Exploring Ricketts Point, Beaumaris, Port Phillip Bay
Ricketts Point is a marine sanctuary located south east of Melbourne in Port Phillip Bay. When viewed from the land it’s an unremarkable looking series of sandstone rock platforms. Apparently under the waterline the platforms support a great diversity of flora and fauna.
When viewed from a land-based photographer’s perspective the area looks pretty ordinary during bright daylight hours.
Towards the evening the area becomes more attractive as it provides an unobstructed view of the setting sun and also provides some foreground interest in the form of waves swirling around rocks at the edge of the platforms.
This provides a good opportunity to catch some nice long exposure images.
Prior to the sun setting, the rocky platforms serve as a meeting place for several species of birds. Amongst them are a very tolerant group of pelicans. They don’t seem to mind people getting relatively close to them here which provides a nice opportunity for bird watchers and photographers.
Chopsticks at Corinella
An excursion to Corinella revealed “the chopsticks”, large angled posts planted in the muddy sea bed. Remnants of some past structure.
Pictured below – “Chopsticks 1” available as a print here.
Pictured below – “Trio” available as a print here.
Below – To give some sense of scale I planted myself in this shot, …and it certainly wasn’t easy holding myself still in this position for the long exposure. 🙂
Below – A view of the beach on the south-west facing side of Corinella.
At the end of Seaford pier.
This excursion to Seaford pier was a second visit. My goal was to capture an image that I’d had in my mind for some time but wasn’t able to quite capture on the first visit.
The subject of the image was a wonderful old wooden bench seat located at the end of the Seaford pier.
Pictured above – “The Silent Partner” is available as a print here.
I chose to use a long exposure here to smooth out the waves on the water and soften the clouds in the sky. This has the desirable effect of making the image less busy and draws the viewers attention to the wonderful grain and smooth worn texture of the wood.
Conveniently the lines of the bench also draw the viewers eyes into the image and towards a swirling cloud in the background providing a second point of interest.
Pictured below – “Observer” is available as a print here.
This is the image I took on the first visit. I like this image but it wasn’t the vision I initially had in mind. A local resident paid me the ultimate compliment by purchasing a framed print of this one.
To the tip of Cape Liptrap
Cape Liptrap is located on Victoria’s south east coastline overlooking Bass Strait.
On the high ground just back from the pointy end of the cape sits the Cape Liptrap lighthouse.
Below – “Warrior of the Dark” available as a print here.
Below – “Night’s Witness” is available as a print here.
If you enjoy real excitement, and don’t mind a bit of exercise, it’s worthwhile to jump the fence at the lighthouse and walk/slide your way out to the pointed cliff.
Peering over the edge of the cliff you’re greeted by an amazing rockscape being pounded by the violent waves of Bass Strait. The scene is captivating but I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a real fear of heights.
Below “Vertigo – Over the Edge” available as a print here.
Below – a friend perched on the edge of the cliff enjoying the scenery and of course taking some shots.
Exploring the Mordialloc pier.
A series of long exposure images exploring the Modialloc pier and it’s surroundings.
Below – Pier Group Pressure available as a print here.
Below – The Mordi Run available as a print here.
Below – “Troll” available as a print here.
Below – “Markers Three” available as a print here.
Grantville – the pie and pier photography tour.
My excursions are never entirely about the photography. Often they’re about the escape, ….often they’re about self exploration, …….every now and then they might even result in a nice photographic image. Well, nice to me anyhow. 🙂
On previous visits to Grantville I’ve tended to concentrate on trying to capture an inspiring image or two from the mangroves dotted along the coast here. The mangroves are a fairly easy target for photography purposes. At high tide it’s possible to visually isolate them between the water and the sky which works to simplify the image by excluding potentially distracting background elements. On calm days the water can also act as a fantastic mirror for capturing reflections, particularly when doing long exposures.
This particular visit to Grantville was all about capturing the pier though, so here it is.
In the black and white image above I’ve deliberately over exposed the image to blow out the sky and increase the contrast between the pier and the background. I personally like the contrasty result here, but I know this style of image is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Pictured below – “The First Days of Sun” which is available to purchase as a print here.
This image from the pier was created from 3 exposures using HDR tone mapping techniques to maintain details in both the bright sky and the dark shadows.
Pictured below – “The Promise of Warm Days” which is available to purchase as a print here.
Another 3 exposure HDR shot converted to black and white and processed with a bit of dodging and burning in Photoshop.
Now for some serious business. I’ve discovered that the cafe on the corner of the Bass Hwy and Grantville Glen Alvie Road in Grantville sells excellent homemade meat pies made with flaky puff pastry. The coffee is pretty good there too.
(Disclaimer – I have no connection with this cafe at all, I just enjoyed the pie so much I felt the need to share it with you.)
Slowly submerging in Tooradin
The coastal village of Tooradin is located on the shores of Westernport Bay, Victoria, Australia.
Since I live fairly close to Tooradin I often pick up a hot pie and a cappuccino from the wonderful bakery here and drive down to the jetty area for a relaxing break.
Tooradin has two jetties right next to each other. One jetty is of a floating pontoon design which rides on the surface of the water, rising and falling as the tides change. The other jetty is the usual kind consisting of a raised platform fixed to sturdy wooden pillars.
An interesting thing about the fixed platform jetty is that the platform gradually disappears below the surface of the water as the tide rises. This provides the photographer with some interesting possibilities.
Below – the rising tide starts to envelope the platform.
Standing on this jetty makes one feel like a captain going down with his ship.
Below – “Channel” which is available to purchase as a print here.
The platform is just a few centimeters below the surface.
After taking a few long exposures at the jetty mother nature decided to give me a nudge. The thick black storm clouds opened up and sent down a barrage of hail to chase me back to the car.
Below – Run from the Hail
The Jetties of Portsea and Sorrento
Portsea and Sorrento are coastal villages located at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula, south east of Melbourne. They both share a wild and woolly ocean beach to the south and the much calmer waters of Port Phillip Bay to the north. As a photography enthusiast I enjoy the contrast between the ocean and bay sides of the peninsula.
In winter and early spring you can stand on the ocean beach and not see another soul, a prospect I find very attractive. The only problem is that the wild and woolly conditions that keep the crowds away also make photography difficult. A photographer here has to contend with the difficulties of high winds and sea spray, not impossible I know but very annoying when combined with the low temperatures of winter.
For this reason I’ve found myself gravitating towards the calmer bayside beaches on my last couple of trips down that way.
Below – “34 Steps” which is available to purchase as a print here.
I’ve recently been trying to consciously simplify my images by attempting to exclude as many distracting elements as possible. Whilst shooting on the bayside beaches this has been fairly easy to achieve by using long exposures to reduce the detail in the water and sky. Another benefit of the long exposures is that birds and boats can move through the frame without even appearing in the finished exposure. I used a combination of an ND400 and an ND8 filter giving me about 12 stops of darkness to make the exposures up to 30 seconds long for these images.
Below – “The Danger of Diving”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Portsea and Sorrento bayside beaches feature a wonderful collection of public and private jetties.
Below – “Outbound”, Sorrento beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Despite being technically over exposed I like the drama this high key image presents.
I like the way the sea and the sky are almost one. A personal favorite.
Below – “Nature versus Nurture”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “Boomerang”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “Civilization meets the Sea”, Portsea beach, is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “The Trappings of Wealth”, Sorrento beach, is available to purchase as a print here.
Visiting the Silky Lady – Hopetoun Falls
The Hopetoun Falls is a popular tourist attraction located in the Otway Ranges in Victoria, Australia.
Pictured below – A View to the Falls – Just a short distance from the car park, visitors are treated to a tempting glimpse of the falls from above through a gap in the lush forest greenery.
A short picturesque walk down a path through the forest gives access to the base of the falls. Upon arrival at the base it’s very easy to imagine that you’d somehow been transported into a fairytale. It’s a dream location for photographers and indeed it’s difficult to take a bad shot here.
Below – The Silky Lady
Below – Peeking at the Silky Lady
Below – In the Land of Fairytales
West – along the coast
Following is a short series of seascape images taken on a recent trip along the Victorian/South Australian coastline.
Below – The Great Ocean Road – just south of Lorne, Victoria, Australia.
Notice the skid marks on the road at the bend, …this road is a popular tourist route attracting visitors from all over the world.
Some of these visitors unfortunately forget that we drive on the left side of the road in Australia. This causes all sorts of drama.
Below – Along the Edge – A view of the incoming storm from the lookout at Glenaire, Victoria, Australia.
Below – Bay of Martyrs – A long exposure image from down on the beach at the Bay of Martyrs, on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia. I was attracted by the unusual shapes that the ocean had managed to create with the foreground rocks here.
Below – Storm at Port Campbell Pier – a long exposure image made during a stormy morning at Port Campbell pier. This pier really has quite a hard life being continually hammered by waves from the open ocean.
Below – Johanna’s Morn – The morning sun starts to warm the sands of Johanna beach, Victoria, Australia.
Below – Her Deceptive Charm – A long exposure image from Cape Northumberland in South Australia.
The waves were really ripping into the rocks here, …….although the image looks deceptively calm due to the long exposure time.
Below – At Ocean’s Edge – On the beach at Cape Northumberland, South Australia.
Abandoned, dilapidated, derelict, decayed and once loved.
Following is a collection of farmhouse images taken on a trip through western Victoria and South Australia.
Initially I intended to take a lot of seascape images on this trip but the rain and sheer cliffs along the Great Ocean Road often conspired against me.
As the journey progressed I found myself becoming more interested in the landscape including the many vacant derelict buildings scattered along the way.
Below – “Shambles” – A deserted farmhouse at Byaduk North, Victoria, Australia.
Below – “Out the Back” Byaduk North, Victoria, Australia.
Below – “The Love Shack” – Found along the road north of Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia.
There is also a colour version of the Love Shack here.
Below – “Spiders n’ Snakes” – an abandoned house along the roadside in Puralka, Victoria, Australia.
Below – “Cottage in the Vineyard” Padthaway Heritage Cottage (Front) near Bordertown, South Australia.
Below – “Backdoor to the Vineyard” Padthaway Heritage Cottage (Rear) overlooking the vineyard, near Bordertown, South Australia.
Strolling at Seaford beach with the LX3
This morning I dropped my car off for a service.
With the knowledge that I’d have a couple of hours to kill I took along the Panasonic LX3 to see what I could find. After a leisurely breakfast at the local cafe I strolled down to the beach at Seaford and gave the LX3 a bit of a run in “Dynamic B&W” mode.
This little camera never fails to amaze me. Of course the image quality is not as good as a DSLR but to me the quality is certainly quite acceptable. I just love the LX3 for portability when I don’t want to lug around the DSLR and lenses.
Below – K-Nine. (paw prints in the sand)
Note that the background is blurred because the shot was taken at f2.0.
Below – Observer. (bench at the end of the pier)
Below – Gull.
Below – Last Man Over.
Down amongst the Mangroves, Westernport Bay.
You certainly have to admire the hardiness of the Mangrove tree.
It thrives in poor quality soil in tidal areas, and twice a day has it’s roots submerged in salty sea water. Under storm conditions the Mangrove is battered by both wind and waves yet it still manages to hold firmly.
The Mangrove tree is also an interesting subject from a photographer’s perspective. At high tide with the roots submerged it’s fairly easy to photographically isolate the subject from it’s surroundings by using a long exposure time to smooth any waves around it’s base and blur any clouds in the sky.
Below – TimeKeeper
Below – The Risen
Below – Approaching the Forest
At low tide the Mangrove tree has it’s roots exposed creating potentially a new subject of interest for the photographer. The long roots are often intertwined with each other giving the impression of writhing serpents (perhaps that’s just my imagination running wild).
Below – The Serpent Tree
Below – Wild n’ Woolly a long exposure with the roots exposed and the leaves thrashing around in the wind.
Below – On Borrowed Time the same tree as above but at high tide.
Daytime experiments with the ND400 filter.
The following long exposures were taken during daylight hours using an ND400 and ND8 filter stacked together on the front of my Sigma 10-20mm lens. The combination of these two filters attenuates so much light that peering into the viewfinder reveals an inky blackness even during bright daylight conditions.
It’s therefore necessary to compose the image BEFORE screwing the filters onto the lens. It’s also necessary to adjust the focus manually since the auto-focus system has no chance of working under such conditions.
*** (Update October 2012) The introduction of “live view” to many DSLR cameras means that is’s no longer necessary to compose and pre-focus with the dark filters off the lens. I shoot all the time now using live view to peer through the combined darkness of an ND400 and ND8. The filters now stay on the lens which means there is a lot less fiddling around. If you’re looking for a guide to show you how to use an ND400 have a look at my recent blog post here.***
I found that if I set the ISO as low as possible, and set the aperture very small (i.e. a high number), then it was possible to obtain a shutter duration of about 3 minutes. Such long exposures during daytime create some interesting images. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with the ND400.
An Evening at Spray Point, Blairgowrie.
The following images were taken on an evening excursion to Spray Point / Montforts beach, Blairgowrie.
I’m never really sure where one beach ends and the other begins. 🙂
Tidal Trickle (below) was taken just prior to the sun dropping below the horizon giving some nice pinks in the sky.
Friends and Fatalities (below) is a long exposure shot taken just after the sun had dropped below the horizon.
The extended exposure time makes the moving water take on a misty appearance and blurs the clouds whilst the foreground rocks remain in focus.
The Unpredicted (below) is a long exposure shot showing water flowing off the rock plateaus after sunset.
Despite the deceptively calm appearance of the image this is really a potentially treacherous area with unexpectedly large waves occasionally sweeping across the plateaus.
Swanning around Westernport Bay
Here are some more images taken at various places around Westernport Bay, Victoria, Australia.
It’s always a lot of fun shooting around here at low tide. The beaches feature a fine grain sticky mud that slowly tries to draw you beneath the surface. With each step that you take you risk losing your footwear. 🙂
Taking long exposures is certainly interesting as the tripod gradually sinks into the silt.
This is just the sort of place where you should take emergency pants in case you unexpectedly sit down in the mud.
The following image was taken at Crib Point beach.
This image Barnacle Build was shot at Balnarring beach.
The following image The Threat of Punishment was taken at Grantville beach. All of the ground in this shot is mud.
A Black and White Journey to Grantville Beach
The following two images were taken at Grantville which is located on the eastern side of Westernport Bay, Victoria, Australia.
Low tide at the Grantville beach exposes a huge expanse of fine silty mud dotted with clusters of mangrove trees. On the day I was there the sky was filled with bright swirling clouds so I incorporated them into the photos as an added point of interest. Originally I envisioned capturing the scenes with a featureless blue sky but nature has a way of changing plans. 🙂
I’m been told by several people that the first photo below contains a face in the clouds, and ever since it’s been pointed out to me I see it every time I view the image.
There’s a word for this, ….and the word is pareidolia.
Light and Time at my Ocean Beach
A selection of images taken from two excursions to Sorrento beach.
Return to Primal is a long exposure taken after sunset. The true motion of the waves disguised by the slow shutter speed.
High Tide Sphinx is a slow(ish) exposure taken at high tide as the sun was setting behind the Sphinx rock formation at Sorrento beach, Australia.
Life in the Good Pond is a slow(ish) exposure taken at sunset. A polarizing filter was used to take the reflection off the surface of the rock pool allowing the scene below the surface to become visible. The blurring on the water was caused by the wind rippling the surface.
I Peek Around the Corner is another image from Sorrento where a polarizing filter was used to remove the unwanted reflection of the sky from the surface of the water enabling us to see the wonder below. In the distance on the horizon the Sphinx rock formation is visible.
Droughts and Floods
An image taken at the very scenic Lake Glenmaggie area in Victoria, Australia.
The water level rises and falls dramatically according to the prevailing conditions.
The Edge
Gum trees growing precariously close to a cliff edge in western Victoria, Australia.
I was attracted to this scene by the trees silhouetted against the bright cloudy sky and of course the dead limbs in the foreground.
Home Sweet Hell
Images from an abandoned house taken during an excursion to the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia.
The image above is available to purchase as a print here.
Through the Fingal Forest
These images were taken on a recent excursion to Fingal beach, near Cape Schanck, Victoria, Australia.
The long track from the carpark to the beach is lined with twisted and gnarled trees creating an interesting viewing experience.
Visitors to the beach also experience the joy of navigating the hundreds of “awkwardly spaced” steps along the path. It’s not so bad going down to the beach but the return uphill journey is certainly a good test of your general fitness. Of course the ideal solution is to take along a strong, sturdy friend who can carry you back up the hill.
The images below were all taken using the Lumix LX3 camera.
After traversing the Fingal forest I managed to take this image.
Sounds of the Undine
A black and white rendition of a recent shot of the lake at Bonnie Doon, Victoria, Australia.
New 2010 calendars available
Yes it’s that time of years again. I’ve put together three new calendars for 2010 and made them available through my Redbubble site.
The first 2010 calendar is called “Shades“. It contains a selection of monochrome and heavily desaturated images from my redbubble portfolio. You can view each page of the calendar in greater detail or purchase one here.
The second 2010 calendar is simply called “Green“. It’s a selection of my images from nature including landscapes, seascapes and foliage shots where the colour green is a predominant influence. You can view each page of the “Green” 2010 calendar in greater detail or purchase a copy of the calendar here.
The third 2010 calendar is titled “Water in Motion” and features images from my collection where the movement of water plays an important role in the composition and feel of each piece. A detailed view of each page of the calendar is available here.
Would you prefer a customized calendar? I can put together a customized calendar for you using your choice of images from my Redbubble portfolio. Simply choose 13 images, that’s one for the front cover and one for each month of the year, and email me with your selection to jim.worrall@gmail.com .
I’ll put the calendar together for you, making it available on Redbubble and send you a link to it. Easy !!
Remnants – a visit to Walhalla cemetery
Graves from the late 1800’s on the sloping grounds of Walhalla cemetery.
Remnants – Walhalla cemetery
Pictured below – The unusual grave of Elizabeth A. Holmes (aged 20 years) and Mary A. Holmes (aged 10 months) who passed away in the 1870’s in Walhalla, Victoria, Australia.
A reflection of tougher times.
Resting Place – Walhalla
Pictured below – Looking down the sloping grounds of the Walhalla cemetery towards the main road below.
On the slopes of Walhalla
Challicum Hills Windfarm, Ballyrogan.
Early morning images from Challicum Hills wind farm near Ballyrogan.
It’s hard to visualize exactly how large these mills are until you get close to them.
Ballyrogan Railway Station
A resident told me that as soon as the trains stopped coming the bored local youths trashed the little building.
This image is available to purchase as a quality print here.
Autumn in the Valley
The late afternoon sun makes this lush Jindivick valley come to life.
This image is available to purchase as a high quality print here.
Neptune’s Playground
A monochrome sunset shot taken at Sorrento ocean beach.
This image is available to purchase as a print here.
West of Mind
A monochrome HDR image taken at Blairgowrie beach, Australia.
The sun struggles through gathering storm clouds.
This image is available to purchase as a print here.
Photography by Jim Worrall 