Rodney Campbell's Blog

After a late lunch we all decided to head to the nearby (well a half hour or so drive :)) village of Wollombi.

I’ve been here a number of times before and it is a great place to visit. It’s one of many tiny little villages on the winding road through beautiful countryside between the central coast and the Hunter Valley/Singleton. Wollombi however is probably the largest of these small towns and it has quite a large market at various times of the year along with the livestock saleyards, the Wollombi Country Fair and the Wollombi music festival.

Twins

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 190 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 1000

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.

We first shot in the churchyard just on the main road going through town and then moved up along the Wollombi Road.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 200

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/400 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

I’d never actually been up Wollombi Road past the main part of town where the shops end before so today we drove further up the road to the cemetery opposite the Wollombi Public School. It was just on sunset now and the light was dropping fast. Time to make use of it as quickly as we could. The lichen and moss on these headstones and the wooden fences was fantastic, especially in the dying golden light.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 112 mm, 1/125 sec at f/8, ISO 560

The image at the top of this post was taken looking over the small lake at the bottom of the cemetery. I must admit to have “stolen” this shot :). One of my fellow togs was shooting towards this tree and I loved the way the setting sun was just picking it out and creating this fabulous reflection in the water. Time to make use of the longer end of the 28-300 walkaround lens I was using and grab that shot before the sun was gone.

And then just like that two minutes later it was all gone. Still this swan was lovely in it’s white wake set amongst a palette of greens. Pushing the ISO to 2000 and shooting at 300mm for some of the last shots of the day…

Swan Lake

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 2000

Walking back to the car just time for one more shot of the amazing moss and lichen on this fence…

Liking This

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 190 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1250

Sometimes rocks and stone can have very interesting texture, patterns or even colours. This is what I found this day with all three factors present in the sandstone right along the cliffline at Cape Solander at Kurnell on the southern edge of Sydney.

We were here for a fantastic picnic and photowalk organised by my friend Ana Andres.

I brought my two younger daughters with me this day and we spent a pleasant afternoon eating, chatting and walking along the coast photographing whatever took our fancy.

I was in a mood to photograph these fantastic rocks and stones with their fabulous colour, patterns and texture and it’s not hard to see why.

Rockin Pastels

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm, 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 100

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.

Random Layers

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm, 1/125 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Earie

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Lined

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm, 1/60 sec at f/11, ISO 100

After breakfast we all headed out in various directions searching for inspiration. A few of us continued along Milbrodale Road towards the tiny village of Milbrodale and then onwards on the Putty Road towards Bulga.

It wasn’t long before we found another splendid example of Autumn colour – again the driveway leading into a winery with the twin rows of fall rich autumn trees leading into the property. Unfortunately the gate was closed but I ended up working this into the composition.

I think what makes this composition besides the fabulous colour of the autumn leaves in full bloom is the deep shadows across the road from the lowish sun to our right.

Falling

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 135 mm, 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 140

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 continued onwards down the road to Bulga and crossed this nice old wooden bridge crossing Wollombi Brook.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 135 mm, 1/160 sec at f/11, ISO 2500

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 170 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 320

Completing the loop we headed back towards Broke on Charlton Rd. Just at the edge of town we found this smashed up old home. I really would have liked to go over there and get a closer look but the array of fences and warning signs spoke otherwise.

Broken

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 220

Back on Milbrodale Road where we started and heading back to our accommodation there was just time for one more stop at the entrance to Margan Winery and their fabulous display of Autumn colour along their driveway. Better yet we found an open body of water – just a few centimetres deep but enough for these fabulous reflections.

Visions of Red

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 78 mm, 1/80 sec at f/9, ISO 125

All I needed was a girl with bright red hair to match these gorgeous autumn coloured leaves… ah yes we just happen to have one of those – thankyou Deb and Tish 🙂

Reaching Reds

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 78 mm, 1/80 sec at f/11, ISO 180

I’d just taken a shot using the Lee Little Stopper looking straight out over these poles into the dam when the sun was just rising over to the left. The heavy cloud on the horizon was still blocking the sun so the light was shining into the clouds and reflecting onto the landscape nicely.

I loved the way the grasses were being partially and intermittently lit by the golden light. In my mind I felt the lay of the land where we were standing would suit a wide panoramic view if I managed to put the composition together properly.

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.

Broke Back

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 26 mm, 1 sec at f/11, ISO 50 x 7 Frames

So this is a panorama stitch of seven vertical frames taken at a wide but not too wide focal length.

We are actually standing at the top of a small ridge along this side of the dam and the ridgeline (looking sort of straight ahead in this final image). The poles into the dam are at 90 degrees to the ridgeline so this entire pano probably spans more than 180 degrees of view.

I’m reasonably happy with the final result but it required a little work to bash it together. I also wish I’d taken one more frame on the right just to cover the rest of the dam and give the poles a touch more breathing room on the right. The main problem I faced in post processing was that I’d not bothered to take the polariser off when taking the panorama frames. This is usually a cardinal sin for stitched panoramas, especially ones which cover a wide angle of view with the direction of light changing radically between frames as it does here. The end result is massively uneven polarisation of the sky across the source frames. Frankly I couldn’t be bothered unscrewing the polariser but given the pain involved in fixing this in post I should have taken the option :).

I love misty and foggy mornings. They don’t happen all that often here in Sydney – we just don’t have the weather for that sort of thing – too warm – but when they do it’s magic… I know it sounds like I’m complaining about having warm weather :)…

Some mornings however it’s still cold enough even after the sun has risen. There’s this nice valley between my place and the city skyline of Willoughby City which sometimes if the conditions are right fills with misty fog and stays in shadow till well after the sun rises. This is the view outside my bedroom window looking across the valley towards the skyscrapers on the other side.

Lightness

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/400 sec at f/8, ISO 100

These two images were taken two days apart. There’s this fantastic Dr Zeuss style tree which sticks up alone in my view with the fog and layers of treetops going across the valley into the distance. Using a longer focal length I can isolate it and show the beauty of the morning scene.

Glowing Lines

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 250 mm, 1/2000 sec at f/9, ISO 800

Often times this bedroom window shows me a snapshot of the wonders of nature and makes me wish even more that I was out there somewhere shooting sunrise or sunset in some grand location…