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.
On the Beach at Narooma
I was fortunate to stay in the town of Narooma in New South Wales for a couple of days on a recent trip up the coast.
Narooma is home to some interesting natural rock formations along the ocean beach. When combined with some great surf the photo opportunities are plentiful.
And finally, a man made rockscape in Narooma, the Wagonga Inlet.
The Vagabond Tide – ND400 long exposure
Following is a series of images taken at the Sorrento back beach, Victoria, Australia, using an ND400 filter during bright afternoon light conditions.
Pictured below – Dorsal.
Below – The Vagabond Tide.
Below – The Rinse Cycle.
A King Tide at Grantville
My initial plan was to stop at Grantville, visit the bakery for a mandatory steak pie and cappuccino, then take a long stroll along the beach.
The consumption of the pie and cappuccino went nicely to plan. On arrival at the beach all that had changed.
Where’s the beach gone? ………….
I had apparently arrived at the peak of a king tide. There was no sand to be seen anywhere, much less walk along.
Pictured below – looking out towards the jetty the fishermen appeared to be almost walking on water. It was unusual to see the water lapping across the platform on the lower section of the jetty.
Luckily there aren’t many jumping sharks in Westernport Bay!
Pictured below – A few images from along the beach, north of the jetty, taken with a Lumix LX3 camera.
It’s amazing how salt tolerant these trees can be.
Where’s my sandy beach gone?
Due to the king tide, navigating the coast required walking through low lying vegetation, and it didn’t feel right. 😦
I should check my tide charts more often.
If you’re interested in buying any of these images as prints then please contact me at – jim.worrall@gmail.com
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.
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.
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 –
Wet bum at the Toorongo Falls, Yarra Ranges National Park, Victoria, Australia.
The Toorongo Falls, in the Yarra Ranges National park, offers an excellent opportunity for those photographers who like to capture fast moving water over mossy green rocks. The dense foliage overhead provides low light conditions well suited to long exposures, giving that silky smooth appearance to the flowing water. Of course a tripod or beanbag is mandatory to stabilize the camera under these conditions.
The fun starts while trying to negotiate your way across the slippery logs and rocks to find the best vantage point for a shot. My advice for the serious tog would be to take along a spare pair of pants, or even better, a pair of fisherman’s waders. Both my friend and myself ended up with wet bums from unexpected sittings. Luckily my unreasonable fear of leeches remained under control. 😉
I’m definitely going to return to this site again in the future to explore it in more detail. The following three images from the Toorongo Falls area are available as prints from my Redbubble site at –
http://www.redbubble.com/people/pixelmuser
Title – Shivers of the Green.
Title – She ran.
Title – Toorongo Torrent.
Life during wartime.
A trip to Point Nepean provided some interesting photo opportunities. It’s home to Fort Nepean, an abandoned military site overlooking the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. There is an atmosphere of cold and concrete wherever you go within the underground maze of tunnels, rooms and gun emplacements.
When you wander around outside there are polite signs warning of unexploded munitions encouraging you to stay on the defined pathways.
Title – Life during wartime.
Title – Death by Machine.
Title – Grind.
Shiprock Falls in Gembrook
Shiprock Falls is one of those poorly signposted gems that you could quite easily drive past if you weren’t looking for it.
Unfortunately the pedestrian track leading down to the falls has been blocked by a strategically placed viewing platform. To get the best experience and the best shots here you need to climb around the outside of the platform and trek down the hill to the flowing water. Here you can immerse yourself in the total experience of the falls, ….the sounds, the smells, the chill of the water.
For the more adventurous you can climb the rocks and scattered trunks around the flowing water to reach the top where it appears that the water is coming out of a slot in the rocks. Great experience and a wonderful view of the surrounding bush from the top.
A special thanks to Di Jenkins for introducing me to this place.
This image is available for purchase as a print at – http://www.redbubble.com/people/pixelmuser/
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 –
Photography by Jim Worrall 