Something To Write Home About

As I wrote in my Drive-by Photography post, taking a good photo from a moving car can be a challenge. It’s a good feeling when you’re reviewing photos and find a few have turned out just as you’d hoped.

This was of those photos, even though at first glance it might seem to be of nothing much:

“The road hugs the Orford River”

Of course, I had no idea that it would end up here:

Spirit of Tasmania ad from The Age newspaper

Let me explain…

I love Tasmania. The island captured my heart on my first trip there.

To express this love, just over a year ago I created a series of pages on my blog that you will find if you look up at the top right of the screen and click on Tasmania – A Treasure Island (or hover over for the drop-down list of related pages). I’d already written what Stephen called ‘Dayna’s Lonely Planet Guide to Tasmania’ for a friend, and I’d subsequently passed it on to a couple more people who wanted tips on where to go and what to see in Tassie – by putting my email online, I was mainly adding photos and making it viewable by everyone.

What about the photo then?

As is our habit, Stephen does the driving while I keep my camera handy and entertain the driver (quizzes, I-spy, etc) as and when required. Although, when we’re driving around Tassie, there’s more opportunity for photography than call for keeping Stephen alert behind the wheel.

You may have noticed that my posts are generally long – yes, I freely admit it. But I like detail. Which is why I included my above photo on my Freycinet & The East Coast page.

Had I not, it wouldn’t have been seen by the Spirit of Tasmania’s media agent, and someone else’s photo would have been used in this ad.

So the moral of the post is – keep posting! You never know who’s looking at your blog.

Oh, and visit Tasmania! Drive there if you can. You may fall in love in love with it, too.

: )

Drive-by Photography (Inverloch) – May 2013

On Sunday we drove Stephen’s mum to Inverloch, a small beachside town about 2hrs south east from Melbourne, for a Devonshire afternoon tea at the RACV Inverloch Resort. It was her surprise mother’s day outing, postponed from last weekend.

Well, that was the plan. That changed when we were met with this:

When I called to make a reservation (thinking one would be needed) did anyone mention, ‘By the way, the view will be almost completely obstructed by a giant white tent right outside the window on that day’ – I think not.

Here’s the view from the driveway as we departed:

So we had a late lunch at the pub back in town instead. At least it was warm by the gas fire.

Although bereft of (the usual) walking photos or (the hoped for) magnificent vistas to share, don’t think my camera returned home unused.

The challenges of performing decent photography from a moving car are many – although, please let me stress, I’m never in the drivers’ seat when the camera’s in my hand.

The main challenges I find are:

– Glare from the dashboard or light, generally from your clothes, reflecting on the inside of the cars’ windows. Rental cars are terrible for dashboard glare.

– Bugs/dust/rain on the glass, not to mention getting your timing right with the windscreen wipers

 
– Trees, bushes, guard rails, sign posts, electricity/phone poles and overhead wires all hinder a good shot

– Bumps and dips in the road – and the more you zoom, the worse it gets.

I’ve had plenty of practice at drive-by photography – not that I’m claiming to be perfect at it! – there are still many missed shots. My camera beeps often, as I point and focus, but less often is the shutter sound heard. Stephen will often hear a quiet ‘meh’ of disgust or resignation as I fail to get the shot I was hoping for.

Our drive on Sunday brought an additional challenge… photography from the back seat of the MINI. (We couldn’t very well ask Stephen’s mum to clamber into the back, despite her offer to sit there!)

Usually, the majority of my drive-by photos are taken through the windscreen. That’s a lot trickier to do from the back seat. And the side windows are smaller and fixed, so if they get dirty you can’t wind them down to get a clear shot. On the up-side, I did have unimpeded access to the window on the other side of the car (quite an unusual occurrence, you’ll understand) and still had the roof window in the back for interesting clouds.

Here are some of my better shots of the day:

Windfarm

Great clouds

Didn’t get on to the beach

Drive-by beach

Kilcunda Bridge – no train these days

Obviously taken through a window

Obviously taken through a windscreen

Bit of a rainbow

A novel take on a put-put course

Feathery clouds

I’m sure Stephen will be disappointed if I don’t at least mention the Kilcunda Bridge (trestle bridge photo above) – but I’ll save a better description for when we do that walk. It’s a rail trail (an easy grade), but not a circuit (so not particularly convenient) which is the main reason why we haven’t walked it yet.

The pirate mini-golf photo isn’t particularly brilliant, but I wanted to include it as it’s something different to the usual windmills and things I usually associat with putt putt.

One very brief stop we made was at the carpark at Eagle’s Nest (aka Eagle’s Rest) – a prominent rocky outcrop on the way out of town – where I took a photo of the pirate caves. One day we might even make it down to that beach. There’s another access road to that beach. We won’t have to swim or climb around the cliffs.

So that was our day. Not particularly eventful, but a nice drive all the same.

: )