Sorrento – A Mornington Peninsula Jewel
Some afternoon long exposure images from Sorrento back beach on the Mornington Peninsula, Australia. The foreground rocks are submerged at high tide and are gradually revealed as the tide goes out. A long exposure time is used to smooth out the ocean waves into a mist.
A Sunset at Tooradin
A couple of images taken as the sun disappears below the horizon at Tooradin foreshore, Western Port Bay.
Pictured below – At high tide a mangrove sits semi submerged in the foreground as day gives way to night.
Below – A view from the Tooradin jetty looking back upstream towards town.
Catching the Instagram Train
The photography community seems to be polarized over the use of phone cameras and associated filter programs such as Instagram.
I must admit to being slow to travel down the “phone and filter” path and have only recently decided to give it a go to see what all the noise is about.
Since giving it a trial run I must admit that the use of Instagram and other similar programs has reintroduced a fresh and fun aspect to my photography.
Pictured below – Rye Pier.
I find it refreshingly simple to just pull out my phone, click, process and even publish the image so quickly.
I also enjoy being forced to rethink my compositions into a square format after being conditioned by years of using a 3×2 SLR format.
Pictured below – A foggy morning at Tooradin foreshore.
Admittedly I’ve had to resist the urge to “pixel peep” at the noise and visual anomalies created by some of the clunky filters.
This will never replace my SLR photography but I reckon it will complement it nicely. Phone photography has definitely introduced a fresh fun aspect to my photo life.
Pictured below – Mt Martha beach.
Thunder in the Air – Outdoor Dunny
This is an image I captured during an excursion through northern Victoria quite some time ago. At the time I didn’t bother to post it in my blog because I didn’t think there would be much interest in it.
Boy was I wrong, …this is currently one of the best selling images on my Zazzle site.
Who would of thunk it?
Storm at Powlett River
On the way back home from a recent excursion to Cape Liptrap we stopped off at the mouth of the Powlett River.
I had just enough time to catch this image before the rain started to pour down hard.
Cape Liptrap – the Lighthouse and Beach
Exploring Cape Liptrap turned out to be one of the most physically punishing excursions of recent times. The excitement of climbing up and down steep coastlines and rock hopping around the breaking surf tends to distract one from the punishment that the old leg muscles are receiving.
As I write this blog post, three whole days have passed since the excursion and my legs are still a bit wonky. 🙂
Pictured below – A long exposure black and white image of Cape Liptrap Lighthouse.
On the day we visited the cape, mother nature provided us with a sky full of interesting fast moving cloud, great for long exposure work.
If you’d like to see an alternative colour version you can see one here.
Pictured below – Cape Liptrap lighthouse captured with a 10-20mm wide angle lens. When I was processing the image I initially corrected the wide angle image distortion but then the image seemed to lose something so i decided to leave the distortion in.
Pictured below – A long exposure image of surf crashing onto rocks along a section of the Cape Liptrap coastline.
Pictured below – A view from along the west coast of Cape Liptrap.
And now for some snapshots –
John sitting on the cliff contemplating his next shot.
Me sitting on the cliff overlooking the pointy end of Cape Liptrap.
CSI officer John investigating the mortal remains of unspecified creature.
Me struggling up the steep banks of the coastline at Cape Liptrap.
Lake King, Metung – A sense of Serenity
A few images from the beautiful Lake King at Metung in Victoria.
The silence of the motionless lake waters only occasionally broken by the sound of a cormorant diving for fish.
Serenity at it’s best. I’m coming back here again!
Dalmeny Beach – Duesbury Headland
Following are a couple of images from Dalmeny beach in New South Wales.
The first image below was captured from the clifftop at Duesbury Headland, Dalmeny.
Below, a long exposure image taken amongst the rocks and surf at Dalmeny beach.
If you’re in the area around brekky time there’s a cafe on Dalmeny Drive called Anton’s just down the road at Kianga. I highly recommend their excellently presented eggs and bacon.
Have a look at this beauty below. Gorgeous isn’t it!
Mystery Bay – Ocean Mist in the Cove
When visiting Mystery Bay in New South Wales I found this wonderful cove full of dark rocks. The cove is open to the ocean and is constantly hammered by incoming waves.
A long exposure here creates a nice contrast of textures between the rough jagged rocks and the softness of the mist created by the motion of the waves.
Cape Conran beach – the rockscapes and jetty
The beach at west Cape Conran offers an almost alien landscape populated with a huge array of highly eroded rocks. The jetty and boat ramp look out of place in this environment and so they tend to become the feature subjects of photographers who visit the site.
If you cant visit this site at sunset I’d recommend visiting during a day of high surf activity. The large waves crashing into these rocks create a really impressive scene.
I’m definitely going to revisit this location when I get the chance. There’s a lot to explore here.
Marlo – Snowy River meets the Sea
A series of images from Marlo in Victoria where the mighty Snowy River meets Bass Strait.
The softening of the ocean waves in the background is achieved by the use of heavy ND filtering.
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.
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.
A visit to Montsalvat, Australia’s oldest artist community.
Following are a collection of images captured at Montsalvat artist community, Victoria, Australia. I’ve finished many of the images in a faded sepia tone to suit the “old” feeling of buildings.
Title – Smoke and Mirrors.
Title – The Flute Makers Call.
Title – The Fist of the Angels.
The Churl’s Paragon.
Title – Father’s Hold.
Title – Family Business.
Title – Release the Bats.
Title – The Fog of the Mind.
Title – Path to Shadowplay.
You can view these images in a larger format or purchase them as a print at –
The optical jewels at Sorrento.
My recent visit to the ocean beach at Portsea sparked a craving for more of the same photographic material.
This time I visited the ocean beach further along the coastline at Sorrento. The first visit to the beach was a spur of the moment decision. When I arrived there the sun was hovering just above the horizon, I had no time to explore the beach and it was a high tide. I took a few shots of the sun fading into the horizon and a few long exposure shots of waves swirling around the rocks.
Here’s a couple of the high tide shots –
The next visit to Sorrento beach was a bit better planned and I actually remembered to check the tide charts before leaving. On arrival the rock pools were at their low tide best, the sun was high enough in the sky to give me time to explore some of the rocky features yet low enough to give the area a nice warm glow.
Here’s some of the shots from the low tide visit –
Shhhhhh, ….you can hear the forest breathing – Sherbrooke Forest
Sherbrooke forest is a protected area of bushland located in mountains on the outskirts of Melbourne. It’s an area of fairly thick bush with a series of meandering walking tracks for visitors to enjoy.
The best way to explore the forest tracks is ideally alone, …. and as quietly as possible. Many of the forest’s resident animals are nocturnal but there’s still lots to see and hear during the day if you just stay still and quiet for long enough. You can forget about seeing anything much at all if you travel the tracks in a chatty group because the animals will freeze and wait for the noise to pass.
When I visited Sherbrooke forest it was a stinking hot day. . The pedestrian traffic along the track was fairly light, probably due to the heat, and this allowed me to stop several times along the track, undisturbed.
In this forest the animals are not tame but are somewhat conditioned to the presence of human visitors. If you stay still and silent for a couple of minutes, the animals seem to relax and carry on with their usual business. You start to hear the rustle of dried leaves as the animals move around on the forest floor and if you continue to stay quiet you can sometimes catch a glimpse of one of the wild residents.
On the day I visited Sherbrooke forest I was able to catch glimpses of wild kangaroos or wallabies and also a wandering echidna. I must admit though, that when I stepped off the track to photograph something of interest, I was very aware that this is also “snake country” and so I was careful to check where my feet were landing.
Photography by Jim Worrall 