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.
Death Valley – 2 minute window
On the drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles we took a small detour and headed through Death Valley National Park. What an amazing place. Just as we arrived in the park the rain began to absolutely bucket down, here I was thinking it didn’t really rain in Death Valley.
The storms that had been battering the Californian coastline had managed to head further east into and beyond Death Valley. From the time we arrived in the park (noon) until just before sundown it had been continually raining and the skies were grey and dull. Then suddenly in a matter of a few minutes things started to get interesting, the skies began to open a little and I could see light hitting sections of the surrounding mountains. Then after another minute or so it opened right up and a rainbow appeared……. It was one of those ‘get set the f*#k up and take a shot of something’ type of situations…… I quickly pulled over, sprung out of the car, ran around like a nutter trying to find something, anything to throw in the foreground
WOW! a shitty little stream of runoff – you’ll do!
The whole show was only a matter of minutes so I had to make do with what I was given.
Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule and were only in Death Valley for less than 24hours. It is the type of place you could easily spend a week or so shooting as there is so much on offer. Hopefully I will get back there sometime.
Wrecked
It’s been a while.
Well…… I have not been out shooting in the past month and it is slowly driving me mad. It has been a couple of months since my last post and although I haven’t been shooting in the past month I did do a little trip in January throughout Southern Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Hawaii. Images from this trip will come along in dribs and drabs.
This is an image from that trip which was taken during my 2 day stay in L.A. It rained nonstop while I was there and many areas were flooded due to the storms battering the area. I felt B&W along with a square crop would suit this scene well. It was just a matter of waiting until a wave washed ashore and withdrew back into the ocean to get the shot I was after.
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!
Fremantle Wharf
I took this on Friday morning. I also managed to get a fair few shots in after work on Friday but I’m yet to go through them. Hopefully they stitch together alright.
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 