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

Hi Folks,

You missed a great night if you weren’t there last night. As discussed last night there will be 2 outings this Sunday.

The first will be Williamstown as scheduled. We will meet at 5:20am. Yes that’s 20 minutes past five in the morning. We will meet at the top green dot on the map attached. on the Strand opposite Ferguson St. I think we might end up at the lower green dot but we will meet at the top one.

The second outing is at 9am. It is at Monash Gallery of Art and I hope you will all be there to take part in their annual Masterpiece in a Day competition. Entry is $5 and the prizes are worth winning. Shooting begins at 9 and finishes at 1:40pm. Presentation will be at 3. Check out the MGA website for more details.

See you while it’s still dark on Sunday morning.

Pete

Hi folk, I hope U all have been enjoying this spate of hot weather. I am listening to some people on the radio tell me that summer has come early this year. Not so, when Rosie and I came to Oz in the 60’s the weather in October was hot, damn hot, and we had already come from a tropical country!! Anyway the weather notwithstanding, here are some (more) photo-opportunities all of which were taken from todays Age.

Opportunity 1 – Head to the National Sports Museum where someone will teach U, or the children, or your partner, how to shoot an arrow – from a bow of course! The National Sports Museum is opened daily during the weekend and is located in the MCG

Opportunity 2 – Hotair ballooning at the Yarra Valley, really makes me take flight. This weekend from Balgownie Estate Winery; an hour in the sky, unthered, no RAAF pilot but very safe no doubt, and a 5 star gourmet breakfast when U come down. But call before U go 1800 468 247

Opportunity 3 – The Lavendula Swiss Italian Farm just 10 minutes North of Daylesford is, as The Age likes to call it, a sensory celebration. The aroma and the sight of it, a sea of purple lavanda. Fabulous. Seems they are opened from 10.30am to 5.30pm, they live out at Shepherds Flat, or try lavandula.com.au probably a daily occurance.

Opportunity 4 – …is out at the Great Otway National Park, Triplet Falls is “three distinct and impressive cascades” South-West of Melbourne via Geelong or Colac. parkweb.vic.gov.au

Opportunity 5 – Its Christmas so head out to the City and see the Big Christmas tree come to life with a burst of colour. Free tonight at 6.30pm. But Christmas in Oz goes on for months so get out there after the lights have come on. If U cant go today, go later. And finally

 Opportunity 6 – Shepherds Bush, Nortons Park at daybreak, listen for the dawn chorus of nearly 90 species of birds. The Friends of the Dandenong Valley Parklands will be there tomorrow, Saturday November 14th from 7.30 am to take U for a free guided walk to hear the morning calls. Nortons Lane Wantirna South Call 13 19 63 for more information or get on to parkweb.vic.gov.au.

So thats the lot … enjoy your weekend and keep logging into the blog site for more photo-opportunities – when they come in I will get them on to the blog site.

Andy

Hi All, the dandenong show is on from the 14th and 15th of November – I have to look far-way to my calendar but I see that’s this weekend so listen up – to coin a phrase!!

Opportunity 1 – The RAAF is organising tethered balloon rides at the show. The balloon will take U 30 meters into the sky, but wait don’t worry, it will be driven by an RAAF crew. And best of all it will be tethered, to 3 anchor points no less and held firmly on the ground!! And what’s more it will be driven by an RAAF pilot – Safe!

Opportunity 2 – Still at the Dandenong Show – the Whip Industries (?) Honda Motor bike extreme sports team will be performing. So go, watch them do their thing and photograph them in their death defying acts on their “little” Honda 50 mini-bikes.

Opportunity 3 – To celebrate Christmas my sister and her husband together with the neighbours will be illuminating their homes to the max. the lights will go on on the 28th of November and WCC members are offered a unique opportunity to set up tripods and ‘do’ a night-shoot. My sister is a medical nurse; all contributions will be donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital. Gladesville Drive East Bentleigh and environs.

Nyora Working Horse Show – I have also attached some images of the Nyora Working Horse Show earlier this year March actually. There are vintage cars, tractors, farm equipment, steam engines, working models – yes of all types and a host of other nicks – and knacks. We will talk about them later on.

Cheers Andy

Fancy some Astro-Photography?

My friend Subby is an ex pilot a trainer of pilots and an air-traffic controller. Over his long and successful life he has also become a keen astronomer offering his pilots another means of charting their way from here to there without over-shooting the preferred airport.

He now wants to take pictures of the stars and constellations and to this end has joined the mornington peninsula astrological society.  Next year he is willing to bring/take his gear to a suitable location and allow WCC members an opportunity both to look at and photograph the heavens if we so desire.

I will be joining him on this jaunt early in December and will let you know more about it later in the new year – Saves us the trip to the mornington peninsula ourselves I say!

Cheers Andy…

Hi all!  I have been researching the possibility of WCC heading off somewhere to do some bird watching/photographing and I have come up with the ‘numero uno’ spot.  At a number of now dry ‘wetlands’ I have asked where all the larger water birds are and been directed to the Werribee Sewerage Farm, now euphemistically called the Western Treatment Plant.

Here then are the details.

To enter the sewerage farm you will need a key and a permit.  The permit costs $20, is not transferable and may be used over a period of 2 years; the key costs $50 which is a refundable deposit, it must be returned within 2 weeks of the permit running out to get the deposit back.  There is a provision however for short term loan of keys;  short term loan keys may be collected at the time of arrival and returned at the time of departure but because someone is not always around, (I wonder why?), call 9742 2828 tell them when you are coming and a key will be left for you to pick up from a mutually convenient place. Needless to say returned to the same place when you depart.    Problem solved!  Each Bird Watching Permit is good for a car full of as many as 5 people.

Have a great time and don’t get your feet wet!!

Cheers Andy