In part two of the new Gura Gear Bataflae series of videos we have a look at just what I pack in my camera bag for both international travel and local landscape photography. Depending on where I am travelling and what I am shooting I occasionally swap lenses in and out of this collection. As you will see, you can fit quite a bit of gear in a  Bataflae 32L! I actually discovered another tele-converter in the bag on top of all the other equipment when I was repacking the bag after we finished filming. Just click on the image to watch the video via You Tube. I hope you enjoy. You can order the Gura Gear Bataflae cameras bags directly from Gura Gear.

As has become somewhat traditional on my blog I like to do a post toward the end of each year that looks forward to whats in store for the coming year. Its a good opportunity for me to ready myself mentally for the year ahead and to also close off the previous year. 2013 is shaping up to be very busy with a significant number of workshops and expeditions that I am very much looking forward to. Although I very much choose to specialise in the Polar and sub-Polar regions (which remain my focus) I do have a new exploratory trip planned for 2013 into China. More on this below.

In March I will be co-leading two back-to-back Winter Aurora workshops to Iceland with my good friends Andy Biggs and Daniel Bergmann. These workshops are going to focus on the coastal regions of Iceland including the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, the mighty sea stacks at Vik and the spectacular Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. We are looking forward to frozen waterfalls, glaciers, icebergs and with a little luck the Aurora (Northern Lights). We are going to be in Iceland at the peak of the eleven year solar cycle which should mean some intense solar activity. Fingers crossed for clear skies and blazing Aurora!In May I will be headed to the remote Xinjiang province in China with my good friend and fellow photographer Antony Watson on an exploratory expedition to the Gobi Desert, Tian Shan mountain range, Kanas Lake and Kanasi. This investigative trip is the culmination of over a year of logistical arrangements and I hope will open up some incredibly beautiful and remote wilderness for a future expedition workshop to this region.

In July I will be headed back to Iceland to lead a summer workshop with Daniel Bergmann into the Highland Regions. We will be travelling into Landmannalaugar; which is one of my favourite locations in Iceland as well as visiting the mighty Dettifoss and Selfoss waterfalls and the iconic Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. Normally inaccessible in Winter, the Highlands of Iceland are a very special place and simply incredible for photography.In August I will fly from Iceland to Oslo and Longyearbyen for a personal expedition to Svalbard to photograph Polar Bears and Walrus before I return to Longyearbyen to lead two back to back expeditions to Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland – The Jewels of the Arctic. The first of these expeditions will be co-led with Daniel Bergmann and the second co-led with Australian Grand Master of Photography Peter Eastway. Abraham Joffe’s award winning film and production company ‘Untitled Film Works‘ has been secured to join us on the second expedition and will be producing a video of the trip which I hope to share freely here on my blog late next year.In November I am travelling to Ushuaia in South America and will lead an expedition to Antarctica and the Falkland Islands with Daniel Bergmann. This 15 day / 14 night expedition was more than eight months in the planning and is something I am very much looking forward to. We have been able to arrange access into areas normally off limits that are dedicated to Science which is going to provide us with some really unique opportunities. We are travelling early in the season which should give us the best possible opportunities for spectacular icebergs, dramatic weather and great light.In late November I will travel to Patagonia with my friend Martyn Lucas on a personal trip to photograph the spectacular Torres Del Pine and surrounding landscape. Patagonia boasts some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth with precipitous mountains, jagged granite spires and enormous glaciers. During our time in this area we plan to hike up to the Torres and bivouac to give ourselves the best opportunity for great light. This will be my first visit to Patagonia and will fulfil a life-long ambition to photograph in this spectacular area.

I will then return home to spend Christmas my family. All up, I will be away from my studio for around 4-5 months in total next year which means I am not going to be offering much in the way of printing workshops or Lightroom instruction in 2013. If you are already booked in for one-on-one Lightroom and Fine Art Printing then those dates stand as I will be in Australia during these times.

To those of you who are travelling with me on one (or more) of these trips I am very much looking forward to spending time shooting together. It is going to be a very exciting year for photography. Roll on 2013!

I was recently interviewed by the editor of Camera House’s Better Pictures magazine for their Christmas issue and the article ‘Outward Bound’ is now online. The magazine is free and can be viewed online in a web browser or you can download a PDF of the article HERE. Check it out if you have a few minutes spare.

How do you take what is widely regarded by many photographers as one of the finest camera bags on the market and make it even better?

I was pondering this when the guys at Gura Gear first told me that they were working on an update to the very popular Kiboko 30L camera bag along with a range of new accessory storage bags called the ‘Et Cetera’ range.I was an early adopter of Gura Gear bags. After I returned from my first expedition to Iceland I realized how unhappy I had become with my then current camera bag (whose name shall remain anonymous). For a variety of reasons it was no longer satisfying my needs and I was on the lookout for a new lightweight bag that met airline carry-on restrictions for size but enabled me to carry more equipment comfortably into the field.  Anyone who has travelled domestically or internationally with camera equipment understands the importance of being able to carry equipment onto the airplane to avoid the risk of damage or theft in checked luggage. I therefore needed a bag that could not only hold all of my equipment, but that was light, robust, suitable for moderate hiking, and still enabled me to glide through airport check -in with a smile and a wave. My search led me to the Kiboko which, after several years of photographic travel, has become my number one camera bag of choice for all of my photography.

Fast forward to 2012 – With a four week photographic trip to Europe and a workshop in Iceland in July and August this year it was the perfect opportunity to field test the new Gura Gear Bataflae camera bags and Et Cetera range. The good folks at Gura Gear agreed and a shipment of the new product range was soon winging its way to me.

I admit to being very excited when I opened up the boxes from Gura Gear and saw the new products. You know you have purchased a quality product when you open the box and are greeted by the super slick black dust covers bearing the Gura Gear logo. Whilst the addition of a dust bag might seem superfluous it does in fact prove very useful for long-term storage and can even serve as a pretty cool laundry bag when travelling.

Widely regarded as being capable of swallowing copious amounts of camera equipment with room to spare (the Kiboko 30L will hold just about everything you can throw at it) the new Bataflae 32L adds even more space. Overall, it is larger and deeper than the original. This extra space proved a real blessing during my field tests as Canon’s new 1DX camera with a really right stuff L bracket is a very tight fit in the original Kiboko, but slides perfectly into the new bag thanks to the extra head room. Users of professional DSLR’s, medium and large format camera gear will really appreciate the extra height available.

Those of you familiar with the original Kiboko will already be sold on the benefits of the unique butterfly openings that avoid that unwieldy large flap that most camera bags provide for internal access.  There are, however, times when it would be nice to be able to open the bag right up for packing and full access. Well, the new Bataflae gives you the best of both worlds with the traditional butterfly openings but adds the ability to open the entire bag up by releasing a simple clasp at the top of the bag. This really makes packing much simpler as well as providing full access to both sides simultaneously when required in the field. The centre divider contains extra strengthening to maintain rigidity even when the bag is fully loaded. In use, I found this to work very well.The rain cover has been relocated from inside one of the butterfly pockets to outside the bag in a small zippered pocket, which has freed up more room in the butterfly pocket. The rain cover now also utilizes a draw string which is an improvement over the original elastic cover because it can now also serve as a ground sheet if required.

Like the original bags, the new range is manufactured from highly durable materials, although the new material has more bling. The stitching, zippers and internal fittings of the new bags are improved in every respect. Even the finger zipper pulls are easier to use.  Additional padding has been added to the backpack harness, which makes the bag noticeably more comfortable when hiking. There are yet more refinements to be found in the way of improved clasps for carrying tripods which can even accommodate items such as crampons. Like its predecessor, the new range comes with a considerable number of extra dividers so that its internal storage space can be customized to one’s own particular needs. All of this amounts to a very compelling reason to upgrade to the new models.

When the new Bataflae is fully loaded with my camera equipment it was significantly over the normal carry-on luggage allowance during my Europe and Iceland expeditions, yet I had no issues on any of the five international and domestic flights, including several long haul flights. With the increase in size, the new Bataflae still fits in the overhead lockers on the aircraft I travelled and still retains its understated appearance. I am utterly convinced that the Bataflae is the best camera bag on the market for photographers who fly and travel.

During my four weeks in Europe I used the new Bataflae everywhere, from the bustling streets and Cathedrals of Paris to the more subdued provincial countryside and wine regions of France where I travelled by hire car. I took it mountaineering at 13,000 feet at Mont Blanc in Chamonix where it was -15 degrees Celsius, and trod the myriad of canals in Venice Italy during the peak summer season. I then travelled to Iceland for my 2012 summer Workshop where I spent time on the Snaefellsness Peninsula, the highlands of Landmannalaugar and the stunning Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon to name but a few locations. I undertook some fairly arduous hiking in the Landmannalaugar region and subjected the bag to everything from waterfall spray, rain, salt spray, sand and dust. I threw just about everything I could at the new bags and found them an improvement in every way over the originals.

The design changes and refinements to the new bags are in many cases subtle but they add up to a significant overall improvement that makes for a very compelling reason for existing Kiboko owners to upgrade. If, on the other hand, you haven’t already pampered yourself and your camera gear with Gura Gear then you are about to be presented with a fantastic opportunity with the release of these new products. They are highly recommended for their robustness and overall design.

The new product range takes everything that was great about the original bags and improves on it in just about every respect. I would argue that, outside of the camera and lens, there are few pieces of equipment that can have as much impact on your photography as your camera bag. If you travel or frequently change locations (and which photographer doesn’t!) you owe it to yourself (and your expensive equipment) to check out a Gura Gear camera bag.

Part Two – The Et Cetera and Tembo Range

As photographers we are constantly adding accessories to our equipment arsenal. Additional batteries, chargers, color checkers, CF and SD cards and card readers, adapter rings – the list goes on and on and there is only so many of these that can be shoehorned into a camera bag already overflowing with bodies and lenses. I am sure many of us have thrown all manner of photographic accessories loose into our suitcases before we travel because our camera bag was already overweight with bodies and lenses and at risk of airport check-in destruction.Solving this problem could well be Gura Gear’s masterstroke. Its new Et Cetera and Tembo line of products is designed to solve that annoying problem of finding a home for some of those accessories. The range is perhaps best thought of as the ‘Tupperware’ of camera storage and provides a range of different storage options for different accessories. I found these storage containers invaluable on my recent European trip and Iceland workshop and far more convenient than throwing items loosely in my checked luggage.

There is a range of different sizes and shapes from which to select and photographers will likely choose those models that best suit their needs and requirements.

Gura Gear products can be ordered directly from the Gura Gear Website

CANON: I was recently interviewed again for Canon Australia’s CPS ‘Gear in Action’ website and the content of the interview is now online at CPS Australia. Unlike my previous interview HERE which primarily focused on Fine Art Printing this time the emphasis was on cameras and my experience with Canon’s new tour-de-force 1DX camera during my recent travels through France, Italy, Venice and Iceland. There is also a small gallery of images- which I have not yet even uploaded to my website. I hope you enjoy the interview.For CPS members there are also details of the expedition I am leading to Antarctica with Daniel Bergmann on Canon Australia’s website HERE. This expedition is of course open to all photographers. You don’t have to shoot Canon or be a member of Canon’s Professional Services.

PHOTOKINA: If you are heading over to Germany for Photokina later this month be sure to stop past the Moab and Legion Paper stands where some of my prints from my Iceland series will be on display on my favourite paper: Somerset Museum Rag.

A small disclaimer: Although I both shoot and print exclusively with Canon cameras and printers I am not sponsored by Canon. I pay for all of my own equipment with my own hard earned money. I choose to use Canon cameras and printers because I have found them to offer outstanding results and reliability in my photography – not because I am incentivised by the manufacturer. I am a Canon CPS Gold Member and rely on CPS to assist me with sensor cleaning and loan equipment from time to time.

I am very excited to announce a brand new photographic workshop to the icons of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria Australia. Perhaps best known for its mighty sea stacks at the iconic 12-Apostles, the Great Ocean Road is one of the worlds leading tourist attractions and is packed with fantastic photographic opportunities. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is there coastline as unique and spectacular as that found along this stretch of Victorian coastline.  Location highlights for this tour include Gibson’s Steps, the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, Lochard Gorge, and Hopetoun Falls. We will also visit quite a few lesser known locations including a Californian Red Wood forest plantation, the shipwreck coast and Cape Otway lighthouse. If you are interested in improving your photography along the spectacular Great Ocean Road then now is the time to register. This expedition is strictly limited to a maximum of ten participants, plus leaders and places are reserved on a first come, first served basis. A copy of the information, registration and booking form can be downloaded HERE. This workshop is CPD accredited and points are accrued for AIPP members attending this workshop.

A few days ago I returned home from a workshop trip down the Great Ocean Road and I have now sorted through the roughly 600 frames which I shot while travelling down the coast photographing some of the mightiest icons of Victoria. For those of you who may not be aware, the Great Ocean Road is still one of the leading tourist attractions in the world. As a result of the increasing tourism, the area is now quite busy over the weekends, with regular busloads of camera-toting tourists and back-packers scurrying over the usual tourist hot spots. Shooting at the iconic Twelve Apostles at sunset can be like rush-hour. And yet, for the intrepid and dedicated landscape photographer, there are many other rugged and beautiful locations to choose from that are just as spectacular and more secluded from the tourist throngs.We were fortunate during this trip to have some dramatic light on the evening of our arrival, as well as some truly beautiful pre-dawn glow on the final morning before our departure. As a landscape photographer, I am always chasing dramatic light in order to create photographs that are unique, powerful and expressive. Whether it is through curtains of rain or stormy clouds, I seek out that special light that usually lasts for only a few seconds. And, it is not often I am fortunate enough to experience dramatic storm-light in combination with sunset, a combination that is truly magical and quite rare.

The conditions under which this occurred last Friday evening were challenging, with pelting rain, hail and powerful winds all conspiring against the rigidity of my camera and tripod which were perched precariously on the edge of the limestone cliffs. Standing near the edge of a 35 metre cliff above the broiling ocean, with the winds threatening to toss me into the sea with each gust certainly gets the adrenalin flowing. I was very thankful for the weather sealing of my 1DS MK3 as it was exposed to several hours of intense rain and pervasive salt spray from the storm breakers smashing into the cliffs. The waves that were crashing against the coastline were 6-8 metres high, tossing spray over a hundred feet into the air as they slammed into the rugged cliffs – it was both awe- inspiring and  intimidating to be on the edge of that precipitous cliff.One of the joys of storm photography is how often and how quickly the light changes. You have to move quickly and instinctively in order to make the most of it if you are to capture the best light. Balancing composition with light in weather conditions that are conspiring against you can be a real challenge. Even keeping the camera lens free of rain spots can be problematic. Also, having an instinctive understanding of your camera controls is essential to being able to work quickly to make the most of the changing light and conditions. Likewise, understanding shutter speed and the effect it will have on moving water and waves is essential to creating photographs that are artistic and capture the feeling of motion and drama in the sea. Being able to combine your skills as a photographer whilst battling the elements takes some practice.The Great Ocean Road is an astonishing but challenging location to photograph. The coastline is truly spectacular between Apollo Bay and Warrnambool, but to convey a sense of scale, place and context is difficult. Most photographs I have seen of this part of Victoria fail to do justice to the rugged beauty and grandeur of this coastline – a lovely sunset just isn’t enough. Although calm seas and a perfect sunset will always result in a pretty picture of this Victorian coastline, the area offers so much more for photographers willing to put in the hard yards and exercise their patience in search of the right light and the best composition.Landscape photography in Australia is an exercise in patience and frustration followed by final fulfilment. Australia’s often harsh daytime light works against good art photography of the type I am pursuing, as does the flat light caused by overcast conditions. The golden hours of perfect light are fleeting. As I have said before, landscape photography in Australia is like a long-haul international flight – hours of boredom followed by a few seconds of sheer panic during landing, when the light is at its best. It is an exercise in patience, which, in the end, can be extremely rewarding. This is not known as the Shipwreck Coast for nothing.

Nearby, the dense and mysterious Otway forest offers many opportunities for daytime photography, including several waterfalls, a forest of giant Californian Redwoods, the Cape Otway Lighthouse, and countless coastline images, including a multitude of abstractions in the coastal cliffs, as well as the myriad of possibilities in the many rock pools.

I will shortly be offering another multi-day workshop down the Great Ocean Road designed specifically for photographers who are keen to work hard for their images and who want to take their photography to the next level. Like my international workshops, this trip will be strictly limited in numbers to ensure we can operate quickly and cohesively in the field. Bookings will be taken on a first come, first serve basis.  Stay tuned for further details over the coming weeks.Higher resolution versions of these photographs can be seen on my primary portfolio website at www.jholko.com under Australia.

I am taking a couple of days off this weekend from home and office duties and heading down the Great Ocean road with a fellow photographer friend for a few days of coastal landscape photography. The weather forecast is for occasional rain showers and possible hail so I am hopeful of some really dramatic storm lighting. Right now as I look out my studio window its quite overcast and windy with occasional breaks of sunshine –  a real mixed bag.  There are many wonderful locations for photography along the Great Ocean road including the iconic twelve apostles (of which there are approximately only six left), London Bridge, Gibsons Steps, Lochard Gorge and more. The Great Ocean road is a location in my backyard only a few hours drive from where I live that I have long ignored and I am looking forward to shooting along its spectacular coastline again. See you in a few days.

A friendly reminder: If you are in Melbourne this weekend, my new exhibition is currently on display at Source Photographica in Brighton. The exhibition includes some of my personal favourite images from Antarctica, Iceland and New Zealand over the last three years. Source Photographica is located at 1A Rose Street in Brighton, Victoria, Australia and is open seven days a week. Entry is free. 

It occurred to me about a week or so ago (when I was forced to drop down into an ‘Everest gear’ to grind out one of the big hills on the mountain bike trail that I ride near my house) just how out of condition I am after my time in Antarctica (over-indulgence in good food during the Christmas New Year period has not helped either). During my time in Antarctica, on board ship, I never really did any exercise; yet I regularly stowed away three square meals a day (large three-course meals at that). Since I didn’t suffer from sea sickness, I was able to keep all those meals down (thankfully). My cardiovascular fitness has really deteriorated and it feels like I am missing a lung as I drag myself up the hills on the bike. After 20 kilometers on the trails, my body feels quite battered and broken. Overall, my time off the bike over the Christmas-New Year period has left me feeling quite unfit and out of condition. Subsequently I have actually managed to crack my bike frame and am undergoing a forced hiatus while I wait for my bike to be rebuilt.

The connection to photography may not be apparent at first. But physical fitness plays a major role in successful wilderness photography.  A good level of physical fitness enables you to hike faster, further and arrive at your destination ready to shoot, in better condition. It can be the difference between arriving at the top of the hill and getting the shot before the best light is gone and arriving on location exhausted and disappointed. It can even mean your not making it to the top at all. This is not to say the best shot is always at the end of an uphill hike. However, you will never know if you don’t make it up there to see for yourself. You don’t have to be an elite athlete to be a wilderness photographer, but I find a good level of physical fitness certainly helps.

Whilst I was puffing my way up the hill on my mountain bike, I also got to thinking that mountain biking is like photography in that to get good at it you have to do a lot of it. To stay in peak condition you have to be persistent. I have observed this many times when I am out on my photography excursions. My shots continue to improve as the days roll past and my ‘conditioning’ improves. It takes time to get into the ‘groove’ —the right frame of mind that enables me to recognize the good images from the bad. Antarctica was like that: it took me time to assimilate. After extensive international travel, the few days I had in Buenos Aires and Ushuaia gave me the opportunity to wind down, leave the stress of daily life behind, and start to focus on photography. This time was crucial because I had the chance to relax, which is just as important as being fit for the task. Buenos Aries itself didn’t turn me on photographically. It is a crowded and polluted city, quite unlike my expectations of Antarctica. But, at least, I was in the right frame of mind—relaxed—when we eventually left for Antarctica.

Before I arrive this July for my 2012 workshop in Iceland I am going to be spending a couple of weeks travelling through France and Italy (specifically, driving down from France to Venice) photographing the countryside as a precursor to the workshop. I am hoping to use this time to get my eye in, as it were, and ensure my state of mind is at or near its peak when I arrive in Iceland.

Landscape and Nature photography requires a serious commitment. You must be prepared to spend countless hours outdoors, frequently in inclement weather or harsh environments. It also requires hours of patience to get the best possible light. I have spent many hundreds of hours in the wilderness waiting for the right conditions. Nature and landscape photographers who are truly committed are a rare breed; we have to put up with a lot—fitness, patience, vigilance, and an eye for the main chance. It takes a certain mindset and dedication to stand around in freezing conditions and rain for hours, waiting for the right light when what beckons is a nice dinner and a glass of wine in a warm hotel somewhere.  You need commitment and dedication to get the shot.One thing I have learned through experience is that it is always worth sticking it out to the bitter end when waiting for the best light, no matter the prevailing weather conditions. Generally, brief moments of special light don’t fill the bill; you have to see it out to the end. All too often, the light changes in the last few moments and in these instances the light is often at its most spectacular. I recall a very poignant example of this, which I have blogged about before in Iceland in 2010 when I arrived at the top of one of the highest mountains in Landmannalaugar in Iceland, more than three hours before sunset. They skies were dull and grey and we were exposed to the full force of the Arctic winds. My friend Dmitry and I decided to hunker down and wait out the 3+ hours before sunset. I just wanted to hike back to the 4-wheel drive to warm up with a hot cup of coffee and a piece of cake, but the wait proved worthwhile.  The shoot provided some of the most spectacular light I have ever experienced anywhere. We had distant rain showers, rainbows and light that can only be described as sensational. Lesson learned – Never Give In. Above all, patience!

It has been a while since I have posted a landscape photograph from my own home country. Partly because I have just been flat out with other things and also because I had not really had a chance to sit and sort through a series of photographs I shot toward the end of Winter up at Mount Buffalo in the Victorian High Country. Mount Buffalo is my favourite location in the Victorian High Country for landscape photography – particularly in Winter. The large granite boulders and outcroppings make wonderful subjects that are very beautiful when covered in snow. Snow is a photographers best friend in the Australian bush – it really aids in hiding much of the messy scrub and underbrush that is not particularly photogenic.

This photograph was taken at an area known as Mahomet’s Tomb just on sunset. I had hiked up to the location anticipating that as the sun dropped low to the horizon it would catch the outcropping of boulders known as Mahomet’s Tomb. For the shot to work I needed a clear horizon to the west so as not to obscure the setting sun and light (which I was fortunate to get). Shortly after I made the photograph I was wandering around down in the valley area pictured and went through the ice up to my waist in a hidden creek – it took me some to extricate myself. It was a most uncomfortable experience; but it did make the shoot memorable; even if the hike back to the car was cold and wet.

I was recently interviewed for Canon Australia’s CPS Pro website and the content of the interview is now online at CPS Australia. Although the discussion was wide ranging and varied there was an emphasis on large format printing and the fact that I do all of my own printing in-house. Printing is a critical part of producing photographic fine art and next to actually working in the field with my camera equipment is an aspect of my photography that I very much enjoy. Hope you enjoy the interview.

A small disclaimer: Although I both shoot and print exclusively with Canon cameras and printers I am not sponsored by Canon. I pay for all of my own equipment with my own hard earned money. I choose to use Canon cameras and printers because I have found them to offer outstanding results and reliability in my photography – not because I am incentivised by the manufacturer. I am a Canon CPS Gold Member and rely on CPS to assist me with sensor cleaning and loan equipment from time to time.

It has been a long time since I have last posted a wildlife photograph but I had a good opportunity / excuse a couple of weeks ago to test out my new Canon 1D MKIV at the Melbourne Zoo (I guess that makes it ‘quasi-wild’). This was simply an opportunity to machine gun through a few hundred frames to make sure the camera was performing properly before taking it to Antarctica. Unfortunately for me, I made the mistake of journeying to the zoo during school holidays when it was literally swarming with kids. As a result most animals had retreated to the farthest corners of their enclosures in search of a little peace and quiet (can’t say I blame them!). Nevertheless I was able to come away with a few photographs I was quite pleased with. This photograph of the Sumatran Tiger being my pick of the bunch for the soft light and classical pose. I don’t often process black and white; but in this instance I felt it helped to give the image a somewhat timeless feel and complimented the Tigers classic pose.

Each month the International Aperture Accademy features a selected individual professional photographer on their website in the form of a question and answer interview. It is an opportunity to hear what other professional photographers have to say on various topics as well as being an outlet for them to tell their personal story and discuss interesting elements of their photographic career. In August this year Art Wolfe who has been one of my personal inspirations was featured on the Academies website and I am pleased to announce that I am following on as the September Photographer of the Month. My feature and interview is available HERE.

The photograph below was taken at the Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon in Iceland during my trip last year and was provided courtesy of Tim Gray Photography. Tim, you caught me in a moment of contemplation in this frame – It is one that holds wonderful memories of the time I spent at the lagoon.

I have been spending a bit of time lately down at Cape Schank in Victoria (roughly an hour and a half drive from where I live) scrambling over the rocks looking for composition and waiting for good light. Its a very primordial place with plenty of jagged black basalt rock that provides a really good contrast to the softness of the water created by long exposures. I have enjoyed the time I have spent down there; although it has been a battle with the elements to say the least. I was blessed with good magic hour colour on several of my sunsets and sunrises – but on almost all occasions the skies have been totally cloudless; providing little of interest outside of the colour of sunrise and sunset. The planets just haven’t aligned for me at Cape Schank as yet; which is really great incentive to keep going back.

On my last trip the skies were again cloudless an hour os so before sunset as I scrambled over the rocks looking for frames and I thought I was going to again be out of luck. However, as the sun began to set some cloud began to build on the horizon and this photograph was the result. I used the LEE 10 Stop Neutral Density Filter to get an exposure time of 181 seconds; which has caused the water to go very milky and soften the harshness of the rocks.

Cloudless skies at sunrise and sunset are not my preferred atmospheric conditions for Landscape photography. In general, I prefer overcast skies (Nature’s Soft Box); or at least some puffy or windswept clouds to pick up the colour of dawn and dusk and add an extra dimension. My weekend shoot at Cape Schank provided only clear skies; which although not ideal for interest in the sky did provide some lovely ethereal golden light, giving the basalt rocks an otherworld alien quality.

I managed to sneak away late yesterday on the eve of the long weekend for both sunset and sunrise the following morning (this morning) down at Cape Schank and the Mornington Peninsula. Cape Schank is a fabulous location for landscape photography – certainly one of the best parts of the Mornington Peninsula and is an area I intend to spend more time photographing this year. The weather can be wild on this part of the coast as the point fronts the waters of Bass Strait and is exposed to the full fury of the South’s weather. The wind was howling when I arrived an hour or so before sunset yesterday; which made keeping my lenses free of salt spray quite challenging. However, conditions this morning were ideal with nary a breath of wind, a low tide and some lovely gold light. The basalt rock formations of Cape Schank have a dimensionality that is primordial in nature; which when combined with great and/or interesting light makes for an other worldly alien landscape.

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I am still sorting through and processing my ’selects’ from my recent trip to Mungo as I get time; but I wanted to squeeze in another blog update before I leave for Tasmania. This photograph was taken just a few minutes before the one below at the Walls of China at Mungo in New South Wales. I was scurrying back and forth amongst the features trying to find just the right combination of subject and composition during the all to brief golden light. So often landscape photography is like international air travel – hours of sheer boredom followed by ten seconds of sheer terror during landing. Or in the case of photography, hours of waiting around for ten minutes of great (hopefully!) light either end of the day. That is partly what makes photography in Iceland so special – the long hours of golden light under the midnight sun. And, hopefully this experience is repeated later this year when I visit Antarctica.

I am back from my recent trip to Mungo and the Walls of China in New South Wales and it was quite a memorable trip for a number of reasons. Firstly, with all the rain and flooding that has been going on in Australia of late (in particular Victoria and Queensland) it was kind of inevitable that it affected the trip – as indeed it did. Part of the Calder Highway was underwater during the recent floods and the subsequent traffic of big trucks after the waters have receded has destroyed the road in parts – forcing more than an hour long detour around the damaged sections. This turned what should have been approximately a seven hour drive into nearly eight hours. And that was just to get to Mildura. Mungo is another hundred and forty kilometres past Mildura and a good eighty kilometres of that is rough dirt road. As it turned out I seriously underestimated how long it would take to get there. Thankfully, I wasn’t travelling alone this time and had taken my cousin along for the ride – which at least gave me someone to chat to on the long drive.

I learned the hard way from previous attempts to get into Mungo that the road is often closed during and shortly after rains. The surface is mostly a very fine red Mallee dust that when mixed with water turns into something akin to high strength cement (I am sure you could lay foundations with the stuff). This time I checked in with the parks office who assured me the road into Mungo was open; although there was some water on parts of the road and they were advising caution and a recommendation of four wheel drive vehicles (which is fine as I have a 4WD – albeit with road tyres). The road around the park was closed due to storm damage; but that was ok as I did not intend to circumnavigate the park but rather camp in one spot and photograph the lunette and Walls of China feature.

With the long delay caused by the floods detour we were already racing the setting sun to have any chance of a sunset shoot on arrival. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn shortly after Mildura; which cost us another hours delay before I realised my error (memo to BMW: Please add the Arumpo Road outside of Mildura to your Satellite Navigation DVD upgrade). Finally back on track we arrived at the entrance to the Park and the beginning of roughly eighty kilometres of dirt road. With the sun already setting it was now clear we were not going to make it in time for a sunset shoot so the plan changed and became one of at least getting there before total dark to work out where to go in the morning for the dawn shoot.

Roughly fifty kilometres into the dirt road the sun was set and twilight showed a wonderful pastel mauve glow in the sky that had me cursing the wrong turn and lost time. It was about then that we hit a large patch of water/mud/cement at around eighty kilometres an hour that quickly saw us bogged knee deep in the infamous Mallee mud. Even with the BMW 4-Wheel drive system we could do no more than roll back and forward maybe five metres – well and truly stuck in deep mud-filled tyre ruts that were all but invisible on approach under the water.

Twenty minutes of cursing and continued effort saw us slowly able to get the car sideways and extricate ourselves from the bog. I am sure a 4 wheel drive fitted with ‘real’ off road tyres would have been out quick smart – but the road slicks of my car made the job that much more difficult.

We finally arrived at camp at Mungo just as the first stars were appearing. We were able to locate the ten kilometre road into the Walls of China feature for the planned dawn shoot and sat down to a meal and some sleep. The whole trip had taken more than nine hours. By the time we crawled into our sleeping bags it was after midnight and I was totally knackered from the long drive. It was to prove worth the effort however as we were rewarded at both Dawn and the following Sunset with some gorgeous light for photography.This first photograph was one of the last exposures I made at the Walls of China and is subsequently one of my favourite images from the trip. Whilst wandering around the features I was immediately attracted to the curving line of sand leading from left to right that I have used in my composition to draw the eye into the photograph. I am always looking for leading lines in Nature as they help convey a sense of depth to a photograph that greatly enhances the viewers experience. The natural formations of the Walls of China really add a sense of drama to this photograph that I find very appealing. This photograph was taken around ten minutes after sunset. You can still see a very faint glow in the Eastern sky. The sandstone features of the Walls of China are softly illuminated by reflected light off the high cloud.

I will post some more photographs from the trip over the coming weeks as I get time to finish sorting and processing the roughly four hundred frames I took over a period of two days.

For anyone who is interested there is some interesting information about Mungo and the Walls of China and how they formed on Park New South Wales Website.

It is better than a rain dance – but I am trying again to get to the Walls of China at Mungo this weekend. The weather forecast is reasonable to good, the road is currently open and accessible, the moon almost full and the planets just about aligned. So all with all systems go for launch I am heading off for the 6-hour drive to Mildura and then onto the Walls of China late this Friday for a few days of photography.

I wont belabour the point again – but Mungo and the Walls of China is a part of Victoria I have not visited before and have wanted to photograph for some time. My last two attempts have ended in total wash-outs and wasted or aborted trips. This time I feel nervously confident it will come off. We shall soon see. See you in a few days.

It has been quite a while since my last update (my apologies); things have just been very hectic at the office with the usual pre-Christmas insanity. I really do not understand what it is about the pre-Christmas period that makes people act as if the world is coming to an end. The desire to get everything finished before Christmas for no other reason than getting it finished before Christmas makes little to no sense to me. Anyway, despite the madness I did manage to sneak away the weekend before last to the Grampians for a couple of days for some photography. The Grampians was actually ‘Plan B’ – ‘Plan A’ was Mungo and the Walls of China; which if you have been following my blog at all will know I am destined not to visit due to the God of Thunders uncanny ability to pour rain for days prior and during any potential visit – such is life. I will keep trying though.

Exiting stage left at around 11am and leaving the kids with my somewhat understanding wife I made a beeline for Halls Gap and the Grampians Saturday morning. The Grampians are around three and half hours drive from my house; which gave me plenty of time to make a sunset shoot. Even though I did not as yet know where I would be shooting and the Grampians is an awfully big place. Arriving in Halls Gap early afternoon after some fairly atrocious traffic through the city outskirts I had  a good chat with one of the Rangers about the current state of the waterfalls and weather conditions. On his advice I made for an area of the Grampians near Dunkeld called Sentinel Peak.

Sentinel Peak is a steep three and a half hour trek virtually straight up from the main road from Halls Gap to Dunkeld to the Summit which looks North East across the main peak. The views from the top are spectacular (some of the best in the Grampians) although its a tough hike up very uneven rocky ground that saw me nothing short of shattered on reaching the summit. I contribute a good portion of my weakened condition on reaching the top to the twenty plus kilograms of camera equipment I hauled to the top. Not having photographed or even walked to the top before I did not want to be caught short of the wrong lens. In the end I used my trusty 50mm F1.2L and could have left most of the rest of the kit in the car.

This photograph was shot from the summit proper looking North East as distant rain showers and sunbeams streaked through the patchy cloud. There is a lovely play of light at work here that really works for me. You cant see it in the small jpeg on screen but there are two rainbows in the distance on the right hand side of frame. The light is warm late afternoon light that is often encountered this time of year in Australia and makes for wonderful landscape photography.

The Australian bush is very difficult to photograph at the best of times. Making order out of the chaos can be extremely challenging. If you have never visited Australia or attempted to photograph the Australian bush you may have a hard time comprehending what it is I am driving at with this statement. Those of you who have will understand what I mean when I say the Grampians (although exceedingly beautiful) is very challenging photographically. In this case, I am very pleased with the result.

I ended up getting back to the car around 10:30pm after the hike back down (nearly treading on a Tiger snake in the process) and decided that after dinner and a few hours sleep I would get up at 3am and hike back up for sunrise (must have been a brain fade moment). I did trek back up for sunrise but needn’t have bothered as the best light was most definitely the prior evening with the distant rain showers.