Milky Way

When I was a child, my mother, a science teacher, introduced me botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy well before my school curriculum covered them. She used neither a blackboard nor pen and paper for her lessons, nor I took any notes. Rather the lessons were through casual chats during the day-to-day activities and were about the science behind our day-to-day activities and our environment. The life in an area without electricity also had its positive sides; we had a lot of time for family interactions (no TV) and had only a few distractions. After dinner while washing the dishes by the well in our backyard, I was introduced to star constellations such as Orion and Gemini, planets, galaxies, and comets. I still remember the days gazing at Halley's comet during 1986.

An area without electricity also means no ambient light pollution affecting visibility of stars in the night sky. So, without a telescope I could gaze at star constellations, planets, comets, and milky-way just from our backyard. Unfortunately as we were displaced many of those interaction with the nature on daily basis could not be continued, but the passion remained.

Partial solar eclipse at 8:53 am on 10-05-2013

Yet, whenever I come across any news about an astronomical event I note it down and try my best to observe it first hand. Eventually I started photographing these events like what I did with watching birds. The telephoto lenses I bought primarily to shoot birds became very much handy for astrophotography as well.

Super Moon on 23-06-2013

Being a resident of a metropolitan area light pollution is a serious problem for my astrophotography attempts, and I could only shoot the sun and the moon. Even though I could see few hands full of stars and sometimes planets in the night sky, no keep worthy photographs of stars or planets could be captured from my home.  

Blood moon lunar eclipse

Inspired by some of the amazing shots of milky-way and star trails found on the internet, I decided to give milky-way shoot a try. Another phototog sitting in the same cubicle in my office also wished join. So, we started digging for information such as camera settings and location selection criteria during our lunch breaks. We found a map showing ambience light pollution in night around Victoria to chose some possible regions. My previous exploration of far west suburbs of Melbourne in search of canola fields helped me to narrow down shooting locations with some interesting foreground subjects. Next we focused on weather forecast for a clear and no moon day falling close to a week-end.

First glimpse of the Milky-way after many years

We set on a Friday evening to the shooting location well before the sunset, chose two spots, scouted around both spots, fine-tuned the shooting plans, setup tripod at one of the locations, and waited for the night to fall. Some beautiful twilight shots turned out to be bonus for our waiting. As darkness covered the sky the milky-way became visible and we started shooting. I had lots of trials and errors to determine the final camera settings and playing with manual focus. Once I became confident with camera settings, I concentrated on different compositions and foreground subjects. We did not realise how much time we had spent at the first location until one of us cared check time. It was 11:00 pm already.

Milky-way with a skeleton tree foreground

We left for the second location, our favourite one, with a small pond and a windmill about a kilometre away from the first location. Though we scouted the location just in the evening, we missed the spot in the pitch darkness and drove past. It took a while realise, took a U-turn, drove very slowly, and managed to spot the location. Parked the car, waited for few minutes to train our eyes for the darkness, and reached the bank of the pond scaring some bunnies into the bushes. Experimented few more night photography tricks and took some satisfying shots. By the time we decided to return, it was 1:00 am. While packing the gears only we realised that we haven’t had our dinner, but who cares when you have had such a blast.

Milky-way at with our favourite foreground

Port Melbourne

It was another Friday evening and my friends were concerned about the weather to set on a photowalk. Eventhough the entire sky was covered with clouds by 5:30 pm, I trusted the Melbourne radar for a 75% clear sky within an hour. So left alone with my gears to a suburb that was long overdue on my list of places to be photographed.

Got into a tram of route number 109 straight to Port Melbourne - the last stop. My choice among Station pier and Princess pier was the later with exposed pylons. So headed there to shoot the sunset. On my way to the Princess pier took some quick shots of the Station pier and the light house from the Beacon Cove promenade. As predicted the sky was getting clearer with time.

Exposed pylons of the Pricess Pier

Those exposed pylons kept me busy clicking till the sunset. Though the sunset was visible cloud cover along the horizon prevented much of the reddish colourisation. And, strong wind gusts kept the water surface choppy turning the sunset shots less interesting to share here.

Spirit of Tasmania sets off

By 7:30 pm Spirit of Tasmania started yet another of her voyage from the Station pier. View of the red beauty over the pylons was good enough to add few more shutter counts.

Port Melbourne Lighthouse 1 of 2

Next I moved back to the promenade to shoot the lighthouse under the twilight. Once again felt the requirement for ND filters to smoothen the water surface.

Wished to see the light from the lighthouse

Waited for another 15 minutes to see any light from the lighthouse. The only light sources I could see and photograph were lights on the ships anchored at Williamstown.

View of the Princess Pier from the Station Pier

Brisked to the Station pier before winding off, and took few distant shots of the Princess pier. Wind gusts turned even stronger and started to challenge the sturdiness of my tripod. So gave up idea of getting into the eastern side of the Station pier to shoot St. Kilda pier. A class C tram, predominantly used on this route 109, was waiting for me to take home and I made use of it.

St. Kilda at Night

St. Kilda is one of my favourite locations in Melbourne, especially to play with my photographic gears. The beautiful sandy beach, walking trail, palm fringed road, pier with kiosk, boats and yachts, great view of Melbourne's skyline, and little penguins all give lots of opportunities to press the shutter release.

When we had to choose a location at the last minute for a Friday night photo-walk, we chose St. Kilda unanimously. Though just missed the sunset by the time we reached there, we were not disappointed. Here are the sample shots of the night:

St. Kilda Pier and Pavilion

St. Kilda Pavilion

Another perspective of St. Kilda Pavilion

Melbourne skyline at night

St. Kilda Jetty and Melbourne skyline

St. Kilda Pier and Pavilion

Flowering Canola Fields

As I missed to shoot any flowering canola field last spring due to a miscalculation, this time I relied on multiple information sources instead of few, and started my search for suitable locations much earlier. Especially a thread I started on whirlpool.net.au received very useful responses with up-to-date field information. Based on that I marked Truganina, Point Wilson, Little River, Lara, Bacchus Marsh, and Anakie as potential locations to shoot flowering canola fields. 

My first visit to canola fields in late August resulted with not so great shots due to haze. Yet it helped me a lot to plan my second trip in detail during early September. Here are few shots of flowering canola fields taken during my second trip: 

And, here is a bonus shot sans canola on my way back home:

Smile of Nature

I believe every part of the world is beautiful and it may require a little effort and right eyes to identify and admire them. When I first visited the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus, the Old Quadrangle Building, the Old Arts Building, always green Southern Lawn, and the Students' square were the first few things to impress me. As days passed and my exploration expanded in and around the campus, more and more buildings, gardens, and lawns got places on my list of "places/things to be photographed" and eventually got clicked. Among them, the gardens of Trinity College premises, more specifically the roses, made me to alter my route to the university whenever I go by bicycle or on foot. 

These roses are the reason that I take a little longer route to my work whenever I have few extra minutes to start my work. Glimpses of these colourful and fresh smiles of nature give me extra energy to start those days.

Location: Trinity College, The University of Melbourne.

Gears: Canon EOS 450D + Canon 55-250 mm KIT lens.

Werribee River

For me and my friends, it was/is a long time wish to shoot a flowering Canola field, and during this year's spring we decided to make it. As usual, planning started with with Googling for locations around Melbourne. Google image returned some brilliant photos taken in and around Werribee area, and a Canola field with twelve trees on a line got all of our attention. After rigorous search for geo-tags and Google Earth's satellite views, we could almost locate the Canola field of our interest on the map. The next task was to decide the most suitable week of spring during which you could expect the blossoms at their best. It was when we made a small mistake. We discussed in detail on the colours of dresses that could be worn for that yellow and blue (sky) background. Finally, with the help of our weather forecast websites a sunny and clear week-end day was fixed. Unlike the past trip plans, we didn't add any other nearby locations to our travel map as we hoped to stay around that area till the sunset.

As usual, we started our trip with a break within first half an hour at Williamstown. It was to have a BBQ to feed our 'always hungry on trips' friend. We made sure that he was full and reserved the leftovers for him for the rest of the trip. It was noon when we left Williamstown with high expectations.

I was trying to cope with my friend who always drive at the speed limits. When my GPS showed two more minutes to my destination, received a call from that speedy friend and answered by my passenger. On phone he was saying that he could only see the twelve lined-up trees and was asking whether his destination is correct. I said, wait there for another two minutes and if I don't see you then your destination might be wrong. And, I could see my friends car within two minutes and the twelve trees. But not the flowering Canola field. It had already been harvested, most likely a day or two before.

With no other locations left on our travel plan, we decided to drive around nearby rural areas to see whether we still have got any luck to see a Canola field somewhere. All we could see were bare farmlands. Thoroughly disappointed, we stopped our cars on designated parking area along the K road to discuss any alternative plans. It was when we noticed a river flowing along and a look-out area. It was a blessing in disguise and we spent next two hours at the serene bank of Werribbee river.

Footscray Park

Footscray Park is one of the greenest park near Melbourne (about 8 km from the city), located on the south bank of the Maribyrnong River. The park is known for its plant collection, ornamental ponds, garden structures that blend very well with the nature, and some wildlife. With BBQs, benches, and scenic beauty, it is an ideal place for a week-end outing for families and friends.

Footpath along Maribyrnong River

View from Maribyrnong Boulevard

Footpath through the path and structures

An ornamental pond

An Eastern Great Egret

Access:

• From Footscray railway station cross Hopkins street and walk till the far end of Moore street for about 450m and, cross Ballarat road for the park's entrance.
• 2 hour car parking slots available along Maribyrnong Boulevard (unpaved).

Tesselaar Tulip Festival

For those who are in Melbourne and wish to photograph flowers, Tesselaar Tulip Festival is a certainly an event that should not be missed. This wonderful Tulip garden is open for visitors for a month during the early part of spring, normally mid September - mid October. It is also an ideal place for family outing and I am sure each member would enjoy irrespective of age/taste differences.

Yet, I would advise to those having a family and interested in photography to visit this place alone for a photographic adventure. If you cannot find extra time then caution your family members in advance that there is a high chance you may forget them once you reach there to avoid complaints.

 

Access:

• Car is the best mode of transport, and those crossing Dandenong Ranges can also expect some beautiful scenery on their way. From Melbourne it takes about an hour to reach 357-359 Monbulk Road, Silvan.
• Public transport - Take train to Lilydale Station and then from there a shuttle bus to the Tulip Festival.
• Opening hours: 10 am to 5 pm.

Some tips:

• Group tickets (of 10) are cheap, and you can simply find people to get sufficient head count for the discounted tickets.
• Student discounts (either group or student) are available by producing student Ids at the ticketing counter. 
• If possible visit this place at 10 am or on a week-day to avoid too much crowd for better photo shooting.
• Expect extremely sticky mud spoiling your shoes, and then the floor mat of your car, if you venture between the plants. Wearing a pair of old shoes might be considered and certainly shoes won't be visible if you take photos sitting/standing among plants.