Coles Bay must be one of the most scenic towns in Tasmania. This photo was taken from the foreshore, with the beautiful granite mountains known as the Hazards which dominate the park making a dramatic backdrop.
Coles Bay & The Hazards
Most of the walking tracks start below Mt Amos (Mt Amos is the second mountain from the right) including the easy 30 minute (each way) walk to the Wineglass Bay Lookout, or the more challenging climb to the top of Mt Amos itself, which provides beautiful views of Wineglass Bay and the entire Freycinet Peninsula.
Coles Bay is approximately 2.5 hours driving time from Hobart, via the very scenic Tasman Highway (A3).
Spring is a beautiful time in Hobart as the winter chill fades away, and the flowers and trees bloom back into colour. One of the highlights is the Spring Community Festival, which used to be known as the Hobart Tulip Festival, at the Hobart Botanical Gardens.
Spring Tulip Festival, Hobart
Tulips are in bloom late September and early October throughout Tasmania, and the Spring Tulip Festival 2011 will be held at the Botanical Gardens in Hobart over the weekend of October 8-9.
Spring Tulip Festival, Hobart
If you are driving you should park at the Cenotaph, and use the free shuttle bus to get to the Botanic Gardens. The festival attracts more than 15,000 visitors over the weekend, so parking at the Gardens will be basically impossible.
Macro detail, Tulip
Continuing my spring of macro photography – the shot above involved getting quite up close and personal with a tulip. The major difficulty that photographing tulips presents is that the relatively large flower, on top of its long thin stem, bobs around quite a lot in even the lightest breeze. Sometimes patience is the best solution.
Recently I was on the north coast of Tasmania, at Narawntapu National Park. The weather was fine and sunny, which isn’t necessarily my favourite conditions for landscape photography. Instead I spent the morning with the macro lens attached, and pointed at the coast vegetation. In particular the grass trees caught my attention, with the long spines intermingling and merging with each other into nice abstract colours and patterns.
Macro - Grass Tree, Narawntapu
The shallow depth of field makes for a beautiful effect on nature photos when only one small part of the frame is sharply focused. In this case I focused on two broken tips and let the rest of the image blur into a beautiful mish mash of greens and yellows. One of the best macro photography tips I have heard is to carry an umbrella, not so much for rain, but for wind. As you are dealing with such a very small scene when taking macro photos, it is important to shelter your subject from the wind, to minimise movement. You can also use the umbrella to shade your subject from harsh sunlight and contrast if needed.
Macro - Grass Tree, Narawntapu
This is the view from above a very small grass tree. All the spines radiate out from the centre which I positioned just to the right of centre. The eagle eyed amongst you might even remember this image was the header of my first email newsletter (edition 2 will be coming soon!). For those who haven’t joined my email list, please enter your details via the sign up box on the right. I will email every month or so with news and updates from the Gallery, and perhaps even the odd preview of some new pics.
Dew Drops, Macro Detail
Snug Falls is a great fall just out of Hobart. The town of Snug is around 30 mins by car, and the walk is approximately 30 minutes each way. I visited late in the day for this shoot, and was lucky enough to have a curious platypus keeping me company.
Snug Falls, Tasmania
Because I was there late in the day there was no bright sunlight blowing out the highlights in the falling water. The surrounding rock was quite dark which gives a very nice contrast to the fall.
Snug Falls, Tasmania
Generally when I am doing landscape photography I am quite absorbed in composition, setting up and adjusting the tripod and so on, but while shooting at Snug Falls, every now and then I would get the feeling I was being watched. But as soon as I moved my head to look, I would see a splash in the pool as a platypus darted for cover. And, as wild animals tend to be shy, whenever I sat pointing my camera at the water waiting for him to resurface, he stayed away. Before I was even aware that the platypus was there I set up the following shot, and because the waterfall was my subject (not the platypus) and I was using a slow shutter speed, unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture the platypus clearly. The brown smudge just to the right of the log is the little fella.
Platypus at Snug Falls
