I’d been doing some local bushwalks recently, and whilst wandering those bush paths had been scoping out the locations for potential future photoshoots.

This little spot with it’s cool curved stone stairs piqued Gerry’s interest, so an impromptu light painting session was thrown together with some grim ideas. My younger daughters were keen so we headed over on a Sunday night for a quick session with Gerry. Basically we figured we’d light paint the $h*t outa the location!

It’s All Looking Pretty Grim

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 262 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

Gerry was on a strict timetable so after he left, my daughters had come up with an idea they wanted to try. We didn’t quite (well in any way really…) perfect it – apparently this ISN’T what they envisioned. But this is what you’ve got :).

Stepping Through

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 24 mm, 242 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

I think I now have a semi clearer idea of what they wanted so perhaps next time 🙂 …

It was a grey old morning with heavy cloud across the horizon. As we were waiting there were hints of colour popping through occasionally as sunrise approached. This take with the Lee LittleStopper to drag out the exposure to a tick over 200 seconds for a moody desolate feel.

Waiting, Watching

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 206 sec at f/13, ISO 50

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.

Then I was keen to have a play with my stupendously wide Laowa 12mm lens in landscape mode with polariser and grad filters. First up a reprise of an earlier shot with the 16-35 getting in very close to some of the local greenery.

The Greenery

NIKON D750 + 12.0 mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Now close up with the insanely ultra wide on the bunker. The lack of distortion on this lens is remarkable given the ridiculously wide angle of view. Even with the horizon well offset (camera angled significantly off level) it stays straight and true.

Bunkered

NIKON D750 + 12.0 mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/3 sec at f/11, ISO 100

The sun is well and truly up now and Gerry says it’s time to go :). One more hail mary shot before we pack up… Love the cool rock tho :)…

Frogmouth Dawn

NIKON D750 + 12.0 mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/13 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Having completed our quick and dirty light painting session pre dawn it was now time to put away the tools and settle in for our first sunrise shoot in… well… ages… A Malabar dawn was in the offering.

Azure Daze

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 20 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Gerry and I had both not had a “proper” landscaping session for a very long time – for differing reasons. For me the main problem was damaging my shoulder – first with a pinched nerve and then a frozen shoulder locking mobility. It’s unfortunately still bad and quite painful for me, but this session was better than I had anticipated (having fit young children carry half my gear helps :)).

All Out to Sea

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 13 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Time for the obligatory “selfie” – following in the footsteps of Gerry :).

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.

Here I was teaching the girls the value of a little foreground interest and to get in close with a very wide lens.

The Greenery

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 6 sec at f/11, ISO 100

OMG he lives!!! It had been over a year since my last “proper” landscape session – with other people… with Gerry… We’d both not shot anything in ages so we figured a sunrise session or some joint light painting (or both :)) was in order.

We wanted to do something at this bunker in Malabar (South Maroubra) so plans were set in motion. At first we were going to shoot Saturday morning (but the weather outlook was very grim), then Sunday morning (alas again…) and finally we took a punt on Monday morning.

Fired

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 18 sec at f/8, ISO 200

The plan was a deck chair, an umbrella and a little steel wool action. We’d settled on an early start arriving at the car park just over two (2) hours before sunrise! We needed some dark time before twilight and with a 20 minute walk to the location settled on a 4:45AM meetup.

I’d also invited my daughter and my neighbours daughter to join us as they were both keen to practice some photography and learn some new skills.

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.

It was lightly sprinkling when we got out of the car and alas it started to rain for reals just as we arrived at the bunker :(. We took cover inside hoping the rain might eventually abate. Whilst we waited we decided to try something undercover – the end result is my daughter in “Fired” above. Steel wool burnage courtesy of Gerry and my daughter even survived without being set on fire which is always good :).

That complete it had stopped raining with semi clear skies above. We headed outside for the original plan sending my daughter sliding yet again into this dimensional rift. She reckons we’re channelling Dr Strange 🙂

Dimensional Rift

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 40 sec at f/8, ISO 200

One more quick steel wool burn on the other side with the skies lightening rapidly as dawn approaches. Time now to switch to traditional sunrise landscape mode…

Transit Lounge

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 17 sec at f/11, ISO 200

Lastly some keen observers might be wondering about the settings used for these shots and why we were shooting at ISO 200.

Whilst the cameras my daughter, Gerry and I were using had a base ISO of 100 (and we would normally have shot there – to give us more time (shutter length) to play with) – our fourth shooter had an older camera with a minimum ISO of 200 so that gave us our common base.

We then just use Aperture to control the ambient light, exposure and light painting exposure – giving us a shutter range we can make use of.

The fifty seventh in my Elevate portfolio – a series of top down aerial images with a twist – seeing the normally unseen in our typical urban environment.

Blue Lake Pumping

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 127

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.