Our Sunday outing next month is to the historic town of Walhalla in the Baw Baw Ranges.
This old gold mining town features many historical buildings, including the railway station, fire station, rotunda and Windsor House (the only brick residence in the town). The Walhalla Goldfields Railway is also operating with trains at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. These run from Walhalla to Thomson and takes 1 hour return. Tours of the Long Tunnel Extended Mine, one of the richest mines of Walhalla, will also be running on the day, these take around 45 minutes.
However, as Walhalla is a two hour drive from Mount Waverley we are intending to have an early start and the sensible suggestion has been made to carpool if possible. Closer to the day we will decide upon a meeting point and time. However please let us know ahead of time if you are going, and if you are driving seperately or are wanting to carpool (both as a driver or passender).
This Sunday, 3 April 2011 our monthly outing will be to Luna Park in St Kilda.
Entry to the park is free, there is a cost for the rides, and it is open from 11am to 8pm. However, to take advantage of the sunset a bit after 6pm, we are planning an afternoon and early evening outing. This should provide an opportunity to capture the movement of the rides with long exposure photography. However it appears they are quite strict in regard to tripods and they may not let you in with one, so you may have to brace the camera against fences or buildings.
Meet under the face at 2pm.
There is metered parking nearby or a number of public transport options. See the park’s how to find us page for details.
Well the annual Labour Day weekend has been and gone for another year but for all you undecided people who chose not to go, there is another opportunity later in the year but you will need to read on for the details. 26 members and their partners/guests attended the WCC trip to Aireys Inlet this year, 2 up on last year with 24 of us staying in Distillery Cottages and 2 elsewhere. As with most of us but not all, I set off on Friday arriving late afternoon and my journey only being held up for 20 minutes leaving work via Hoddle St and Punt Rd, the rest of the journey taking just over an hour was uneventful. Arriving at the cottages at around 5pm I was stunned by the silence of being about 1.5 km inland of the inlet in the bush. The location was beautiful and the cottages stood very picturesque in their surroundings. I quickly found my cottage only to find that I’d been beaten there by the President himself who’d told me he was leaving work around 4pm and this really scuppered my plans for getting there early and picking the best bed.
Having unpacked and caught up with the rest of the early arrivals, we decided that it was probably time to head to the Aireys Inlet Hotel where we had a table booked for 24. Ron, Chris, Albert and Fred were already waiting when we arrived and new member Rosie and her partner Bill arrived a little bit later but we all enjoyed a very nice meal, a good chat and several beers and wines. Unfortunately Stewart and Annette were unable to join us as Stewart was ill at home. Later it was back to the cottages for a few more beers or wine and a good old chat on the balcony of the biggest cottage, Storybrook which ended up being the central meeting and eating place. Sorry about the bottle of Glayva Pete, it was Rodelle and Peter who drank it not me.
Storybrook Cottage by David Burton
Quite a few of us stayed up late (too late) chatting and an alcohol fuelled decision was made to get up for the sunrise before we retired to get as much sleep (not much as it happens) as we could before falling back out of bed in the darkness trying to get ourselves organised and find a spot to see the sunrise. It was at this point that Rodelle cliams to have had to wait 30 minutes on the doorstep for Pete and I, a point which neither of us can confirm. Finding a good spot wasn’t as easy as it seemed and the glow on the horizon had already arrived when we got to a viewpoint just outside of Aireys Inlet. We made the best of what was a very average location and I did manage to get a few shots that were keepers. One piece of advice for these early morning endeavours is to take a torch; this would prove to be essential the next morning but on this occasion would have allowed us to see the Bull Ant nest that we’d set up on top of. Fortunately none of us were bitten.
Sunset over, we checked out the beach and took a few more shots in the morning sunlight. Arriving back at the cottages, Pete retired back to bed as he had plans for that night and Rodelle and I decided that a cooked breakfast was on the cards. So after 30 minutes slaving over a hot stove, breakfast and coffee made, the waitress brought our food and we reflected on the disaster that was Japan in the local cafe. Breakfast over we thought that if we wanted to miss the crowds then a trip to Anglesea to get supplies for that night’s planned BBQ would be a good idea. Anglesea was already busy but not a patch on what it would be like later that day. BBQ supplies bought, we returned to the cottages to see what the plans for the day were. All which I might add were completed before some people even got up. A Split Point Lighthouse tour had been organised for 2pm but poor old Jill had been let down badly by the organisers, spent most of the morning trying to get things sorted out. Whilst we waited to see the people about the tour we retired for a drink at the café by the lighthouse which is thoroughly recommended as they serve some very nice scones.
Lighthouse organised and back on the cards again, we sat down by the Wildlife Sanctuary as Peter had decided that he needed to show Rodelle all about fill light. Unfortunately for Pete but fortunately for Rodelle, Pete had to go to the lighthouse to make the numbers up for the tour. Fortunately for me, this meant that I had time for a snooze on the grass in the sun, unfortunately for me I was sitting with two evil women who decided that they should take not one but several images of me before posting one of them on Facebook. Just shows that you can’t trust anyone especially as one of them was seen later, iPad in hand, showing everyone an image of me asleep. That evening saw all 25 of us on the balcony cooking BBQ and chatting about the day’s events as well as many other topics I would imagine. Absent from the evening was our President, he had promised to shoot a band at St Kilda on the Saturday night and had driven back to Melbourne for this purpose returning at 1.30pm. It was noted on this evening that Peter Myers had a distinct knack for breaking plastic chairs, large or small and any colour, nothing was safe from the chair smasher as the sound of ‘KERRACK’ echoed through the bush. Also that both Kath and Rodelle were terrified of spiders of which there were several running around, mainly huntsman which I found odd because the very next day both of them were happy to get much closer to the lethal snake that could have lurched at them than they were the harmless huntsman which was much more scared of them.
Ron at the Lighthouse Tour by Ian Hansen
The next morning was up for a sunrise again but this time we were early and there were many more of us. This is where the torch was essential as we were negotiating steps to the beach in the dark. The tide was in but we still managed to get onto the rocks for some sunrise shots. The sunrise was great but not a good as the previous day due to low cloud however, we still managed to get some shots, well at least I did as I’ve not seen anyone else’s images as yet. Back to the cottages to drop off people, Rodelle and I and this time joined by Pete, watched as a very hassled café owner was running around making breakfast for a full house, including us.
Pete had suggested going to Lake Elizabeth but first of all it was a trip to the farmers market up the road. There was also a historic event by the sanctuary but we decided to set off for Lake Elizabeth instead. The lake was about an hour’s drive and we needed two cars as there were 8 of us. Lake Elizabeth is a hidden gem, a very beautiful lake hidden in the forest close to the West Barwon Reservoir. It takes around 30 minutes to walk to the reservoir from the car park but it is a stunning location. Four of us walked around the lake whilst the other four waited at the boat ramp. We saw a brown snake on the way around and couldn’t wait to get back to brag about it only to find that both Andy and Rosie Armitage, now known as Hawk-eye and Eagle-eye had seen both a brown and a black snake whilst they were wandering around waiting for us. One event worth noting that happened whilst we were at the lake was the sighting of the fumbling juggler. this person’s name is Pete and he was last seen juggling his mobile phone and camera on the boat launching ramp. Unfortunately the phone lost and it plunged along with Pete’s pride straight into the murky depths of the lake. Split second reactions saw a red shirted Pete diving in head first after it and after several agonising seconds managed to locate the phone in the murky depths and recover it. Would you believe that this phone is now back in full working order after having the battery removed and left to dry in the dashboard of his car.
Black Snake by David BurtonPete's Phone by David Burton
We retired back to the cars and headed for Apollo Bay where we got drinks before heading inland to Mariners Falls. Now it has to be said at this point that we’d done a little bit of walking around the lake but a couple of people weren’t up to it and had not managed the extra walk. So understandably they weren’t keen to walk another 45 minutes to the waterfall. So they stayed in the car however, Rosie, Andy, Pete and myself all managed the walk putting the younger people AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE to shame. I reckon that they will regret not going because even though it had started to drizzle, this was one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in the Otway’s National Park. The drizzle actually enhanced the entire scene when we got to the falls making for some very nice photography.
Mariners Falls by Dave Sumner
Back at the car again, we set of on the long drive back via the pizza restaurant in Apollo Bay making it back to just catch the last of the slideshow of people’s images. An early night was grabbed by most and up late the next day to pack bags and set off home. Farewells were said and people drifted away slowly, personally I took the long way home going north then east and eventually coming out near Bacchus Marsh but having had a very quiet trip home with empty roads.
It is essential that everyone in the club and especially those who went on the trip appreciates the time and work put into the organisation of this weekend. Tirelessly this person has organised, disorganised, changed and reorganised things so that we as members could have a great long weekend away. Without her efforts this weekend would have not got off the ground and she deserves a HUGE pat on the back for organising it all. So please join me in saying ‘Thank You’ to Jill Myers who is an absolute star and a very valued member of WCC (except for the part where she took pictures of me asleep), your efforts were very much appreciated by all.
Normally the club only holds one trip away per year but Jill is again going all out to organise a second trip to Mansfield hopefully in September. I hope you will all show your appreciation by joining us on that trip. More details will follow soon but it probably a good idea to let her know ASAP that you are interested.
Hi All,
there’s is a Composition workshop coming up this tuesday night which will begin at 7:30pm.
The venue is Wadham House, 52 Wadham Pde, Mt Waverley and we will be downstairs.
Composition is the art of framing an image and is quite easy to learn, you don’t need any technical know how whatsoever
and as such is the quickest way to start improving your photography.
If you have any images which don’t look as good as you were hoping they would it may be that the composition could be improved.
If that’s the case then bring your images along tomorrow night on a usb memory stick and we will see what can be done.
This exercise is open to all but could be especially handy for those of us just returned from the weekend’s trip to Aireys Inlet.
Chances are that some of the locations you photographed were also snapped by someone else and that the two sets of images will be very different
from each other. It will be interesting to discuss why one way works better than another or just to see if the audience is evenly split about their favourite compositions.
The first part of the evening will be taken up with a chat on the psychological aspects of how/why/what we see so if you’re thinking “oh I’ve read/heard all about composition before”
then make sure you get there on time because I doubt you will have.
Thanks to all who turned out for what was a beautiful day at the BLWG, the weather was excellent and the surroundings much more beautiful than ever. The turn out was so good that camera club members cars formed an orderley queue at the gates waiting for the gardens to open. There were around 10 – 20 members and guests that attended, most of us meeting at around 10:20 at the gates. However, it was noted that one couple did turn up a little later than everyone else due to the male half of that partnership’s refusal to get up early. Yes 10:30 is early for him.
The owner kindly reserved a covered area for us so we could have our lunch alongside the lake as all of the BBQ areas were reserved. The flowers were well in bloom and I saw many tripods set up around taking close up shots so you can expect to see a few of these shots in the up and coming club competitions. Coffee time arrived and it was here where Peter Myers and I found these very successful garden’s achilles heel, the cafe is too small. The gardens were so busy by 11:30 that we had to queue 10 minutes and wait a further 30 minutes for 2 coffee’s and a tea. We decided that now would also be a good time for lunch and we had a lot of technical chit chat going on whilst eating. One highlight was why Fred’s Nikon camera wasn’t producing a similar result on the viewscreen to the flower he was photographing alongside the place we were sitting although my Canon camera was, need I say more?
Break, lunch and chatting over, I and others took more flower images before deciding to move on to another location at around 2.30. The problem was that the beautiful sunshine and great weather is not the photographers friend at midday and as the gardens opened at 10:30 we were pretty much stuck with what we had. The three hothouses and trust me they were hot, provided some great diffused light to take shots but the limited subjects and the narrow walkways around the ponds within made for difficult setups as we always seemed to be in peoples way.
Most people having taken their fill of flower photographs, started to slowly drift away home at around 2:30 so several of us went to Kirth Kiln Regional Park on the Gembrook Road to photograph the pond on the corner near Swallowfield Road and the nearby Ship Rock Falls both of which had a lot of bright overhead sunlight spoiling the photography. There were a lot of rocks to negotiate at the falls and it was noted that I did get stuck at the bottom and needed a pull up using a very helpful extended tripod, that’s the trade off for having all that heavy gear I guess. A last coffee and cake at the Gembrook Bakery and good chat about club affairs and we all went our seperate ways home.
The following weekend is the club trip away to Airey’s Inlet so we’ll hopefully see you all there and to those not going, unlucky, there’s always next year.
The next outing on the calendar is this Sunday (being the first Sunday of the month) and for the third year running we are off to Blue Lotus Water Gardens. This is a fantastic place to take pictures, indeed much of the layout has been designed with photographers in mind.
Bring your partners/children and bring a picnic lunch (no BBQ’s) or buy lunch at the cafe. This is the perfect opportunity for new and prospective members to get to know everyone.
They are Australia’s premiere professional photographic laboratory, they
supply print, workflow and business solutions to the professional
photographic industry throughout Oceania and the world.
They offer a wide range of products and professional services.
On the night they will provide an interactive slideshow presentation
with displays of the products they offer. They will have information that
they can hand out to members. This hand out will include examples of
their printing capabilities, booklets, and each member who attends on
the night will receive a $25 credit towards Nulab!
On top of this Nulab is in a partnership with Creative Photo Workshops
who are Australia’s leading photographic tutoring company. CPW will give
a presentation on a certain aspect of photography, whether that be
portraiture, flash photography or wedding photography. At the time of
writing I haven’t been informed of what the topic is. They have found
that this combination has been very beneficial for club members, with
each member taking away something from the nights presentation.
Recently the team at Nulab, Picpress and Creative Photo Workshops
have given presentations at-
� Geelong Camera Club
� Frankston Photographic Club
� Southern Suburbs Camera Club
� Mornington Peninsula Camera Club
With all of these clubs thoroughly enjoying the presentation, they
have asked to return later this year.
***UPDATE***
Here’s a little more info on the workshop night coming up this Tuesday.
Not only will Nathan Muller be presenting but you will also be regaled by Shelton Muller.
For those who haven’t heard of Shelton Muller yet try googling him and see how many hundreds of pages come up.
I am very sorry that I won’t be there to see it, I will be at Pakenham Camera Club that night, so I want you all to go and then let me know what you think.
We may be able to get them back in November if we are lucky.
After the Rain on the Friday night it was doubtful whether this trip would go ahead at all given that the Princes Highway was blocked with water. However, I am happy to report that the outing did go ahead and although it rained on the way there, the weather turned out to be very good indeed although a little windy. On the way there and approaching the Geelong area I started to see custom cars all over the place and realised that we were going to be sharing a very busy Queenscliff. I arrived at the Hesse Road car park around 09.45 to find it pretty deserted but a BIG cup of coffee from the cabin at the top of the car park soon got me into the swing of things. No sooner had I finished it when Stephen turned up followed closely by Ian and Fred. Although we waited until 10.50, nobody else turned up so we set off exploring the area. A walk along the seafront revealed some very interesting rock formations and I think that some landscape (seascape) with photographer images were snaeakily taken here. We walked along the beach narrowly avoiding the waves by the rocks below the fortress and on the a jetty which was pretty uneventful so it was on to the next jetty which was much more promising. This jetty had the old waiting shed designed to keep passengers for the ferry out of the elements and the old lifeboat station which has now fallen in to disrepair. Then it was back along the jetty and into the area where the custom car show was being held and as we transited through looking at the odd car and trailer we realised that we had gate crashed what was a paid area. At this point as Fred realised that he had left his bag and sun cream in Ian’s car decided that he needed to walk back for it so we adjourned for lunch in a nice Queenscliff cafe whilst we waited for Fred. Fred back and lunch over we walked back down to the station where we poured over the old steam engine waiting in the station to take passengers on a joy ride. We then moved along the shore to the marina and on to the ferry terminal which has taken on a look of an international terminal in these recent years. I remember waiting for a ferry here a few years ago and we could find was a closed cafe where now there is a hive of restaraunts, a 360 degree observation tower and a raft of diving and fishing shops.
The observation tower which is free, gives you a very good veiw of the Rip by the Heads so it was worth the climb up the stairs, well for three of us it was as one of us cheated and used the elevator. Not wanting to name this person it was noted that Ian walked back down with us saying it was easier to walk down than up. From here we walked back through the town up to the lighthouse at the top of the park and then along the road back towards the cars. We noticed that the impenetrable fort had opened its gates for the 3pm tour so we diceided that we would have a closer look at the fort. Ian had to leave so the three remaining paid our money and waited for the tour to start. Fort Queenscliffe is still a working army base so ID in the form of a driving licence and addresses have to be provided to visit and though I thought that photography would be banned it wasn’t and in fact we were allowed to take pictures where we liked. The tour guide almost outnumbered the visitors but the 5 to 1 ratio was very comfortable and her knowledge was exceptional. We heard about the history of the lighthouse, signal tower, fort and the ghosts that reside there as well as being allowed into the keep, the magazines and tunnel complex. The fort also has a very well stocked and informative museum which is part of the very reasonable $10 entry fee.
After the tour we walked back to the cars and took a drive to Point Lonsdale to get a better look at the Rip and the Lighthouse and a short walk along the rocky beach revealed a few more shots. The lighthouse here is very much a working lighthouse and commands a very good view of the Bass Straight and the Heads but having lots of ariels and communication dishes doesn’t make it the most photogenic lighthouse ever.
After this, as it was around 5.30, we bid farewell and returned home after what was a very good day out.
It was a shame that more members didn’t turn up but given the weather on Friday it wasn’t a suprise. I did receive an apology from Wendy who couldn’t make it at the last minute so thanks Wendy for letting us know. Otherwise we’ll see you all at the next outing which is Sunday 6th March to the Blue Lotus Water Gardens. This is a great venue and is not to be missed.
Fred at the rocks below Fort Queenscliff - Image by Dave SumnerIan below Fort Queenscliff - Image by Dave Sumner
