Monthly Archives: March 2012

Opportunity

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

It’s rocky, almost barren and anything that has grown, seems to have died.

Not much of a foreground, but in dawn’s first moments it makes for an interesting landscape.

TThe rest of the hills and mountains in the background are anything but barren but in this light it’s hard to tell.

The Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary from the Mt Jacob Backtrack with the prominent landmark, Mt Painter on the far skyline.

This is one of those photographs I would not have taken in different circumstances and indeed would not have used here had it not been seen by someone who knows the area well.

I was on the location for a scene in the opposite direction. That wasn’t going to work because of the cloud cover.

An opportunity taken.

Posted in Arkaroola | 1 Comment

Dingo

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

The dingo is a fine looking animal, unique to our continent and it roams freely around the Outback.

It’s features distinguish it from other dogs. It yelps or howls but doesn’t bark. Dingoes are usually cream to reddish brown in colour like this one. Their ears are always erect.

Together with feral domestic dogs they have long been a real menace to the sheep industry which loses large numbers of animals to dog attacks.

These days there’s probably more domestic dogs that turn wild, or domestic dogs that have interbred with the dingo causing the problems for pastoralists and that requires widespread baiting programs.

The cattle industry, on the other hand is not affected by the dingo which generally lives on kangaroos, rabbits and other small animals and reptiles.

Dingos are thought to have been introduced into Australia thousands of year ago and are related to dogs of South East Asia.

This was shot on a long zoom (300mm) at f8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200. I haven’t cropped this photography mainly to put the dingo in the country it normally roams.

Posted in Fauna, Outback South Australia, Pastoral Industry | Leave a comment

Autumn Colours

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Like everywhere else autumn brings a new range of colours to be photographed, and in the Flinders Ranges it is no different.

The colours maybe softer, less vivid than those of the summer months but in their own way just as beautiful.

The is a view from Moro Gorge on the IPA lands of Nantawarrina looking north to Mt. McKinlay in the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park.

The Gammons are part of the northern Flinders Ranges.

Nantawarrina is aboriginal land and permission is needed to visit there.

Posted in Aboriginal Land, Gammon Ranges | 1 Comment

On the Road

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Friends you meet along the way.
The Oodnadatta track almost 1000 kilometres north of Adelaide is probably a place you might expect to meet a very large bull occupying most of the road.
Grumpy he was and not happy about giving right of way.
Things eventually got sorted out and we went out merry ways….me to my destination, he to a nearby waterhole.
More on the recent travels as I get things sorted out.

Posted in Oodnadatta Track, Outback South Australia | Leave a comment

Topical Matters

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

I ran a few photographs of the results of heavy rains that recently fell in the Flinders Ranges and Outback of South Australia.

It’s becoming evident that rains we have had this year will equal or exceed those that fell in the last really big wet this region had…and that was way back in 1974.

The rain is of course transforming the land in many ways.

That vast inland water system that is the Lake Eyre basin, Goyder Lagoon and the Coongie Lakes will fill again. …for the third year in a row.

Lake Eyre has water again over much of its surface and is continuing to fill.

Huge amounts of water are heading from the north into this region.

I am heading into that area again on assignment for the R M Williams Outback magazine.

Because of the remoteness of the area were I will be working, there will not be any photographs posted here until that assignment is completed.

Hopefully there will be some images of Outback Australia that aren’t going to the magazine, that I can use on “The Sentimental Bloke” when I return.

Posted in Lake Eyre, Outback South Australia | 2 Comments

Another Prairie Sunset

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Camera details: Fuji X-100 camera fixed lens. f5.6 @ 1/50th sec ISO 400

Posted in Parachilna, Weather | Leave a comment

A Prairie Sunset

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

This site doesn’t set out to be topical or up to the minute, but this sunset is but a little under an hour old.

View from the front porch of my house – a safe place in yet another a thunderstorm.

Camera Details: f6.3, exposure 23 seconds in Bulb mode ISO 100. Canon 5D Mk 2 and Canon EF28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS

USM lens.

In hindsight I would have probably used a different aperture setting but with the light disappearing so quickly there wasn’t much time for anything but an educated guess.

Posted in Outback South Australia, Weather | 1 Comment

Outback Oasis

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

This makes an interesting contrast from the last few photos…….

Goyder Lagoon, that rich oasis in the desert is flooding once again after the recent rains that have affected so much of the Flinders Ranges and Outback.

The lagoon lies about 80 kilometres south west of Birdsville on the South Australian-Queensland border and is fed by the Diamintina River.

Its lush green landscape interwoven with hundreds of thousands of fingers of floodwater is always an impressive sight in these wet conditions.

Camera Details: Canon 5D Mk 2 with a 24-70mm f2.8 L series lens shot at f6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO 200. Why f6.3 – mainly to get the shutter speed up high to stop the vibration and speed of the plane coming into effect.

Posted in Goyder Lagoon, Outback South Australia | Leave a comment

Summer’s Last Hurrah

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

A stark reminder of the drought years of not too long ago.

Summer at its worst with not a blade of grass to be seen.

Sheep grazing country between Hawker and Quorn in the central Flinders Ranges

Posted in Flinders Ranges, Weather | Tagged | 1 Comment

Summer’s Last Hurrah

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

It might have been a mild summer and it certainly went out on a soggy note but I’m not finished with it yet.

Shooting in summer, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon can often produce really vivid colours.

However photographing outside of these times, particularly in the middle of the day brings dramatic tones that illustrate the harsh summer conditions of Outback South Australia.

Old ruins, like these at Partacoona station between Quorn and Hawker in the Flinders Ranges show how hard life would have been for the early settlers.

Not even a tree for shade.

Posted in Flinders Ranges, Old Ruins | 1 Comment