I recently took of on a one week road trip covering some of the south of Western Australia. I had been surfing google earth and noticed this area from the satellite images. With a full moon due for January 9 I decided to head to this location as I thought the moon rising over the expansive area may make for a good image.
Salt Flats, Western Australia
2 image stitch with 45mm tse
A dead calm Lake Quinalt blanketed in the morning fog.
Olympic National Park, Washington.
I managed to get up to Lancelin recently for a late afternoon/evening shoot. The conditions were looking good so I headed up there giving myself plenty of time to scout the dunes for a composition I was happy with. After roaming the dunes for 3 hours or so I had two compositions marked out that I felt were strong. It was then a matter of waiting for the sun to meet the horizon and for the lines in the dunes to take shape.
I hope everyone is in good health for the coming holidays. All the best for the new year.
5 images stacked for DOF throughout.
Below is an image I captured while in Alaska in August/September of 2010. I was surprised to find these Lupins on the mountainside on the hike up to the Harding Icefield. All the wildflowers at a lower elevation were well past their best before date but as I slowly climbed higher the foliage and wildflowers were in far better shape. I decided I would continue on and upward and shoot the Lupin on the way back down later in the afternoon.
Once I returned to the area I had briefly scouted on my way up it began raining, only for a short period however. There was just enough rain to line all the leaves with tiny beads of water (clearly visible in print) and make the mountainside wet enough to cause me to slip n slide all over the place. Trying to hunt out a composition that I felt worked in the slippery conditions was frustrating and after one bad spill it became painful (a rock in the behind will do that to you. I said ROCK!). Anyway after finding a composition I was happy with I sat, waited and recovered.
During my time in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta Canada I visited Moraine Lake on a number of occasions. I continually went back there not only to capture it under varying conditions but simply because the place is AMAZING. Each and every time I made it up there I would sit and stare in awe. It is hard not to.
Prior to my latest visit of this location I had captured it under your typical sunny summer conditions and on other occasions completely or partially frozen over but I still wasn’t satisfied. I wanted it snow covered with the lake in its liquid state.
On this particular occasion I was driving back to where I was living in Canmore, Alberta, Canada from Olympic National Park in Washington U.S.A. It was a long day of driving and after just having spent almost 2 months living out of my van/tent on the road I was ready to get home to Canmore. Anyway, I was just one hour from Canmore at 10:30pm when it started to snow pretty heavily, enough so that I was convinced it was going to stick (It was fall so the temperatures had just began to take a dive becoming cold enough for snow to not melt as soon as it landed). I thought to myself, this may be the last and only opportunity I get to shoot Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks blanketed in snow. I figured it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and spent the night in the van hoping the conditions cleared in the morning.
I’m happy I decided to stick it out for one last night. What a magic morning.
Here’s an image above Weano Gorge displaying the variety of contrasting colours after a great wet season.
Weano Gorge, Karijini National Park. Western Australia
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Karijini National Park after a great wet season was incredible. I thought I would start out by posting an expansive view of Dales Gorge, overlooking the popular Fortescue Falls to give you an idea of the lay of the land.
I regard Karijini as one of Western Australia’s and possibly Australia’s top locations for Landscape Photography. The place has a lot to offer, particularly after a good wet season. There are the obvious grand scenes such as the one I have posted as well as the more intimate scenes that are a real challenge to compose and make sense of. I would have liked to of spent more time doing the latter and hope to do so over the coming years.
Just a quick image taken in September last year in Olympic National Park prior to attending a workshop with Kevin McNeal and Adrian Klein of Photo Cascadia. It was great to get back to this area again as it has a lot to offer in regards to rainforests and rugged coastline.
I was absolutely drenched at this point as it was continually raining the whole time I was in the valley. The camera stopped working for a period and I had to leave my 45mm tilt shift lens out to dry. Poor baby.
On another note… There are some incredible images and videos surfacing from the Earthquake / Tsunami / Nuclear crisis in Japan at the moment. An amazing event. My thoughts go out to all those affected.
Hopefully the image appears alright as I had to make a few final adjustments from my macbook. I try to avoid processing on the macbook display, but hey….. I needed to post something.
I managed to get down to Yallingup / Dunsborough over the weekend, which was great seeing as it has been so long. Even though this location has been done to death I still really enjoy shooting it. When I awoke on the Saturday morning I noticed the sky to the east was cloudless and boring so I decided to head over to Sugarloaf Rock and shoot the setting moon to the west. I doubt I will ever tire of this location.
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