Many years ago I graced the skies above this pond, back then there were no houses, no M7 freeway, nothing but a quiet little airfield called Hoxton park. I remember the large old trees to the north of the runway which made life very interesting during crosswinds – what happened….development and housing happened and subsequently the closure of Hoxton Park airfield, a real shame 🙁 I can't remember how many times I eased back on the yoke to clear the hill behind where this photo was taken whilst looking down at what was a sparse western Sydney.
Enough nostalgia 🙂 +Rodney Campbell joined me for sneaky sunset session after work (well only one of us was working 😉 ) at this changing location. I'll definiely be back when there are more favorable sunset conditions.
Techie data:
D7000 with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @ 16mm Aperture: f/8 Shutter 3seconds
out front – Hoya screw in circular polariser and LEE Graduated Neutral Density Filter
As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed
Nice shot! Good image.
great story too!
Nostalgic, beautiful picture!
Awesome starkness!! Lovely.
Cheers for the invite Gerry – pity the clouds never played ball and we just got grey. Definitely an interesting location – I fear for not much longer…. light painting next time 🙂
these silly wide-screens make viewing horizontal photos very near impossible; sorry thinking out allowed.
I have to go against the flow here and say at long last you have posted a photo that doesn't do it for me. Sorry. All too centred imo mate.
Scroll to remove the black clouds and the attention is more on the mud patterns/water/tree or scroll to remove much of the mud and the attention is on the water/tree/sky but together the top and bottom are fighting for attention.
Now I don't know what is outside of the frame but I would think the tree would be better positioned closer to the RHS of the image. All about ROT gerry. Sorry to rip your photo apart. That would be a great subject on a big blue sky day with some wispy high level clouds imo 😉
Loved the flying chat; don't fly myself but have done aerial photography; brother was S+R plus lot of other stuff (NT); dad had an UL and my Uncle had a 172
That looks like way west of Sydney rather than in an urban area, such a desolate view.
+Gerard Blacklock I like a lot the dramatic atmosphere in your photo, and the different part of ground, water, ground, which are also very graphical. The structure of the ground in the foreground and of the sky are also very interesting. I find only one small thing difficult for my eyes : this piece of wood, interesting as such, but a little bit to centered. Best regards Gerard.
+Gerard Blacklock Congratulations! Your photo has been selected for display on http://www.besttopphotographer.com as Photo Of The Day for March 15
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Thank you, enjoy your day!
Edward Kowalski
Thanks +Bhudiarto lau , +Margaret Callister , +mariana alexandru and +Linda Stokes !
+Rodney Campbell
yeah thats cricket though:) can't have blazing sunsets everytime …just once would be nice tho 🙂 might need to bring the footprints out for a light painting session there.
+Ian Browne
I appreciate your feedback and I am glad you can give your honest opinion on the image – it means alot!
now I hate to say it but..damn you are right 🙂 , there are two compositions here and as you mentioned they at the moment competing. I remember lookign at the scene and thinking (and mentioning to +Rodney Campbell ) that that looks very cool and it would be a sweet minimal shot, however in hindsight, the lack of scale on the tree and its rather small size within the frame don't quite match what i saw in my head 🙂
Again, you are on the money, removing either the foreground mud or the sky makes for a much better composition..
I am really liking centred compositions at the moment…its probably just a phase but I find myself sticking things smack in the middle rather than offset, which i have done in the past – possibly in this case it may work better if the tree was bigger within the frame.
I would love to do some aerial photography, i am kicking myself now given how many opportunities I have had but never bothered with a camera. +Ian Browne your uncle has taste…172's are great and I have spent most of my time n one…a very old one 🙂
Simplicyt works. Nicely captured +Gerard Blacklock
Keen to see the footprints mate
NB: I was thinking at the time we were shooting these that I wanted a way to bring the tree closer (tele) but still include the expanse of interesting dried mud flats – I mentioned I preferred that tree on the right which was much closer to shore so I could fill the frame but there was none of this cool foreground over there – sigh…
+Lisa Ford
yeah this a newly developed area and I suspect it will look great in several years when the dam wall re-vegetates etc.. but for now, during the earth moving and construction..desolation is the right word.
+Didier Hannot
Thankyou very much for your feedback, i agree that with the tree so small in this case the centred composition is lacking.
thanks +Best Top Photographer Group and +Edward Kowalski
+Gerard Blacklock you are most welcome! 🙂
Fantastic +++