City Bound Wilderness

Its kinda hard to believe these spots still exist minutes from Sydney Harbour amongst the suburbs, as you walk into this place there are only a few tell tale signs that you are merely minutes away from a busy roads, upper class willoughby (ohh i'm gonna cop some flack for that πŸ˜‰ they would reckon they are just middle class πŸ˜‰ ) and sydney harbour. Alrightly the power lines across the top falls was a bit of a giveaway πŸ™‚ the stormwater runoff and all the usual piles of plastic bottles another clue and the all too familiar sound of aircraft departing mascot continually remind me of where I really was.

There are a series of cut steps that lead right into the waterfall pool, at the upper falls and also the lower ones, so I can only imagine many years ago it may have been a popular swimming spot. Whilst waiting for old man Rodney to turn up I also found a old crusty one penny coin dislodged by all the rain, yup a 1936 copper coin .. very cool. However, Sarah's nan (86) did not think it was cool, after I told her she told me she has a whole jar of them apparently πŸ™ talk about stealing me thunder πŸ˜‰

I do love my panoramic views and this fern and the other green plant just screamed to be bookends for my picture of the jumbled mess of rocks and the trickle of water fighting for an escape route to the harbour.

I have cobbled together, with the help of Cameron K. Fong and Kudos Cameras a light weight pano kit which is serving me quite well, it can double as a single row kit or a multi row kit, its not super stiff, however thats a tradeoff for the 900 grams of weight. Its made from a few Leofoto components (PAN-02, BPL-200 (2 off), DDM-60) and a Desmond DVC-220 clamp. Its can handle a FX camera with a 24-70mm lens on it, its got a bit of wobble when going between click stops, however more than acceptable for the weight and price.

This shot was taken using just the single row parts, which are a single rail , panning clamp and DDM-60 discal clamp, this combo is rock solid and really compact, fits in my pocket and can also be left on the tripod for the majority of shots. Is it worth the effort, when you shoot these very close scenes at fairly wide angles (24mm) the parallax error is a real killer and whilst PS does a great job, the joy of seeing 5 images (in this case) just stitch seamlessly and with no need to warp it back into perspective saves time in front the computer πŸ™‚

7 thoughts on “City Bound Wilderness

  1. Incredible that this tropical beauty is so near to developed areas. It looks quite primordial! Excited to hear that there is now technology to create your beloved panos in camera!

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