Rodney Campbell's Blog

Absolutely chuffed to have received five Silver awards in the (now 4th) annual Focus Awards for 2015 (Focus Seascape and Landscape Photography Competition).

Plus to really top it all off and set my surprise factor skyrocketing, my entry (The Dish) in the always hotly contested Panorama section managed to take out first place.

The Dish

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200 x 4 Frames

The standard of the entries in each years Focus Awards is incredibly high, so it’s humbling to be considered amongst such amazingly talented peers. You only have to look at the calibre of the 1500+ entries, the photographers who enter and the world class judges to realise just how talented this group is. Check back soon for a link to the top 50 in each category.

A huge thankyou to the tireless Focus Committee and Focus Awards sub-committee. Thank you John, Ray, Adam, Steve, Tony, Olga, Sean, Helen, Mike, Kate & Sacha.

Thankyou also to all those fabulous sponsors who support Focus each year and kick in the fantastic prizes on offer for the awards (over $16,000 worth this year).

Finally my thanks go out to all the members of Focus whose amazing images inspire us all to do more, to learn more and strive to create the best photographs we can.

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.

Liquid Gold

NIKON D750 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 5 sec at f/14, ISO 50

Braving the Surf

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 1 sec at f/11, ISO 200

Gurrandalng Dreaming

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 5000

Interstellar Signals

NIKON D600 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 61 sec at f/2.8, ISO 1250 x 92 Frames

Leaving Broome early in the fog we headed south on the longest single days drive of our entire trip by far.

We’d be traveling 536km to De Grey River Rest Area.

The Flock

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 140

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.

Why so far – well… frankly… the drive between Broome and Port Hedland down the west coast is pretty boring. My father said this would be the least interesting part of our whole trip :).

The drive was very long and relatively uninteresting but we still arrived at De Grey with quite a bit of daylight to spare. The Rest Area was pretty full by the time we arrived however so we just needed to grab a spot as best we could and setup for the night.

Having driven for much of the day I was pretty tired and there was no time to recce the area looking for some decent foreground interest to include with the stars at night. We weren’t yet in ideal conditions for milky way shots – we are just past the full moon. However there were still no clouds in the sky day and night and tonight the moon wouldn’t rise till 7:36PM. With sunset at 5:37PM I only had a short window from astro twilight (approx 6:50PM) till moonrise to get some half decent milky way shots in before it became too bright. Of course given the conditions I had to limit how high I bumped the ISO.

First shot of the evening – 6:51PM and the night looks pretty reasonable even at ISO 3200. That’s our car and van there with the rest of my fellow travellers sitting out under the stars on the other side.

Parallel Parking

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200

I then moved a touch closer and took a number of vertical frames for a stitched panorama of the milky way arching above our campsite at De Grey river.

Last shot of the session before the moon started making it’s presence felt. 7:25PM and time to join the others for the evening.

Sky Light

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 4000

Staircase to the Moon is a natural phenomenon which occurs when a full moon rises over the exposed mudflats at extremely low tide and creates a beautiful optical illusion of stairs reaching to the moon. For 2 to 3 days a month between March and October each year, when conditions are just right, visitors to the North West region are treated to the natural spectacle.

The first two days of Staircase to the Moon generally also play host to the Staircase to the Moon markets at Town Beach. Here you can sample local produce, buy hand made products, a variety of international food, and enjoy the sounds of local entertainers.

Staircase to the Moon

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 5 sec at f/11, ISO 800

It occurs along the coastline at Onslow, Dampier, Cossack, Point Samson Peninsula, Hearson Cove, Port Hedland and Broome. They say however it is best seen from Roebuck Bay in Broome. It is a natural attraction and its visibility varies in strength depending on weather, sunset, moonrise and the tide.

As luck would have it the even was occurring on our last evening in Broome so we headed to Town Beach to view the spectacle.

We checked out the local markets first and then headed out to stake our spot before the moon rose.

There is a large finger of land – a long breakwall which had been built out into the bay and we headed there first. It was very crowded but once we got out right at the end and onto the rocks we had a few good spots we could shoot from. There were a number of other photographers already setup here with their tripods.

Whilst waiting I was doing some research on TPE on my phone and based on those results I wanted to shift position to the next point of land south of where we were (at the other end of this little beach). We had time and there were a few reasons I thought that location would be better.

– the shot from here would have a distant headland in the shot (not just a clean horizon).
– I could also see that I’d have much more of the mud flats from that shooting position out to the horizon.
– lastly another upside was that there were no people over there at all unlike the current packed location :).

My daughter was very good, allowing me to drag her all over the place just to get in the “right” position to take photos. She knows me too well 🙂

Fifteen minutes later we eventually arrived at the new spot. It required a little careful navigation over the mud and through some shallow water, skirting the edge of the mangroves. I set us up on the largest, highest rock we could find in this little area, making a nice padded spot for my daughter to sit. I setup the tripod and camera for the start of the show.

We still had to wait about 30 minutes (6:34PM) till the moon started to rise. It rose very fast and by 6:39PM the best of the conditions were well over as the moon rose further and got progressively higher, brighter and whiter. Five minutes later we packed up and started making our way back to the beach. The water had risen slightly and it was now dark so it was an interesting trip back to the beach. I’d forgotten to bring a torch so thankfully I had my phone to light the way.

Staircase to the Moon II

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 2.5 sec at f/11, ISO 800

Having recently been to the circus whilst we all stayed in Melbourne my daughter was still very enthusiastic about seeing the circus.

Bounce

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/30 sec at f/3.5, ISO 2800

The Great Loritz Circus was in Broome whilst we were there so we sat in the front row and watched the show… It was almost her birthday after all :).

Not Seeing Red

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/60 sec at f/3.5, ISO 4000

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.

Circus Stars

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 65 mm, 1/125 sec at f/4.8, ISO 900

The finishing act – three motorcycle riders in this small ball cage. It was very loud and very smokey – something my daughter wasn’t particularly impressed with :). Still we both enjoyed the rest of the show :).

Ball of Death

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/60 sec at f/3.5, ISO 1000

The view from the Camel train was fantastic as we slowly ambled over the reflective sand at the waters edge along the beach. It only got better as the sun started to dip towards the horizon.

This is that “classic” view you always see on the postcards of camel rides on Cable Beach. This was taken from high up on our camel looking across at another camel train passing by going in the other direction near sunset.

Camels on Cables

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Normally I’d shoot something like this on a tripod or something like that with feet firmly planted on the ground and take my time to compose the image. Here I’m shooting this handheld sitting on a moving camel!

Frankly I’m pretty surprised it worked at all – but I’d planned ahead with camera settings to optimise and increase my chances of getting any sort of shot. A wide focal length and a fast shutter speed to try and minimise the effects of my own quite significant movement. f/8 to be there and timing of the shutter to coincide with the framing I wanted :).

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.

Long Shadows

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/60 sec at f/8, ISO 720

Guides walk along beside the camel train to direct and look after the camels as we walk along. Plus they are a fountain of information should you choose to have any questions or want information.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/100 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

During your ride you can pass you camera down to the guides and they will take some images of you as you see here.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/125 sec at f/8, ISO 100

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/60 sec at f/8, ISO 900