A New Direction....

I decided to take a slightly new direction with my photography. Actually, perhaps more of a direction to challenge myself a little more.

Breaking the shackles of auto SLR photography, I have decided to undertake only full manual imagery.

I originally thought it was daunting, however there is a mountain of books, magazines and websites to provide an excellent guide to how this is to be done. However, even with this behind you, I think the only way to learn how to do it is to actually go out and practice.

So, with my new found knowledge, I ventured to Mount Panorama one early morning to take some sunrise photos. 

This is the first of the panoramic shots of Bathurst from Mount Panorama. I quite enjoy this photo with the rolling fog into the township. The sky is perhaps a little over exposed but the overall image of the city is quite pleasing. This was taken at f22, ISO 100 at 5 seconds.

This is found on the southern side of Mount Panorama. The shot was difficult due to the vantage point being limited due to the race track and powerlines, as well as the quickly rising sun. The sky again is a little overexposed for my liking but the fog imagery looks quite nice. This was taken at F22, ISO 100 at 3 seconds.

This is also at the southern side of Mount Panorama, but from the rear of the mount. The sun was starting to rise quickly, I felt feeling come back into my face and hands, and this is taken with 5 images stitched together. I like the warmth and feel of this image alot. Taken with F22, ISO 100, 1/25 second.

This is a different day than the early morning shots, and located in old Joseph Banks Reserve on the side of Mount Panorama. The reserve was a flora and fauna park many years ago, but since closed down, but some of the old impounds and cages are still partially there. I found this tree had fallen into one of the compounds and I liked how the moss grew through the cracking gum tree trunk. F5.6, ISO 400 1/320 second.

This is one of those "Try again late" panorama shots. The big dipper on the Mount Panorama race track is one of the most renowned bends in motor racing. However, as you may notice, the stitching of the image just hasn't come together. The issues were that by the time I took the image from the left hand side of the track to the right, the sun finally came out and the dynamics of the race track changed dramatically. Will have to try this again, when the light is alot better.

This is a gum tree I also found at the Joseph Banks reserve. I enjoyed the visual appeal of the patterns and texture in the gum tree bark. I also decided I should do a series of tree bark similar to these styles. 

This was also located in the reserve, and I thought I would just take a photo of it for odd-value. It was located high in a tree,  rolled up rusty barbed wire. But, as I manipulated the photo, cropping the image, I came up with the two below shots. The first is in a grainy black / white filter and the second has a macro apperture applied then a filter called dynamic. The second one does appear to have quite a visually grabbing result.

The following is not a great photo by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought it was just interesting. Located at the old reserve is these rock formations, looking similar to lava flows and a little fragile. The supportive walls are the old compounds from the animal enclosures.

Walking through the reserve I noticed these two large male kangaroos. They were about 200 metres from me and about 6 foot tall. The photo below is nothing fantastic, however as I sat there trying to get a good photo, walking slowly towards them, I noticed that I was wearing a light grey jacket.........and dark grey tracksuit pants...........and over 6 foot tall, I might have looked a little like a male kangaroo. Not up for a fight with a kangaroo.....I called it a day..,..