This is Twelve Mile Beach. It is the campsite we stayed at when we first arrived in Hopetoun. Like many places in Western Australia there are no free campsites within a certain distance of the town. Twelve Mile is far enough out of town that you can stay there for free. I had to wait a couple of weeks to get a shot of a full moon to composite in. As it is a local shot I may get it framed for The Deck Gallery but I do not know how well photoshop trickery sells in print. What do you think?

This is a composite of Fanny Cove, Roo Sign and Frame Heads. It is going to be used as a design for a Stubby Holder which is a neoprene sleeve which Australians use to keep their beer cold and hands warm. Although all the images are from Western Australia I have tried to make it as generic as possible so it can be sold all over Australia. Any comments are welcome before it goes into mass production this week.

This is inside the cab of a steam engine at the Railway museum in Merredin. This image adds to the newly dubbed series of pictures named Mechanography. A little Orton Effect was used to process this image as well as some selective desaturation. We are spending a little more time in Hopetoun and plan to cross the Nullarbor at the end of February.

This image was taken on the 2nd December 2011 when we visited the Mining Hall of Fame in Kalgoolie. Unknown to us until we got there this would be the last time this tourist attraction would be open to the public. It’s a shame it closed as there was much to see and it gave a real insight into the history of mining in the area. After getting advice from Carole she helped me get this image printed, framed and hung at The Deck Gallery. To my surprise it sold in less than a week. This was the first time I’ve sold a physical print and met the buyer of an image. It was great to know where the image would be going. The nature of selling via Stock Photography is such that I have only found out where one image has ended up by chance in 5000 stock sales.

We have been quite lucky recently as every time we have had a Friday off together it has been the hottest day of the week. This week Chris and Carole from The Deck gave us use of their 4×4 for the day so we could explore some of the more remote areas East of Hopetoun. This is Fanny Cove in the Stokes National Park which can only be reached via a 4×4 track. I’m sure our van would not have got far and given the lack of traffic it could have been a long wait for rescue. The Toyota Landcruiser made light work of the terrain giving us the chance to snorkel this secluded cove.

This was taken at the groyne in Hopetoun yesterday. Fishing is a popular sport in Australia and there are usually around a dozen people fishing at sunset in Hopetoun each night. The time here has flown by and its hard to believe we are half way through our six weeks work here. We have both really enjoyed working at The Deck and will miss it when we go. I’ve been updating The Decks Website this year and have just put the new site online. I have a few more bits to add but most of it is there. Let me know what you think.

This is Native Dog Beach in Bremer Bay which we visited after Christmas. Bremer is the nearest coastal town to Hopetoun if you travel west. It looked close enough on the map but involved a 320 mile round trip around the Fitzgerald National Park. In hindsight it was a long way to go when Hopetoun is surrounded by miles of white sandy beaches. It was good to give the van a run as its not moved for a fortnight but we will probably stick to more local attractions for the rest of January while we are living here.

This is Albany band Manaia who Rocked Hopetoun last night with their own brand of Reggae, Funk and Groove. After the gig the guitarist ask if I could get them a gig in the UK. Unfortunately it’s been 10 years since I put on gigs in Nottingham and I think persuading a venue to fly five guys half way round the world is beyond my ability. I wish them the best of luck and if they make it I would gladly pay to see them play again.

The last 25 posts I have been experimenting using sRGB colour space. From now on I am switching back to Adobe RGB as the last two low key gig shots displayed a lot of visible noise in the shadow areas when viewed using Firefox browser. Redeveloping theses images in Adobe RGB colour space has greatly reduced the distortion.

Last night we went to Hopetoun‘s Christmas Party at the local pub. They had set up a marquee out the back where Esperance band Sezwho performed to the crowd with an assortment of Aussie 80′s Rock. We were both impressed with the gig and I suspect I had one too many beers by the way my head felt this morning. The temperature has started reaching the low 30′s recently so we are glad to both be off on Friday. We plan to camp at a site on the South Coast Highway tonight and then explore Bremer Bay tomorrow.

This is Wave Rock in Western Australia. It must be said Australia does rocks in a big way. This particular rock is made of granite and is more than 2.7 billion years old. The wave part of the rock is 14m high and 110 m long and has been created by a process of fluvial erosion. The stripes on the rock are caused by water which flows down from the top of the rock which slopes up from the wave at its base. This image was created by taking three exposures and combining them using HDR processing. The rock has attracted a number of eclectic tourist businesses over the years. There is an Animal Park where we saw the Koala, A Lace Museum, A Toy Soldier display, A Wild Flower Farm and a well provisioned if expensive Caravan Park where we spent the night. There are a number of walks and drives and I would recommend spending a couple of days there.