Up in AK waiting for the annual family reunion to begin. There I sat in my chair wrapped up snug as a bug watching clouds go by as behind me passed a Black Bear Family and in front a lone Griz. Off to a great start. Yep, life if mighty good!
Great fall color needs a couple of things, for that be explosion it’s a cold snap and moisture. Most of North America is missing the moisture which means big fall color might not happen. Seeing the handwriting on the wall last winter, I didn’t plan any fall color travels this year. Looking at our own trees going from green to brown, I’m saddened I was in the ballpark. Yes, there are some regions that will have color and that’s your mission to find if you want to photograph it. Search the web for regions with above average rainfall in the last forty-five days. Then narrow that down more by searching regions that received above normal moisture late winter. Compare those two searches and look at current temps for a cold snap. That might be your best bet for fall color this fall. I’m bracing for what might be one of those falls!
We’d read that the Queens image had been projected onto the Sydney Opera House but that it was past, not being done anymore. So two nights ago when we saw it there, we goofed up our Uber driver and did one of those great, “hold one moment while I make a click” moves. And with that quick click, off we went. Then last night, it was there again (can’t believe everything you read on the web) after dinner so this time, we took our time. We first shot it from the south, a totally different angle from the first night. You could faintly see the beams from the projector this night, slight moisture in the air. But the direction in which we were shooting, the beams were all wrong. We then walked in the direction of the first night shoot and the beams got brighter and brighter. We passed under them until we saw the view you see above. So on the third attempt to make the ONE click that brought home the story to us, did I get it right. And that’s the point. We shouldn’t settle on the first click, perhaps not the second or third even. We need to push ourselves, our photography, our visual storytelling until we get it right. It might take more and that’s OK. Just ask yourself, should we accept the first?
Sydney Opera House captured by Z 9 / Z24-120 (this is the first click)
Sydney Opera House captured by Z 9 / Z24-120
Built over seventy years ago, the Sydney Opera House is this iconic structure that sucks me in over and over and over again. I shot it our first time here sixteen years ago and I’ve shot it every time since. It takes no talent, just being able to change the Z 9 to B&W and go click. It’s so gorgeous, it’s the picture that takes itself!
The rainforest of Lamington Nat’l Park around O’Reilly’s is teaming with bird life this time of year. The vast majority are incredibly colorful, have crazy calls and do everything in a big way. One notable exception is the Grey Shrike-Thrush. While “common” you are lucky to see one during a twenty-four hour period and even more lucky to get one in the viewfinder. With that said, on everyone of my visits to O’Reilly’s I’ve have the opportunity to photograph one and long enough to get the “Say What?” cock of the head. I’m not sure if it’s trying to hear better, see around me, watching a predator overhead or what, but rotating their head until it looks like it’s going to pop off seems to be common. Knowing this was coming at some point, I wanted the rest of the frame to be “light and whimsical” to support that look. I didn’t want the “dark” rainforest like I had previously. I dialed in +0.03 exp comp into the Z 9 for the ambient light and used the Profoto A10 bringing up the value of the Shrike-Thrush. The end result just makes me smile so in the future when back in MT, I can look at the photo and know it’s saying, “Say What?”
A moment to reflect tonight in Sydney