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Sun 06 Aug 2023

Another shoot out at Eidsvold today.

To be honest I'm pretty much over going to gun ranges but in Australia you have to compete a number of times per year (depends on what calibers you own) if you own hand guns and one place I shoot is at the Eidsvold range. In many ways I don't mind because they are good people in these clubs and also I take the opportunity to take some photos and also visit a cattle farmer friend of mine who lives out that way.

On the road out to Mount Perry.

Without a vehicle like my Cruiser I could not take this photo because I need to be elevated and with the Cruiser I can just climb up on to the roof and photograph from about 2 metres up in the air.

This functionality is important to me, and it would not be practical (or even possible) if I had a nice new SUV or sedan.

But this is not the only reason a vehicle like my Cruiser is important to me, more about that later.

I wander around for a while and take a few shots of this horse.

Then I get to Mt Perry.

And evenatually out to Eidsvold.

After the shoot I go out to my friend's property. He has has quite a few 1000 acres and with that sort of land you need a lot of equipment, including an old grader it seems.

I sometimes stay here over night but today I just have a chat and a cuppa then head off home.

On the way along Kerwee road I spot this old farm house in the distance.

I take this photo but it's hardly worth the effort, I need to be a lot closer.

Then an old ute turns up, the driver gets out and asks me what I'm doing. To which I reply that I'm a photographer and I liked the look of that old house. He mellows a bit and we chat for a while, to some extent I can talk the talk with a farmer (I did grow up on a dairy then a sheep farm) and with the old Cruiser and work boots I look like I fit in out here in the bush, which I do to be honest.

It turns out that he is the owner of this property, he actually lives in Monto which is miles away but just happened to be here now to check up on the cattle and water. He says I can go down to the house if I want to get some better photos. So I do.

Note that all these photos bar two are taken from the roof of the Cruiser, they would not have worked if taken from ground level. Note also that me having a beat up old Landcruiser gives me "street cred" out here in the bush, if I was driving a BMW and looked like a Wall Street banker there's no way people would warm to me as they do.

Which is why I need my old Cruiser, assuming of course that I want to continue taking photos of this nature, which I do, partly because I just like to, and partly because I have an idea for a photo essay and/or exhibition and photos of this nature would be prominant in that venture.

Tue 08 Aug 2023

Meanwhile back at Wallaby Ridge the building is coming along slowly.

Wed 09 Aug 2023

I said before that the new camera will probably not be very good for wildlfe photography, the jury is still out on that for fast movers but for slower more static subjects it is pretty good.

The lens maxxes out optically at around 500mm (depending on various factors) which is long enough for general use, but for a lot of wildlife photography you need more and these modern cameras mostly (all?) have digital zoom. Now digital zoom has historically been pretty useless and by and large I would say still is, but on the other hand have a look at this photo.

Unfortunately I can't say what focal length this is because the camera doesn't report that when in digital zoom mode, but the camera is capable of around 1000mm depending on the aspect ratio you are using and other factors and I think that I did have it maxxed out.

The resultant file is smaller as well in this mode, but this photo is pretty sharp and very usable for a small print and with other software I use (Topax Gigapixel) I can enlarge it 4x or more for quite a large print with no discernable loss of quality.

Thu 10 Aug 2023

One of our resident turkeys inspecting the workmanship on the Cruiser's roof rack.

Sat 12 Aug 2023

Geri and I are back down in Hervey Bay and we go for an early walk to a local coffee shop. As mentioned the new camera is small enough to carry just in case and I see this crow.

I leave Geri in the Bay and return home, seeing this view of the old Booyal hall on the way.

And while dodging the traffic to get that photo I see a pattern in the young macadamia trees on the other side of the road.

Macadamias are the big thing around here these days, There has been established orchards for ever but everywhere you go now you see new orchards of young trees and land being cleared for even more.

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