vanishing trees

Sometimes while traveling there’s not much going on, so we play with nature - shapes and forms, proportions, framing, textures, movement, implied movement, geometry regardless of the subject matter - whether it’s man made or in nature. The same vision is applied. This is how we move from one genre to another. A photographer is a photographer. In the same way as a builder builds many different kinds of structures using the same principles but on a different scale and using different materials.

Abandoned shack

I don’t think I’ve come across and image yet that I didn’t like with the Acros B&W simulation. It offers a great balance between highlights and shadows. I used it back in the film days but I think I appreciate it a lot more now. Although I’ve been using Silver Efex, this sim is saving me some extra editing time. I don’t tweek it much either except with a little contrast adjustment to taste. Photo from Guildford, Victoria.

Gum tree by the creek

A fairly typical scene if you travel through the countryside in Australia. Shot pretty much in the middle of the day. I think the Fuji enabled me to make a pretty decent edit here. Fuji GFX 100S / ISO 160 / f11 / 32mm

Another galaxy

I chose to post this image as a B&W since the colours were so outrageous most people wouldn’t accept it as real. Still B&W has a massive range of grey shades. If it was a little softer (yeah, but it’s rock) it would resemble some galactic world. No real scale markers here either. I found this shot by accident at Mt Piddington in the Blue mountains by looking up at an overhang.

tree lichen

Large apertures are not the go-to option in landscape photography for the most part. We often think of f8, f11 or even higher to get everything sharp. In this instance (and many others) a blurring of the background creates a beautiful, soft canvas or backdrop for an image with lots of detail in the foreground. In the case of this image, there is really nothing discernible in the background, no detail that would distract.

creek abstract

If you look closely, nothing much is in focus. There is a slight illusion of sharpness in the fine branches. But photography takes on a more artistic character. The background blend of green and blues of the creek - super blurry gives the whole image a soft feel.

ghost gum

A beautiful ghost gum and broken down settler’s house with a fairly stern warning. I’m quite happy to shoot from this side of the fence.

ethereal bushland

This is probably one of my favourites. It’s an area that was hit by a bushfire sometime last year. At first I thought it was just a backburn but then large areas of land seem to have been affected. Many of the leaves have been bleached by the fire and add an unexpected glow to the scene. 25mm equiv. 1/50 sec f11 ISO 640. xPan setting.

Clouds over hill

One of my least favourite things when going on a photo tour is constant sunny days. Although we try to adapt to circumstances and in some cases contrasty lighting can work in our favour, you can’t beat the contribution of a cloudy sky. In this case I think it does more than it’s fair share in making this image. A very painterly feel and not distracting from the rest of the image. Taken in Guildford, Vic.

winding creek

One of my favourite scenes in the countryside. Often during dry spells these river beds dry up. While they are still interesting scenes, the reflections add significant depth to the image.

Australian countryside

A series of images to follow from a recent trip to Victoria. Australia as you might know has large expanses of land between major cities, especially travelling from one state to another. Some of these images are from NSW and some from Victoria. I made an effort to leave the main highway between to two states. Passing through small towns now cut off from main traffic you get to see and stop at locations to explore the countryside not visible from the highway. As I’m very poor (read lazy) at taking notes on locations I can only be approximate now on where individual images were taken. In fact, having a fading memory, I may now have very little recollection!