Managed to get out of town this weekend just gone with the family and we headed for Marysville in country Victoria. The aim was to take our two kids up to the snow for the first time. Lake Mountain Alpine resort is only about a 20 minute drive from Marysville so snow fun it was!
My other aim was to get the camera out for the weekend too and have a much needed shoot with hopefully some wonderful settings. I was having too much fun on the toboggan with the kids to drag the camera out so only got the happy snaps as far as that was concerned but did manage to duck away on the Friday night to Stephenson's Falls, which was very close to where we were staying, and is also one of the highest falls in Victoria.
It was getting on to dusk and stupid me had forgotten to pack the tripod for the weekend so hoped for the best with my shaky hands. Found some solid ledges to lean on and the light was really nice so pulled out the slow shutter speeds to enhance the effect of the falls.
There was also plenty of friendly locals (of the feathered variety) who would come and greet us each morning. The kids had a blast feeding them fruit, biscuits, seed, chips - whatever was around these birds tended to eat it!
Not too far from where we were staying was a somewhat famous sculptor by the name of Bruno Torfs who has an amazing property filled with over 200 of his sculptures in the densely packed grounds out the back of his workshop. One of those places that you could go back to time and again and find something new on each visit. I managed to get quite a few good images of his people sculptures - some look almost lifelike.
After driving up and down the mountain for the two days beforehand and seeing some wonderful photo ops (tired kids don't get the need for a photo op!), I decided to venture back up the mountain early Sunday morning to a lookout point that boasted a fantastic view back towards Marysville and Melbourne. I think it was about 4 degrees celcius when I got the point but the scenery didn't disappoint. I snapped off a couple of quick frames and realised that my trusty D200 was disappointing me. A nasty black smudge was appearing on each frame I had taken - change of lens showed the smudge in the same spot; not good! I realised that something had gotten onto the sensor and I was not prepared to do major surgery in the back of the station-wagon half way up a mountain side. I did manage to salvage a shot that I quite like.
Apart from one of the kids being sick in the car on the way home (gotta love that smell), a good trip was had by all. I think I missed a few opportunities as a result of not bringing my tripod (something I realised about 45 minutes into the drive). Will just have to make the effort to head back again soon.
More ramblings soon...
Berk
My other aim was to get the camera out for the weekend too and have a much needed shoot with hopefully some wonderful settings. I was having too much fun on the toboggan with the kids to drag the camera out so only got the happy snaps as far as that was concerned but did manage to duck away on the Friday night to Stephenson's Falls, which was very close to where we were staying, and is also one of the highest falls in Victoria.
It was getting on to dusk and stupid me had forgotten to pack the tripod for the weekend so hoped for the best with my shaky hands. Found some solid ledges to lean on and the light was really nice so pulled out the slow shutter speeds to enhance the effect of the falls.
There was also plenty of friendly locals (of the feathered variety) who would come and greet us each morning. The kids had a blast feeding them fruit, biscuits, seed, chips - whatever was around these birds tended to eat it!
Not too far from where we were staying was a somewhat famous sculptor by the name of Bruno Torfs who has an amazing property filled with over 200 of his sculptures in the densely packed grounds out the back of his workshop. One of those places that you could go back to time and again and find something new on each visit. I managed to get quite a few good images of his people sculptures - some look almost lifelike.
After driving up and down the mountain for the two days beforehand and seeing some wonderful photo ops (tired kids don't get the need for a photo op!), I decided to venture back up the mountain early Sunday morning to a lookout point that boasted a fantastic view back towards Marysville and Melbourne. I think it was about 4 degrees celcius when I got the point but the scenery didn't disappoint. I snapped off a couple of quick frames and realised that my trusty D200 was disappointing me. A nasty black smudge was appearing on each frame I had taken - change of lens showed the smudge in the same spot; not good! I realised that something had gotten onto the sensor and I was not prepared to do major surgery in the back of the station-wagon half way up a mountain side. I did manage to salvage a shot that I quite like.
Apart from one of the kids being sick in the car on the way home (gotta love that smell), a good trip was had by all. I think I missed a few opportunities as a result of not bringing my tripod (something I realised about 45 minutes into the drive). Will just have to make the effort to head back again soon.More ramblings soon...
Berk
