Knuckle Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing a trip with Cruise Whitsunday out of Airlie Beach to Knuckle Reef, the reef is located 100km’s off the East Coast and getting there is by a 300 seater catamaran.

The cruise has about 40 staff on the boat to accommodate your every need, be it from making the wonderful lunch that is served on board, to taking you scuba diving either for a first timer, or even if you have dived before. If you just want to do your own thing, then you can put on a wet suite, goggles and go swimming at your own pace.  There is even a photographer there who can capture your day from above as well as below the waterline.

The trip takes about 3 hours to get there as you stop at a couple of the islands on the way out to pick up people along the away.

But all in all its a great day out and one I would recommend doing.

http://www.airliebeach.com/daytrips/knuckle-reef-pontoon/

Katherine Gorge Wedding Cruises, Northern Territory

If you have ever considered getting married with the stunning backdrops of Katherine Gorge with the setting sun hitting the sheer cliffs, then you can’t go past the Nitmiluk wedding cruises.Yesterday I shot a wedding for Leon and Robyn, and even though it was mid afternoon, it allowed us enough time to take a leisurely cruise back up the river stopping at various locations for photos. The added bonus of this is that the guests get to enjoy the photography that is taken on the way back. So if you have ever thought about it, please give Karlee a call at the Nitmiluk Centre and they will cater to your needs and requests. Taken on a 5D Mark II with a 24-105 lens, a Quantum Flash and a Elinchrom Ranger flash.

Apple Mac Pro – Designwyse Melbourne

Last month I took delivery of my new apple mac pro computer , it was custom build for me by Designwyse in Melbourne that are professionals that deal in Apple products.  The sales manager I dealt with was Daniel  and he couldn’t have been more helpful with every process and request I asked of him and the team he works with.

I have had a few upgrades from what is stock standard, and that is I went from 3Gig Ram to 24 Gig Ram, I added a 120 gig solid state hard drive and that has all my programs running from it. I added 3 1TB hard drives for time machine back ups, my weddings, portraits and the last one for my landscape photos. I have done a few test as well with it, Photoshop opens up in 1.5sec and a 500mb file from finder (explorer) opening up PS CS5 at the same time takes just on 5 secs. I thought I would also push it and see how it went, so I opened 20 x 500mb files in one go and 2 mins later they were all opened.

I couilnt be more happier with the computer and I feel that this tower will give me years of reliable editing that I will be sure to be doing with it.

So if you are looking for a great computer and you need the speed and the power, then give Daniel a call in Melbourne.

http://www.designwyse.com.au/

I have added the specs for you to see as well.

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro5,1

Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 8 MB

Memory: 24 GB

Cherry Tree Farm, Tasmania

 

 

Last year I spent just under 2 weeks traveling around mostly the East Coast of Tasmania, shooting most of the trip with my Linhof 617.

One the last day I was there I wasn’t due to fly out till mid afternoon, so I left Freycinet at about 10.00 with Neal Pritchard and his brother not far in front of me on the way to the airport as well as they were heading back to WA the same day.

About half way back to the airport as I was coming up through the hills I saw this little cottage on the left and pulled over to have a closer look, with just the veiw finder in hand I knew as soon as I looked through it that there was a photo to be taken here. I also used the polarizer as well to bring out the puffy clouds in the background. This was one of the last shots I took on this trip and I have had the stored till I had more film to send.

Scanned on my FlextightX1 here at home, here is the final product of what I saw that day.

Stuart Highway, Katherine, NT

 

Last week on my way to Darwin for the weekend I had left pretty early on the Friday so there was not much traffic on the road. As I came around the corner on the major highway I saw a chance for a nice shot with all the puffy clouds the sun and the leading line of the road.

I pulled over and took a few shots from standing angle and as well in the middle of the road, but it wasn’t until I laid down on the road that I felt I got the better angle that I was looking for.

Listening for traffic as I was taking a few shots there were a few times I had to get up pretty quickly, but I feel the effort was well rewarded as I was able to get the sun in the shot as well.

Camera EXIF, 1/40th @F16, 16mm, CPL Filter, no grads.

Casey Smith Photography Website

A while ago I was unfortunate enough to get a virus on my website that totally shut it down. So I made a choice to have a new website completely built from stracth.

From there I had to search for a website designer that could cater for all the needs and wants of my website, and after much searching and research I found Jeff Hall AKA Website Guy based on the Central Coast.

Between us over the last few months we have come up with a site that I can now say I am proud of, its has a body of my work from when I first picked up a panoramic camera in the Fuji GX617 that I hired from Sydney, to when I bought my Fuji G617 and then after many years of shooting with that great camera to now shooting with the Linhof 617IIIs.

My plans are to update this site on a regular basis of many locations around Australia over the years and one goal I have while here in the Northern Territory is to capture that one great shot of a lightning storm of slide.

So please have a look at what I have taken and please come back to my site to see updates of new locations that I have taken.

 

Tasmanian Coast

Last month I took a trip to Tasmania for 10 days for a dedicated photo trip. All I took with me was my Linhof a few changes of clothes and a bunch of film. You have to love FB as Neal Pritchard e-mailed me about 5 days before I left and said that he would be in Tassie on the same dates as I was going to be there, so we met up at Russel Falls and again at Coles bay, it was so great to meet Neal and his brother Michael as it made my trip so much better. Cheers guys.

My trip was not planned at all and I was taken by where my steering wheel led me, anyway I ended up spending 3 days at Russel Falls, 3 days at St Helens and The Bay of Fires,  then the rest of my trip at Coles Bay.

This shot was taken at Binalong Bay and this was one of the nicest beach’s by far I went to during my trip to Tassie, you would swear you were in Nth Qld it was that nice.

Anyway I have a few more photos from my trip to scan and it will be added to my new website that will be launched pretty soon.

Katherine Gorge Waterfall

Northern Territory

A few months ago during the wet season I thought I would take another hike up to Katherine Gorge, and I was glad I did becuase it was at a time where the amount of rain we were going to receive for the year was at its peak.

Like every year around this time, its a hike that I dont like doing very much as its very humid and a lot of water is needed as well as some bananas for some much needed burnt energy as the first part of the trek is pretty steep. But once there it is well worth the trip to see the green of the water and to also be able to go for  a swim without fear of getting eaten by a croc during the wet season.

I took this shot thinking it was just another shot which was at the end of the roll, and thought I would burn the film and start heading home. I am glad I did as it would have to be one of my favorite shots taken of this waterfall. I will be adding to this to my website along with a few more images of the Gorge that I have coming.

Gloucester Tops Forest Floor, New South Wales

Last month over my Xmas holiday I had the pleasure of catching up with fellow photographer and friend Rod Thomas and I went up to Barrington Tops to capture some of the waterfalls in the National Park.

But it wasnt until our way back that I asked Rod to pull over so we could maybe look at taking some photos of the road that was filled with thick forest and fog. As I was taking photos of the road Rod trekked up into the bush to see what he could find, well after he came back he said to me that I should come up and have a look as its was pretty nice, so what turned out to be just a 5 minute stop turned into a 2hour shoot.

This is just one of the many shots we got that day and I love how the floor is evident of the many seasons, the burnt black tree’s, the leaves of Autumn and also the signs of regrowth in the middle of it all.

Thanks Rod for taking me up there and I wouldn’t have anywhere as many photos as I do if it wasn’t for your hospitality during my stay.

Edith Falls, Northern Territory

Tonight I decided to head back up to Edith Falls and see what impact that the rain over the last 2 days has had, well I wasnt expecting this much of an impact from just 2 days of rain. But Katherine Gorge did go from just under 3 meters to now running at 12 meters, so I am guessing that Arnhem Land has coped quiet a bit of rain as well.

I took these from the second gorge and the one that is still open to go a visit, but not swim for obvious reasons. And these were also taken as the sun was setting and it gave a nice warm glow as I was taking these last shots before cutting my losses and getting back before it goo to dark and dangerous as I have a huge fear of running into a snake along the way.

I will go back again tomorrow as well and shoot mostly with the linhof before the water levels drop again. But it is pretty impressive to watch the amount of water running down there at such a great rate.