Rodney Campbell's Blog

Baudin Beach is located on the north coast of Kangaroo Island, 12 km west of Penneshaw. It is named after the French explorer Nicolas Baudin who in 1803 anchored in nearby Hog Bay to take on fresh water.

Prior to 2002, Baudin Beach was known as American Beach, the name given to the subdivision of the area in 1966. The name was changed to avoid confusion with the originally named American Beach which is located a very short distance north of Baudin.

After breakfast we decided to quickly explore those beaches we could see down below on the coastline from where we were staying.

Exposed

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/80 sec at f/8, ISO 250

Blue Accent

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/80 sec at f/5.6, ISO 140

The Secret Shells

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/800 sec at f/4, ISO 100

American Tripple

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/400 sec at f/4, ISO 100

This is the view from our digs at Penneshaw. We were staying in a rented house called Sunset Rendezvous – which is actually attached to the winery here (Sunset Winery).

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.

Synchronous Curves

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/13 sec at f/9, ISO 100

In the evening the place definitely lives up to it’s “Sunset Rendezvous” name with a lovely sunset visible from the lounge each day.

These views are not actually sunset but rather just on sunrise (to the right of frame in the panorama below). The sun sets pretty much above that tree in the foreground on the middle left.

The place was well setup and the view from all the main living areas and two of the bedrooms which faces this ocean view is fantastic. It’s nice, quiet, private and remote. It’s a little further out of town than I had originally expected (6km) but it’s a pretty quick drive and the view and open nature conditions more than make up for it. The only downside I could see was the slightly strange configuration of one of the hallways and bathroom leading to the third bedroom. However for a family or larger group I wouldn’t hesitate recommending staying here.

I hadn’t intended on shooting sunrise but as I’d just woken up… I looked out the bedroom window and noticed the nice pastel skies so figured I’d do a quick setup on the deck and shoot a panorama.

Down below is American Beach with Baudin Beach the next beach along – after breakfast we decided to head down there and explore.

Sunset Rendezvous

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm, 1/2 sec at f/13, ISO 100

After taking some crazy purple sky source frames for some panorama stitching it was out with the Lee LittleStopper for some much longer exposures before I lost all the colour and light. 8:55PM and stacking the LittleStopper with the Hitech 3 Stop Reverse grad to hold down the still quite bright sky for this 308 second (5+ minutes) exposure.

Time Flies

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 308 sec at f/16, ISO 50

I moved around in the semi darkness looking for a better composition on these rocks with the colour purple still pinging the sky.

Compare the pair… Two shots below.

The first one – the quick “test” shot – a straight 30 second long exposure at f/5.6 and ISO 100 with just the CPL and the reverse grad.

World of Wonder

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 22 mm, 30 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

The second the very next shot with the light dropping fast now at 9:05PM. I’ve just stopped down to my favourite f/11 and dropped the ISO to 50 to take away 3 stops of light and taken it out to a 5+ minute exposure.

Mystic Mountains

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 22 mm, 309.00 sec at f/11, ISO 50

In the end I liked them both so processed both in essentially the same way – and for me it’s a tough call to pick my favourite. I’m a sucker for the really long exposures though so I’ll give a nod to the second. Those luscious pink tinged fluffy clouds against the deep purple in the sky in the first tho… 🙂

And so my purple patch of an evening has come to an end – time to make my way off the now dark rocks back to the car – not without a little light painting play on the way though 🙂

Now that the sun had well and truly set on my first evening in Penneshaw the sky had started turning a luscious purple which provided a fantastic compliment to the fabulous orange lichen covered rocks along this rocky coastline.

It’s almost 25 minutes after sunset and we’re now heading towards the deeper part of twilight. With the last vestiges of sunlight curving over the horizon and all that cloud banked on the horizon and in the sky – up above has turned into a purple wonderland.

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.

Purples over Orange

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 25.00 sec at f/11, ISO 100

One more chance for a quick (:)) slightly long exposure panorama – this one eight (8) frames at 25 seconds @ f/11 and ISO 100.

I really took it just to give you all a much better idea of what this little bay looks like and how all those orange lichen covered rocks look on mass. This image covers a pretty wide 180˚ field of view but you can see just how fascinating those coloured rocks are. On the right just over that small rise is the township of Penneshaw.

Less than two weeks to go till our first exhibition! It’s getting very exciting now.

This is a sneak preview of one of my pieces for the exhibition. When I started work on this panel of work (which I’ve titled the “Chronology Series”) over a year ago I had a clear vision in my head of what the theme of this body of work would look like.

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.

Angles

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 113 sec at f/11, ISO 100

My personal take on the theme of “Odyssey” was to depict scenes showing the passage of natural time juxtaposed against unyielding man-made static objects. I aimed to produce a body of work centred around very simplified views of sharply defined man made structures (essentially buildings, etc) set in a long exposure scene where the motion of natural objects show the motion of time – in most cases I expected this to be the streaking of moving clouds or water over many minutes.

This was actually the first shot on the first day that I took for the panel.

What is very interesting is that when I started taking these shots we had no idea where our exhibition was going to be held. It wasn’t till after I’d already taken and processed about four or five select shots of this Concourse building in Chatswood (plus a number of others of other modern and old buildings in Sydney) that we finally got the approval to exhibit there.

So it’s serendipity that my fine art images which will be on display in the exhibition space inside the Concourse will be of the building itself.

So if you are in or will be visiting Sydney between the 3rd and the 15th of March 2015 we’d love for you to come and visit us at the Art Space on The Concourse in the heart of Chatswood on the North Shore of Sydney.

… and if you want to see me there I’ll be manning the exhibition on Sunday the 8th and Saturday the 14th from 11AM to 4PM.