Monthly Archives: April 2012

Shearin’s Done

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Depot Springs station, northern Flinders Ranges.

There’s something quite charming about an old shearing shed.

The wood stands out. It’s been polished by the lanolin from the wool of many thousands of sheep and the constant activity that goes on in the shed when shearing’s in full swing.

The Depot Springs shed is over 90 years old and despite its age has stood the test of time.

A pair of hand made boots that have seen sheep aplenty meet the shearer at this spot, stand ready for the next morning’s work.

They are built for comfort, anything to make the hard work more bearable.

The woolshed photo was shot at f3.5, 1/200th sec, ISO 1600 with off camera flash

The boots shot at f6.3, 1/125th sec, ISO 1250, no flash

A 24-70mm Cannon L series zoom lens was used in both photographs.

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A Quirk of Nature

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

One of the bonuses of the recent workshop at Arkaroola was coming across a really rare sight.

It’s an albino yellow-footed rock wallaby.

Numbers of these animals have been in decline for many years so an albino is a fairly rare creature.

Apart from having a striking resemblance to a stuffed toy, the albino is at least twice as big as a normal fully grown member of the species and possibly even bigger.

Typical yellow-foots are about the size seen in the photo here

The animal in the right hand corner of this photograph is probably an offspring of the albino which is a female and has a joey in the pouch.

Albino animals are usually very sensitive to sunlight and this wallaby is no different. It wasn’t until I noticed something different about her eyes that I magnified the picture and found that her eyelids and eye lashes had grown very large as protection again sunlight.

The albino seems to have adapted to her environment despite here generic handicap.

Posted in Arkaroola, Fauna | 1 Comment

Workshop

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

It is really nice to come away from a workshop with a nice shot in the bag.

Keith and Glenda are two lovely people who I had the pleasure of taking on a workshop at Arkaroola a few days ago.

I generally start at Bolla Bollana waterhole which transforms into something new at each visit.

After big rains weeks ago, the waterhole has been flushed out yet again

This photograph is a marked contrasted the the last one I took at Bolla Bollana a few months back. Different weather, different light and a steady stream of water flowing in.

A good place to pick up on good techniques for taking landscapes.

Shot at f22, ISO 200 at 1/6th sec. Circular polarising filter on tripod

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Winging It

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

With running streams and ponded water all around, it’s a duck’s life for sure just about anywhere in the Outback at the moment.

There’s plenty of birds on the wing and wildlife spread far and wide.

I could hardly be classed as wildlife but I’m on the move again too, which mean’s no access to the internet and no posts until at least late next week.

These, I think are Maned Ducks near water on Anna Creek Station in the far north of South Australia but I am more likely to recognise a duck on a cricket pitch than these fast movers.

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Shearin’s Done

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

There’s something almost sad about a shed when shearing is over.

Gone are the sounds of hard toil , the machinery whirring, dogs barking, sheep bleating, music blaring.

Until the same time next year, when once again the shed comes alive.

Woolshed, Beltana Station, northern Flinders Ranges

Taken with a Canon D60 and a 17-40mm L series Canon lens back in 2005.
f16, exposure 2 seconds, ISO 100, focal length 17mm

It was part of a series which included this picture taken when shearing was in full swing.

Posted in Beltana, Pastoral Industry | 2 Comments

Afterglow

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

With the smokey grey sky and the leafless bushes, it would not be hard to imagine this was the aftermath of a bush fire.

It’s just scrub country up the Oodnadatta Track after sunset.

I’m not sure where…some distance north of William Creek I think.

It was just something that caught my eye because it was a bit unusual.

Sunsets though are a dime a dozen out here.

Hand held at 1/25th sec, f5.6 ISO 400

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Faces of the Outback

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

The Ringer from “the Peake”.

Aaron’s a boy from Sydney who’s finding working on a Kidman outstation on the Ooodnadatta Track a lot more interesting than city life.

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On The Road

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

I found this photo after a request for an image depicting the the Ridgetop Track at Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges.

I wanted something that wasn’t just the usual shot of a Ridgetop tour vehicle going up Sillers lookout and I came across this,.

The Ridgetop tour has been running for over 40 years and many who follow the Sentimental Bloke will probably have been along this spectacular journey.

For those who haven’t, it’s almost a “bucket list” thing to do.

This photograph was taken in harsher times, in fact five years ago and I know there’s been an enormous burst of regrowth since the breaking of the drought.

I will be back here next week for a workshop and to shoot some new material.

Posted in Arkaroola, On the Road | 3 Comments

Wheel Barrow

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

This old wheel barrow reminded me of a story told to me by Keith Nicholls, an old chap who lived almost all his life running a sheep station at Warraweena near Beltana in the Flinders Ranges.

Keith was 86 when he died but he remembered as a young lad a bloke who lived in the area who was out of work.

The chap heard there was work going at Broken Hill, more than 300 kilometres away as the crow flies and over some pretty inhospitable country.

As old Keith told the story, the bloke set off with his worldly belongings in a wheel barrow, only to find when he got to Broken Hill there wasn’t any work there, so he turned around and came home.

There’s not too many people who could do that today – we’ve all grown a bit soft.

I believe this wheel barrow was a bit younger than the one in Keith’s story. It looked like it might have had a rubber wheel in its heyday, but I suspect it too had a pretty hard life.

Posted in Old Ruins, Oodnadatta Track | 2 Comments

Chewin’ the Fat

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Faces of the Outback…blokes from stations around William Creek and the Oodnadatta Track……doing what people do everywhere….having a bit of chin wag.

With big distances between isolated stations, an event like the local gymkhana brings people together for some horse events and a beer or two.

Posted in Events, Faces of the Outback, Oodnadatta Track | 1 Comment