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 | 1 Comment

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

On the Road

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

The question is…what’s over the hill?

It all depends on which way you are travelling, but what ever is ahead, it will be a welcome sight.

If you can take your eyes of the road, there’s a vast ocean of green out there and it goes on for kilometre after kilometre.

Travelling down the Oodnadatta Track and through Anna Creek Station, the world’s largest cattle station.

It takes a bit of imagination to comprehend its size of Anna Creek but you could multiply this scene by 50 or 60 times and you’d be in the ball-park

Posted in On the Road, Oodnadatta Track | 1 Comment

Moonlighting

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Peter MacDonald

It’s that time again, when the moon is at its fullest and a good time for a photograph.

Not the easiest of techniques to master but it helps, as I have said before if you work the night before the stated date of the full moon.

That means there’s still light available from the sunset to light the landscape.

There’s a thing call the the 600 rule where if you divide 600 by the focal length of the lens you are using, you will get the amount of time you have for your exposure before the moon or stars start to track.

Tracking will distort the shape of the moon or stars will begin to show as lines of light.

So as an example 600 divided by a lens set to a focal length of 20 will give you a 30 second time frame.

This shot was taken on sand dunes to the west of the northern Flinders Ranges.

There’s still enough light for an exposure of 1.3 seconds at f22 and ISO 400. The focal length on the lens was 120mm, so there was a window of 5 seconds to take the shot…plenty of time.

The moon was low down in the sky too which is an advantage as the higher it gets, the smaller i will appear in the photograph.

Posted in Lake Torrens Area, Photography Tips | Leave a comment