The Noojee – Toorongo Photo Trip
It was one of those spur of the moment decisions.
Chris and I took off for a leisurely drive intending to have lunch at the Noojee pub followed by an afternoon of shooting at the Noojee trestle bridge and the Toorongo River.
As it turned out things were very quiet in Noojee that Friday.
We entered the strangely vacant Noojee hotel dining room and spent a few minutes looking through the menu whilst hoping that they were actually open for business.
After a short time we were discovered by a helpful barmaid who ushered us into the bar area whilst explaining to us that the dining room was closed.
Pictured below – Dappled sunlight across the middle of the Noojee Trestle Bridge.
After being seated in the bar area Chris and I both chose the beer battered fish n’chips for lunch. Perhaps it wasn’t the most “heart smart” choice from the menu but it was indeed very tasty and satisfying without being too heavy. 🙂
As we ate our lunch Chris and I would occasionally glance over at the only other occupant of the room. One of the elderly locals was perched at the bar with beer in hand and kept nodding off to sleep. He appeared to be very skilled repeatedly awakening himself just prior to losing balance.
Pictured below – A shot taken from the top of the trestle bridge looking down on the access road. I’ve applied an Orton effect filter to this image to soften it a bit.
After finishing our delicious meals we visited the nearby Noojee trestle bridge. The light wasn’t particularly friendly that day as the morning clouds had dispersed causing a problem with harsh shadows and bright spots but we did our best.
Next stop was the wonderful Toorongo River. I always enjoy the scenic drive along the Toorongo Valley Road that leads to the falls.
Pictured below – The Run of the Rain. It’s great to see the river with such a strong flow and healthy green mosses and small ferns growing on the moist rocks again.
During this trip I decided to try out the camera built into my phone and capture some images using an Android app called Retro Camera. It uses some interesting processing techniques to imitate old school cameras. A fun app!!
Pictured below – The Retro Camera interpretation of the Toorongo River.
Pictured below – A serene image from along the Toorongo Valley Road processed by the Retro Camera app.
Pictured below – Chris checking her shots on the banks of the river behind the Noojee pub.
Image processed by the Retro Camera app.
Milk of the Forest
An image taken from the Toorongo River near Noojee, Australia.
This is available to purchase as a high quality print here.
The fields of Noojee.
Images captured near Noojee, Victoria, Australia.
Title – In the Arms of the Night
Two bridges with character.
Here’s two bridges with character.        Both images were taken using HDR techniques to enhance the details on the wooden surfaces of the bridges.       The images were then converted to a weak sepia to enhance their character and lift them out of their surroundings.
Noojee Trestle Bridge, Victoria, Australia –
Don River Bridge at Panton Gap, Victoria, Australia.
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.
Photography by Jim Worrall 