location, location, location
The storms that smashed the South West of Western Australia over the weekend brought wild, windy and wet conditions. The combination of strong winds, heavy rain and a high tide presented shooting possibilities that don’t come around too often.
Although this image was shot during fierce stormy conditions, the use of a long shutter speed (60 seconds) has resulted in a still, somewhat silent image.
I had visualized this image for a number of years now so it’s good to finally put it in to pixels.
Crawley Boat Shed
Perth. Western Australia
Change in Season
With a change in weather last week it was great to get out with the camera. I absolutely love this time of the year. Perfect temperatures, still evenings and signs of an increase in swell.
I have been posting extra images on my FACEBOOK and G+ pages so please follow there if you would like to see more of my work.
If you see a penny PICK IT UP! – lightning storm, Dunsborough
I am not a superstitious person. At least I try not to be. I even try to fight superstition with superstition by thinking that if I knowingly walk under a ladder that it will actually bring me good luck rather than bad luck. Take that superstition!
On the morning of the second day of my trip down south I was wandering some sand dunes looking for possible photo opportunities when I stumbled upon a 2 dollar coin. It sat there staring at me and I couldn’t help but pick it up and think to myself ‘see a penny pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck!’. It is hard to ignore superstition in instances like these where the supposed outcome is actually beneficial.
After pocketing the coin I continued on about my day, scouting locations and keeping a keen eye on the weather. Up until this point the skies were blue and the light was harsh, (very uninspiring from a photography point of view) but over the coarse of the next hour or two clouds began to form on the horizon. As the clouds rolled in over the ocean things were starting to look good. There was a nice combination of low and high cloud with plenty of breathing room in between. The combination that often results in a spectacular sunset. As the sun finally began to approach the horizon and draw an end to the day things were looking really good. I scouted a location and composition I thought could make the most of the sunset and waited for the light show to unfold (see image in my previous post). After the light show died down I headed into Dunsborough got myself a feed and a couple of drinks and called it a day.
After a restless couple of hours sleep in the van I heard the unmistakable sound of rumbling thunder. I took a quick peek outside and could see lightning flashes over the ocean to the north-east and noticed the storm was headed in a easterly direction. With a quick time check (2:00am) I decided to head straight to Quindalup Boat Ramp in hope of capturing some lightning images before the storm passed. On arrival at the location I was stunned to see that the storm was currently straight out in front of the Jetty, exactly what I was hoping for. With the storm moving fast I quickly set up, set my exposure for 120 seconds, f8 iso100 and started shooting. I managed to only fire off 2 exposures before the storm had moved to the right of frame. By the end of the third exposure the storm had moved out of frame and the number of strikes dramatically decreased. The image you see here is from the second exposure.
Now it was only at this point that I remembered about the whole 2 dollar coin incident. I hadn’t thought of it from the time of picking it up until just after capturing this image. Did the great clouds and spectacular sunset occur because I picked up a 2 dollar coin? Not a chance! I had observed the weather radar before heading to the Yallingup / Dunsborough area and was expecting conditions to be favourable. I couldn’t help but think however after being woken by thunder, immediately heading straight to this location and immediately setting up and firing off a couple of shots that I could have luck on my side. Is it likely, probably not, but who knows!
Quindalup Jetty / Boat Ramp – Dunsborough, Western Australia
Lancelin Sand Dunes – Western Australia
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.
Worlds Away
I tried to escape the heat here in Perth on Monday (40 Degrees Celsius) by going through my archives and finding an image of a winter scene. This image here caught my attention as I remember it being particularly cold at the time. As I said… I TRIED to escape the heat. Processing this image didn’t drop my core temperature but I enjoyed reminiscing.
Banff, Alberta. Canada
Maritime Museum
Western Australian Maritime Museum
This was shot on the same day as my Freo Wharf shot but in the afternoon. I started to head home from Fremantle after work at around 3:30pm but stopped in at Mosman Park and Cottesloe to get a few shots as the conditions were pretty decent. I was just about to continue heading home when I saw this cloud start to build up over Fremantle. So instead of heading home I jumped in my car and planted it.
I was heading back towards Fremantle in a frantic state trying to decide what I was going to shoot and where. I ended up opting for North Mole where I managed to get this shot as well as another one of the lighthouse (the clouds were lit up orange for the lighthouse shot but I am having trouble stitching it accurately, hopefully it comes together).
When I shot this I was sitting there waiting, hoping for the purple lights on the Museum to come on. Finally they did but by that time there was not a lot of light left in the sky and the cloud cover was not quite as fierce. Shit Happens!
Bennion Beach – Awash
Back to the old single shot image on this one. Keeping it nice and simple.
Lee 0.6 ND hard grad and 0.75 ND soft grad.
Old Fremantle Power Station
This is my first completed pano. I’ve finally entered the big WIDE world of panoramic photography. I was scared of the whole stitching thing for a long time. I’m slowly getting the gist of it all but I think it’s going to take a little getting used to.
I’m working on a site in Freo at the moment and we started a little later than usual during the week. The late start gave me time to get down and shoot this before work on Thursday.
Bennion Beach
I haven’t been out shooting a lot lately and therefor have not submitted for a while to my new blog. Hopefully over the coming weeks I get more playtime.
This is a shot I took a few weeks ago now. I wasn’t going to submit it as I am not 100% happy with it but I felt I needed to put an end to this submission drought.
Feedback greatly appreciated.
L U K E A U S T I N P H O T O G R A P H Y 
