Rodney Campbell's Blog

In the lead up to an epic evening of light painting – orbs, EL wire, cold cathodes, coloured LED’s, lasers all armed and ready. A model in a flowing white wedding dress, the ocean surging in and steel wool alight – what could go wrong :)…. that will come later 🙂

I joined a number of friends for an evening of light painting (lunacy) at Forresters beach on the NSW Central Coast. It was a very grey old day with heavy overcast skies and clouds from horizon to horizon and when I arrived at the beach an hour before sunset it wasn’t looking all that promising for that sunset shoot before our light painting session.

Whilst the location currently lacked in sky colour, it did have a large array of very interesting rocks leading out into the ocean with the rough swell coming in at regular intervals – perfect for getting the feet wet…

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.

Mykal Hall working the scene (just before getting unceremoniously swamped :()…

Mykal @ Work

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 22 mm, 1.60 sec at f/16, ISO 100

As sunset approached the colour in the sky started to appear and just as sunset hit the whole horizon lit with a subtle pinky red glow and eventually we had a huge band of pink and red clouds – the sunset in the west (which we couldn’t see from down below the headland behind us where we were) must have been fantastic and we were basking in the afterglow. Still it was an unexpected and welcome surprise…

Just ten minutes before sunset…

Pink Blush

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 4 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Just on sunset the horizon below the bank of thick clouds turned bright pink out to the west – it only lasted minutes but was a rare sight to see whilst some heavy swells provided a nice adjunct to the sky in my foreground

Candy

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 400

and finally as the sun dipped over the horizon behind us a few minutes later the horizon in front dropped to darkness and it was time for the upper clouds to have their fill of pinks and reds

Red Setter

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1 sec at f/11, ISO 400

Last year I entered the Art Unlimited competition for the first time and was really pleased to have received a Highly Commended award for one of my prints. The competition and exhibition (to enter you must supply printed, framed and ready to present art work) is held each year in NSW and has three major categories of art – Hanging Art (paintings), Photography and Ceramics.

Note: These photographs (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.

This year I entered the Photography division again and I’m pleased to say that one of my entries has taken out first place (the Print Storm Prize for Photography). Along with the obvious pleasure of having your work judged and selected, first place also comes with a very welcome $3,000 prize 🙂

Subway Silence

NIKON D600 + @ 16 mm, 1/15 sec at f/4, ISO 560

Another of my entries this year also achieved one of the three Highly Commended awards and a couple of my entries have even managed to sell (the submissions can be marked for sale at the exhibition) which is always good.

Alien Green

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 17 mm, 196 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Something a little different from my usual photography work… a study in the art of motion blur…

Note: These photographs (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.

Here we have a hedgerow of lavender taken with a slow shutter whilst swinging the camera smoothly upward. I experimented with a number of different compositions and shutter speeds but liked this one the best. Other than the addition of some contrast and saturation this is as shot (uncropped and unphotoshopped :))

Lavender in Motion

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/3 sec at f/8, ISO 100

and one of the other compositions looking lengthways up the hedgrow

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/8 sec at f/5, ISO 100

We headed into the township of Oberon after breakfast to check out the local Saturday Oberon Farmers Markets which is held in the grounds of the St Barnabas Church. We were fortunate to be able to go inside this quaint little church (and it was tiny) – it was nearly pitch black inside but I was able to craft these images handheld with Sigma 35mm f/1.4 shot nearly wide open with some brackets taken to combine into a HDR (high dynamic range) blended image.

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.

Sacred

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/40 sec at f/2, ISO 220

The Tiny Chapel

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/40 sec at f/2, ISO 900

In the main street of Oberon is a very interesting art deco building – the Malachi Gilmore Hall

Upper Art

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/2000 sec at f/2, ISO 100

Slices

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/800 sec at f/1.8, ISO 100

The Glass Pyramid

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/1000 sec at f/2, ISO 100

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/500 sec at f/2, ISO 100

Our first sunrise at Oberon was spectacular – we had glorious colour in the sky and great clouds – perfect for photography – and someone said it was going to rain the whole time we were there (that’s coming don’t worry :().

Note: These photographs (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.

Of course I slept in 🙂 but as it was just a two minute walk from my bed to this dam in the paddock next to the farm house I was setup within minutes and managed to catch the later half of twilight…

Spectacular Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 21 mm, 92 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Reflected Glow

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 21 mm, 22 sec at f/11, ISO 100

and the sunrise coming over the not so distant hills

Litchen

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 26 mm, 5.00 sec at f/11, ISO 100