Foggy Day

Down the road

Out the back...what do I have to winge about....

The road I live in winds along the edge of the escarpment with this little creek with granite rocks.

At the Alter of the Sun

At the Alter of the Sun, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

As the sun came out briefly on Saturday...the only time seen all day...

Moogerah Dam, SE Queensland, Australia...Sunrise, 24/7/2010

Damn, The Destroyer

In the moonlight the dead trees haunt the night sky. The dam destroys and builds at the same time, the fish jumping all morning, bats flying and with the dawn the water birds waking and populating the vicinity.....Dams, contentious, in the case, a balance, as the streams into the lake are seasonal at best....This stretch of water has a certain serenity and ambience in the moonlight......to me, a place to meditate with the reminder of the dead and the alive...and a reminder to strike a balance in all things.

Moogerah Dam in the Moonlight....taken at 3.30am

Moogerah Dam as the Sun rose

As the sun rose the fish stopped jumping and the birds flew in....could hear bats during the night.

Light Painting

Bought myself, vindicate the purchase was on special....:))), a remote gadget for the camera which allows me to fix the shutter open for as long as I wish.  I have had it a couple of days and the possibilities with artistic license and the camera are endless.

After observing what the camera does with the star trails as the world spins on its axis I am making it a point to visit the observatory of the stars at Maindenwell, a tiny town high in the northern Darling Downs which is only 90 ks from where I live.

I would have to pick the coldest morning of the year to experiment with this....

My first effort and had not located the south axis....ie where I can get to photograph the star trails in a complete circle.  Did a little research and have to find the southern cross and two of the same distance approx beneath that configuration....I also did not have the branches of the tree in sharp focus.

I had the tree in focus and still did not have the axis spot on....This photograph is exactly how the camera sees the night sky.  This was with the shutter open for 15 minutes.

I found the southern roatation point ok but could not step back any further because of a hedge .  I am more fortunate than most as do not have any interfering light ie city light as those in the city who wish to do this have to travel many ks away from any street lights to get the effect or the lights of a town city will blow out the image.  This is straight out of the camera without any deepening of colour with software.

Taking the image in a software programme DPP, and putting a bit of darkness back into the mix.

Taking the concept a little futher leaving the shutter open here for only 5 minutes with the lens facing the east and the trees are backlit with orange light and the foreground are painted with a torch with blue light making for interesting colour.  Torchwood as it were...

The big wheel keeps turning and certainly hope it continues to do so...This image was taken  facing the south and was freezing cold and had to wait for an hour....If the shutter was left open for 10 or 11 hours the star trails would be almost complete circles,  if the shutter was left open for 12 hours for one spin of the earth but is somewhat impossible as daylight encroaches and blows the image right out.  I can not leave the shutter open for much more than two hours because of battery life but I guess those who want the shutter to remain open for the 10 hours would have a special rig up.

The backlighting here was created with very orange streetlights in a housing development south of Toowoomba. (No houses yet)  The shutter was left open for about 50 minutes here as the street lights would completely blow the image out with too much light as need complete darkness and the new moon phase of the sky to get the really stark trails but I enjoy the ambient light....

The stars the stars and guess that is where the future is in a million years of so...sobering thought...I do have a very fanciful imagination and when viewing this realize the insignificance of my being and the immensity of  existence...

Balance

The lovely Teegan as model, the surf at Burleight and a moon shot from a couple of months ago using masks and filters.

by Tyrone Graham

Balance

The long road or the easy way?

A lifetime’s fight or for the day?

A life of ease or one of pain?

The choice returns time and again.

Will souls survive to grow or burn?

Questions rise and questions return.

No man is free from nagging doubts:

Each man’s mind turns and turns about.

Must one give of one’s full measure

Of choice for some unsure treasure?

Proof is scarce and answers are gray –

But is there not a middle way?

There is – it is a narrow path

That brings joy but rouses no wrath.

With much thought and a dash of luck

A careful balance can be struck:

The Wilderness of the Border Ranges

A month ago was speaking with a Park Ranger, Lionel,  at Byron Bay, an aboriginal descendant of the ancient peoples, Githabul,  who lived in the area of the Mt Warning Gonwanda land calandra.  His description of the history of the place fired my imagination, which is pretty full on most of the time anyhow, to go see for myself the cradle of the rainforests of the world.

BORDER RANGES NATIONAL PARK

Border Ranges National Park (31,683 hectares), a World Heritage listed rainforest park on the rim of a vast and ancient volcano, . It stretches 85 kilometres from east to west. Together with the McPherson Ranges, the Springbrook Plateau and the Nightcap National Park, Border Ranges National Park forms part of the caldera of the Mount Warning shield volcano the largest caldera in the southern hemisphere.

Border Ranges National Park has been included on the World Heritage list as part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves (Australia) along with other major rainforest stands in north-east NSW and south-east Queensland. World Heritage properties, places of outstanding value to the world, may be natural wonders or monuments and landscapes of human culture.


More than three-quarters of Border Ranges National Park is managed as wilderness. As declared wilderness, these areas are provided protection for their natural features and access is by foot only.

I left home at 2.30am and picked up my friend in Toowoomba and headed "South of the Border"...a big deal for us Queenslanders who are so precocial ...Mostly travelled in the dark to Warwick, Killarney, Legume and as day was breaking hit Kyogle just in time for milking....the farmers were all up and about after a night of heavy rain, which made the air so clear and crisp....crisp being the operative word here.


Did not catch a sunrise as the cloud was too thick but do enjoy being rugged up and warm as the mist rose from the valley floor.  The roads were gravel and quite steep and slippery after the heavy rain...no trouble for the beast but would not like to have been negotiating with a sedan with the silt slick on the road..

After leaving Kyogle and criss crossing a creek on the valley floor.

The thick cloud is rising and the sun is trying to get a grip in the east and was soooo cold around 1 degree C.

The start of the climb leaving the farmland behind with the sun struggling through the fog here and there...

Sheepstation Creek the first walk of the morning and was cold in here

The top of the falls along this creek.

This was a little fraught as was hanging from the side of the bank...wet and slippery just like me...

This sweet little yellow robin, darting here and there catching little insects and picking up larva in the moist ground...I wish I could cling to a tree like that....

Moved on to Brindle Creek to walk in to find the ancient Antarctic Beech trees over 2,000 years old.  The track was quite faint in places and very pristine the walks with the moss overgrowing the trails so would summize that this area of wilderness is not overused.  This place had an atmosphere all of its own....even began to whisper, I guess that is how it affected me......walking in a primeval rainforest.

Quite dark under the canopy like a religious cathedral with a green dome.

Crossing the creek on a moss covered plank back into the thick undergrowth

Walking in this wilderness was special, uplifting and a privilege....not to mention the burning in my muscles after the walk...:)))...know I am alive....

Walking The Border Ranges

Yesterday got up early and went for a walk in the wilderness area of NSW...mind you left here at 1 am Saturday morning and arrived back 3.30 am Sunday morning...was so cold when arrived home slept in the car with my face in the steering wheel, as was still warm from the heater...ouch...I did mention once or twice I can sleep anywhere....

Forgive the camera work with this but will get better with the video...first time I have uploaded to You Tube....

This wilderness is primeval and has a feel about it that I have not experienced elsewhere...relatively quiet as the moss had overgrown the paths so not a lot of feet tramping through this wilderness. Will expand a little later when put up the photographs...