sonny photos

Lake Bumbunga

I have been wanting to get to a salt lake all week now, either Lake Frome ( which was too far ) or Lake Torrens ( which has no public access ) but thanks to one of my loyal readers, Eva, who pointed me in the direction of smaller salt lake on the way back to Adelaide, so I at least get a little taste of a salt lake, oh yes, and I did taste it, it's actually nice tasting salt with a like rose colour to it . And just look at those clouds
This just makes me more wanting to do a shoot on a salt lake ! ! Quick, model, stylist, make up !!
Feels like I'm walking on  ice, and I was actually there for a seco nd wondering if the layer of ice was thick enough to hold my weight, but after swaying my hands around my face to keep away what seemed like thousands of flies trying to get to my beads of sweat on my forehead it quickly sunk in I ain't gonna sink as this ain't no ice
incredible, nature
cruel beauty
and a good sense of humour in this state it seems
A salty loch ness monster
close up of the salt crystals
and those clouds, yum.
Thanks Eva, can't wait to go to one of the bigger salt lakes now.

Driving back to Adelaide

South Australians seem to have a nice sense of humour. Now how funny would it be to see this sign driving through the Austrian Alps, don't hold your breath though
It's like this for about 300 kms or so

Around Arkaba

Like I said, driest state in Australia. It is my last morning at Arkaba, and seeing South Australian Tourism commission has organizedfor me to have the use of a 4wd drive, I use it to get of the track and explore the countryside some more around Arkaba, and I'm not disappointed
Every early morning, and late afternoon all the birds come to have a drink, including hundreds of cockies and galahs
This one though, has dried up
So many interesting shapes
Slowly building a layer of top soil again. The owners of Arkaba station, which in it's hey day, would hundreds and hundreds of thousands of sheep pass through ( hence the degradation of the land ) they decided to cut back on the flock of sheep , and have taken it right back to about 3000, so as to give the land the chance the breathe and recuperate
This , in the Arkaba creek bed
the colours ! red orange , smatter of green and expansive blue
and dry.
Now I took many many more photos, but they are all for the feature story in the up coming edition of luxury travel magazine, so we will have to wait for it to hit the news stands. This was to just give you a taste

Milpena Pound Scenic Flight

While staying at Arkaba, one of the things you can do besides Derek's 4WD tours, bushwalking, relaxing, is to go on a scenic flight around the geographically amazing Wilpena Pound. So I thought it would be a good idea for the story to get a picture of the plane with the mountain in the background, and the pilot getting the plane ready for take off. So Pat, the Arkaba manager took me down there, and this is Georgina Paterson , originally from Armidale, now captain of the plane
Captain, fule station, plane and Wilpena pound
I get her to show me the plane, and ask her, as she is about to do a scenic flight, where would be a good spot for me to get a shot of the plane taking off and the moutain in the background
Near the wind sock she says
But then she invited me to come on board for the ride, woudl I be interested ? Hello, is the pope a catholic ?
So here's me on take off . I gave Pat my other camera so he took the take off picture
ok.... woauw
the wilpena pound looking west
closer

The dry arid country side, only made worse by decades of grazing sheep,  they eat everything, including tree seedling, and their hoofs trampling the top layer , so when it rains ( and when it does it's more like a flood ) it gouges through the the now loosened top layer of soil, make the country more barren
But the most fascinating part still remains the "rubbing" of teutonic plates millions of years ago, causing these mountains to "pop " up from the earth, clearly dispalying the different layers of millions of layers, keeping in mind , that this area has been through several ice ages, and once this was part of a vast ocean. Even not so long ago , they found evidence of a coral reef, fossilised in rock formations, and now it is the driest state
St Mary's peak, the highest point of the southern side of the wilpena pound, and here, the Arkaba property extends to in the north of their property. Inside the pound is national park, and the border is the ridge of the mountain range
Can you see the S
This is about 15-20 min later into the flight and we are now on the very southern end of the pound with the "Aligator's back ridge "  aka Aroona Valley
Just makes me want to go and do some more exploring down there
The faint white patch you can see blending in with the horizon is Lake Torrens, which is a salt lake, I'm sure, bigger than the country Luxembourg
Bridle gap going into the center of the pound, with Wilpena resort, but the reason I took this photo is because of the 4.5 million dollar solar panels ( the bright reflection in the middle of the photo )  which supplies about 40 % of the energy to the resort.
safely landed
That was fun and informative, plus visually , a delight. Highly recommended at 130 dollars per person, for half an hour, well worth it.
Now for more information on Wilpena pound, you can try Wikepedia , or maybe Eva will now correct me ona few things or add some more info

Derek's 4WD Tours

On the way into Arkaba, at Hawker petrol station, I met one of the local guys, with a big hat, called Derek and turns out he runs a 4WD tour in the area, so he would have some information he could share with me about the area.
He's built this kick ass luxury 4WD drive truck that seats about a dozen people , and he calls is his Enamel Camel
So I spent the aftenoon with him trecking around the countryside, here we are at Pugilist Hill look out , with the Milpena pound inthebackground


Everyone loves your sunglasses Bruno, they look good on Derek


beautiful light, beautiful country

Jessica Holtham @ Arkaba

This is Adelaide model Jessica Holtham, she met us at the airport and then drove with us to Arkaba, she will be our cover model today. So I'm just quickly using her now to check the location for composition
So I set up this mini camp for our shoot

Morning Light at Arkaba Homestead

I got up early in the morning and climb up a little hill to take a photo of the sunrise, so that's the homestead with the Elders mountain range in the background
The Arkaba property is big, don't remember exactly how big, but they have walking tours, and in 3 days you still would not have seen everything, so ...big
I got up early to do a little location scout, and see what would be a good spot for the cover shoot
It is very dry here, South Australia apparently is the driest state in Australia
This little critter can deal with it

Arrive at Arkaba at sundown

Very dry, but pretty , quite and isolated. About 450 km from Adelaide, nearest big regional town is Port Augusta about an hour an a half away at 120km p/hour
And this is the homestead where I will be staying, doesn't look like much form the outside, but total luxury and comfort on the inside
beautiful colour on sunset
and awesome twilight colour

Off to Adelaide, South Australia

early morning start today, off to Adelaide. Last night took Jacqui to go backstage at UTS end of year show ( UTS is THE fashion design school in Sydney ) but will have to put those pics up later, (UPDATE, JACS HAS POSTED SOME GREAT SHOTS ON HER BLOG, CLICK HERE TO BE RE-DIRECTED )as where I am going there will be no phones, internet or TV ( or newspapers even ) I'm going to a resort in the Flinders Ranges called Arkaba to do a shoot for Luxury Travel magazine
clouds on top of clouds on tops of clouds
you know by now, so won't say it


polarizing filter

Nice flight , and now a 4 hour drive plus to Arkaba...stay tuned, I'll be off air for a few days

My current favourite surfing shot

Richie Vass not missing a beat           Photo: Shorty/from the latest SW
Out in the latest issue of SW ( Surfing World ) magazine.
Look how clean , glassy, blue , magical and deadly this wave is