Where are the Orcs?

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A forest like this sometimes seems on the brink of spontaneously giving up hordes of ravening subhuman warriors... Maybe it's because we watch too much fantasy these days, but the natural world was home to such aberrations in the mind and imagination of the classic fantasy writers and the image comes no less to mind now. This is Rocky Paddock, at Mount Crawford Forest, east of Adelaide, photographed in May, 2008, and the splay of shadows as the POV looks into the sun quadrant is aesthetically very pleasing. Extraneous foreground was cropped and the image was sharpened and balanced as per usual. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Dawn Light in the Forest

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This photograph was taken in the hour after dawn at Mt Crawford Forest, north-east of Adelaide, in May, 2008. The mist was still quite heavy though the sun was burning it up, and this frame catches not only the horizontal light outlining the tree but shafts through patches of mist at upper right. Such images are ephemeral, you catch the moment for the moment will never return in precisely the same way. Sharpened only. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Orderly Trees

I took this shot on a roadway across the ridge above Rocky Paddock, Mount Crawford Forest, north-east of Adelaide, in May, 2008. It's in the high telephoto range and I was surprised at just how much information the image contains, given that I was shooting at only 2mP on the day. The further forests -- tree farms, this is a pine plantation for the building industry, being progressively harvested -- created a symmetry on the hillsides which made an interesting contrast with the organic nature of the trees closer at hand, and the telephoto framed one within the other. The tonal range within the greens and other hues is appealing, also. Sharpness, contrast and colour were adjusted slightly. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Native Among the Immigrants

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Only in a colonial land can you see an admixture like this: a wild Australian kangaroo in a landscape of pine trees, therefore a 'tree farm' for the timber industry. These pines may be native to Australia (there are some in the far south) but they are not native to the Adelaide hills, and create a very north-temperate feel to what was a scrub-forest landscape until the coming of Europeans early in the 19th century. I snapped this shot through a car window on a graded track at the Mount Crawford Forest in May, 2008. The roos are not domesticated but they are certainly human-habituated, and will come quite close to the campgrounds. This is a high-telephoto framing, and it has been colour- and sharpness-adjusted. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Dawn Mists

This is another frame from that misty dawn at Mount Crawford Forest, north-east of Adelaide, in May, 2008. The quality of the light, the softening effect of the mist, ghostly trees, the clinging silence -- these were unforgettable aspects of the experience, and the imagery is evocative. Technically the images were simply a case of composing the frame with the material on show, that is, making the most of the moment. It would be easy to come back with pedestrian pictures, but a natural eye for composition always comes in handy. Catching these giants looming through the silver-grey was quite an experience. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Lone Sapling

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There is something amazing about the tenacity of life, and this fir sappling, fighting to grow in the coarse upland soil of a place called, prosaically, "Rocky Paddock," a popular hillside camping area with amazing natural rock formations off the side of Mount Crawford, north-east of Adelaide, seems to epitomise it. The texture of the shot's light and shade, the carpet of pine needles and the organic hues, create an appealing mosaic that underlines the environment in which life can flourish: harsh and exposed, but then, that's a pine tree's place in the world. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Afternoon sun, May, 2008. Photo by Mike.