Rodney Campbell's Blog

Joined Gerry for another impromptu early morning session – this time at Malabar – another location I hadn’t been to however Gerry had visited some years ago. Suren was supposed to join us but he messaged me at 3:40AM indicating his battery was bust

So it was another very early start with a 4:30AM meetup at the carpark near Long Bay.

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 were originally intending on shooting from the cliffs facing north along the coastline at the next set of cliffs being lit by the early morning light. However there were almost no clouds to the north (and the wind was blowing those inland). There were heavy clouds where the sun was going to rise out to sea and around to the south so we quickly headed further north along the coast and around the bend till we could shoot south along the coast.

Before 5AM and about 40 minutes to sunrise – the view looking north towards Malabar and the city along the coast in the distance – those cliffs just to the left of middle are where we headed to next

What comes Before

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 82.00 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Found this lovely patch of colourful succulent right on the cliff edge to use as some foreground interest as well as this small spindly shrub.

Looking south along the coast almost 20 minutes to sunrise with a natural long exposure

The Little Tree

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 30 sec at f/14, ISO 100

With fantastic pastel tones out to sea our succulent made for an ideal set of leading lines in this view a little north west along the clifftops – a couple minutes to sunrise

Clinging to Life

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 8 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Sunrise itself was pretty much a bust but we were both surprised how quickly that red ball lifted above the horizon and then back under the clouds on the horizon

Almost 15 minutes after sunrise the sun was still struggling to get through the heavy cloud on the horizon and it was just starting to peek above to light the cliffs along the coast

Racing out to Sea

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 23 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Just after sunrise I wanted to get above the beach and shoot down on the array of surfboards scattered across Garie beach as part of the 1000 Surfboard Graveyard, so I headed up the headland next to the beach.

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.

Good fortune smiled upon us as a few minutes after sunrise the sun lit up the upper clouds in the sky and we had a fantastic display of bright pink clouds set against the blue sky.

Curves in Pink

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 35 mm, 1/3 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Heading back down towards the beach, a bit over fifteen minutes after sunrise – pink clouds and pink god rays – couldn’t ask for much more really…

Pink Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1/13 sec at f/11, ISO 100

I was trying this little composition with this very nice looking driftwood log in the stream. Luckily Suren was unknowingly helping me out with my composition

Drifting By

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 1/6 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Art imitating life…

1000 Curves

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1/8 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Once the sun had cleared the clouds and was much higher in the sky we get interesting harder shadows and vapour mist in the air from the crashing swell

Graveyard of Boards

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 100

When I first arrived and saw the scene at Terrace Falls at Hazelbrook in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney I was thinking longer focal length and a panorama of the wider base of the falls.

This place must look quite spectacular with a really heavy flow of water – when the rushing water spreads right across the base of the falls.

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.

The light was frankly terrible – absolutely no clouds and harsh direct sunlight in dappled patches across the scene. I setup as far back and and as high as I could in the area whilst still having a clear open view and used the longest focal length I had with me (70mm). My first shots of the morning at this location were the set of six vertical frames I took for this stitched pano.

This was pretty much the best I could be bothered to do to recover the highlights and shadows with such a contrasty scene – it’s amazing what you can extract from the D600 RAW files – but even it has it’s limits (I probably should have underexposed the set even more than I did)

Terraced Pano

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 8 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Gerry, Suren and I headed out for an insanely early morning in the Royal National Park south of Sydney. Wake up for me was at 3:15AM before picking the others up on the way to Garie beach – we arrived just before 5AM (about 40 minutes before sunrise).

When we got out onto the sand we could see a large cluster of faint lights on the beach way up at the northern end of the beach. Throwing caution to the wind (we’re thinking perhaps some bizarre cult activity!) we decided to investigate. It wasn’t till we got much closer that we saw it was a huge area of surfboards sticking out of the sand with tiny lights at the base of each.

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 met Chris Anderson – a young artist on a mission — to collect 1000 broken surfboards and display his art to raise awareness about a more sustainable approach to the way we manage waste. He had been collecting boards for over three years and it just happened that his display for the 1000 Surfboard Graveyard was on overnight.

We had no idea this was going to be on and we hadn’t intended to shoot sunrise just here however the 1000 Surfboard Graveyard was too interesting a subject not to make use of…

Almost half an hour before sunrise – thick moody clouds were on the horizon but a long exposure with the reverse grad brought out some colour and light

1000 Standing Before Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 30 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Board Graves

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 30 sec at f/11, ISO 110

Fifteen minutes before sunrise and I’ve moved to the other side of a small lagoon – shooting across past the 1000 surfboard graveyard towards where the sun would soon rise

Reflections at Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 24 mm, 3 sec at f/11, ISO 100

I found myself some foreground interest with these interesting looking tumbleweed things at the waters edge of this little inland lagoon just off the beach, along with some spidery plant thing just out in the water. A little gardening to remove some man made stuff I didn’t want and then getting down low to frame my shot looking back out east across the lagoon towards the sea. I liked how the surfboards sticking up from the sand looked like a row of jagged teeth on the horizon and then reflected in the calm waters of the lagoon. The chunky clouds in the sky and the moody colour they brought just a dozen minutes before sunrise was a bonus…

Dawns Teeth

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 24 mm, 8 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Less than ten minutes to sunrise and we were getting some lovely deep pastel colours in the sky mostly towards the south where there were few clouds

Boards and Pastels

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

and one with more of the funky clouds in the sky…

Garie Boards

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 21 mm, 1/1 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Even after sunset (not that we could actually see the sun setting over to the right behind heavy banks of cloud) the crack in the sky above the city was still doing it’s magic.

I quickly setup for a pano at a longer focal length (35mm which is the longest I could do with the lens I had on at the time) and took a double set of long exposure frames in falling light.

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.

Taking the best 6 frames into photoshop to stitch I was very happy with the result with this fantastic rip in the sky letting the last rays of twilight shine through above the city along with the windswept streaks of clouds blowing away from us over the city – sometimes nature shines

Cracks in Space

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 35 mm, 72.00 sec at f/11, ISO 200