Dusk at Sorrento ocean beach – some long exposures
A series of long exposures taken at Sorrento beach, Australia.
A storm rolls over Port Phillip Bay
Following are 3 images taken yesterday at Ricketts Point, Beaumaris, as a storm rolled across the bay.
The apparent power and turbulence of the clouds in the sky is mirrored by the motion and ferocity of the water. It was an invigorating place to be.
Images from Koonya beach
These images were taken on a recent dusk excursion to Koonya beach on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia.
Dusk is my favorite time of day for shooting, ……it’s certainly MUCH more user friendly than that other time of day, …….what do they call it, ….”dawn” or something like that. 🙂
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 Path to Bushrangers Bay
Some more images taken on an excursion to Bushrangers Bay in Victoria, Australia.
Below – An image taken along the path to Bushrangers Bay.
Rolling hills, farmland and grazing cattle. Very relaxing stuff indeed.
Burrabong meets the Bushranger
This image shows the Burrabong Creek meeting the ocean at Bushrangers Bay near Cape Schanck, Victoria.
Bushrangers Bay is a secluded beach located about one hours walk from the Cape Schanck car park.
The walking track winds it’s way through beach scrub, up and down hills including many stairs, and along scenic clifftops.
I would advise anyone taking this track to wear sturdy footwear as the path is shared with aggressive bull ants for much of the way, and of course there’s always a chance of encountering a snake sunning itself. Oh, and don’t forget a bottle of drinking water.
The Chant of the Pulpit
A seascape image from Cape Schanck in Victoria, Australia.
The image features the well known landmark Pulpit Rock as incoming waves rush across the surface of the surrounding rocky platforms.
The Chant of the Pulpit.
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.
A rockscape at Fingal beach.
After a short hike through the “Fingal forest”, see previous post, I arrived on the beach with the sun high in the sky.
Of course this isn’t the best time of day for photographing this kind of environment.
Landscape and seascape images are best captured around dawn or sunset when the scene is always less contrasty.
In the image below I was attracted by the shimmering, sparkling highlights on the surface of the water as the sun managed to poke its way through a break in the clouds.
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.
Stranded
This image was taken at Beaumaris beach, Victoria, Australia.
Walking along the beach at sunset was a hazardous proposition as sand was littered with the stranded bodies of hundreds of jellyfish. Poor things!
This shot taken with the Lumix LX3.
The Promise of Summer
This image was taken at Warneet coastal reserve using the Panasonic Lumix LX3 compact camera.
This has been my favorite compact camera so far, ….it’s a real “photographers camera” allowing full manual control of all the bells and whistles that one could want.
I’ve just updated my LX3 to a new firmware version (V2.1) and all seems to be well at this stage.
Apparently version 2.0 had a bug or two and was removed from the Panasonic site and has resurfaced as version 2.1.
Sounds of the Undine
A black and white rendition of a recent shot of the lake at Bonnie Doon, Victoria, Australia.
Tempest over the Ocean – Blairgowrie
This is a reworked version of one of my first images posted to Redbubble. I’ve finally had time to tweak it the way I way I like it.
It was a taken on the beach at Blairgowrie as a storm was rolling in from the ocean. It was an amazing storm to see, …dark swirling clouds, lightning, halos formed by the sun shining through sheets of rain, ….marvelous stuff !
Tempest over the Ocean – Blairgowrie
Tempest over the Ocean is available as a high quality print at my Zazzle and RedBubble websites.
Roadside Falls
A small waterfall by the road somewhere south of Woods Point in hillbilly country, Victoria, Australia.
Roadside Falls
The Valley Hidden
Peeking through trees on the side of the road, a view of the Lake Eildon valley area.
The Valley Hidden
Thunder and halos at Blairgowrie ocean beach.
The return to Blairgowrie beach was everything I could hope for. I timed the visit to coincide with the low tide late in the afternoon, and as a bonus a thunderstorm happened to roll in off the ocean with a vengeance.
As I stood exposed on the beach to take this photo I was reminded of what a precarious situation this was. There were occasional bursts of lightning coming from the low dark clouds striking the water. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture a lightning strike with the camera but the view of the clouds was magnificent.
As the main part of the storm passed over head the rain poured down heavily and I managed to shelter my camera gear and most of my body by huddling against a large rock. As the rain began to ease gaps appeared in the clouds allowing scattered sunlight through creating wonderful light shows including halos and misty streaks.
As always, these photos are available to purchase as prints at –
http://www.redbubble.com/people/pixelmuser/
You can contact me by email at jim.worrall@gmail.com
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 