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ART ASTRONOMY Sun, Moon, Venus & Miscellaneous PROCESSING
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PHOTOGRAPHY Welcome to the " Photography" section - this collection is where you find some of my general camera images - although far from professional I thought that they were interesting or unusual enough to warrant posting somewhere...This is also where I might play around with some images. J I've include several different types of images, from simple nature shots (during both day & night) to a couple where I've "composed" an image from 2 quite separate image-elements...to make a composition such as the "Blue Moon" image. ;) Note: All
images on this page are "clickable" and will open up as "full
scale images" in a new tab. |
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"Seven Sisters - Peramangk Dawn" is essentially a "straight" image insofar as this was the vista from this high lookout - but to capture the scene as it presented itself I had to take the Moon with a different exposure, otherwise it would have been over-exposed: this in my thinking is quite different to those other "composed" images referred to above. The image is interesting for a couple of reasons...the Moon, Venus & Jupiter are in close company. (these 2 planets being the brightest "stars" in the image) This echoes one Aboriginal story about the night sky where Venus is depicted as an old man chasing young maidens (the Seven Sisters) across the Heavens but never catching them: you can see the Seven Sisters above the right-hand side of the foreground tree & to the left of both Jupiter & Venus Interestingly, this phase of the Moon as it rises in the early morning just before dawn is often called "The Old Moon." J The
other interesting aspect to this image is that this vista overlooks the
Murray Mallee & some of its more southerly areas - & in direct line
of sight to where the Moon appears here (ie, below
it) is one of our most favoured planetary imaging sites & where the
majority of our planetary images are captured. J |
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Only 2 or 3 kms directly south of the preceding image's capture location, where the winds often blow incessantly all night I huddled in a small hollow to shelter from the wind (again in Peramangk Country, you can see I am shooting from below the grass height) to take this early morning image of Comet Lovejoy in December 2011. The twin tails can be seen with the head of the comet obscured in the dawn cloud. Of extra note is
the (old) Moon which has just risen in the morning sky, seeming to hang like
a lantern from one of the imposing Eucalyptus tree's branches... :) |
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These
next 3 images were taken very close to our home in the Southernmost beachside
suburbs of Two at the Sellicks Washpool - an important natural reserve where a local creek spreads out into swamplands immediately adjacent to the shore - & a very significant location in the Tjilbruke Dreaming of the local Kaurna people. |
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On the banks of the Katherine River (Dagoman, Jawoyn & Wardaman Country) I took this image of lightening flashing in the night sky - the "Wet" was approaching & the tinder-dry country was experiencing numerous fires from these strikes (normal at this time of the year) which created huge amounts of smoke in the air... The
clouds illuminated by lightening were quite “striking” ;) visually & easy
to catch in an image: like some of the following images the temperatures were
very high at the time (well over 40°C) which meant there was a lot of
inherent noise in the image... |
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This was an image taken out in the Murray Mallee not long before dawn & not too far south of where we do a lot of our planetary imaging. It
is slightly "surreal" in that this normally very dry area can
sometimes receive heavy rains, with parts of it becoming ephemeral swamps
that can last for quite a long time before drying up & returning the land
to its normally (very) dry condition |
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Uluru
is in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Country in Central Australia, this sacred place
is probably the most well-known in We visited Uluru in
the height of the Australian Summer...taking some late-evening images of
Uluru from the "Sunset viewing area" before the park closed for the
night: (again) temperatures were very high so the images are a fair bit
noisier here than I would prefer but emerging stars can be seen...both these images are displayed here with
the consent of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara through Uluru Media. |
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Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea Australis) are known by many names - "yakka" ( a Kaurna word) & "kangaroo tail" being a couple: this is a slow-growing plant & those with a trunk 5 metres tall could be anywhere from 200 to 600 years old. They have always been important to Aboriginal people: the flowering spike exudes a deliciously sweet nectar (energy drink) & the gum that exudes from the base is one of the most universal Indigenous adhesives around. The
trunk contains a lot of tannin and the smooth part of the flowering spike was
important as a fire-making tool & lighting material for said. The
flowering spike often grows very erect but in this patch of yakkas in Ngarkat Country they
curved & weaved in an almost mesmerising display... |
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On the banks of Coopers Creek in far South-Western Queensland we encountered this large Perentie ambling along the river bank on a hot day as we were fishing...he was well over 2 metres long with a large head, showing no fear whatsoever about our presence! These are the
largest of the "Goanna" species in |
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On a frangipani tree at Manbulloo I photographed this cicada, seemingly in conversation with an ant...I interloped & took their photograph! J |
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"I ain't movin..!" An ornery bearded dragon asserts his right of way on a road just outside of Booleroo, in Sth. Australia's Mid-North.... |
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This is the "Blue Moon" mentioned at the top of this page: the Moon was actually in the Eastern sky with the sky & landscape in the west just after the sun had set... Facing
one way & then the other I took each shot & composited them together
to create an unusual "Blue Moon"..! ;) |
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Akin to the preceding "Blue Moon," in this image an early evening image has an enlarged Lunar shot composited into it. There
is a slightly "unworldly" appearance to this scene but the lack of
any Earthshine/illumination on the dark part of the Moon is one giveaway -
but I still thought it an interesting image! ;) |
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