Fair Weather Photographer

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So, here I am cruising up the freeway at a very respectable hour of about 8am… gentlemen's hours I say 😉 when I see the turn off to Somersby on the left, I thought.. yeah sure I need a break from driving (albeit I had only been driving for less than a hour:) ) and what better place to stop then the quaint Somersby Falls.
Its only 10 minutes off the freeway so its pretty hard to argue with! however.. and a big however, once I get the camera out.. the hours just race away 🙂 Hence, whilst approaching the falls thru the lovely Central Coast hinterland I kept saying.. max 5 compositions, max 5 compositions 🙂 ..that should keep me on schedule..

I was expecting a quiet uninterrupted walk down to the falls however I did note several cars parked outside of the actual national park and thought.. surely not 😉 but rest assured, I was certainly not the only one who thought a Saturday Morning session at Somersby would be a good idea. Given the overcast conditions and the rain we had the night before I suppose it was not unexpected.

Onto the title, today, I was the fair weather photographer, I took the tourist option and only visited the most nearby falls, I have wanted to hike down to the next more secluded ones for sometime now, however given time pressures, not this time. So I was joined by probably half a dozen other togs who were making the best of the good conditions.

One gripe I do have though… to all those people who parked their cars outside of the park, clearly to avoid paying the National Parks parking fee… harden the hell up and spend the 7 bucks to support the organisation that provides the maintenance and upgrades to wonderful places like this. I have had alot to do with the NPWS thru work (aviation side) and damn they do a great job, from spraying bitou bush from choppers to airlifting in supplies to make paths and firefighting, you name they do it.. it ain't cheap. Whilst I also hate paying parking fees (note I have a annual pass) these fees do directly help the upkeep of the parks.

rant end – Righto, with that off my chest this image was one of my 5 compositions, in fact it was the first shot (falls) of the morning 🙂 I left here shortly thereafter and continued my drive up the coast, much more relaxed and rejuvenated for my visit to Somersby Falls. I will be back 🙂

Exif love:
D750 coupled with 16-35mm f4 @ 16mm Aperture: f/18 and Shutter Speed: 20s
ISO 100
out front – Hoya CPL…. and a composition to avoid the crowds 🙂

https://blog.avernus.com.au/fair-weather-photographer/

91 thoughts on “Fair Weather Photographer”

  5. Wow, how beautiful Gerard! I love the silky water and the greenness of the moss along the waterfalls. So stark! I need to get down to Somersby next time I go to Lake Macquarie:-)

  23. Dovršeno posneti majhni slapovi žuborečega potočka. Odlična perspektiva, poudarjene barve in nakazan občutek gibanja vode. Delo izkušenega mojstra, Gerard!

  27. I love the shot, but even more I loved reading your story! In addition, you are absolutely right in your "rant": many people will spend thousands on that new car which they then drive somewhere only to try to avoid giving back a small sum (to park/enter) to help maintain access to a beautiful site, and repair damage resulting from that eased access!

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