Gusto

After Gusto, I stopped in the Aquabumps Gallery and finally made the purchase of a few momentos to remember the fabulous times I’ve had in Oz. Aquabumps is owned and operated by a local photographer who has made quite a name for himself. Every morning, rain or shine, Eugene takes pictures of Bondi waking up, along with the other Eastern beaches and sometimes other island destinations. Aquabumps has a daily email that I subscribe to, and it’s always fun to receive it during the work day and daydream about the beach for a minute. So, back to my point (can you tell it’s Sunday night and I’m tired?), I bought a few momentos to remember my time in Oz: 3 photos that I’ll have framed back in Indy, and a coffee table book that documents Bondi in 24 hours. I’ll always remember my time in Bondi, but it will be fun to show family and friends.

Aquabumps

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. After church, and on the recommendation of some friends, I revisited Watson’s Bay. Apparently I missed a few of the best sights — although I didn’t really think that was possible as what I saw last week was stunning. But since it was a gorgeous day and I love the fresh air, I went for a hike. The trailhead was a bit hard to find – I had to cut across a beach, and then through some tress which hid the trailhead.

Lady Bay Beach

South Head Heritage Trail

Once I found the trailhead, I realized it’s one of the “local” trails – and I LOVED it. It was absolutely remarkable, and not at all busy. Just a few Aussies along the way. Not long after starting the hike, I looked out in the bay only to see… a pirate ship? Um yeah, not exactly what I was expecting. The photo below doesn’t do it justice – this thing was huge.

Pirate Ship in the Bay

South Head

City Through the Trees

Midway through the hike – and right along the point of the bay, there was Hornby Lighthouse. Another lighthouse I didn’t even know existed! All in all, the trail was absolutely beautiful and well worth the trip back to Watson’s Bay!

Hornby Lighthouse

Well, that concludes the exciting parts to my weekend. And to all of my US friends that are reading this – hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day off! Don’t worry about me, I’ll just be working

View of carpentaria from the water

Blue skies, crisp air and brilliant sunshine. The perfect May day.

A little red lightship bobs in the waves.

The Cape Bowling Green lighthouse reflects blinding white on North wharf.

Over on South Head another beacon stands, decked out in circus- worthy stripes.

This week I have had more than my share of time out on the harbour enjoying some amazing historic lighthouses.

First it was out one of the small fleet boats Arvor, cruising around the shores of the Museum to take some footage of the Commonwealth Lighthship 4, Carpentaria, with Elias and Eleanor from Curiousworks. 

Elias filming from the water on our way out to where Carpentaria is stationed

On board Carpentaria

Usually Carpentaria is one of the vessels in our collection that can only be enjoyed from the comfort and safety of a wharf-side walkway but today we get a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with this flame-coloured beauty. It’s a little precarious climbing the narrow ladder up the side and over the top rails ( not to worry, we have our self-inflatable life-jackets on!) . Up top is spectacular though, and for the purpose of the film’s soundscape we get to unloose the bells. The deep ring echoes on and on and on, it’s almost like a clocktower’s midnight chime, smothering the chatter of seagulls and the beating whistle of the breeze. You can almost imagine the sounds of that fateful moment in 1944 when Carpentaria broke free of her moorings on Breakfree Spit during a cyclone. This warning bell was designed to toll with the motion of the ship, ringing out in case of poor visibility during foggy weather or a malfunction of the light.

The footage taken of Carpentaria will be used for one of a series of short films being made about our collection for the release of the anniversary publication One Hundred Stories, coming out later this year. It’s also the last we will see of this little lightship for a few weeks as Carpentaria is off to Garden Island for repairs.

View from Rosman Ferry Radar as we cruise around Sydney

The next day I’m back out on the harbour for our Shipwrecks cruise forum, held in partnership with WEA Sydney.

After an introduction to the science of the corrosion and conservation of shipwrecks led by some of the museums wonderful teacher guides we set out for Watsons Bay on board the Radar.

No shortage of beautiful weather and fresh breeze to enjoy and we have expert commentary courtesy of curator Nigel Erskine who has joined us for the day. Over at Watsons Bay our destination is the Hornby Lighthouse.

the view from the walking track up to Hornby lighthouse

We take a walking track past the soft sands of camp cove beach, said to be one of the first landing places for the fleet in 1788, past disused cannon and gun turrets and alongside the spectacular views of sparkling waters and sailboats. The walk is quick and easy. Before we know it we are turning the corner to encounter the sandstone lightkeepers cottage and then the petite but spectacular red and white striped lighthouse. There is something endearing and cheerful about Hornby lighthouse that belies the horrific tragedies that brought this beacon into being.

Hornby Lighthouse

Hornby Lighthouse

In 1857 the Dunbar crashed with the loss of 121 out of the c.122 lives on board. The Hornby Lighthouse was built in 1858 to make sure this never happened again. It was also just the third lighthouse built in NSW.

If you’re interested in photography you may be wandering how you can possibly take a photo into the sun? After all, it goes against all the rules in the photography rule book! Well, HDR is the answer, for todays daily pic I took several exposures, 7 to be exact and then I processed them using a technique called HDR. Click Here to learn how you can do HDR!

the daily pic – Hornby Lighthouse

I loved this lighthouse… there aren’t many lighthouses painted as vibrantly as this! This one is located at Sydney’s South Head, it’s an 800mtr walk from Camp Cove parking area. I arrived a little later than I would have liked so I will definitely be heading back here for another sunrise shoot soon! enjoy….

Click on the photo to order yourself a print or to download (please see licensing for the rules!)

Headed down to South Head with my friend Dennis for a sunrise photoshoot session. This morning wasn’t as cloudy as the weather forecast mentioned, it was actually instead quite clear – not really what I wanted (I would have ideally wanted partly cloudy so the sky would have a nice pattern to it) but as photographers we work around our environment and situations. Enjoy the photos

I was inspired by Trey Ratcliff and his blog www.stuckincustoms.com and so far I have managed to post a photo every day since the 1st of March. I was looking back through all my pics over the last 40 odd days and I am pretty pleased with how far I have come with my HDR processing. My first few that I processed I thought were fantastic at the time, and when I look at them now, I see so many things wrong with them. I will go back and re-process those that I deem worthy! Hopefully, in another 40 days I will look back to todays daily pic and have learnt so much more that I will want to re-process it too!

the daily pic – The Hornby Lighthouse

Do you know why this lighthouse is painted red and white? It is so it is easy to distinguish it from the Macquarie Lighthouse that is two miles south. I have been wanting to photograph a lighthouse for sometime now, and found this one on Rob Potters Site www.photographyhotspots.com.au and decided to head out and shoot it!

This was the first time I felt I needed a wider lens, this is shot at 16mm so I could get the lighthouse and the sun at the same time, and the challenge was the amount of distortion on the edge of the pic made the Lighthouse lean in towards the ocean. After some tricky photoshop work I managed to fix it!

Click on the photo to order yourself a print or to download (please see licensing for the rules!)

Snapped this one last month when out and about adding new shots and compositions to the main gallery. This location is in the Watsons Bay area of the Eastern Beaches of Sydney.

Shot on the Fuji GX617 | Veliva 50 slide.

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A view of Sydney CBD from Watsons Bay

It was a calm sunny day last Sunday. On the eastern edge of the cliff, as far as my eyes could see is the vast Pacific Ocean. I’m not sure how high the rock where I was standing up to the surface of the water down there. What was clear, this high enough to crush anyone who tried to jump down. Aside from the waves that will be smashing body, there were cluster of rocks that have entrenched for centuries. No wonder there was a caution “Do Not Dive”.

Hornby Lighthouse

Only a few steps from the edge, the nine-meter-high lighthouse stands alone. It was guidance for British Imperial vessels which were entering Sydney Harbor in the past centuries. It called the Hornby Lighthouse, and it painted theme reminded me of a candy advertised in TV stations in my country: red and white stripes. This light house was built in 1858, in the wake of two British ships hit the rocks and killed hundreds of immigrants who were enchanted by the news discovery of gold in Australia.

Leaving Circular Quay

Watsons Bay is a marine gate of Sydney. on the bay which is the estuary of the Paramatta River, hundreds of sailboats just float back and forth and enjoy the sunset. From the heart of Sydney, ferries are available every half an hour to Watson, a distance of eleven kilometers. The trip only took 15 minutes, and it was a please me. From the Circular Quay wharf, I preferred to look back and watch two icons the city; Opera House and Harbor Bridge.

From Watsons Bay wharf, the pathway to Hornby should be crossed within 20 minutes. It is a combination of a beach walk, a stair to the cliff and a wooden pathway a few hundreds of meters before the lighthouse. Instead, it took longer for me because I took many stops along the way to enjoy the panoramic city and sea. But I’m speeding up while I passed the Lady Bay Beach. No, it is a nudist beach for the men! This made me reckoned why some ladies from the opposite direction giggled all the way.

- View from the pathway. The footpath. The sea.

After went through the footpath in the bushes, I found a lawn and a house which was occupied by the lighthouse’s keeper. There was nothing better than lying down, enjoying the cool breeze of the spring and gazing into the ocean. I was a worth walk. Sometimes, light seaplanes crossed the sky and drifted near the water. The planes were serving those who enjoyed Sydney from the sky for $185 for a  quarter hour.

The wind was getting strong and I went back to the wharf. During the walk, I stopped and took photos near a cannon which is said from World War II. According to the written statement, it used to defended Sydney from the advancing of the Japanese navy. Then I was imagining what would happen if the Japanese controlled Australia? What a thought!

During the dusk on the stern of the ferry was the time to enjoy the lights sparkle on the banks of the bay. The journey is quite pleasant for round-trip fares less than ten dollars. The ferry I rode brought me back to the Opera House, which it terrace was increasingly filled with noisy tourists and workers who stopped for a moment before went home. For my part, it was the time for a cup of coffee and enjoying live music.