It seems as if I am only getting out to take photos about once a month, but at least the photos are worth the wait.

This photo was taken at Manly, a suburb of Brisbane, which seems to have so much potential yet is largely filled with old Queenslanders (a style of house). I think given a few more years and a savvy council with good urban planning, the location will be spectacular.

It’s been a long time between posts – I haven’t touched my D700 in more than 3 months, not since we’ve moved up to Brisbane. This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 3:30 am and drove to Burleigh Heads (about 1.5 hour drive) with a friend to catch the 6:12 am sunrise. Definitely worth it I think.

An image from May of last year which I haven’t had the chance to post yet. This was taken at Port Willunga, before we walked down to the wooden pylons that can be seen near the shore below. Closer images of these structures can be seen here and here. The pylons are all that remain of the jetty – Port Willunga was once a busy grain port.

Last week I asked if you could kindly vote for me at CoolPhotoBlogs if you are a member. I later realised that you don’t need to be a member to vote – there is a ”People’s Choice” award which requires no membership. My photoblog is listed here, so please consider voting if you enjoy my images.

A view of the Cape Bridgewater Wind Farm from a back road. It is part of the Portland Wind Energy Project which covers four sites in the Portland area – Yambuk, Cape Bridgewater, Cape Sir William Grant and Cape Nelson. According to the official site, the 58MW wind farm comprises 29, 2MW wind generators which produce enough electricity to abate an estimated 237,000 tonnes of greenhouse  gases each year.

Recently I’ve added a button to the site where you can vote for me in the 2011 Photoblog Awards. If you belong to CoolPhotoBlogs, please consider voting. I’m going to try really hard to post about two photos a week consistently this year. Two good photos a week is going to be difficult; consider this gem from Ansel Adams – ”Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop”.

The Obelisk in Robe, South Australia, is quite a tall structure – some 12m high, and therefore can be seen some distance away. Built in 1852, it was used to navigate the entrance of Guichen Bay. Back in those days Robe was quite an important port. For example, in the Victorian gold rush era of around 1857, over 16,000 Chinese people landed here to start their 320km walk to Ballarat and Bengido (the gold towns). This was because Victoria had introduced a landing tax of £10 per person (more than the cost of their voyage) to reduce the number of Chinese immigrant. Two more images are on Flickr – here and here, as well as some taken with Hipstamatic.

We drove about 20km out of Mount Gambier to take a photo of these trees. I had wanted to do a long exposure for star trails, but the clouds and fog got in the way….. this is about my third attempt at star trails thwarted by clouds… The lighting to the left is the light pollution from Mount Gambier, and the faint trails upper right are the stars.

Early morning at Port Fairy Lighthouse.

My personal favourite photo of the entire trip – mainly because it was so difficult to get (freezing cold!), and I rarely have the opportunity to take dawn photos.

The Twelve Apostles are a set of eight (formerly nine) limestone stacks along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Formerly called Sow and Piglets, the name was changed in 1922 for tourism reasons; there have never been twelve stacks.

This picture is taken from the viewing platform looking east, where two Apostles can be seen. We were (un)fortunate enough to choose a weekend to go when there were heavy rains, hence the dramatic sky. Being a top tourist attraction, this image is reproduced at least a few million times a year, but mostly by P&S and camera phones.

Port MacDonnell is a small seaside fishing town about twenty minutes from Mount Gambier. It has two main streets and three restaurants – one fish and chips take away, one hamburger take away, and a cafe. We had fish and chips at the hamburger place.

It was quite windy, so there wasn’t much opportunity to take any long exposures seascapes, which was the original intention as I have recently bought a L.C.W. Fader ND filter. However, I did find this relatively protected bay and was happy with this image.

Probably the best photo of the day, yet almost lost. We were already cold and tired from several hours of shooting, and was heading back to the car when I spied this fallen tree covered with salt. The lighting was fantastic.