Rodney Campbell's Blog

We were staying the next three nights in a very nice home in the hills above the sea (Sunset Rendevous) near the second largest town on the island (Penneshaw). However we weren’t checking in till later in the afternoon so we had most of the day to explore the area around Kingscote so we headed towards the North Coast…

It was off towards Emu Bay in the north and the Lavender farm near there. To be honest the Lavender was a bit of a disappointment – I was somehow expecting vast rolling hills of lavender – unfortunately not the case…

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.

For this image I’ve heavily underexposed it when taking it (-2 stops) and then selectively adjusted it in Lightroom using various radial filters, gradient filters and localised painting using adjustment brushes. It wasn’t quite this stormy and moody on the day but the rich textured clouds and the way the light was hitting the lines in the grasses of the fields and the bales was too good not to experiment.

Field of Gold

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/640 sec at f/8, ISO 100

On the way to the North Coast we did stumble across a few other very interesting locations which had photographic interest for me – and my family was very patient allowing me to stop and take some photos. Shooting this way there’s always the pressure to do it quickly, get back in the car and continue driving, which isn’t ideal for the very patient way I typically like to shoot :). To be honest they were very patient and didn’t complain too much so I am thankful.

No tripods or filters however (except the polariser) – it was all just the camera handheld with the walkaround 24-70 – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about your compositions and move around on foot, get up and down, till you get it right 🙂

One definite saving grace was the pockets of interesting light we were getting with funky moody clouds on a very overcast day.

First up – on the way towards the Lavender farm I could see this bright mirage like thing off to the left and as we got closer I could see it was a large lake with what looked like a very bright white rim around it. When we were almost against it we could see it looked like a vast salt lake. Having never seen one or anything like this in person before we can’t be sure but we stopped and all got out to take a look.

Thirst

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/80 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Salt of the Earth

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 31 mm, 1/200 sec at f/9, ISO 100

On the way back from the lavender farm we saw this large area which looked like a dried out swamp or lake bed with lots of dead trees. It was another place I figured I could come back too – alas little did I know how little time we’d really have 🙂

Thirst II

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Seeing all these freshly harvested and rolled bales of hay (enormous things mind you) in the fields as we drove by were too good an opportunity to pass, so it was time for another quick pitt stop and a few more hastily taken images before continuing the journey.

Thrice

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/100 sec at f/8, ISO 100

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