Rodney Campbell's Blog

One of Australia’s best kept secrets. Montague Island Nature Reserve is a breathtaking wildlife sanctuary situated nine kilometres off Narooma, on the south coast of New South Wales.

Montague View

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/60 sec at f/9, ISO 140 x 19 Frames

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

Montague Island is a continental island contained within the Montague Island Nature Reserve.

It is the largest island off the New South Wales east coast other than Lord Howe Island. It has been classified by the National Trust as a Landscape Conservation Area for its scenic, scientific and historical values.

The Montague Island Light buildings are entered on the Register of the National Estate because of the architectural quality of the tower and residences.

Eight of us would be spending four days (three nights) staying in the Montague Island Head Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage. The building is on the right of the very wide panorama up top. The image was taken from the top of the lighthouse which towers above the highest point on the island. The panorama encompasses a full 360˚ horizontal view and consists of nineteen (19) vertical frames.

Montague Light

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 40 mm, 1/40 sec at f/11, ISO 125

Public access to the island is restricted to guided tours conducted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in association with private operators.

We’d have the whole island essentially to ourselves for the days and nights. An amazing rugged location with incredible photographic opportunities both day and night. With beautiful landscapes and spectacular coastlines all around (suiting both sunrise on one side and sunset on the other). An abundance of natural wildlife with seals, whales, penguins and all manner of birds. With a total area of less than one square kilometre it was easy and quick to walk anywhere we wanted to photograph at any time of day.

Afternoon Delight

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 56 mm, 1/50 sec at f/8, ISO 100 x 8 Frames

Very late afternoon light (6PM). The light was beautiful and the way it bathed the island was so serene. A day well spent.

As soon as we arrived at Montague Island we knew this was going to be a wildlife paradise.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600

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

Cheeep

NIKON D750 + 50.0-500.0 mm f/4.5-6.3 @ 500 mm, 1/1000 sec at f/6.3, ISO 140

The Dart

NIKON D750 + 50.0-500.0 mm f/4.5-6.3 @ 500 mm, 1/1000 sec at f/6.3, ISO 160

This is the classic view of Glasshouse Rocks on the beach at Narooma. My version I call Stormbreaker.

That spire of pillow lava rock thrust up out of the ocean. All surrounded by jagged shards of rock in the waters off the coast. It’s a surreal scene and one that has been photographed countless times. Time for me to add yet one more to the mix :).

We had dark brooding skies all around. It was just on the edge of threatening to storm down on us all.

Stormbreaker

NIKON D750 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 30 sec at f/16, ISO 100 x 7 Frames

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

We’d only recently arrived and walked up the beach to this spot but I was keen to do a wider stitched panorama of the scene. I was looking to use a longer focal length to compress the view and make more of a feature of the rock spire. The water was quite choppy and rough so I opted to simplify the scene.

It was out with the Lee LittleStopper. Stacked with the polariser and a two stop Lee grad I was able to use 30 second exposures at f/16 for the seven (7) panorama frames. The end result this moody beach scene.

Glasshouse Rocks sits strewn along the southern end of the sandy surf beach at Narooma. This amazing site of ancient geological significance and beauty is a photographers dream. Recognised by the Geological Society of Australia as dating between 510 and 440 million years old. This huge collection of residual Pillow Lava rocks extends far down the coastline from Narooma.

Prehistoric

NIKON D750 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

We decided to head out to the location for sunset. The weather was really socked in and it was really threatening to rain but we figured since we only had this evening here we’d risk it. One upside was the soft overcast light and the dark brooding skies. It was however very cold and windy :).

You can’t drive to the beach to get to this location so there’s a bit of a trick to getting here.

Essentially you drive out onto Glasshouse Rocks Road (now that part makes sense). However when you come to a fork in the road you take the left onto Cemetery Road. Now I know what you’re thinking but bear with me :). At the end of that road you will in fact come to a large cemetery which overlooks the sea. Turn right as soon as you get to the cemetery and follow that till you come to a clear area with a white fence. Park here and you walk around the fence and you’ll find a track which leads through the scrub, over the headland and then down the hill to the beach. It takes about ten minutes to walk down.

Beached

NIKON D750 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1.6 sec at f/16, ISO 50

Once down these amazing primeval rock formations jutt out of the ocean floor. Watch your footing these rocks look very jagged and sharp.

You never know what you might find out on the beach. This was perfect for a little foreground interest with some of the rocks on the horizon in the distance.

Points and Circles

NIKON D750 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 2.5 sec at f/13, ISO 50

By 7:30PM it was starting to lightly sprinkle and we cloud see the dark rain in the distance. Time to get out of here before the rain really hit.

In Verted

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1/5 sec at f/8, ISO 200 x 43 Frames

I thought I’d try something a little crazy with this stitched panorama.

Firstly it’s a vertical panoramic composition of the church interior (a vertorama). It’s composed of five horizontal frames taken from pointing downwards towards the floor all the way up to looking vertically overhead. Each of the five horizontal frames is an exposure blend from nine (9) bracketed exposures (from -5&1/3EV to +2&2/3EV at 1EV increments). Technically for the last two overhead sets I only took 8 exposures for those brackets. The final result a merge of forty three (43) separate exposures was used for the final result.

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

Then it was off to lunch at a nice spot in Bodalla.

Smoke

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 400

This was the view as we headed back to the car – beautiful whisps of cloud rising up off the layers of the hills… Serene as…