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After a couple of fortunate events which landed us a free powered pitch in one of the best caravan sites in Torquay (Mainly getting a buy one get one free deal in the reception of the caravan site and finding a $20 note on the floor) We woke refreshed and recharged, our laptops and camera batteries as-well as ourselves and full of excitement to start our first full day on the Great Ocean Road.
We kicked things off with a magical delve into surfing‘s past with the surf museum in Torquay itself. The museum was excellent and packed with memorabilia and history getting us geared up for a quick stomp around all the surf outlet shops which were treasure troves of discounted clothing and boards.
Lunch was devoured at the top of the cliffs above the world famous surf beach, Bells Beach, 4km outside of Torquay. There were a few locals down in the water which was too fierce for me to have a dip with the swells coming up high despite it being a calm day. Bells Beach will shortly be hosting the Rip Curl World Championships next month and it seemed queer that such a small beach would attract surfers from all around the globe.
There were a few people up on the cliffs struggling to get shots of the action so I climbed all the way down on to the rocks and coral where the surfers enter the water and went the extra mile to get as close to the surfers as possible. I may have got damp feet but I think the shots show its always worth getting as close as you possibly can. As for settings I played around and common sense dictated that keeping the ISO down as low as possible so I could crop the images later without too much noise. Shutter speed was always going to have to be kept high so I kept it around 2000 to 2500 to catch the fast moving water and surfers. As a result my aperture suffered and so I started shooting at 2.8 but wiped these pictures almost immediately because the surfers weren’t coming out sharp enough due to the depth of field being too low. After switching to an aperture of about 5.6-6.3 the surfers were coming out sharper and it was all down to the talent in the water.
In an ideal world I would have had a good 100-300 lens in my kit bag but as we are on the road travelling light those pieces of glass were all left behind. If I was staying for the competition though you can bet your bottom dollar on my driving all the way to Melbourne to hire a good lens for a couple of days and really nail some awesome shots!
Feb 23, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Photo Shoot, The Great Ocean Road, Travel | Tags: Australia, Beach, Bells Beach, Bells Beach Victoria, Curls, Great Ocean Road, Locals, Melbourne, Photographs, photography, Rip Curl, Rip Curl Championships, Rips, Rocks, Surf, Surf Coast, Surfing, Torquay, Turns, Victoria | Comments Off on Torquay – Bells Beach – The Start Of The Great Ocean Road
Memorial Arch at Eastern View is a tribute to those who built the Great Ocean Road. It was three thousand survivors of World War One who helped build the road. When they returned from war these brave men needed to find work which was a big part of them, being rehabilitated back into civilian life. Post war the GOR project offered these returning soldiers the chance to work out in the open, share comradeship and contribute to a young growing country. The current Memorial Arch is the fourth to be erected, Fire, Storm and redevelopment of the road removed the previous three.
The Arch celebrates the road itself and symbolises the sacrifice made by thousands during the First World War. It has been erected over the longest and largest war memorial in the world, “The Great Ocean Road.”
Feb 23, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Photo Shoot, The Great Ocean Road, Travel | Tags: Apollo Bay Victoria, Australia, Conflicts and Wars, Eastern View, Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, Memorial Arch, Storm, Surf Coast, Tribute, Twentieth Century, Victoria, visit, World War I | Comments Off on The Great Ocean Road – Memorial Arch at Eastern View
We had fantastic weather for our walk up Mt. Bishop in Wilson’s Promontory. The paths up to the top were overgrown and you really had to push your way through in places. The bush surrounded us and for the like of Emily who hates snakes it was even more of an adventure. The whole undertaking was achieved without seeing any snakes but no doubt Emily’s enthusiastic foot stamping had scared them all away long before we could come across any.
On the way down we looped down into Lilly Pilly Gully which has a board walk through some of the protected rainforest that lies deep in the gully. The reason why this part of Wilson’s Promontory is a rainforest habitat is because the gully protects the forest from the bush fires that frequent the area.
Feb 19, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Photo Shoot, Travel | Tags: Australia, Melbourne, Mt. Bishop, National Park, President, Snake, Tidal River, United States, Victoria, views, Wilsons Promontory, Wilsons Promontory National Park | Comments Off on Wilsons Promontory – Tiger River To Mt. Bishop
One of the walks we did, up to Mt. Oberon, overlooks Tiger River and gives a great view of Wilsons Promontory. The walk up was along a gravel track and it was quite a steady uphill slog the whole way! The trees were fantastic in the woods and the whole walk was definitely worth the views at the top.
Feb 19, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 2011, Australia, Melbourne, Mt. Oberon, National Park, Norman Bay, Pillar Point, Shuttle Bus, Squeaky Beach, Summer, Tent, Tidal River, Victoria, Wilsons Promontory, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Wombat | Comments Off on Wilsons Promontory – Walk up Mt. Oberon
The other day Em and I headeded out to Norman Point on Wilsons Promontory it wasn’t a great day weatherwise but the view of the Promontory was spectacular!
Feb 18, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Photo Shoot, Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: 2011, Australia, Lake Norman, Melbourne, National Park, Norman Bay, Pillar Point, Squeaky Beach, Summer, Tidal River, Victoria, Wilsons Promontory, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Wombat | Comments Off on Wilsons Promontory – Normans Point
Wilsons Promontory National Park has become our new base camp down by Tidal River. We are helping out at the outdoor cinema here which puts on showings of latest releases twice a week on its open air screen.
Driving into Wilsons Promontory was breathtaking, the roads twist and turn through beautiful scenery with colourful birds and other wildlife including wombats, kangaroos and emus.
Wilsons Promontory is huge over 36 km from its most northern to southern points. About four hours drive SE from Melbourne it is truly a magnificent place.
On our second day here Emily and I walked north up the coast from Tidal River camping ground all the way up to Whiskey Bay before hitching a lift back to camp from a nice couple from Melbourne.
The pictures say a lot but these and words definitely cannot describe how beautiful this place really is.
Feb 17, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Photo Shoot, Travel | Tags: 5d, Australia, Beaches, beauty, Bureau of Meteorology, Camps, Canon, Melbourne, National Parks, noman bay, photography, Picnic Bay, Squeaky Beach, Sunny Day, Thomas Jupe, Tidal River, travel, Victoria, Victoria Parks, Whiskey Bay, Wilsons Promontory, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Wombat | Comments Off on Wilsons Promontory – Our new temporary home – Victoria Parks
On this visit to Melbourne it struck me profoundly that this city has to be one of the greatest in the world.
This clean efficient city bustles with friendly people and is full of helpful people from shop assistants to the young mother we asked how to use the tram system!
The buildings are just amazing and the old intertwines with the new, still providing as much function as the new skyscrapers and conceptual design pieces rather than being squeezed out in attempts at keeping this a contemporary city.
The morning we spent shopping and browsing around Queen Victoria Market and in the afternoon Emily and I went for a walk down Flinders Street to Federation Square, taking shots of the city before heading down to the Yarra River and walking its banks a little way taking in the cityscape.
The panoramas I have shot in this series I have left largely unedited due to my liking this look for the city.
Feb 17, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Travel | Tags: Australia, canon 5d, CBD, Federation Square, Flinders St., Melbourne, National Gallery Of, photography, Princes Bridge, Queen Victoria Market, River Yarra, Sunny Day, Thomas Jupe, travel, Victoria | Comments Off on Melbourne City – Victoria – Australia
We were fortunate to find Tooradin, a little town on the map with not much in it save a petrol station and a couple of shops and cafes. According to our trusty, if not slightly out of date, Camps 4 guide and map there would be somewhere to have a quick shower and use the ‘facilities’ before heading down the road to the Swamp Tower Reserve in Koo-wee-rup observation tower where we could sleep for the night.
Little did we know Tooradin had so much more to offer us! It became apparent that a couple of other campers were in the overspill carpark by the boat launch and looked pretty settled in. Upon conversing with an amicable elderly chap in a motorhome it became apparent that the warden didn’t mind people stopping overnight. After inspecting the gates that were so overgrown and rusted open I decided, using my powers of deduction that the elderly chap was probably right.
Tooradin has plenty of facilities with BBQ areas, boat launching facilities, showers, toilets and best of all beauty.
As the sun went down I grabbed my camera and shot away happily preserving the moment. I even had a quick visit from a wild pelican down on beach but it turned out he was more interested in a young lad using the sinks at the top of the beach to gut his days catch!
The next morning I found an honesty box and deposited most of the change that I had been hauling around Melbourne in my back pocket for the last couple of days!
Feb 17, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Travel | Tags: 5d, Australia, beauty, Canon, evening, Koo Wee Rup Victoria, Melbourne, photography, Sunset, Thomas Jupe, Tooradin, travel, Victoria | Comments Off on Tooradin Overnight Stop – Victoria – Australia
Having left Phillip Island Emily and I decided to head to the Melbourne area for a couple of days. Emily wanted to visit the Victoria Market, which was vast and one of the best markets I have seen, well worth a visit. Obviously my desire to revisit at a more sedate pace was fuelled by my wanting to get some photos of Melbourne itself.
We decided to stop overnight just outside of Melbourne in St. Kilda where we knew backpackers tended to congregate and where we first met Dori our campervan.
The sunset that evening was second to none and as the sun slipped down below the horizon I stepped out of our camper and shot the views.
Emily and I then walked along St. Kilda Pier to the end where penguins sometimes nestin the wharf’s walls. Due to excessive amounts of tourists crowding these little creatures (including ourselves!) flash photography was strictly prohibited but I found the best shot was back across from where we had come.
Looking out through the boats in the harbour you could see the lights turning on asMelbourne’s nightlife took off and it made for a glorious cityscape.
All the photos from the evening are below and the pictures are linked to larger versions which you can view by clicking on them.
Sun setting from St. Kilda Beach looking out to St. Kilda Pier from where we parked upfor the evening. Walking up St. Kilda Pier View from St. Kilda Pier looking back towards Melbourne City in the evening light Panorama looking back to Melbourne’s nightlife waking up as the sun disappears, taken from St. Kilda Pier. Sky turning pink and lights reflected in the water, St Kilda.
Feb 17, 2011 | Categories: General, New Uploads, Photo Shoot, Travel | Tags: 5d, Australia, Canon, evening, Melbourne, Panorama, photography, St Kilda, Sunset, Thomas Jupe, travel, Victoria | Comments Off on St. Kilda Sunset – Melbourne – Victoria
Due to my travels this article is probably a little ‘out of fashion’
That said I feel my 10 cents need be input. From the series of photographs taken by acclaimed photographer Mario Testino this beautiful portrait of Prince William and Kate Middleton to celebrate their engagement is a simple and very pure image. By this I mean there is nothing abstract, nothing radically different and no pioneering techniques.
Testino has been criticised for this from what I have read on the web, questions of high fees for such simplistic images were asked. I think this is ridiculous for the following reason.
Mario Testino is not a technical photographer, he has never claimed to be so, he has openly claimed in the past to leave all those aspects of photography to his assistants. What makes Mario Testino a genius in photography is his ability to interact with his subject. To know them and make them relaxed in such a way that their inhibitions float away.
To be asked to do a portrait session of a young couple, who are under huge intense publicity, where a camera shooting photos of you provokes feelings of pressure and signifies crowded rooms of clamouring journalists, to make them feel at ease and give such a relaxed pose of intimacy, thats what makes Mario Testino a genius.
Seeing this photograph my mind was taken back to the photographs of Princess Diana taken by Mario Testino which I viewed in London’s famous Portraits Gallery. This shot of her son with his fiancee will surely fit in with their family album perfectly and after all thats what a good portrait is for … just my 10 cents anyway!
Jan 14, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: engagement, Kate Middleton, Mario Testino, opinion, photography, portrait, Prince William | Comments Off on Mario Testino – Engagement Photographs of Prince William & Kate Middleton
