This is the ghost town of Gwalia. One of many in the Goldfields. Gwalia was deserted overnight in 1963 when the pit closed down. Leaving an eerie atmosphere akin to Pompeii. It’s first mine manager was Herbert Hoover who later became 31st president of the United States. It seems strange to me these places have not regrown since the rise in gold prices have reopened many mines. The pull of the city’s on Australia’s youth and the efficiency of Australia’s super mines seem to keep the population forever declining. We are about to leave the goldfields to head West to Southern Cross before rejoining the ocean at Hopetoun.

This is a 1987 Toyota Hiace which been converted to a Camperven by a company called Sunliner in Victoria. It’s been around Australia a few times (150,000 miles) and we are hoping it has one more trip left in her. I drove South from Perth yesterday to a place called Buffalo Beach. I am currently posting this blog in the passenger seat while Karen has her first go at the wheel on our way to Bunbury.

This is the Snettisham Great Torc. Apparently the most famous object from Prehistoric Britain. We were surprised to find it in Perths Museum today. Even more surprised to find the British Museum had also exported their gift shop along with their touring exhibition. At lease it was nice to find some extra exhibits. When we visited Cairo Museum in Egypt a few years ago we found Tutankhamen was on tour in the UK.

This image was accepted for Stock Photography at Shutterstock and is available for high resolution download here.

In more recent news. We have just bought a 1987 Toyota Hiace Campervan. We will be leaving Perth tomorrow morning to begin our own tour of Australia.

This is the Old Swan Barracks in Perth, Western Australia. It has been our home for the last two weeks while we look for a campervan to start our tour of Australia. As you can see from this image The Swan has been a host for temporary residents for over 100 years. Some may say little has changed but what can you expect from a backpackers in the most remote city on earth. We are revisiting the Fremantle car market on Saturday and viewing a nice ’87 Sunliner on Sunday. With a bit of luck we should be hitting the road on Monday.

This is a 1943 John Deere tractor which has been lovingly restored for classic farm shows. This may be the last post from the UK as we are in the final staged of moving to Australia. I will try to post daily once we are out there. Next stop Perth.

These terrestrial and celestial globes where on display in Belton House. If anyone knows if this style of globe have some special name please leave a comment. Although photography was allowed in Belton House the light was very dim and flash was not allowed. In situations such as this a high ISO value is needed. ISO is the sensitivity of the film or sensor. The trade off is an increase in noise. My old camera had an ISO range from 100-800 but if I wanted to submit something for Stock Photography I could only use the low noise shots taken at ISO 100. This was taken with a Canon 5D mark II at ISO 3200 and had a remarkable lack on noise. I don’t know good enough for stock but its still very impressive.

This is Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire, UK. The original image was a little underexposed in the shadow areas. I used Fill Light in Camera RAW to bring back some detail. Lens Correction was also used to straighten the walls.

This started life as one of my Grandfathers Pictures from Rome, Italy in 1926. The Colosseum is so well photographed it did not take long to find a modern image shot from the same angle. Google maps has geotagged images which makes it easy. Once I had them both lined up in Photoshop I created a mask to reveal the modern image.

This is a 1957 Chevrolet in Trinidad, Cuba. To process this image I used a similar technique as the Blue Chevy. Orton Effect on the car and de-sat and de-focus background. To add some extra sparkle I also added a subtle Fractalius layer.

This creation has appeared on the A606 in Rutland to commemorate the Battle of Britain. I used the healing brush set to content-aware fill to remove the supporting strut and ground. It did the heavy lifting but left a faint outline. I then used the Clone Stamp Tool set to a soft brush clean up the outlines. Fortunately clouds are very easy to heal as you don’t have to worry about blurring your shot.