Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

Sometimes life just gets a little bit too stressful, and the best way to deal with it is a few hours in the country re-connecting with nature and the beautiful land that we live in.  Yesterday was one of those days, and what a joy to just take a few hours and enjoy the sunshine and the beauty of our South West.  I rarely go anywhere interesting without my camera in hand, so I do have a few of my favourite shots to share with you all:)

I’m very happy with these for several reasons, firstly every single shot was taken in full manual, and while I have always been pleased with the 50D’s output in the other creative settings that I normally use with changing light/movement situations, I can honestly say that nothing beats pure manual for getting the best images!  Secondly, and this is a biggie for me, I was shooting with the beast (70-200mm 2.8L), but every shot was hand held – the monopod didn’t go on the camera once!  This is truly amazing (to me anyway) as after my first attempt at shooting handheld with the beast when I first got the 50D was a disaster, it was so heavy it made my wrists hurt and every photo had severe camera shake and I never thought I would be able to use it handheld.

Purple Flowers at Harvey ©2009 South West Photography

Rustic Farm Building ©2009 South West Photography

One Tree Hill Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

"panoRAMa" Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Boyup Brook Farmland in July ©2009 South West Photography

Scarlet Breasted Robin Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

"Bird on a Wire" Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Donnybrook to Boyup Brook Landscape © 2009 South West Photography

Scarlet Robin, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

"Flight" Birdwatching in Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Blackwood River, Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Boyup Brook at Dusk © South West Photography

Little Lamb backlit by the Sun ©2009 South West Photography

The Golden Hour ©South West Photography

I have to say that I was really pleased with the last two – the little lamb was shot through a ringlock fence and I wasn’t sure if my settings where correct for the lens to blur out the wire strands, but obviously they were (yay for me).  I had to jump out of the car, over a muddy ditch and up a hill to say hi to three very friendly horses that came over to the fence when I called them.  It was the golden hour and the light from the sinking sun behind them was just magnificent while this big bay gelding happily posed for me to practice my silhouette shots:) In the full size, his chin whiskers look like threads of pure gold.

Ok, I think thats more than a few photos (I know, I just can’t help myself)…although I do have heaps more that I will add at some stage when I get time to process them.  I’d love to know which of the photos is your favourite and why, so please feel free to leave me a comment:)

Cheers

Michelle

South West Photography

I wonder if any other photographer else has an unusual subject that they photograph for no good reason whatsoever, with no care for composition or technique, just grab shots for the sake of…well I dunno, collecting maybe?

I collect country road signs.  Well, no I don’t collect road signs, but I do collect photos of road signs.  Specifically country road signs.  LOL ok so I am weird.  Maybe I just don’t know where I am going so I like to have a record of where I have been?  I won’t go scan any film photos that I took in Europe many years ago, but here are a few from my ‘weird photo’ collection.  Most are grab shots taken out the window at 100km per hour.

Blackwood River Valley

Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

Blackwood River Valley

Williams Wagin Perth Kojonup Albany

Dardanup Boyanup road sign

Bunbury Road Sign

A fleeting day trip through the south west.

Boyup Brook Farmland © 2009 South West Photography

Children's Playground - Donnybrook © 2009 South West Photography

Running from the mob © 2009 South West Photography

These images below show a tiny part of the devastation caused by the deliberatly lit bushfire that raged in the Bridgetown area in January 2009.  These images were taken out the window of the car while we were traveling at 110km per hour on South West Highway, so please excuse the less than perfect composition and clarity!

And no, I wasn’t driving *and* taking photos at the same time!

Bushfire devastation - Bridgetown © 2009 South West Photography

Bushfire devastation - Bridgetown © 2009 South West Photography

Bushfire devastation - Bridgetown © 2009 South West Photography

Bushfire devastation - Bridgetown © 2009 South West Photography