers or so I have read. Clearer skies they say. For me that’s a bonus but what I enjoy most about winter is being able to photograph the city straight before or after work.
Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105mm lens, photo merge of a HDR image (from three exposures) and the standard exposure.
In the above shot I was able to finish work at North Sydney, walk across the bridge just in time to view the sunset from the Pylon Lookout. As this lookout closes at 5pm it’s only around the winter solstice can you actually see the sunset from the top.
Warringah Freeway, North Sydney, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105mm lens. Photo merge of two exposures using.
Not only do you have the harbour to work with when composing a shot but winter often means peak hour traffic often coincides with sunrise or sunset allowing for light trails along Sydney’s major arteries together with lovely skies.
The days following autumn and winter rains are a wonderful time to behold one of nature’s most mysterious lifeforms, the fungus. Not a plant, and not strictly an animal either, fungi are a group unto themselves. Living most of their fascinating lives out of our site but performing the important task of breaking down dead and decaying matter. When the time is right, usually after good rains, the appearance of fungi fruiting bodies sometimes overnight can seem surprising yet strangely captivating. There are thousands of different types and so many different shapes and colours. Here in Sydney we experienced the majority of our average June rainfall in the first few days of the month, perfect timing for fungi! I didn’t have my macro lens this time last year so I was very much looking forward to a good rain event like this. As you know rainfall in Australia is very much unpredictable at the best of times. All the images below were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 100L macro lens.
Lycoperdon pyriforme, Dharug National Park, NSW.
Unidentified fungi, Dharug National Park, NSW.
Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), Bilpin, NSW. This one is a non-native and introduced from the Northern Hemisphere and considered a pest particularly in Tasmania. Often seen fruiting under pine trees.
This one could be Hypholoma sp, Lane Cove Bushland Park, NSW.
This past Sunday I took the pleasant drive south of Sydney and along the Illawarra coast to the Minnamurra Rainforest Centre in the Budderoo National Park just out of Albion Park. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of subtropical rainforest there. It’s every bit a pocket-sized version of the rainforests normally seen hundreds of kilometres north of Sydney, especially inland from Kempsey north to Brisbane.
For those needing the exercise (ok, that’s most of us I would think) I would recommend the steeper track up the hill to the very beautiful Minnamurra Falls. This park is a very popular spot for families and barbecues, next time I will be sure to get there early before the crowds.
Minnamurra Falls, Canon 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, CPL, single 3 second exposure, f/16, ISO 100.
I’ve been working on my bird photograph since acquiring a Canon 400L f/5.6 lens a few months in December. It’s taken me a lot of forum reading and lots of practice to get the technique down. I think I’m starting to get somewhere although my best shots to date have been taken mostly in low light meaning high ISO of 3200 was necessary to get the shutter speed fast enough.
The Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) is an endemic small Australian bird reasonably common in the south eastern states. The male is adorned with strikingly bright blue colours. In a thicket of dead (sprayed) lantana, they stand out like a saw thumb. This one seemed to allow me to get in close enough and moved slow enough for me to keep a bead on him. Even in the low light I managed to come away with a handful of sharp photos, well as sharp as you can get with ISO 3200.
Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus), Canon EOS 50D, Canon 400L f/5.6 lens hand held, 1/320, ISO 3200.
Lately, I’ve been wishing I could travel somewhere again to soak up exotic scenes and of course take photos. Wait a sec, there are a dozen amazing national parks all within 1-2 hours drive of Sydney. What am I think?? They are overflowing with beautiful scenery and so many beautiful native plants and animals.
Sunday night and I decided on driving to West Head in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, located just north of Sydney. It’s one of Australia’s oldest parks having been set aside as early as 1894 and decently sized at 14,997 hectares with numerous walking tracks. On my walk I was surprised and delighted to spot a pair of Glossy Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami) feeding quietly in the tops of She Oak trees. While my bird photography skills are no doubt improving the shots did not pass my own high expectations for this site. Perhaps another time.
Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, processed as HDR from 3 exposures Photomatix and Photoshop.
Back to that metaphorical green grass. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about traveling in the next year or two to the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Tell me, where is the grass seem greenest for you right now?
It’s March already, I can’t believe it. Summer is gone for another 6 months. February has been a wet, wet month for much of Australia largely the result of ex tropical cyclones and strong monsoon troughs drifting far from their usual tropical haunts. Between wet weather, my day job and getting sick (just a cold mind you) I have been itching to get out for a sunrise. So I expect some early starts over the next few weekends as I try and make up.
Until then, this hairy caterpillar photographed one wet weekend in the Blue Mountains was my favourite image of the past month. It happily chewed on what I think was a Hairpin Banksia (Banksia spinulosa) eating both flower and the leaves and almost posing for me at times. Canon 50D, EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro lens with off-camera diffused flash.
The week immediately after Christmas I spent touring some of the wonderful national parks of northern New South Wales, Australia. For at least 6 months prior I have been sifting through NPWS‘s huge list of parks trying to create a short list of the ones I most wanted to visit. In this state we are spoiled for choice with so many beautiful scenes just itching for an artist like me to stumble across.
As it so happens, one of the parks high on my list was Nightcap National Park near Lismore in the far north east of the state. The park protects some delightful subtropical rainforest as well as tall Eucalypt forest and a great number of creatures call this area home. Some of this forest was very nearly logged in the late 1970s but for valiant protests by conservationists until the park was finally declared by the NSW Government in 1983.
This shot was taken on the Minyon Falls walk (far below the falls), single 5 second exposure with the Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens and Singh-Ray ColorCombo polarising lens. The track to the falls takes you on a journey from the car park up top down through tree ferns then through palms and finally over lichen-covered boulders to the base of the waterfall. The recent rain had certainly given the waterfall some power and a ton of spray soaking everything within 50m at least. Suffice to say I couldn’t get many shots of the actually waterfall in the mid-afternoon light or the enormous spray.
Single 25 second exposure with the Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens and ColorCombo polariser. The track here winds through Bangalow Palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana). If you are thinking of walking this track I’d suggest ensuring your feet and ankles are sufficiently protected with insect/leech repellent before you put your shoes and socks on as the leeches can be very active especially after rain.
This shot looking up the stream towards the falls turned out quite nicely. The late afternoon dead calm allowed me to capture this scene with three exposures (-2,0,+2) which I combined in Photomatix and processed as HDR. The water is as good as it looks. So clear and cool, it looks so inviting especially on a warm day. Taken with the Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens and ColorCombo polariser. Prints can be ordered through RedBubble including cards, posters and framed prints. Alternatively, I have also created a more decorative version with title which looks good as a card or poster.
The sunrise caresses the stretching branches of a Port Jackson Fig (Ficus rubiginosa) seen at the Sydney suburb of Balmoral, NSW, Australia. HDR processed from 3 exposures (-2,0,+2) using the Canon 50D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.
I hope everyone is having a merry Christmas, I’m looking forward to sharing lots more photos in 2010!
Have you ever had a tingly feeling the weather might cooperate some days you’re out with a camera? The last Sunday in November I had just that feeling watching the clouds roll by earlier in the day. Several bushfires burned somewhere in the Sydney basin resulting in a definite haze in the sky. On the drive over to the northern beaches I noticed the haze was quite thick from the view down the hill into Mona Vale. I had decided to check out this particular view over Pittwater for the sunset. As the sun went down, there it was, moored boats, bright pink/red clouds and a golden sun disappearing beyond the hills. Canon 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, f/16, ISO 100, 1.3 second exposure with a Singh-Ray ColorCombo circular polariser lens and 3-stop grad ND filter. Prints of this image can be ordered on RedBubble.
On the central coast of NSW just east of Gosford lies gorgeous coastal scenery at Bouddi National Park. Little Beach features some mighty impressive sea cliffs and lots of intriguing rock formations. Tessellated pavement is the technical term. Formed by years of weathering and erosion by water and wind. This land was once home to the Guringai (Kuringgai) people. One of the meanings of Bouddi is water breaking over rocks which is indeed fitting.
The sun deciding it was shy, hid behind thick cloud most of the morning. This did allow for some longer exposures than usual but lacked colour of the sun. I looked for interesting formations to make up for this since I was not going to waste such an early morning. Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, f/11, ISO 100 and 32 second exposure.
The jagged cliffs are breathtaking, so are the bits of broken cliff that have worn away and dropped into the ocean at some point in time. Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, f/11, ISO 100 and 20 second exposure.
I was packing up when this single beam of light pierced the cloud. Quickly, the camera was out again on the tripod but I wanted a faster shutter speed to capture detail in the waves. Canon EOS 50D, Sigma lens, f/8, ISO 100 and 1/25 exposure.
If it’s cloud no matter, off goes the wide angle and on goes the macro. On the walking track at Mount Bouddi I spied a few Bull Ants (Genus Myrmecia), this one saw me and raised its sizable mandibles menacingly. They’re a large ant growing to 3 cm with a nasty sting. Found only in Australia and New Caledonia. Canon EOS 50D, Canon 100mm macro lens, f/14, ISO 100 and 1/250 exposure with a diffused flash off camera.
October long weekend was spent camping on the New South Wales far south coast inland from Bega at the South East Forest National Park. The 6 hour drive south from Sydney is an experience in itself through the diary farms, holiday townships and tracts of tall coastal Eucalypt forests. The usually lush green diary pastures synonymous with the south coast were truly looking thin at best as most of the state including the south coast was still in drought.
To the south west of Bega in the national park there’s the Goodenia Rainforest rainforest walk which is well worth a look. The elevation here is around 500m making it technically a warm temperate rainforest I believe. Canon EOS 50D, 10-20mm lens, HDR from 3 exposures at f/16, 10mm and ISO100.
After camping the first night at Six Mile Creek campgrounds I was up early the following morning poking around Six Mile Creek for some early morning shots. As there was hardly any water flowing (drought remember?) I still found plenty of interesting moss-covered rocks to shoot. I captured rain drops on these tiny moss spore capsules using a 100mm macro lens and flash.
The Rutherford Creek walking track is a little gem. It’s short walk in a beautiful sheltered temperate rainforest paradise on the edge of the escarpment at 900m elevation. It’s accessible just opposite Piper’s Lookout off the Snowy Mountains Highway about 50km west of Bega (towards Cooma). I shot this not long after an overcast sunrise. It was quite dark under the trees as you can see. Canon EOS 50D, 10-20mm lens, exposure: 80 seconds at f/16, 14mm and ISO100.
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