Chris recently spent a few weeks on night shift installing the new water treatment plant. It’s located on a hill above the entrance to Whaleback and gave him a great vantage point for the storms that were rolling in. As the lightning was flashing around him, he decided to get all arty (he has these moments!!). This is a lightning shot with a windsock in the foreground.
Once the eclipse was in full swing, it got really challenging. The moon is putting off very little ambient light and getting the shutter speed fast enough for a sharp image was difficult. But I loved how the moon definitely went red. This is 1/2 sec @ F6.3 and ISO400. Not too much noise and still pretty sharp.
Having talked technical, I actually found the whole experience very magical. I was at Radio Hill and there were no other photographers there (most surprising). Occassionally people would arrive for a quick look but left again quite quickly. Once I had the tripod set up and got settled with my exposure details, it was simply a matter of sitting on the rock (with the map on it) and clicking the cable release. Not long after I got settled, I heard a noise just on the other side of the brick wall. I put my caplamp on the place where the noise was coming from (about 3 m away) and there was a wallaby looking back at me. He wasn’t even 1m tall but bold as brass. The light didn’t bother him and he just sat there with me for the whole time. Whenever a car pulled up he hopped just out of sight but as soon as they left, he came back. Just awesome!
We recently had a lunar eclipse which presented a great opportunity for a bit of night photography. The 70 – 300 mm lens came in very handy. The challenge really was to get the exposure time short enough that the moon was sharp. I shot these from Radio Hill. Here’s the first part of the eclipse, the top image is just after it started and the bottom image is further into the (partial) eclipse. The top image is 1/125 sec @ F8 and the bottom one is 1/25 sec @ F7.1. To minimise the noise I kept ISO on 160 and used the long exposure noise reduction funciton on the camera (Canon 5DII).
Newman’s best known icon is the old haul truck that sits outside the Visitors Centre. I’ve been trying to shoot it for some time and was struggling to find an approach that “worked”. The recent lunar eclipse offered a new angle. I like how the long exposure resulted in blurred clouds which evokes the blurred landscape viewed out of the window of a moving truck.
Hobi recently reached middle age (he turned 7 or 40 ish in human years). For an old dog with arthritis he’s still pretty agile although his old age is showing in some grey around his muzzle. We are constantly amazed at how much this dog has changed. He came to us as a rescue dog that was completely unmanageable. He’s now the sane, sensible dog of the house who younger dogs love to look up to. The awesomeness of The Dog Whipserer can not be overstated!!
A big thank you to everyone who has bought a Purely Pilbara gift or read this blog in 2011. I’m so happy to be able to share what I find beautiful in the world and meet some incredible people along the way. Kaylee and Hobi (the Purely Pilbara puppies) send licks and love. From all of us, have a very Merry Christmas.
Big thanks to the volunteers for Xmas day. For anyone not in Newman, the tradition is that the emergency vehicles (fire engines, police cars and ambulance) drive around every single street in town handing out lollies and pressies. They have the sirens on and everyone comes out onto the street and wishes everyone in the neighbourhood a Merry Xmas. It’s a wonderful small town, friendly vibe. Thanks to the vollies (especially Scott!).
As always the BHPB Housing Office has a great Xmas lights display.
Well, the blog has finally caught up with real life and I’m now able to post some Newman photos. Recently enjoyed shooting the Xmas lights around town. It was a bit of a challenge to find the right time of night where the ambient and Xmas light levels were balanced. It’s a surprisingly short period of time (maybe 10 minutes) and occurs before complete dark.
I had a completely awesome time in Prague. It’s much smaller than Rome and Paris (the same size as Perth infact) and I really felt at home. The art scene is vibrant and active (whereas Paris and Rome were about other things). I loved the music and performing arts and could have spent weeks attending concerts. I adored the olde worlde feel of the cobbled streets and green domed churches. There were stunning church interiors so I could get my baroque fix but also interesting gothic buildings of stained glass windows, knobbly spires and scary gargoyles. The light was soft, the foliage was colourful and it truly is the most photogenic place I’ve visited.
And Prague will always have a special place in my heart as the first place I rode a Segway! I’m sure I’ll be back and can’t wait. Thank you Prague.