Category Archives: Weather

Summertime, and the Living Isn’t Easy……

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

After posting the last photograph of the ruins at Black Rock I thought it would be a good idea to look for photographs I have made that illustrate the heat of summer in the Flinders Ranges and Outback.

It is generally very hot, many businesses close at least for part of the hottest months, visitors stay away and locals who are used to the heat, tailor their lives accordingly.

Usually the early morning or late afternoon is the time for photography, but using the harsh light of the middle of the day can illustrate the heat of summer.

Like here, where there is a hint of a mirage along the base of Bayley Range on Beltana station in the northern Flinders Ranges that helps tell the story.

I used an aperture of f5.6 to get a sharp foreground and a soft focus on the ranges behind. The shutter speed was 1/125 sec, ISO 100.

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It Was A Dark and Stormy Morning…….

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

With apologies to Snoopy……

Wilpena Pound, central Flinders Ranges with Rawnsley Bluff and Bonney pound the main features in the background.

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Birth of a Storm

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

There’s a famous quote pertaining to photography that goes something like this:
“If you want to take good photographs, stand in front of something interesting.”

I can’t remember who actually said it, but it has always stuck in my mind because it is very true.

Consequently whenever there’s a storm brewing there is always the chance for an interesting photograph.

Here a dust storm is brewing.

The time is not long after dawn in the far north of South Australia, the temperature is already above the mid thirties and the wind is rising.

I am hoping this image captures the birth of a summer dust storm where soon visibility will down to a few metres and sand will be penetrating everything.

I think the photo was hand-held and taken at f22, 1/125th of a second ISO 200.

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Abstracts in Mud and Water

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

From raging torrents to streams that make gentle waves…which in time become patterns frozen in the fine, rich red mud washed down from the mountains.

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Abstracts in Mud and Water

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Chaos and turmoil…….an outback creek at full pace after a recent thunderstorm.

f6.3 @ 1000th sec, ISO 400

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Summer Storms…..Lightning and Thunder

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

The same windmill from the previous post. A different day however but more wild weather, which in this case translates into a very dramatic sky.

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Summer Storms…….Dust Storms

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

Thunderstorms, rain, dust storms and temperatures in the 40 plus Celsius…..a typical summer around my part of the world.

Despite that, it is my view that any of the above is going to produce a dramatic photo, so it is wise to be out in the thick of it for the best shots.

The western Flinders Ranges with acres of air-bourne top soil and sand rolling in from the plains.

This was shot at f14 to get good depth of field, ISO 200, hand held at 250th of a second to counter the buffeting wind.

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The Station Homestead

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Peter MacDonald

This photograph was taken two summers ago.

It was an extremely hot night , thunder and sheet lightning all about.

Shot at f5.6, exposure 31 seconds. ISO 200

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The Aftermath

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Peter MacDonald

After the passing of a dust storm there follows a period of eerie gloom which can go on for quite a while.

It produced this this case, interest and quite artistic effects, almost like pencil sketches.

This old bore and tank is on Wooltana cattle station in South Australia’s far north.

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Dust Storm

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Peter MacDonald

The picture in the post a few days ago is the aftermath. This one is the real deal;
a dust storm on a fifty kilometre front heading directly towards the camera.

It was so vast one shot could not get the whole front in the frame.

It was very eerie. Absolute silence and stillness as the storm approached.

The eerie atmosphere continued until the wall of dust was only a hundred metres or so away, then the howling, deafening wind engulfed everything with flying sand. Visibility was zero.

I didn’t get my car door shut in time. Everything was sandblasted, my car was buffetted relentlessly and the wind went on for what seemed like hours.

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