The Story Behind – Above Brooklyn


The Story Behind – Above Brooklyn. Picture postcard Photography – read all about it! So this is an occasional series where give a full account of a particular image… in this case it’s all about – how blue skies can come and go – oh so quickly!

My original photo story went something like …

The Story Behind – Above Brooklyn

This is the ‘Brooklyn classic landscape photography shot’ I have had in mind for years. And to put it into perspective, I have already got this shot – but I had taken it on an iPhone, not my Big Camera. To put it into even more perspective, it’s about a 90 minute walk from Brooklyn, with about 200 metres of elevation uphill to get to this spot. Are you with me? Yes, I didn’t mis-type the 200m of elevation.

So I finally got the shot, as a good mate asked if I fancied doing the Cowan to Brooklyn section of the Great North Walk, one weekend. That’s a 13 kilometre walk, around 700 metres of elevation, and quite a difficult and rocky track. I took a look at the weather forecast and luckily we had blue skies to start with. More on that later. I packed the camera. Just the one lens and no tripod, for reasons of backpack weight you can guess. Plenty of water and electrolyte drink and food. So we walked and walked, after a 7:30 AM start, down, down, past Jerusalem Bay. Back up, up, to the main ridge and then down and up again. We eventually arrived at the main lookout with a sense of elation. And tiredness! I had two shots in mind, one was a straight capture, the other was a panorama.

This is the straight shot. It’s available on my web-shop from forty nine.

I’ll write more about this as a blog post, as there was quite a lot of extra went on. A lot of times there is always a story-behind-the-story from what looks like a straightforward shot.

Please feel free to share for personal use.

A few more details:-

What you don’t see.

So the sky looks beautifully blue. When doing landscape photography, blue skies can be a curse as they simply have one colour and no real interest. The exception to that is when you are trying to get a classic ‘picture postcard photography shot’ of a well-known location, that you wish to have a full summer feel too. Bright blue skies do give a certain mood, from a postcard perspective, or from a reference-book photo perspective. As I arrived, with blue skies everywhere, I could see clouds starting to form. The forecast was not good.

So, having arrived on the back of a very strenuous 3 1/2 hour walk to get to where we were, I immediately realised I probably had less than five minutes to get the shot. I knew I wanted to take a straightforward shot using one frame. And  I also wished to get a panorama, which would be suitable to blow up to wall size, for those that wanted to have it above a reception area in a business, or as a real feature area for a large family home.

I was able to get two or three straight shots off, with varying focal lengths, before I started on the panoramas. The panoramas are easy to do, but they do take a little time, and the clouds were starting to build. I had about 15 minutes of photographic time before the cloud had fully set in, and large parts of the landscape were in shadow.

Thankfully halfway through that time, I realised that I was shooting panoramas with a polarising filter on. Sometimes images will not stitch if you use a polariser for a panorama, as the light levels will decrease across the frame width, making the stitching software give up. Thankfully!!! I caught it and was able to re shoot without the polariser. Only once I had taken all the photos was I able to rest and take in the magnificent vista! I must admit I was quite tired by this time, as were my walking friends.

And then, we still had 90 minutes or so. The clouds rolled in, a breeze got up, and the mizzle started. Just as we arrived at the Angers Rest in Brooklyn for a well earned sit down, down came the heavens. Talk about timed to perfection!

What I saw Afterwards

Ah, back at home. I uploaded the images to the computer and indeed I had taken a fair few. I took the  panoramas at 24 mm and also at nearly 70 mm to give myself some options for stitching. When I checked the longer focal length stitches I found that I had been unable to keep the camera rock steady. That was, I am sure, a factor of the walk I had done beforehand. So a learning to take out is that when you are tired,  you must concentrate on your photography a whole lot more. No escape! The stitches came together really nicely, and the single frames were stand out.

Am I Happy?

I am sooo happy, a shot I had in mind for five years or so, but simple logistics meant ‘no’. Nailed it!

Canon R5 ~ Canon 24-70mm  ~ F11 ~ 1/100 ~ ISO 100

9 / 10

 

Andrew Barnes

The Berowra Photographer. Well, doing Picture Postcard Photography this time.



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