“OMG – Mine Your Food Bowl?” Open-cut coal mines on the Liverpool Plains?

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Andrew McInnes Photography

I recently conducted a 36 hour reconnaissance drive up to Breeza and Caroona on the Liverpool Plains area of NSW to examine the area where several open-cut coal mines have been proposed – at least one of which, the Shenhua Watermark mine, is foreign-owned. The Liverpool Plains a highly productive region of Australia with vast acres in production of barley, chickpeas, faba beans, sorghum, sunflowers, soybeans, maize, wheat and cotton, plus grazing of beef cattle and sheep. I concur with the protesters slogan of “Wrong mine, wrong place.”

On the drive up I hoped to photograph the extensive raping and scarring of the land through the Hunter Valley but opportunities are not prevalent from the roadside due to significant concealing of operations and the resultant ramifications. I am not against mining, per se, however I do have issues with “the commons” being over-extracted for the profits of a few whilst the landholder has little recompense for the invasion, and the people of this nation see very little direct financial benefits.

The following two signs are in close proximity, located alongside the Kamilaroi Hwy, near Breeza.

Should they be able to mine this…

and turn it into this?

Here is a warning sign to the public (the same public who paid for the road) that as a result of mining activity in the Hunter Valley the public infrastructure is likely compromised…

Let’s Lock the Gate “to protect our common heritage – our land, water and communities – from unsafe or inappropriate mining for coal seam gas and other fossil fuels.”

To wrap this blog-post up here are several images capturing a very small portion of the scenery, productivity, and lifestyle of this magnificent agricultural region. I am very grateful to the property owners for their time and the access to their properties.

These first four images were captured as I arrived just prior to dusk at “Rossmar Park” near Caroona.

The next morning, along Coonabarabran Rd, near Caroona.

“Breeza Station” – Breeza.

“Drayton” – Breeza

Cheers 🙂

Posting #3 of my road trip from Fremantle to Kununurra, Western Australia.

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Andrew McInnes Photography

This post contains images from my express visit to Coral Bay and Exmouth, Western Australia.

Ah, the tropics 🙂

These next three images are from Coral Bay – a stunning and simple place.

The front of the image is shallow water over a sand substrate; this then abruptly drops off into a deepish lagoon which is protected by Ningaloo Reef (Australia’s “other” reef) in the background. © 2014 Andrew McInnes.

Unfortunately I only spent about 8 hours in Exmouth which is nowhere near sufficient. Nevertheless, here are some scenes of this fascinating area.

A light-painting of the retired (non-functioning) Vlamingh Head Lighthouse – Exmouth. The evening air was thick with moisture from the Indian Ocean as it pounded Ningaloo Reef so I thought I’d make an image to suggest how the light from the lighthouse may have appeared to mariners of yore. During the 30 second exposure I mimicked a beam of light from the lighthouse by aiming my spotlight on the structure for a few seconds, allowing the moisture in the air to appear as a beam.
This image includes the Southern Cross (and pointers), along with a portion of the Milky Way.

Vlamingh-Head-Lighthouse---Exmouth-2AM-002554

Vlamingh-Head-Lighthouse---Exmouth-2AM_no-base-image_lighten_startrails_b

Star trails caress the retired (non-functioning) Vlamingh Head Lighthouse – Exmouth, on a blustery and balmy autumn night. This is a stacked image consisting of 61 images (each image f4 for 30 seconds at ISO 800). © 2014 Andrew McInnes.

More posts from this road trip to follow this.

Posting #1 of my road trip from Fremantle to Kununurra, Western Australia.

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Andrew McInnes Photography

I recently embarked on what turned out to be a quite a drive with the purpose of visiting an old mate from my teenage years whom I have not seen for more than 20 years! My old vehicle (1984 Toyota Hilux diesel) logged 9,193 km (5,712 miles) doing my return trip from Fremantle – Kununurra – Fremantle, Western Australia.

With an esky full of water and assorted sandwich-construction material, plus spare diesel, oil, etc., I essentially drove until it was time to find a bush-camp for the night. I’d awake early and continue northward, repeating as required until I arrived at Kununurra.

Subsequent blog postings will present more images from the trip to the north of this bloody big state.
Theses images document my travels up and back – I hope you will find them appealing.

It isn’t long until these emblematic signs present themselves, with varying fauna presented.

Having previously visited and photographed The Pinnacles (click here to view these) at Nambung National Park, near Cervantes, I chose to revisit and shoot more images from this amazing ‘moonscape’ before moving on and finding a place to camp for the night.

This leaning tree is but one of many around the Greenough area. These River Gum/eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) have horizontal trunks due to exposure to strong and near-continuous southerly winds.

Should you find yourself anywhere near Geraldton or Walkaway, I thoroughly recommend a visit to Ellendale Pool, be it for a day trip or a place to camp – as I did for an evening.

Lovely spot to set up a caravan!

The ubiquitous and raucous Little Corella

Hope you enjoyed the early portion of my trip, if vicariously 🙂

More images from the trip to follow soon.

Cheers,

Andrew

Fall Rotation – Thanksgiving 2011, Garner State Park, TX.

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Had a wonderful several days at Garner State Park, Texas, where we reflected in nature on the immense blessing in our lives. The season provided a splendid variety of light, a foggy morn’, color on the Cypress trees, a dazzlingly clear calm evening for a North Star and rotation shot, and all-around pleasing to the eyes experience. Highly recommend Garner State Park (especially November).

“Cypress Stars.”
Light painting: Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f4.5 for 72 seconds at ISO 2000.

“Reflecting on Thanksgiving.”
Light Panting: Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f4.5 for 208 seconds at ISO 400.

“Garner Rocks.”
Light Panting: Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f4.5 for 46 seconds at ISO 1000.

“Partial Pinwheel.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f4.5 for 1298 seconds at ISO 400.

“Foggy Fall Foliage.”
Canon EOS 30D with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens. f/14 for 1/13 second at ISO 200.

“Foggy Frio #1.”
Canon EOS 30D with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens. f/14 for 1/25 second at ISO 200.

“Foggy Frio #2.”
Canon EOS 30D with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens. f/14 for 1/13 second at ISO 200.

“Foggy Frio #3.”
Canon EOS 30D with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens. f/14 for 1/25 second at ISO 200.

“Foggy Frio #4.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f/10 for 1/30 second at ISO 100.

“Foggy Frio #5.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f/10 for 1/60 second at ISO 100.

“Foggy Frio #6.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f/10 for 1/50 second at ISO 100.

“Fall on the Frio.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f/11 for 1/50 second at ISO 100.

“Fall on the Frio #2.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f/11 for 1/30 second at ISO 100.

“Stormy mornin’.”
Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f/11 for 1/8 second at ISO 250.

Andrew McInnes Photography

Imagery © Andrew McInnes

Tag Archives: milky way

“OMG – Mine Your Food Bowl?” Open-cut coal mines on the Liverpool Plains?

Posting #3 of my road trip from Fremantle to Kununurra, Western Australia.

Posting #1 of my road trip from Fremantle to Kununurra, Western Australia.

Fall Rotation – Thanksgiving 2011, Garner State Park, TX.