Peter MacDonald Photo

The Jetty

Sat, 05 Oct 2024 01:35:52 +0000

The jetty at my place is sort of the centre of the 2 kilometre radius that I’m primarily concentrating on.

The Mundoo channel is a highway for boats and fishermen. They’re out mainly for Mulloway and Coorong Mullet in the surrounding waterways. There’s a busy boat ramp a few hundred yards up the channel.

Fishermen are always looking for the information about where the fish are biting and my friend @simoncardonefishes on the right is always looking for the latest information.

Simon is often fishing the state’s waterway and his tips are regularly posted on Tackle World’s website and his articles appear in the Fishing SA magazine.

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Cloudy Days

Sat, 28 Sep 2024 10:37:56 +0000

Cloudy Days

Winter on the coast was an interesting transition from Outback South Australia. It was mostly grappling with overcast skies and marginal light…things that were a small percentage days in the bush.

I’ve got a target of shooting something every day and while I confess at times that has been somewhat difficult there were still opportunities to be had.

This is the Mundoo Channel a couple of hundred yards from my home on one such day. Soft colours but interesting light. There’ll be a few more of these along the way among the brighter days and interesting events around what is My Place.

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My Place

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 23:51:26 +0000

Sunrise on the Mundoo Channel. How peaceful can it get. Appropriate too for the start of something new….. a look at the pictures I’ve taken around where I hang out out now far from the Flinders Ranges and Outback that was my home for a couple of decades.

I must admit the transition wasn’t easy. However I reckon there’s images to be made here too, particularly when it comes to the amazing range of colours that change through times of day, weather and seasons.

The Mundoo Channel is part of a waterway linking the vast Murray River where it flows into the ocean. And it’s connected to the fascinating Coorong coastal lagoon ecosystem. It’s roughly 130 kilometres south of Adelaide.

It’s an area teaming with many species of birds and other wildlife and a mecca for boaties, fishermen, kayakers and nature lovers.

The images to come will mostly be limited an area about 1.5 to 2 kilometres from my place as well as excursions around Hindmarsh Island, the Coorong and the nearby river township of Goolwa.

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Rule of Odds Again

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 20:00:18 +0000

Rule of Odds Again

The human eye finds images pleasing that have a certain balance or harmony. Apart from a single subject like a portrait, photographs are more visually interesting if they fall into groups of odd numbers….particularly threes.

House guests or just visiting?

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Filters and Exposure

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 20:00:43 +0000

Using the Circular Polarising Filter to the max and playing with exposure for a more dramatic picture for the Dredge at the Murray Mouth.

The sun was high and falling sideways across the scene which is where the polariser is at its maximum on a clear blue sky. Normally I’d back the strength of the polariser off to a more natural level which is much more effective.

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The Importance of Exposure

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 20:00:59 +0000

I really wanted to take a photo of this tack room on Mundowdna Station near Maree in Outback South Australia. It was a collection of horse and camel saddles and the saddlebags the old cameleers used when camels where one of the main modes of transporting anything around Outback country.

The trouble was the lighting. Both dark and well light areas. I tried flash in all sorts of ways and it looked terrible. Bracketing exposures is something I’ve used often and after the unsatisfactory results with the flash I figured I could make it work here. In post I played with each photo separately trying to balance the highlights and shadows.

Eventually there’s one that comes close. Photoshop’s Layers are far superior for fine adjustments and this was the result. In the bracketing process I would have a full stop difference between each shot. I would vary the base exposure as well and also take a reading with an exposure meter that I keep in my bag. The process is one of a number of techniques I cover in my workshops.

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Rule of Odds

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 20:30:20 +0000

The human eye finds images pleasing that have a certain balance or harmony.

Apart from a single subject like a portrait, photographs are more visually interesting if they fall into groups of odd numbers….particularly threes. It’s not exactly a rule but more a guideline and if you are aware of.

There’s also a series of squares and rectangles that add a bit of interest to the composition as well.

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Your camera goes wherever you go

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 20:30:42 +0000

Reading about the lives of successful photographers now and in the past, they always seemed to have their camera with them at all times.

Many worked only short distances from their homes most of their lives and yet made outstanding photographs that are still masterpieces today. Joseph Sudek and Saul Leiter are just two of many that spring to mind.
With the seemingly endless makes and models on the market today there is always going to be a camera you can take with you everywhere. Its just matter then of training your eye to see the photograph before you.

Case in point this image. Driving south one morning. The sun breaking through clouds in the east, approaching storm in the west creating interesting light on hills I’d passed hundreds of times but had never taken much notice of before.

The camera is close by, not packed in a bag somewhere. Go to work.

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Two Rocks

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 20:00:06 +0000

Photography is an interesting pursuit. The bottom line though is an observation which brings me to this picture of two rocks or as I see it, father and son.

Probably a thousand people or more walk past here every week and I wonder if any see it like this or just two rocks in a bunch of others.

Port Eliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia.

The image is one of the features in my gallery that is located at 76 Mundoo Channel Drive, Hindmarsh Island, South Australia. Open this weekend Saturday and Sunday 11am-3pm.

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Summer Rain?

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 20:00:12 +0000

It’s been a long hard battle with a particularly bad drought for many people in South Australia’s outback these last few years.

Fortunately some rains came a few weeks back but despite some brief appearances of wildflower and ground cover things look grim if there are no follow up rains this summer.

This picture is a somewhat picturesque view of a drought ravaged land….not a blade of grass, a bush or a tree as far as the eye can see.

Hope the forecasts have some good news

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The Bus

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 20:00:54 +0000

You get attached to your cars, especially when they’ve just reached the 550,000 kilometre mark.

It’s been many places that most cars or drivers wouldn’t dream of going. It been through floods, fire, across deserts and over mountain ranges and to a ist of outback places that is too long to mention. Put another way it’s been around the world nearly 14 times. It’s probably got a revolution or two left in her yet. A tip I learned from the last vehicle I had, a Toyota too that lasted for more than 15 years in similar work. Never wash the car. Well not until you trade it in. A good wash and a polish and it will come up like new. The car salesman was very impressed.

The image is one of the features in my gallery that is located at 76 Mundoo Channel Drive, Hindmarsh Island, South Australia. Open this weekend Saturday and Sunday 11am-3pm.

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The Covid-19 flowers

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 20:00:57 +0000

What to do when you are housebound. Fortunately Covid-19 was about a three week affair here in South Australia. Nonetheless very scary as we watched what was happening around other parts of Australia and the rest of the world.

In those first few weeks isolation and social distancing was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. This photo is a reminder of all that. An arrangement of native flowers and leaves. I’m a great believer in taking pictures every day but cooped up at home is a bit of a challenge and I feel for the any people who have and are still coping with lockdowns or self isolation.

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The Posing Egret

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 20:00:38 +0000

It’s pristine white feathers perfectly offset by the darkened waters edge beneath the jetty. The shadow of its neck along the back atop two very long legs. This bird would look good on any catwalk. Its pose is well practised as it waits still and patient for some unsuspecting fish to swim by.

The image is one of the features in my gallery that is located at 76 Mundoo Channel Drive, Hindmarsh Island, South Australia. Open this weekend Saturday and Sunday 11am-3pm.

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Lilly

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 20:00:08 +0000

The captivating colours of water lilies, the slightly chaotic arrangement and the opaque water they float in. So simple and serene. They’ll come and go but worth a photo. A small feature in the Hindmarsh Island gallery.

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The Dead of Night

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 20:00:53 +0000

Murray Mouth

Through storm, wind and rain the iron lady continues her task of keeping the waters flowing through the small outlet that is the Murray Mouth. Without the dredge that shifting sand would close the gap casing major ecological damage to the surrounding area and fisheries.

The image is one of the features in my gallery that is located at 76 Mundoo Channel Drive, Hindmarsh Island, South Australia. Open this weekend Saturday and Sunday 11am-3pm.

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Cygnets

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 20:00:29 +0000

Picture book image of mother swan and her young chicks along the Mundoo Channel.

Most of the year there are swans in the waters around here but in Spring the young cygnets are new arrivals protected by their two parents against the strong winds and violent storms that come with the season.

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Lifeless Land.

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 21:30:00 +0000

Outback Australia’s constant battle with drought. A lifeless landscape with the remnants of what was once the dog fence built to protect sheep grazing country from the ravages of wild dogs.

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Murray Mouth Dunes

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 21:30:30 +0000

The end of the line for Australia longest waterway. 2,500 kilometres long, the Murray meanders down from high in the Australian Alps in New South Wales.

A photo of the Mouth it’s almost impossible without having at least of the three dredges working to keep the outlet open.

The dunes though are windswept, every-changing fine sand.

The image is one of the features in my gallery which is not far from the Murray Mouth. Open this weekend Saturday and Sunday 11am -3pm

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Frozen Waves

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 21:30:44 +0000

Lake Frome, Outback South Australia

Interesting backstory to this image. I was working over outback salt lakes that had recent rains.

We’d been shooting at high altitudes but were finished and descending as we headed for base.

Sitting in the back with the door open I was watching the waves in the water below.

I would pick a wave and watch if for some time when almost instantly it would stop moving. The pilot saw this too so we turned and it soon became obvious all the waves were doing the same thing.

Frozen Waves in a salt lake. It didn’t seem real

We took many photos. There were beautiful shapes and colours all over the lake.

How come?

The water in the lake was super saline, it was summer and the temperatures were 50C plus with a strong wind blowing.

The evaporation was so great that while the wind was blowing the waves it was also sucking it dry.

The purple/mauve colour in the frozen wave was algae that just accentuated what was happening.

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