Rodney Campbell's Blog

Day 4 and I decided to wake early for a sunrise shoot. I didn’t have to go very far – just out the door of the apartment and walk on to the beach in front… As per most of the time we were there, there were no clouds to be seen – just a very hazy sky and the sun just sort of appearing through the haze (I think there were bushfires and cane field fires around this time as the sun produced a nice red hazy glow in the sky before, as it rose and even well after rising). As it turned out the haze was so think it was relatively easy to include the sun itself in the frame without blowing out with just the 0.9 grad.

I did however find some very nice green rocks very close by on the waters edge and spent the whole time there trying various compositions both before and after the sun rose – I hope you like these…

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

In the Channel

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1/1 sec at f/16, ISO 100 + 0.9GND

Red and Green

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 13 mm, 1/3 sec at f/16, ISO 100 + 0.9GND

Late in the afternoon (good late afternoon light as well) – my girls and I tried having a bit of fun with the infinity edge pool we had at the apartments…

Walking on Water

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 220 mm, 1/500 sec at f/5.3, ISO 100

I took other images where the girls are all looking at me though I actually really like and prefer this one where they are all looking in different directions…

Trio at the Edge

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 230 mm, 1/400 sec at f/5.3, ISO 100

Drove up to Kuranda and visited the various touristy attractions and shops in the ‘village in the rainforest’.

Not many interesting images to be had this day…

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Sunbakers

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 116 mm, 1/640 sec at f/4.8, ISO 100

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 13 mm, 1/80 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

Beneath the Roots

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1/60 sec at f/8, ISO 560

We took a trip up to Mossman Gorge and Port Douglas on our second day. We’d stayed in Port Douglas when we were up here ten years ago (as it happens on the day of 9/11 and the Ansett airlines collapse) so it was interesting to see what it was like now (not much changed as it happens).

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

We left reasonably early and went straight to Mossman Gorge (in the hopes of having some decent light and a cooler quieter rainforest before the crowds got there). It was about 9AM when we got there and although there were very few people there it was like midday sun – very bright and unforgiving… I was lucky enough to find a sort of shaded part of the river to take a few images I liked.

Mossman Flows

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 17 mm, 1 sec at f/16, ISO 100

On the way back from Port Douglas I stopped at a place I’d seen whilst driving up.

I’d seen these isolated mangrove trees out on the sand earlier and figured I could do something with them – ideally I’d have wanted to be here nearer the golden hours and not in the starkness of the early afternoon (2PM), however I was here now and likely wouldn’t be back so… and I am happy with the result… I used the ten stop ND filter for this image of the lone mangrove

Lone Mangrove

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 200 mm, 30 sec at f/16, ISO 100 + ND3.0

This second image was rushed and I wish I’d had much more time to try different compositions and make use of the tripod – I took it handheld with the telephoto, scrambling up the rocky slope back to the car whilst my family was literally sounding the car horn (they were sick of waiting it appears :))

Sand in Motion

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 70 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 100

I managed to get a free pass to go out by myself at sunset and decided to head to nearby Palm Cove (I was interested in the pier and rocks I’d seen at the northern end of the beach along with the islands just offshore).

Some bigstopper action

Lonely Isle

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 120 sec at f/7.1, ISO 100 + ND3.0

and then some long exposures during and after twilight

Palm Pier

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 5 sec at f/9, ISO 100

Twilight Pier

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 25 sec at f/11, ISO 100

finally for a bit of fun here is a “self portrait” (required standing pretty still during the one minute exposure)

Self Portrait on Pier

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 60 sec at f/9, ISO 100

Just returned from holidaying with the family for a week near Cairns in Far North Queensland – we stayed at the Vue Apartments at Trinity Beach which is one of the touristy beaches just north of Cairns (about 20 minutes from downtown Cairns).

My family although reasonably tolerant of my desire to look at everything as a photo opportunity still managed to have a good time :). We (and by “we” I mean “I”) didn’t get to spend anywhere near the time at or visit any number of interesting places to photograph that “we” would have liked (Cape Tribulation, Atherton Tablelands, Daintree, etc) – I mean they just wanted to relax!!… seriously!! :). Having young children tends to curb the enthusiasm of travelling for hours and waiting patiently for hours whilst someone takes photographs. We mostly stayed close to Cairns, however I did manage to squeeze in a few (what I hope are good) images.

This was also an opportunity to make extensive use of my new lens acquisition (the Tokina 12-24 f4) 🙂

I plan to update this page each day and post a couple images from each day of our trip (sort of like we are going along in real time)…

The weather was great – for holidaying, not so much for photographing – it was warm (30 degree days with 20 degree minimums), bright and sunny (mostly cloudless but quite hazy) days with no bad weather at all…

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Just after sunrise (6:20AM) on our first day there (the girls get up early and want to swim :)) – a view over the pool area (which the kids loved) at our apartments and out to sea.

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1/5 sec at f/16, ISO 100

A snapshot of the older girls strolling along the beach (at Palm Cove in this instance).

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

I’d recently taken some shots in the Glebe Tram Shed – I’d arrived at the location about 30 minutes early and had some time to kill before my friends arrived so…

Next to the dockyards along Rozelle Bay… this was taken handheld high up in the air pointing the camera over a fence.

Docked

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 1/60 sec at f/8, ISO 100

I’m not exactly sure which of the following two images I like best (if any 🙂 – the first probably) – I like different aspects of each image. This was taken in Federal Park in Annandale along the light rail tracks right next to the Glebe Tram Sheds.

Arches

NIKON D7000 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 1/80 sec at f/11, ISO 100

NIKON D7000 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 1/60 sec at f/11, ISO 100