Hi all,

Our next night shoot will be this Friday (19th) night.

It will be in the Polly Woodside/Convention Centre precinct. We’ll meet outside Jeffs Shed at 7pm and wander around from there.

See you all then,

Pete

For those who won’t be in Halls Gap over the weekend and are looking for something to do:

Dights Falls – Abbotsford.

Parking is in a carpark off Trenerry Cres.

A naturally occurring rock falls just below the junction of the Yarra River and Merri Creek, Dights Falls refers to John Dight who, with his brother Charles, built the Ceres flour mill, completed in 1841. The mill was powered by water from a weir above the Falls constructed to manage the highly variable river flow.

For most of the 20th century, Dights Falls was relatively inaccessible to the general public. The completion of the Eastern Freeway in 1972 involved changes to the course of the Yarra which destroyed the Deep Rock Basin and transformed the area.

In the 1990s significant enhancements included the construction of a Koorie Garden; restoration of the bluestone mill race, parts of the mill and landscape restoration around the mill site; the addition of a fish ladder to allow native fish to travel upstream to spawn; and improved public access.

In the early 21st century, canoeists ride the rapids, cyclists and pedestrians use the flood-prone Trail, and ‘urban adventurers’ explore the nearby drains.

I think it will work better in the morning than the afternoon so it’ll be a 9am kickoff.

Look up Dights Falls in Wikipedia and click on the good photo link at the bottom of the page to see what’s possible.

Cheers,
Pete

Another new venture for this year is Saturday outings which we will kick off in style this coming Saturday at Healesville Sanctuary.

Healesville Sanctuary is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm. The total Sanctuary journey is approximately 3km and while an average visit takes three hours, you can easily spend the day. Remember to arrive at the Birds of Prey arena 15 minutes before the scheduled presentation as late entry is not permitted.

Don’t miss the amazing Birds of Prey presentation every day at noon and 2.30pm. It is a free-flying display featuring raptors such as kites, owls and falcons and Australia’s largest – the Wedge-tailed Eagle.

We meet at the front gate at 10am and by the sounds of could easily spend most of the day in there.

There are BBQ facilities available in the picnic areas but whether they are free or not is not made clear on the website. There are also a take-away food cafes and a bistro.

If you think you might go to any of the three zoos more than two or three times this year it would be worth your while to check out Friends of the Zoos.

The forecast for Saturday at this stage is warm and sunny so bring a hat.

Cheers,
Pete

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Last Friday’s night shoot at Beacon Cove/Station Pier was a resounding success with a superb sunset.

There were at least 14 people, though not all at once. Some arrived on time but left early, others arrived late, while others were there for the entire night.

Most of the early shift:

The next night shoot will be on 19/20 March outside the Casino.

Friday 19th is the next night shoot.

The destination is Beacon Cove/Station Pier. Meet at the beacon monument on the beach (not the beacon itself which is further inland) at 7:30. We’ll grab a bite to eat and then when the sun starts to set we’ll go a snapping.

It’s a fantastic location with loads of potential so I hope to see you there.

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Hi All,

This Sunday will see WCC venture out for it’s 4th outing for the year so far, the second in the Sunday series.

This time around it’s the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne. The forecast at this stage is for a sunny 28 degrees which should be just perfect. The gardens open at 9am but I propose that we meet at the visitor centre at a slightly more respectable 10am. The loose plan is to wander around for a couple of hours and then meet back at the visitor’s centre at 12:30 for some lunch.

The following entry fees apply for the Australian Garden:

Adults: $9.80 AUD
Concession: $8.35 AUD
Children under 16 free.

Entry to the bushland at Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne is free.

The bushland will be closed if it is a Total Fire Ban day.

See you there,
Pete

Approximately a 45 minute drive from Mount Waverley:

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Last Saturday night a handful of us met out at Pete’s place in order to shoot star trails. Due to cloud this wasn’t going to be possible so we switched to plan B once the rain died down.

This involved light painting using torches, sparklers, lasers and glowsticks:

More can be found in my Flickr set, although others have shots that I didn’t get.

Stephen

The second outing for the year will be a BBQ on the banks of the Yarra on Tuesday night Jan 5th

I will try to secure a spot on the south side of the river opposite the tennis centre and plan to be there from about six onwards.
Once again bring your camera and some food. If you can’t find find me give me a call on 0403 803 299

Pete Davies

Ladies and Gents – the first club outing for the 2010 season will be to the Blue Lotus Water Gardens in Yarra Junction.  We will go there on Sunday the 3rd of January and aim to be there at 10.30 am.  Rosie and I have not been here ourselves but I know many club members have.

What to do there – Looking at the website I see the entire surroundings are most photogenic and for those of us interested in close up photography of flowers, particularly water flowers, this would be an ideal opportunity to get down and dirty and to test out those macro and close up lenses we got for Christmas!!  Maybe if I ask Peter Myers, Jill Myers, Dave Sumner or one of the other experts, nicely, to add some tips and hints to the blog site for the beginners among us before we go it would help!!

How to get there – The address is 2628 Warburton H’Way Yarra Junction; The Melways reference is Map 288-H8

Cheers, and have a great Christmas holiday season. And remember “…Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away”

Andy