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Beauty of the Isle of Skye

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The week here on the Isle of Skye is flying, so is the wind…. or the rain and sun in an ever evolving game of who wins the battle for supremacy for the day.

So photographing Skye isn’t an easy thing. The light changes constantly. The same moment you find a composition the rain may well force you away from it as soon as you have your gear ready.

I haven’t taken many photographs so far. But the ones I got are meaningful. None more so than the image of the Old Man of Storr – of course – but this one here is also an image that evoked emotion when processing the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom.

It’s an image with  a small story behind it. As it goes I was taking in a smallish hike along the ruins of St. Mary’s church outside of Dunvegan. During the way up I looked back down into the valley and immediately the vista stroke me as the perfect picture of what Skye is all about. Rolling hills, lush green grass, rain clouds and fog hanging low in the mountains….

But the light wasn’t there. It was a nice vista for the human eye to see in flesh then but appeared flat and dull as a photograph. So I finished the hike which was a loop and lead me back to where it began. All the way promising myself to head back up again if the light would change to see whether I could capture the image as envisioned in my mind.

The outcome is the lead photo above. It started to rain minutes after pressing the shutter.

The Old Man of Storr

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I am currently on the Isle of Sky. A week long holiday, immersing myself in the spectacular landscape this part of Scotland has to offer. High on the “must see” list is – of course – “The Storr”. It’s the one image many will most likely have in mind when they think of Skye. So do I.

Photographed in the millions, to get an image of the “old man” that is unique seemed a distant dream. My idea of getting a sunset image went to pieces the first evening I tried. Masses of people hiking up there, the mountain top hardly to see under a thick cover of fog.

Getting up early the next morning, the hope of a beautiful sunrise image with soft light and sunrays  illuminating the mountain – shattered upon arrival. No light, only fog. At least no other people around. Now I’m here, let’s get up anyway.

Efforts were rewarded. Eventually. It took a while and it was only a brief moment. Yet a moment of glory. The sun breaks through the clouds while the fog gives way – a matter of seconds. The world around me is glowing in the most beautiful flush green. I get my shots away, a pano in mind, and bang gone is the light as quickly as it came. It never came back….

Ashbourne International Baseball Festival

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It was a rare trip to a game I admittedly only watch occasionally – here and there a bit of MLB on TV, however it certainly was the first time live in flesh here in Ireland: off I went to Ashbourne, the International Baseball Center a leisurely 20 minute drive from my Drumcondra home. In prospect was a full afternoon at the finals day of the Ashbourne International Baseball Festival.

It’s been fun. Despite the fact that the final to crown the overall winner of the tournament dragged on long into the evening I really enjoyed the thriller that was the game between the Irish national team and a selection of the best international players of the Irish Baseball League.

The day was also another good opportunity to test the new Tamron 70-200mm lens in a real-life situation. The light and weather was changing constantly, in fact it was actually rainy and dark towards the end, as well as fast moving subjects made the G2 work hard.

Tale of Twelve Apostles

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Grotto, London Bridge, Gibsons Steps and Twelve Apostles – it’s the popular stretch along the Great Ocean Road in south-west Victoria with the great names and unique landmarks.

Breathtaking. The word that comes to mind wandering towards dramatic cliff edges staring on to massive stone formations which sit just off the shore while massive turquoise-blue waves crashing against their outside walls making a sound as loud, forceful and constant as if a Boing 747 is starting right beside you.

When I came down to this part of “Down Under” I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I only knew the Twelve Apostles – they are the word famous landmark you have to see once in life. What I got was so much more.

Yes, the 12 Apostles are a breathtaking sight. The sun sets, the day fades away and these massive limestone stacks are illuminated in most beautiful yellow and orange hues – magic of our wonderful planet.

Not so magic: the masses of tourists flogging to the viewpoints with their selfie sticks pushing forward aggressively to get the snap for their trendy social media profile without looking once at what’s actually right in front of their eyes.

They are loud and brash. They give those few who want to appreciate the moment of pure natural beauty no room.

Nothing new. Popular tourist spots look like that wherever you go these days. Though while the masses destroy any atmosphere one could potentially grasp at the Apostles, the same tourists – and most come by bus ona day trip from Melbourne – ignoring all the other magnificent landmarks on the Great Ocean Road.

Those places mentioned at the beginning are solitary. The London Bridge or Arch are breathtaking in their very own right, however. I found them equally as impressive as the 12 Apostles. However with nobody around, just standing their soaking in the atmosphere –  those special moments one remembers forever I truly believe.

What has to be said – and this is to the enormous credit of the Victorian Tourism Board – all these attractions are completely free. Including parking. Even at the Apostles. As it should be…. yet this is not a given thing in our modern world.

As for photography, the Great Ocean Road is a pot of gold. So many potential compositions one can explore. Of course time is the enemy for a photographer on a schedule. If I could only would visit these places again and then at different times.

Nonetheless I feel I made the most of the opportunity – both in termsof  experiencing the rich beauty in the here and now while also getting memorable photographs which will remind me of this trip for days, weeks and years to come.

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Loch Ard Gorge – 17mm, ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/40 sec 

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Johanna Beach – 17mm, ISO 100, f/20, 1/25 sec

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Twelve Apostles – 50mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1/200 sec

Top image: Twelve Apostles – 110mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1/13 sec

The Final Image

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Sometimes the things right in front of our nose are the ones that produces the goods, right? Certainly if it comes to photography. Sometimes you can drive all day long but it’s the final image taken on the own door step that awakes emotion.

Today I was heading out to explore sights and sounds along the Great Ocean Road here on the South-East coast of Australia where I arrived after a long day in the air and on the road yesterday where it all started in Sydney so early it was still dark and cold outside.

Good news this morning: no rain. Bad news: the sky’s as grey as it gets. Simply dull, without any texture, not letting any light through whatsoever. Sure, sometimes these conditions lend themselves to shoot atmospheric black and white – preferably long exposures with a bit of water in the scene.

That says I struggled to find any composition that exited me, that I felt passionate about. All looked dull & boring. An okay shot of the Cape Otway Lightstation was the best I could manage.

In the back of my mind I had it to be ‘home’ in Marengo/Apollo Bay for the potential sunset on the local beach, only 200 meters off my holiday home, which I neglected this morning.

The sun never really showed up, the grand show of a sunset certainly did not materialize. Nonetheless the beach of Marengo is interesting. Low tide was forming and set different rock formations free – some on land, some off the shore, as part of the Marengo Reefs Marine Sanctuary.

The night falling quickly, the light became ambient – that was the moment when it made “click” and I found numerous lovely compositions playing with slow shutter speeds.

In the end, the image above is my favourite. It was the final one I took before heading home, too. Funny how things work sometimes: 20mm, ISO 100, f/9, 10sec

The lights already went on in Apollo Bay, the night clouds pushing over the mountains bringing darkness, but a beautiful, subdued orange like back light still illuminates the rocks on front of me while the water is flowing in and out with the waves.

Good Bye Sydney….

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….let’s meet again, please! Six days flew by. Half of it drowned in torrential rain. Still, this city has captivated me, its beauty shines through the thickest and darkest clouds. There are so many photographs not taken yet, my head is full of ideas. I will be back.

 

Hike to the Three Sisters

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Another day dominated by the weather. Not so much by rain, though it lashed for a couple of hours yet a gain – however, while not pleasant, at least you can prepare for it.

What you can’t prepare for is fog. My hopes for getting a grand vista of the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains were literally dissolved in the thickest layers of fog I can remember for quite some time.

The closer & the higher I got towards the Mountains the thicker the fog would become. So thick that it was impossible to get out of the first gear as there was simply nothing, and I means absolutely nothing to see in front.

Consternation. Irritation. Around the National Park Center those few people who made the effort to come up here looked baffled, unsure of what to do next. The great view everyone came for – not gonna happen.

I was here, though, and not prepared to give up. At least a small hike is always possible and with the camera in the bag maybe this would open up more intimate nature to shoot.

And so it did. As touched on in yesterday’s blog, it still holds true every single day: if you make the effort you’ll be rewarded more often than not.

For a brief moment fog gave way to unveil at least parts of the ‘Three Sisters’ and the valley – a brief window of opportunity to get the camera out and get a shot. I managed to find a composition with the fog framing one of these huge rocks with the valley covered in fog and clouds on the other site of the frame (feature image above).

Minutes later it was all gone and a thick mush of grey was back were it was before.

Mud Boys

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What a day here in Sydney –my first day in the big city on the East Coast of Australia; a day literally drowned in rain! Since my arrival yesterday afternoon it has not stopped to rain. And more rain is expected over the next few day actually!

Now, that meant for today instead of the walking tour and ferry trip along the world renowned Harbour Bridge that I had in mind it had to be plan B:  the opportunity to visit local race track Canterbury Park!

A wise decision. Because even now writing nearly eight hours after leaving the racecourse the rain is still hammering against the roof of my house – it wasn’t different in the afternoon. Thunderstorms and torrential rain would have made it impossible to explore Sydney in any meaningful way.

Canterbury Park on the other hand has a roof, first class facilities, and is more or less down the road from where I’m based anyways.

That, however, doesn’t make photography any easier. Soon after the second race ended the sky went so dark one could have mistaken the day for the night.

For the rest of the day it’s very much bumping up the ISO, shooting from the comfort of the stand…. or not quite. Because there those few brave moments where jump out off safety, the camera in my right hand, keeping the hood in place over my head with the other hand while I press the shutter erratically  in the hope one of the compositions visualized beforehand get into the frame.

 

In the end it was a great test for the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 to show what the lens can do in circumstances like this – obviously in low light situation the Nikon D7100 tends to struggle, so I was concerned.

However after looking through the results I have to be impressed once again. I wouldn’t say all is brilliant, but the auto-focus worked wonders, the shots are sharp enough for my liking, look decent even at higher ISO’s and again most impressed I am with the results of shots taken of moving objects – in this case fast running horses far away in the distance in low light, eve when cropped in heavily in post these images are still very usable.

Below a selection of photographs from the day. My focus was to capture the grind, desperation, emotions but also beauty of this race day held in these desperate conditions.

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Perth – I’m in Love

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4am in the morning, it’s only a mere three hours ago when I went to bed. What exactly was the reason to catch the very first plane in the morning out of Adelaide? Not so sure in those early hours….

…. though it’s well rewarded eventually. I leave chilly Adelaide – the thermometer fell to 2 degrees during the night! – for a more balmy in sunshine bathing Perth. This city on the far west of Australia, a whopping 2.500km away from the southerly Adelaide is a little cosmos of its own.

It’s the open ocean and white sand beaches, it’s a calm bay area, it’s green and most importantly it is warm! Over 20 degrees during the Australian winter…. that leaves a mark on its citizens I feel. In a positive way. The sun put a smile on peoples faces. Open, friendly, relaxed people.

I even braved the Ocean and took a dip in the “Indian”.

I’m renting an apartment suburb of Perth – Mosman Park. To the left the open ocean – I actually was brave enough to jump in and take a swim  – and to the left  the so called called “Bay View”. A small park that offers splendid view over the Perth Bay all the way up to the city centre with it’s high rising office buildings.

The best: there is nobody. No tourists. None! What a wonderful place this is. Already after two days I can say: Perth – I’m in love.

Hiking in the Adelaide Hills

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Day 3 in “Down Under” – still Adelaide, though slowly but steadily my time here draws to a close. It was an early start, the sun stood sky high, you got to make the most of that. The plan was to hike in the Adelaide Hills.

Eventually I ended up in the Cleland Conservation Park, roughly 20km outside of the city – a IUCN protected area – so quite an important piece of nature. Several excellently marked trails lead through the 11.25 square kilometre big park.

While I have seen more spectacular mountains (though these are called ‘hills’ anyway) it was nonetheless a great day out in the nature the whole day and well worth a long hike to be eventually rewarded with a stunning view of the city itself – as the image above shows.

Conditions were not ideal to shoot I have to admit. I didn’t have time to wait for the sunset so the sun was still quite high shining harshly into the valley where the city lies. The view was not totally clear and my Nikon D7100 had clearly issues to capture a balanced scene.

So I tried to bracket my shots and see what could be done in post combining the files. I’m happy enough with the output. The image was taken with the new Tamron 70-200mm G2 lens.

On my way back, already near the end of my trail, I suddenly heard some strange noises coming from the bushes near me…. and there they were, two kangaroos! Just finding themselves a spot to rest.

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