Softness is.. North Bondi

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Softness is .. North Bondi - (c) 2014 Gerard Blacklock

Softness is .. North Bondi – (c) 2014 Gerard Blacklock
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/5.6 and Shutter Speed: 248.4 seconds
ISO 400
out front – Lee Graduated Filter 0.9x, a very tall cliff and lots of rocks.

It was well past sunset and there was nothing but a warm glow from where the sun had disappeared over the city skyline, with almost no moon it was a perfect time for some long exposures without the need for filters.

I did however have a graduated filter on the sky to enable more light from the lower part of the scene to be captured, additionally with the use of a super powered torch I lit the scene from an adjacent rock several steps from to right. The rocks down in the ocean are artificially lit along with that part of the cliff face on the right. The warm tip on the cliff is from the argon street lights a hundred metres of so away.

Whilst the composition was not quite what I wanted, i do like the smooth water and punchy rocks, hence it made it off the cull list 😉 I also think a star trail view from this very spot could really make it sing, you can see a few of the star trails from the 250 seconds long exposure

Techie Love

Unhealthy Obsession

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Unhealthy Obsession - Lone Trees - (c) 2014 Gerard Blacklock

Unhealthy Obsession – Lone Trees – (c) 2014 Gerard Blacklock
D7000 with Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 @ 17mm – Aperture: f/9.5 and Shutter Speed: 2 seconds
out front – nothing, no filters, nothing but smelly fresh air, a golf course and a tree.

of lone trees on hills
I do have quite the fascination with lonely trees, whether they be on a beach, in some dunes, in the country side or in the bay, and now on the headland, they never seem to lose the appeal.
So during a further investigation of this location (with Rod) via google street view this little old tree popped up while tracking that big smelling poo cannon.

Its a pretty photogenic tree, it could however have a bit more of a lean and possibly be repositioned alittle but hey, all in all pretty sweet. I did take quite a few images of this tree including some obligatory panoramas 😉 , the first one that caught my eye was the one with the tree over looking the green, I had wanted to capture it with the golf green and hole/flag in place, but it was well past closing time and all the green hole flags had been removed.

Simple black and white vertical panorama style image.

Single image
Techie data:
D7000 with Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 @ 17mm – Aperture: f/9.5 and Shutter Speed: 2 seconds
out front – nothing, no filters, nothing but smelly fresh air, a golf course and a tree.

Cosmic poo Cannon

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Cosmic Poo Cannon - (c) Gerard Blacklock D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @ 11mm- Aperture: f/3.3 and Shutter Speed: 60.7 seconds (151 shots) ISO: 400

Cosmic Poo Cannon – (c) Gerard Blacklock
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @ 11mm- Aperture: f/3.3 and Shutter Speed: 60.7 seconds (151 shots)
ISO: 400

stand back, we have a new means for waste water treatment

The cosmic poo cannon, during daylight hours can be seen here https://blog.avernus.com.au/prelude/

Given the time of month and the lack of moonage, i was keen to get out and do some star trails, without having to drive a million miles to a dark place. After the failed attempt from the previous week with Rodney, I was itching even more so. I had planned to get out during the week but the fickle weather prevented it.

I have had a few potential sites in the back of my mind for while, Sydney park, Kurnell (multiple poo cannons there), malabar and North Bondi (super poo cannon), after looking at a few older shots of the super poo cannon (https://blog.avernus.com.au/prelude/) it really looked as if it had lots of potential, with the only unknown being (beside never actually having visited there) being the amount of ambient light that may spill from the adjacent apartments and streets.

After a wonderful sunrise at Coogee (Ross jones pool) with Rodney and half of Sydneys other photographers ;( I mentioned it could be on the cards if the weather was on – the rest is history.

So here we have – Cosmic poo cannon
Taken in Australias largest city with probably some of the most light pollution around – just goes to show, you can do star trails pretty well anywhere 🙂

Techie stuff
151 images stacked together using the statistics method in Adobe PS CC
The foreground shot was just a simply red LED torch applied to the path leading up to the poo cannon.
Opted for longer shutter to reduce the file numbers (read as running outta disk space)

D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @ 11mm- Aperture: f/3.3 and Shutter Speed: 60.7 seconds (151 shots)
ISO: 400
out front – North Bondi Water Treatment plant Exhaust stack.

Lovely jubbly and thanks for looking – I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed and always appreciate the time people take to have a look and/or comment.

Prelude

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North Bondi - Cliffs (c) Gerard Blacklock D7000 coupled with 300mm f4 @300mm Aperture: f/6.7 and Shutter Speed: 1/1000s out front – nutter, cliffs, and water

North Bondi – Cliffs (c) Gerard Blacklock
D7000 coupled with 300mm f4 @300mm Aperture: f/6.7 and Shutter Speed: 1/1000s
out front – nutter, cliffs, and water

Quite some time ago I was up on the infamous cliffs of the eastern burbs of Sydney and from a vantage point forther north of Bondi I noticed this mad looking exhaust stack stitting out on the headland, at the time I took a few snap shots to keep it in the memory bank for another day.

Now, what is even madder, is that if you look closely (this is full res version) you can see a few peeps down on the rocks, one dude doing some rock fishing, and someone else. Now, how the hell did they get down there?
This thought has plagued me on other occasions, how on earth do these dudes get down there, are they mad rock climbers as well as nutter fishermen?, I have seen the same at North head in Sydney harbour, which, by pure concidence this week end some fisherman was rescued by a the rescue chopper after falling several metres. If you know North head, sheesh man its water and cliff, nothing else!
Anyway to the important stuff, the dude was rescued by the Ambulance NSW Augusta-Westland AW139 helicopter, by far one of my more favored choppers.
I digress..
so does anyone know how people get to the bottom (alive that is by the way) of the cliffs at North Bondi? cause there are some cool rocks there which would look awesome for sunrise 😉
Stand by for some funky shots of this exhaust tower.. up close and personal.

Techie love:
D7000 coupled with 300mm f4 @300mm Aperture: f/6.7 and Shutter Speed: 1/1000s
out front – nutter, cliffs, and water