Highly recommend all photographers find some way of isolating themselves for a short time just to focus on photography. It is the advice you see so often from those who are successful photographers and artists. For me it's always so easy to forget this advice and it's only when I find myself with this special opportunity that I begin to sing photographically and make all sorts of promises to myself to repeat this activity more often.
Don't get me wrong. I pretty much have my head in my photography world most of the time, but it's often in the midst of doing 3 or 4 other things. All of these photographic opportunities are fabulous - I never know what I'm going to get or what I might see or what might present itself. However, when I truly remove all the "noise" from my daily life and just allow myself the time to soak in all that is around me and think, dream, imagine, talk photography .... my work is so much better.
A few days ago I headed over the mountains, west of Sydney to spend a couple of days @ Tarana and the Fish River area. It was cold and much of the Autumn foliage was already on the ground. I travelled with 2 other women photographers and our brief was to laugh, talk, share, shoot! And I think it is fair to say that we excelled in all aspects!
We stayed at the Tarana pub in the cabins that were warm and cosy. The BBQ worked, the fridge worked, the water was hot and the sunrise the next morning was to die for - that's for those who were up in time to see it. Sadly (or wisely?) I was in bed but my buddy photographer kindly brought the viewing screen in so I could see what I was missing.
It was once the home of trout fishing
http://bluemountainsfishing.net/fishriver.html and looking at the river as we drove around you can see why this is. Much of the river bank that we drove around is fenced so it was only accessible in a couple of places. One of the better ones was Flat Rock Picnic Area on Mutton Falls Rd between Tarana and O'Connell. Really worth planning a couple of hours here if ever you find yourself in the area.
One of our group is working on a personal project about water so it was a great opportunity to spend some time in an area that had boulders, rocks, gravel, flowing water, small rapids and unbelievably beautiful colours and reflections. I'm still working out how I want to show some of the work I did but including here a few of my early edits. I've also uploaded a handful to my pbase site. http://www.pbase.com/ssteel If you clock on "recent" you should see them.
Enjoy! I think I will get some real pleasure out of working with these images over the next couple of weeks.
This image (above) was taken in the area close to Flat Rock reserve. I'd been working with a wider lens and an ND filter and polariser but just had a feeling that I wanted to see if I could get something different with my 105macro. I like the result and particularly some of the underlying colours in the water. Interestingly a couple of the images taken in this river look to be black and white. I can see no colour at all.
Early morning, close to the hotel. I was wandering around with some pretty weird looking clothes - I ran out of the cabin excited about the light and dew and didn't bother dressing for public view! I was warm and I got some great shots and that is really all that matters.
I loved the pearls of light behind this wispy plant. It was moving slightly in the morning breeze and I like how the movement adds to my enjoyment of the image.
What glorious colours! A birch tree I think?? Or maybe a beech?? I get them mixed up.
The hotel had a few pieces of old farm machinery in the grounds. It fitted in beautifully but it was at its most captivating early morning with dew drops and low sun in the sky. I let my wonderful Sigma 105Macro do its thing and the abstract image (above) is the result.
Don't get me wrong. I pretty much have my head in my photography world most of the time, but it's often in the midst of doing 3 or 4 other things. All of these photographic opportunities are fabulous - I never know what I'm going to get or what I might see or what might present itself. However, when I truly remove all the "noise" from my daily life and just allow myself the time to soak in all that is around me and think, dream, imagine, talk photography .... my work is so much better.
A few days ago I headed over the mountains, west of Sydney to spend a couple of days @ Tarana and the Fish River area. It was cold and much of the Autumn foliage was already on the ground. I travelled with 2 other women photographers and our brief was to laugh, talk, share, shoot! And I think it is fair to say that we excelled in all aspects!
We stayed at the Tarana pub in the cabins that were warm and cosy. The BBQ worked, the fridge worked, the water was hot and the sunrise the next morning was to die for - that's for those who were up in time to see it. Sadly (or wisely?) I was in bed but my buddy photographer kindly brought the viewing screen in so I could see what I was missing.
It was once the home of trout fishing
http://bluemountainsfishing.net/fishriver.html and looking at the river as we drove around you can see why this is. Much of the river bank that we drove around is fenced so it was only accessible in a couple of places. One of the better ones was Flat Rock Picnic Area on Mutton Falls Rd between Tarana and O'Connell. Really worth planning a couple of hours here if ever you find yourself in the area.
One of our group is working on a personal project about water so it was a great opportunity to spend some time in an area that had boulders, rocks, gravel, flowing water, small rapids and unbelievably beautiful colours and reflections. I'm still working out how I want to show some of the work I did but including here a few of my early edits. I've also uploaded a handful to my pbase site. http://www.pbase.com/ssteel If you clock on "recent" you should see them.
Enjoy! I think I will get some real pleasure out of working with these images over the next couple of weeks.
This image (above) was taken in the area close to Flat Rock reserve. I'd been working with a wider lens and an ND filter and polariser but just had a feeling that I wanted to see if I could get something different with my 105macro. I like the result and particularly some of the underlying colours in the water. Interestingly a couple of the images taken in this river look to be black and white. I can see no colour at all.
Early morning, close to the hotel. I was wandering around with some pretty weird looking clothes - I ran out of the cabin excited about the light and dew and didn't bother dressing for public view! I was warm and I got some great shots and that is really all that matters.
I loved the pearls of light behind this wispy plant. It was moving slightly in the morning breeze and I like how the movement adds to my enjoyment of the image.
What glorious colours! A birch tree I think?? Or maybe a beech?? I get them mixed up.
The hotel had a few pieces of old farm machinery in the grounds. It fitted in beautifully but it was at its most captivating early morning with dew drops and low sun in the sky. I let my wonderful Sigma 105Macro do its thing and the abstract image (above) is the result.
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