Sugar sweet

Between the glitz and entertainment on the Gold Coast and the culture and offices of Brisbane are still acres of arable land and some of it is devoted to growing sugar cane.

f/5.3   1/125     ISO100

I noticed that the cane was in different stages of development and some of it was flowering. I had to stop the car and get closer! Fortunately the cane had not been flood irrigated lately so the ground was not too wet and boggy so I was able to walk right up to the plants.
 The sun was shining brightly overhead and being a person who enjoys the midday sun and using it to my advantage I took pleasure in allowing the flower heads to be back lit - they look so beautiful!

f/5.6  1/200   ISO 100

Finding a flower head that was low enough to the ground for me to get a close shot was a challenge. Most of the cane is about ten foot tall! Anyway my wandering brought me to one plant that had leaned over and so allowed me to get the shot I wanted. When backlit it is not possible to make out the structure of the flower so I wanted this shot so I could see more detail.

f.5.6  1/200   ISO 100

The flower reminds me of rice. I shall have to find some rice plants to confirm that! Not easy since no rice is grown in these parts!
I was pleased that the sugar cane was so accessible and that now I have a photo record of it.
AJ

New camera, new experiences

Yesterday my new camera arrived! I have at last got the camera of my dreams - I never thought I would ever be able to afford such a beauty but when my Olympus 500E made life so difficult (playing up in a way that was too frustrating for words) I was given a push by my ever supportive husband and I ordered a Nikon D90 with two lenses, 18 -55mm VR and 70-300mm.

I only had time for a few test shots yesterday - enough to get me really excited!

The quality of the images is out of this world! The colours are so accurate and the sharpness with the auto-focus absolutely brilliant. The composition is up to me, so between us, this camera and I should have a wonderful future!

Once the family had left us after a fun time at the local park, Colin and I piled into the car so that I could exercise my trigger finger. The sky was blue and the sun deliciously warm for a winter's day so this was my opportunity to take more photos and leave the housework for another time!

We live on the coast but there is some beautiful countryside all around us so we headed south and slightly inland stopping first to buy some tree ripened bananas from a local grower before driving through the cane fields to a small town of 7000 residents.

Just before we reached the town we came across a cycle race and since the road was quite narrow and the pack of cyclists quite numerous, I pulled the car over and took a couple of shots of the sugar cane. (only one of the shots is included here.)

f/10 1/125 sec ISO 200 55mm

The photo stop gave enough time for the cyclists to turn off the road we were on and we drove into the town with no hold-ups. I spotted an unusual church spire so that had to be investigated. A woman was cleaning inside the church and noticed me peering through the open door and invited me in to the church to look around. The stain glass windows were superb - but at this stage I was using only the 18-55mm lens which was not suitable for the height of these gorgeous windows. So I just looked! The church interior looks to be an ideal place for artistic photography. I may try that another day!

Colin and I motored up to the lookout beside the water tower and I took this shot of Mount Warning, an imposing but small mountain that was once a mighty volcano that actually was responsible for creating the landscape in this area of New South Wales. The "Scenic Rim" is a wonderful drive through rainforest and mountains and is the outer rim of the ancient volcano we now call Mount Warning.

f/16 1/125 sec ISO 200 55mm

Leaving Murwillumbah for home we approached a sugar mill from the south and the light through the steam rising from the tall chimney was inspiration for yet another photo session!

The steam looked the best from the main road but the better angle for photos of the sugar mill were from a little to the west of it. This meant that the steam did not have that same glow. It is difficult to get everything perfect!

I like this shot taken over the top of the sugar cane.

f/20 1/125sec ISO 200 52mm

By walking on to a very busy bridge over the Tweed River I was able to take a shot to show the mill's location on this wide meandering waterway.

f/14 1/125 sec ISO 200 18mm

This is the first time I have been able to use a camera by setting the shutter speed and allowing the camera to set the aperture. With the Olympus 500E I was only able to use it in full manual mode and of course I had to take several shots before I would get the settings exactly as I wanted them. With this camera the first shot I took looked so good I didn't need to take it again with a new setting! I am going to love this camera!

Now I need to have an opportunity to try out the long lens!

AJ