Escaping The Hordes

It never ceases to amaze me how people can enjoy partaking in the human traffic jams which occur along the beach fronts. Determined to avoid the crush at Oak Park and Cronulla I walked down through Gunnamatta Park and along the shore.
 

It's always entertaining to watch the antics of the animals who congregate near the water.

I love the golden light that illuminates everything in its path as it warms the world each fine morning. Its intensity over saturates the landscape and the temptation is there to desaturate the images when processing. That however would destroy the memory. The air was crisp and I only encountered one person walking their dog.

The only thing which marred my enjoyment was the discovery of the body of a lilac point Siamese cat trapped by the pool netting. I'd been  watching a kookaburra persistently tugging at something in spite of my approach and it was only as I came closer I discovered what it was. It was quite upsetting and has so far been the only negative aspect of my daily walks.  Unfortunately it has played on my mind ever since.

A Picture Within A Picture

The New South Wales Art Gallery was the destination for The Not Only Black And White Meetup group. The " Picture Within A Picture"  Challenge for the day was to use the 1:1 capabilities of our camera to  photograph one of the bronze or marble statues within the Art Gallery of NSW to include a picture in the background from the Galleries painting collection.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging task. The most difficult aspect was to capture both statue and painting and control the depth of field and exposure for both. It required a lot of experimentation and some careful positioning.

As with any day out, the enjoyment didnt commence at the location. We made quite a few stops on our way to the Gallery. Alighting from the train at Town Hall Station we headed first towards the War Memorial where we experimented with reflections in the aptly named Memorial Pool Of Reflection. 

The stately Moreton Bay fig trees are always a drawcard for me and we had many opportinities to capture some of these beauties in both Hyde Park and the Domain. 

The bonus for the day was a bride and groom who posed for some lighthearted photographs in front of the Archibald Fountain. 

The walk towards the Gallery led us past some of Sydney's historic landmarks and buildings including the grand St. Mary's Cathedral. 

We were on the lookout for some spiderwebs, yet another photographic challenge issued from our local camera club.  

Perhaps the grandest of all the figs we saw is situated in the Domain and unfortunately its welcoming arms which reach towards the ground seem to attract youths keen to stretch its bounty to the utmost. 

 Last but not least we entered the Gallery and the fun began.      

My favourite image of the day.

On The Track Of Snow

Unusual weather conditions have generated some heavy snowfalls in the Blue Mountains so I went on a snow search with a friend. We did see some snow clouds in the distance but were unsuccessful in locating any of the white gold ourselves. We witnessed some beautiful sights along the way as the area was enveloped by shifting fog.Our first stop was Wentworth Lake where we simply sat and luxuriated in the fog surrounding us.

Unfortunately the opportunity to explore was hampered by drizzling rain and the only other sign of life was some moorhens and ducks who dotted the surface of the lake. 

 I took advantage of occasional lulls in the rain to dart out and take some shots of the jetty right next to our parking position.

 Next stop was Govett's Leap Lookout at Blackheath. 

 The fog teased us by acting like a slow reveal slide transition, revealing small details of the Mountain vista piece by piece.

 We were not inclined to bushbash due to the rain so had to satisfy ourselves with glimpses of the contrasting rock formations...............

 the seemingly never ending waterfall ............

............ and the light attempting to break through the cloud cover.

After a day following the highway further West towards Lithgow we resigned ourselves to the fact that we were not going to locate snow on this trip so decided to head home via Mt. Wilson. Firstly we pulled over to Du Faurs Rocks Lookout where we the Garden of Stones glistened on the mountain ridges like tiny specks in the distance. 

To our left the aptly named Chinaman's Hat formation was visible from our vantage position.

Mt.Wilson was almost unrecognisable since our initial visit in Autumn when bright reds golds and amber dotted the streets and gardens. It was as though somebody had either painted the streets with a desaturation slider or denuded the trees of foliage altogether.

 Moving down towards Cathedral Reserve we noticed that the ferns were far more luxuriant than on our previous visits so it appears that Mt. Wilson provides opportunities for each of her attractions to have their moment to shine.

Fond memories of childhood holidays were never far from my mind and I intend to return to the Mountains as soon as possible to take a walk or two down memory lane. It's too long since I've visited this glorious region. If nothing else, our fruitless snowsearch reinvigorated my love of the Mountains of my childhood.

Stormy Day At The Rocks

What a difference a day makes (or two). My return trip to Bombo with some of the S.A.P.S group produced a much more exciting sky than the previous Sunday even though the swell was still less than exciting.
 The destination was Cathedral Rocks and then on to Bombo. Stopping off for a quick detour to Minnamurra I was rewarded with some pristine reflections on the lake generated by an early morning canoeist and paddle boarder.

There was only time for a couple of quick shots as the rest of the group were already at our location.
Walking towards Cathedral Rocks along Jones Beach the reflections mirrored the pastel coloured highlights in the sky.

Intermittently peeking from behind the clouds, the hiding sun produced those glorious silver shards which illuminate the surface of the ocean, one of my favourite early morning sights.

I was expecting a lower tide so was a little disappointed I couldnt access the cave without some mountain goat climbing or get the exact composition I was after.

Electing to  conserve my energy I consoled myself with some aforementioned beach reflection shots.

Before heading towards Bombo I decided to investigate the alternate view of Cathedral Rocks from the Southern approach. One of the better views is from the hillside above the rocks which also looks towards the Boneyard in the other direction.

Access to the coastal face of the basalt pillars at Bombo is now a lot more difficult with the secret pathway partially obscured by lantana undergrowth which is particularly spiky. However this leads to some natural basalt steps which not only provide an easy climb to one of the better vantage points for watching the turbulence of the incoming waves, but at the same time afford some protection from any rogue waves which may appear. 

 Bombo cries out for angry overcast skies in my opinion.

On the drive back up towards Sydney I took a slight detour to investigate two spots I'd not heard of before, courtesy of Graham. Referred to as The Farm and Mystics Beach, they are accessed via the detour through the Killalea State Park.  Interestingly enough Mystics Beach turned out to be the beach the Meetup Group acessed on Sunday in order to take a shot of the island at Minamurra.

Along The Forest Path

The "Forest Path" walk in the Royal National Park was a complete surprise. I love the classic Australian bush and was expecting to have an enjoyable outing in the fresh air away from crowds. The gurgling creek, sound of water cascading down some small falls and the moss covered tree trunks were Nature's gift for the day. 

With the cold Winter's air biting at our finger tips we made our way along the leafy carpeted trail luxuriating in the unexpected rainforest surroundings. 

The only factor to mar the occasion ever so slightly was the fact that I mistakenly packed my wide angle lens instead of my trusty zoom. As a result, I was unable to capture some of the magical scenes my eyes encountered in the manner I wanted but hopefully this unfinished business will be addressed on another occasion during a return trip.

It was great to share it with a photo buddy who didn't find it necessary to sprint along the paths and make it impossible to absorb all those tiny details encountered along the way. There was time to marvel at the massive size of the gigantic cedar trees and tall palms, 

the lichen covered stumps, 

the tiny little fungi peeping shyly from the cracks in the tree bark,

 the vines wrapped seductively around the gloriously patterned trunks of many of the trees 

and the carpet of moss adorning the gigantic boulders lying motionless in the stream. 

I can't wait to get back there with my zoom lens and do some more exploring.

Sleeping Bombo

Joined the Not Only Black And White Meetup group for yet another trip to Bombo Quarry.  We hadnt anticipated an exciting day as the swell was low, the sky was a cloudless blue and the time was too late to catch the good light. However it's always enjoyable to get together with this welcoming and amenable group.
The impressive size of the quarry is difficult to establish without some scale reference so the  following image smattered with Meetup members should serve to illustrate this for those who haven't been lucky enough to visit the quarry.

As the swell was not particularly exciting I spent most of my time photographing the view from the quarry. I love the golden grasses which dot the quarry landscape.

 Due to the absence of large waves people had the opportunity to approach the window between the twin pillars. This is generally impossible, particularly when the waves are high because they frequently crash right over the top of the pillars with great force and cascade down the western face like small waterfalls.

One exception was the small swell hitting against the eastern walls of the basalt columns 

 There were still many reflection pools even though the rainfall had not been particularly heavy.

 

Only thing to mar the day was a rogue wave which dumped on Ruth and appears to have put her Canon 6D out of action for the time being. Bombo has much beauty but as with any coastal formation, is witness to the unpredictablility of Nature. Even on this relatively calm day there was the occasional freak wave which endeavoured to catch the unaware. The secret is to sit high enough to be able to gain an effective composition while at the same time ensuring you have adequate rock cover as protection, if not from the waves, at least from being dragged into the swirling waters below.

Bombo never disappoints, irrespective of conditions, and while the rockpools were generally shallow and filled with less than inviting water, many beautiful reflections were still evident. It very much depends on the angle of the camera and proof that reality can be transformed by a single shutter click.

It's always an opportunity to play around with processing when skies are uncooperative so sometimes the vagaries of weather can have a positive effect.

Following the walk down to Bombo the group moved on to Kiama for lunch where some of us amused ourselves shooting the local seagulls. I could spend hours watching these little creatures derogatively described by some bird haters as 'flying rats'. I find their antics amusing and after all, they hav eas much right to eke out an existence from their surroundings as the humans who share their planet.

Unfortunately my depleted energy levels after hours of rock hopping prevented me from joining the group on the walk along a long stretch of beach towards Rangoon Island at Minamurra.