A tumultuous dawn over Norries Head at Cabarita Beach, NSW.

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Morning surfers and a tumultuous dawn over Norries Head at Cabarita Beach, NSW.

Cheers 🙂

A winter’s day at Cabarita Beach – NSW.

Posted on July 29, 2017 by Andrew McInnes Photography

A serene winters day at Cabarita Beach on the Tweed Coast of NSW.

All images in this post are via UAV (drone). The first two images are multi-image panoramic stitches.

Cheers 🙂

Cabarita Beach and Surrounds – NSW.

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Aerial and terrestrial images of Cabarita Beach, Norries Head, Hastings Point, and Cudgera Creek – on the Tweed Coast of NSW.

Cabarita Beach 2AM-000274

Fish 2AM-007879

Hastings Point, NSW – where Cudgera Creek enters the sea after it’s sinuous meander.

Hastings Point 2AM-000277

Hastings Point 2AM-000278

Hastings Point 2AM-000281

Hastings Point 2AM-000289

Hastings Point 2AM-000292

Humpback Sunrise 2AM-007774

maggies-beach-2am-3413-3414-pano_edit_cloned

Maggies Beach 2AM 3413-3414 Panorama

Norries Head 2AM-000265

Norries Head 2AM 262-263 Panorama

Norries Head 2AM-000266

Norries Head 2AM-000270

Norries Head 2AM-000271

Norries Head 2AM-007865

Norries Head 2AM-007869

Cabarita Beach, Norries Head, Hastings Point – NSW.

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Cabarita Beach 2AM-008398

Hastings Point 2AM-002294

Hastings Point 2AM-008417

Hastings Point 2AM-008447

Norries Head 2AM-002279

Norries Head 2AM-008392

Day 8 – Fiordland and Cascade Creek, New Zealand – December 2015

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Ah, to have more time to explore and be awed by Fiordland National Park! And a revisit in late winter/early spring is in order too.
We ventured along the Te Anau – Milford Highway, to hike the Key Summit, a day-hike portion of the Routeburn Track, beginning at The Divide. Spectacular!

Here is a portion of the view from the end of Key Summit.

Routeburn Track 2AM 0796-0800 panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Hiking (“tramping” in NZ) up to Key Summit.

Routeburn Track 2AM-000788. ©Andrew McInnes

A loo with a view – sort of.

Routeburn Track 2AM-000814. ©Andrew McInnes

Driving into Fiordland National Park in the morning we noticed a field of lupins and thought that it would be worth a look on the way out that evening. What a beautiful scene it turned out to be!

This is Cascade Creek, along the Te Anau-Milford Hwy.

Cascade Creek 2AM 0827-0832 Panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM 0842-0843 panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000819. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000844. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000863. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000865. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000889. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000835. ©Andrew McInnes

Cascade Creek 2AM-000818. ©Andrew McInnes

I hope you like lupins 😉
Thanks for viewing my images.

Cheers 🙂

Day 7: The Catlins, New Zealand – December 2015.

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Day 7 – The spectacular Catlins area, South Island – New Zealand.

Spectacular, diverse, ever-changing – we drove through beautiful rural scenes, along a rugged coast, saw a few more yellow-eyed penguins, sea lions, a couple of lighthouses, and low tide allowed us to walk among a 180 million year old petrified Jurassic forest – one of only three such accessible fossil forests in the world! All this and so much more we couldn’t fit in 😦

Nugget Point Lighthouse, built in 1869-70. A place of spectacular views, many rocky islets (The Nuggets), and much wildlife.

Nugget Point Lighthouse 2AM 0739-0744 Panorama_edit

Nugget Point Lighthouse 2AM-0379-0744 panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Nugget Point Lighthouse 2AM-000749. ©Andrew McInnes

Nugget Point Lighthouse 2AM-000754. ©Andrew McInnes

Nugget Point Lighthouse 2AM-000775. ©Andrew McInnes

To be able to view, and even walk among a petrified forest in the intertidal zone at low tide was remarkable. There are both stumps and fallen trees, petrified, with some growth rings plainly visible. This is but a sampling of the numerous specimens at Curio Bay.
Curio Bay is of international significance for its fossilised forest dating back to the Jurassic period. The tree fossils you see here are 160 million years old and the forest was alive when New Zealand was part of Gondwanaland. (source: The Catlins New Zealand website).

Petrified Forest – Curio Bay 2AM-000635. ©Andrew McInnes

Petrified Forest – Curio Bay 2AM-000631. ©Andrew McInnes

Petrified Forest – Curio Bay 2AM-000634. ©Andrew McInnes

Petrified Forest – Curio Bay 2AM-000665. ©Andrew McInnes

Petrified Forest – Curio Bay 2AM-000656. ©Andrew McInnes

Four images of the Waipapa Point Lighthouse. This is the site of New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck. In 1881 the SS Tararua ran aground on Waipapa Reef and 131 of 151 passengers and crew died. The lighthouse, built after the disaster, stands as a poignant reminder. (source: Southern Scenic Route website).

Waipapa Point Lighthouse 2AM-000600. ©Andrew McInnes

Waipapa Point Lighthouse 2AM-000611. ©Andrew McInnes

Waipapa Point Lighthouse 2AM-000622. ©Andrew McInnes

Waipapa Point Lighthouse 2AM-000616. ©Andrew McInnes

I hope you enjoyed these images from a fascinating region of New Zealand.

Cheers 🙂

Days 2-4: Heading to Kaikoura, New Zealand – December 2015.

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Andrew McInnes Photography

This post covers three days (day 2, 3, and 4) of our holiday in New Zealand. It involved driving from Rotorua (see previous post here) to Wellington then departing on the ferry at 2:30 am to Picton, arriving around dawn, then driving to Kaikoura.

Day 2-4 – Heading to the South Island.

Unfortunately, as with all holidays, there is not enough time to see everything. There is a lot to see on the North Island but even though we had a loose schedule, there were some hard times/dates we needed to be at certain places – one such deadline was a ferry connection to take us to the South Island.

Leaving Rotorua we headed to Wellington via Lake Taupo and a few other smallish diversions. Whilst in the Rotorua area we visited Hamurana Springs for a peaceful and scenic break and saw this Waka (Māori watercraft).

Hamurana Springs - Rotarua 2AM-000456. ©Andrew McInnes

Waka – Hamurana Springs 2AM-000456. ©Andrew McInnes

Because I like birds…
A Paradise Shelduck on the shore of Lake Taupo.

Paradise Shelduck 2AM-004285. ©Andrew McInnes

South of the beautiful Lake Taupo area are some volcanic features many of you may recognise from the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The “Desert Road” through Rangipo Desert is a spectacular drive, and we paused for lunch with this view of Mount Ruapehu (left) and Mount Ngauruhoe (right) – the fictional Mount Doom. iPhone 5C panorama.

Tongariro National Park 2AM-000471. ©Andrew McInnes

Further south, a fence that caught my eye. iPhone 5C photo.

Waituna West 2AM-000474. ©Andrew McInnes

Onto the South Island.
Kaikoura and surrounds – abundant marine mammals, beautiful scenes.
I reckon these folks have a fantastic campsite!

Half Moon Bay – Kaikoura 2AM-000343. ©Andrew McInnes

The seemingly ubiquitous New Zealand fur seal, basking, resting, and nursing the young at Ohau Point, Half Moon Bay (just north of Kaikoura).

New Zealand fur seal 2AM-004332. ©Andrew McInnes

New Zealand fur seal 2AM-004337. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura awaking with the dawn.

Kaikoura 2AM 0407-0409 Panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Dusk settles over the Kaikoura Peninsula.

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM 0348-0351 Panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM 0356-0358 HDR. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM 0365-0367 HDR. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM 0374-0377 Panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Assorted images from the wondrous Kaikoura Peninsula:

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000353. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-004506. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-004498. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000484. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000482. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000355. ©Andrew McInnes

Wooden Fence 2AM-004690. ©Andrew McInnes

European Starling 2AM-004447. ©Andrew McInnes

In case any so-called birders or twitchers are wondering, this isn’t a new plumage for this species. Rather, it is pollen from the prolific pollen-producing plant, the New Zealand flax (Phormium).

Rhyolitic flows (I think so, at least) at Kaikoura.

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM 0458-0460 Panorama. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000455. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000456. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000461. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000462. ©Andrew McInnes

Kaikoura Peninsula 2AM-000463. ©Andrew McInnes

To wrap up this post, here are some more images of New Zealand fur seals 🙂
This time from the Kaikoura Peninsula.

New Zealand fur seal 2AM-004384. ©Andrew McInnes

New Zealand fur seal 2AM-004403. ©Andrew McInnes

New Zealand fur seal 2AM-004426. ©Andrew McInnes

I hope you enjoyed these.

Cheers 🙂

Posting #8 of my road trip from Fremantle to Kununurra, Western Australia.

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Andrew McInnes Photography

Mirima/Hidden Valley National Park – Kununurra, Western Australia.
Bungle Bungles in miniature – located just minutes from Kununurra, Mirima/Hidden Valley is a small park with sandstone ranges, cliffs and valleys, similar in appearance (and formed by similar processes) to parts of the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park). The 350 million year old sandstone features within the park are subject to some striking colour changes due to sunlight variances.

Here is the ‘mini Bungle Bungles’ (a portion of Mirima/Hidden Valley), viewed from a helicopter, including the town of Kununurra, Lily Creek, Indian Sandalwood plantations, and a portion of the surrounding ranges.

Kununurra-and-Mini-Bungle-Bungles-2AM-003518

Okay, back on terra firma – time for a wander through Hidden Valley…

Hidden-Valley-National-Park-2AM-003206_crop

A few quick photo shoots in Halifax and surrounds – Nova Scotia, Canada.

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Andrew McInnes Photography

I recently undertook an express visit with my wife to visit friends who were staying in Halifax for a period. I only managed to get out and photograph on a few occasions but was enamored of the area. Magnificent vistas, abundant maritime history, so ripe with scenery and scenes; I would have thoroughly enjoyed more time exploring and photographing. Nevertheless, here is a sampling of images from the very few times I was able to go walkabout. I hope you enjoy!

This is the first image I captured – I love the posture, gait, and apparent enthusiasm of the youngster; the dog’s tail; and the fact that the father had a bright red sweater on (excellent for ‘pop’ of people out in nature).

Halifax 2AM-000802
Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens. f4.5 for 1/800 second at ISO 800.
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.

A chicane of sorts …

Halifax 2AM-000834
Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens. f5.6 for 1/2000 second at ISO 800.
© Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All Rights Reserved.

Although we witnessed some glorious fall color, it was the same old situation of “you should have seen it last week!” 🙂
the next two images include a birch tree – the bark and patterning thereof fascinated me.

Definitely much color still available around the area, even if the leaves had fallen.

Early in our visit our hosts took me out for a brief but wonderful excursion to Herring Cove. Although very overcast and gloomy, the light was lovely for scenes that didn’t include much, if any, sky. After this mini-hike it was time for lunch so we stopped in at “Now We’re Cookin’!” where I had the superb gastronomic pleasure of a dozen perfectly fried and ultra-delicious “Digby Clams.”

Here are a series of images from the Herring Cove Provincial Park Reserve from that visit:

I call this image “The Admiral” – hopefully you can deduce why 🙂 I captured one of our hosts overlooking a temporarily tranquil Atlantic Ocean – it was a fleeting opportunity to get the shot, so I did not have time to adjust the camera settings, hence the very slow shutter speed for a hand held shot. Thankfully I managed to be stable enough for a sharp image.

Early into the gorgeous walk I found this scene and liked the various elements so much – hence this image to capture it 🙂

Loved these rosehip berries!

Same general scene, different interpretation. My photographic mentor drummed into me to shoot and shoot and shoot a scene from numerous angles/interpretations, with a strict caveat that each composition/interpretation must be appealing to me, not just shooting a bunch and ‘hoping’ one of them will be ‘good’.

A portion of the walking trail.

More of the meandering walking trail and a very typical scene of this splendid coast.

’twas a very blustery gloomy day and the smart one here (that would be me 🙂 ) decides to take a multi-hour exploratory walk around the Halifax waterfront to take in some of the history of this place. When I say it was blustery, it was really blowing! There is a bit of a tale from my home country that goes something like this: “Tie a brick onto a long piece of line and hang it so that it is free to swing. If the brick/string is vertical, there isn’t enough wind to go sailing; If the brick/string are horizontal, then perhaps there is a little too much wind for a sail; Anywhere in between = just right for a sail.” Well, the brick would have been darn near horizontal whilst I wandered around that particular day 😉
This block and blue line appealed to me as they hung and swung, suspended above the dark cold water. Hope you enjoy it too.

I find the marine flora and fauna of cold water habitats fascinating, and Nova Scotia in early winter did not disappoint me.This image, and the mussel image following it, were taken on a bucking and rolling floating dock that was doing its non-level best to ensure that either I fell in the cold cold water, or dropped the camera into said water, or fail to get a sharp image of the subjects that were interesting me. I am very thankful that the 5D Mark III handles high ISO noise so bloody well!

Some scenes need capturing, despite the quality (or lack thereof) of available light; I thought this public art installation the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk to be such a scene. This public art installation is a collaboration between Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg. One of the lampposts (at rear in this image) is peeing in the ocean. The other two are on their way home after drinking too much – the closest has stumbled and fallen, the other is bending over to check if all is okay with the fallen one.

Boardwalk boards (and nails)

Whilst she isn’t particularly old, this yacht is reminiscent of a time apparently long gone, when vessels actually had lovely lines! Plus, what’s not to like about bowsprits, jib-booms, bowlines, and vertically seamed sails with stitched lines along the leech?

A new day, and, well, there were some trees still shedding their colorful leaves, and a stunningly sky, so why not?

Dusk was rapidly descending on a bloody chilly day when I happened upon this lovely little yawl at rest on its mooring in a secluded and tranquil inlet.

Sometimes “hard to figure out at first” is intriguing – to me at least 🙂

A revisit to Herring Cove because the light was “cleaner.”

A little ‘overflow’ creek from Powers Pond to the Atlantic Ocean (via Herring Cove).

To me these next two images typify coastal fishing hamlets.

To my eye, when strolling around town, this image was very appealing. Initial concerns about it being “too busy” rapidly dissipated – likely due to the location of the colored elements, the reflections, and the leading line of the dock. Perhaps I am mistaken?

Speaking of reflections… here are two more from the walking trail at Herring Cove Provincial Park Reserve.

A stunning blue sky, granite, and grass.

My final image from Herring Cove showing one side of the entrance to Herring Cove; the great blue yonder is the fabled ornery Atlantic.

On the coldest day of the winter thus far (it having snowed the first snow of the season the previous night), we ventured on a quick trip down to Peggy’s Cove – a gorgeous sunset, some ice in the rocky depressions of the granite headland, and it was blowing stink, and we were right on the edge of the Atlantic. Not blowing quite strong enough for there to be whitecaps in the toilet, but darn near!
The following images were all captured within roughly one hour, and again, I present 4 images with the lighthouse in it, each sufficiently appealing to me.

There were some strange light behavior happenings last evening during dusk at Peggy’s Cove – one with my lens glare (this image), the other some neat atmospherics (the next image).

The three of us who were there together all were mesmerized by the vertical shaft of light – normally I expect to see crepuscular rays, but this instance had only the vertical element. As it was developing I was scampering around trying to find any element for foreground interest. “Beam me up” or perhaps a “batman-like beam.” 😉

And to wrap up this visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia – Canada, here is a light-painting of the lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove – the primary purpose of the quick evening trip to Peggy’s Cove. I hope you enjoy this light-painting image – is was certainly the most difficult to make: my wife and our host said I looked a bit like a mountain goat running around over the rocks and boulders in the dark whilst painting the scene with my trusty Q-beam II Million power flashlight.

Same scene, different interpretation – Garner State Park, TX.

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Andrew McInnes Photography

I recently traveled to the beautiful Garner State Park, Texas to photograph night shots which were to include light-painting.

This blog contains two images; though they were the exact same composition, and both taken after twilight, these are two very different images.

The first image is your “standard” light-painting and was taken after humanly visible light had vanished:

Garner State Park 2AM-115918
A single capture with light-painting.
Canon 7D with Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f5.6 for 40 seconds at ISO 1600.
Copyright © Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All rights reserved.

The second image also includes light-painting, and the process of capturing this image was started about 10 minutes after the photo above. However, this second image is a “stacked” image – I took 61 photographs, the first of which was the light-painting on the trees and “Old Baldy” then a further 60 images were taken without any light-painting (the last image is a “blank” which helps reduce the digital noise). Total exposure time equates to a little over 40 minutes. Each image had the exact settings of the first photo posted (above) and I compiled them using software that is dedicated to stacking images.

Garner-State-Park-2AM-115920-115980_stackedImage2
61 image stack for a total exposure time of ~40 minutes.
Each frame/picture had the following settings:
Canon 7D with Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. f5.6 for 40 seconds at ISO 1600.
Copyright © Andrew McInnes/2AM Photography. All rights reserved.

I could have (and should have) taken a single, 40 minute long-exposure image as this would also have a slightly different interpretation of the scene. That longer exposure would have had more digital noise but smoother star-trails.

So from the same scene and the same composition we can get multiple interpretations/photographs by using different photographic techniques.

Hope you enjoyed these images 🙂

I have previously posted blogs showing this location (Garner State Park, Texas) in Fall color:

https://2amphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/a-wet-and-colorful-weekend-near-utopia-tx/

https://2amphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/fall-rotation-thanksgiving-2011-garner-state-park-tx/

Andrew McInnes Photography

Imagery © Andrew McInnes

Tag Archives: rocks

A tumultuous dawn over Norries Head at Cabarita Beach, NSW.

A winter’s day at Cabarita Beach – NSW.

Cabarita Beach and Surrounds – NSW.

Cabarita Beach, Norries Head, Hastings Point – NSW.

Day 8 – Fiordland and Cascade Creek, New Zealand – December 2015

Day 7: The Catlins, New Zealand – December 2015.

Days 2-4: Heading to Kaikoura, New Zealand – December 2015.

Posting #8 of my road trip from Fremantle to Kununurra, Western Australia.

A few quick photo shoots in Halifax and surrounds – Nova Scotia, Canada.

Same scene, different interpretation – Garner State Park, TX.