Shot Notes
This Walking Dragline is one of the largest things I have photographed. I was focused at infinity and still used a wide angle lens to get it all in. The boom that supports the bucket is as long as a football field and the whole thing weighs 6,500 tonnes. This one is working at the BMA mine I visited today. It is one of many open cut mines surrounding the town of Blackwater. The town calls itself the Coal Capital of Queensland but it could claim this title for Australia as the state has more coal than the rest of the continent combined. Australia exports about 70% of its production making it the worlds largest coal exporter. The abundance of black stuff goes some way to explaining why a region known as the sunshine state gets 98% of its electricity from fossil fuels.
I have booked a week at the Blackdown Tableland National Park before I resume shooting the mines.
This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.
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