Last Post

This is the last post on this blog in 2014. This was a wonderful bamboo creation at the Woodford Folk Festival. It was lit by colour cycling LEDs and open to the sky above. The first post of 2015 is coming your way tomorrow. Happy New Year one and all.

Flying

Red Bull flies a hull on the harbour. This is an Austrian entry in the Extreme Sailing series.

Moths

These are hydrofoil moths. They were part of the pre-race entertainment on Sydney Harbour. The craft glide so quietly while foiling but every now and then they crash and burn spectacularly when the balance is lost through a tack or gybe.

Kite

A kite for surfing with, when one goes kitesurfing.

Night Heron

This shy Nankeen Night Heron was trying to hide out of sight while keeping a close eye on the photographer who was stalking it.

Comanche

This is Comanche, a 100 foot super maxi, as she was preparing for the Sydney Hobart race near Manly a few weeks ago. Later today, she will be starting the race with over a hundred other yachts.

Merry Christmas

A very Merry Christmas to you all and may you have a wonderful day filled with peace.

This photo of a life guard is typical of an Australian Christmas afternoon at the beach. No snow, no white, just sand and surf.

Wild Oats

Sailing past on the harbour was this this boat preparing for the Sydney to Hobart race. It is one of the most awarded boats in the fleet, Wild Oats 11.

Sunset

A Glasshouse Mountains sunset. Wonderful.

Electrical Activity

The cold glow of electrical discharge lights up the night sky clouds.

Kite Sailing

A different type of sailing on the wind with a kite. This was at Cotton Tree on the Sunshine Coast. 

Sailing

The extreme sailing series is sponsored, perhaps paradoxically, by Landrover. They even have their own boat to sail around and show off their brand logos.

Comet C/2014 Q2

The latest Christmas Comet, Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2. Seen as the small green glow just right of centre, this was taken with a 200mm lens and 5 second exposure. The tail is not quite visible here but hopefully it may brighten in the days ahead.

Finishing

The race for the finish line was crowded with plenty of jostling for clean air.

Starting Positions

The 40 foot catamarans on the start line near the Opera House for race one on Saturday 13th December. 

Sydney Harbour

I visited Sydney to see the Extreme Sailing Series Act 8 on the harbour. Sydney is a beautiful city indeed, and the perfect venue for some serious sailing action.

Ocean View

The view of the Pacific Ocean as seen from the headland near Moffat Beach.

Target

Beerwah now has a Target store. This place is growing so fast it doesn't even look the same anymore.

Moon

The waxing Moon, as it was three days ago.

Lake Hues

The evening sunset colours of a Lake Moondarra summer.

O Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree at Mount Isa Mines has been relit for another year.

Sol View

The solar disc spinning and fusing amidst the blackness of space.

Serene

The car parks are plentiful and serene. The cars even seem to enjoy the wait for their drivers to return.

Haze

The Isa on a warm and hazy summer morning.

Barbed Wire Underline

The BoM sign on Telstra Hill, underlined in wire.

Model

Sometimes dogs can be the best photographic models.

Defocus

A quick defocused shot of the city lights. Notice the spots off centre are not circular. The complex optics that produce this effect must be quite remarkable. Physics is everywhere.

Mine Zoom

A close up of the mine site from the lookout. I purchased a new 70-200mm lens and had to try it out.

It's A Sign

The lookout in town has this sign that always reminds one of how far Mount Isa is from other places in the world.

Clock

I thought it was time to make another post.

The Shack

A great local band playing at the music venue called simply, The Shack.

Raindrops On Frangipanis

It rained very briefly here in Mount Isa this afternoon. It left raindrops on the frangipani.

Ghosts Who Walk

Some ghostly figures moving about in a long exposure, high f-ratio photograph.

Hard Times

The Hard Times mine at Outback at Isa tourist centre on the main road through town. Worth a stop if you're travelling through the Isa.

Palm

Palms standing steadfast and stoic.

Paradise

A veritable paradise of water and greenery in Townsville. I was here recently for a panel verification meeting, the contrast with Mount Isa is chalk and cheese.

Sunset Town

Mount Isa, the sunset town.

Silhouette Series

A silhouette of some photographers sharing tech tips and skills as they shoot away on the Kelby Worldwide Photowalk at sunset on lookout hill via Hilary Street.

Lookout!

The lookout at the top of the hill, next to the water tanks, mobile phone and radio towers, mine stacks and other utilities. Silhouettes at sunset always make for pleasant views.

Hilly

The way to the lookout on the hill in the middle of town is via Hilary Street. It's a hilly spot.

Phone Home

A good old fashioned public pay phone. I can only just remember the last time I used one of these.

Letter Box

And now for something completely different. A letter box photo from downtown central Mount Isa.

Seven Sisters

One final astro image update of the Pleiades cluster, known in Australia as the Seven Sisters.  This constellation of stars is also used by the Subaru motor company on their grill badges.

Horsehead Nebula

Another reprocessed image.  This time it was my long attempted target of the Horsehead nebula, Barnard 33 in Orion (Original here).  Again the raw files were developed before processing and stacking. The improvements can be seen mainly in the more accurate colour reproduction and reduced blooming of the bright stars.  

Siding Spring Revisited

A reprocessed and improved version of the comet Siding Spring approaching planet Mars on the 18th October 2014 (Original post here).  This version has used Adobe Lightroom to first develop the raw images before stacking and processing in Nebulosity.  The difference a great piece of software makes to the data in an image is remarkable.

Blackstar Trails

Star trails over the Mount Isa Mines near the Blackstar open cut pit.  Light pollution is a challenge for taking astro photos in towns, fortunately the foreground bush has acted as a partial light block.

Sunspot 2192

The large sunspot 2192 crossing the face of the sun Saturday morning. This is quite spectacular to see, and fun to photograph, with the right solar filter (Never look directly at the sun!).

Take A Walk

Take a walk and save some fuel and carbon dioxide.

Burke & Wills

Imagine if Burke and Wills had this kind of luxury.  Perhaps they never would have gone exploring if they could stay indoors and watch TV back in the day.

Favourite Tree

An old favourite photo of mine rehashed using Adobe Lightroom. It is amazing what a little digital development can do to a photograph. See the original image from 2010 here.