Photography Project 365 – 57/59

What a Bright Ideas

Macro tubes used on my old 75-300 shooting a light bulb.

Really, the bright idea was to go shoot a few of the waterfalls around Springbrook National Park. We made the plan and set the time and with scattered showers about proceeded up to Springbrook and the start of the Purlingbrook Falls area. By this stage the rain was on and off as we made our way down the track to the bottom of the Falls, mud puddles were already forming. We could have stopped along the way to shoot a variety of Fungi, Ferns with the diffused light and the brilliant greens from the rain but the sun was getting low and we had our destination in mind.

I climbed up for this view so I wouldn’t be in the way of Adam setting up his shot and then the rain had started to get a little heavy. It was a good day for my LowePro Dryzone to keep my camera gear dry and with all the things I knew I wouldn’t be needing stored away, we continued to the pool below. The Rocks around here can be slippery at the best of times but the rain had made this a decent rock hoping mission up the Creek to the Falls. Watch out for the Lawyer Vines(Wait’a'whiles) as I got caught a few times.

By this stage it was getting dark, auto-focus was not an option and our shows were wet enough, walking through the creek provided a good option. Had a few problems with my remote for Bulb exposures – I don’t think it appreciated the wet conditions so I tried upping the ISO on a couple of shots in near darkness. We climbed up the left hand side of the falls under darkness back to the main walking track for the climb back to the top.

Probably the largest Trapdoor Spider I have seen. I was trying out my new Kenko Extension Tubes with the 75-300 on the end. Bit of work to focus and I will be looking for a dedicated Macro lens pretty soon for this style of work.

There were a few Frogs still out even though the conditions are starting to get a little cooler. The Barred Frog above turned out alright with a small torch used to help with focusing. I was shown my first Whistling Tree Frog(below) sitting on a small branch at the top of Purlingbrook Falls.

One thing to remember when out in the rainforest in the wet are the Leeches. I found my firstt one when I could taste blood in my mouth, felt like I had bit my lip but it was a Leech. When we finished for the night I picked of a fw more that had made their way into my clothing and had been feasting on blood.

Monday, first day of Autumn and the rain had set in. Decided to head up towards Best Of All Look-Outs in the middle of the day to see if there was a decent mist along the walk. The Look-Out we didn’t check as the view would have been blocked by cloud. This section is on top of the Queensland/New South Wales border and weather conditions here can turn from cloudless sky to blustery conditions pretty quick.

Remnants of the Gondwana Time and the Antarctic Beech(Nothofagus moorei) forest give this short walk a very old feel. I’ll be returning here again over the course of my Photography pursuit and Project 365.