Last night was a battle.
I went out to the dam, to the spot I had recon'd a couple of weeks ago. The weather looked good, BOM's forecast and satellite pics looked better than they have in weeks and the forecast, although not perfect, looked in my favor.
When I got there, it was cold and clear. I put on the layers, left the car and hopped the fence and proceeded to the spot on the west bank I had picked. It was then I discovered that my lens was not only not wide enough, but the milky way was straight overhead, from north to south and I couldn't get the reflection in the water. I really needed to be on the south bank but there was no way to get there. Even if I had been able to get there, the glow of Canberra was in that direction too, spoiling the darkness at that end....grrrr...
So, I tried anyway. I stumbled along the west bank in the bush in the dark, finding cliffs all the way that I couldn't scale down. Eventually I bit the bullet and jumped a 3 metre cliff, dug my heels into the steep slope I landed on and got myself very muddy in the process.
Eventually I found myself on a penninsula, surrounded by water and decided to try it there. I STILL couldn't get the frame right.
I set off for the car again, thinking I will drive back over the dam wall and try the east bank, to see if I could get the reflection of the milky way as it set in the south west. This time I walked and climbed all the way back to the spillway, thinking maybe there is a better way from there. When I got there, i saw a ladder coming out of the spillway in the torchlight, going up to the top level where I came from. I put all the gear up on the wall, jumped up and looked over at the ladder 30 feet away in dismay as I realised the spillway was VERY DEEP and impossible for me to get to the ladder....
Back I went to the cliffs and got even more muddy, slipped back down a few times before finally making it back to the car, drenched in sweat and mud. I ate my cold maccas and contemplated giving up.
So, "give up" not being in my DNA, I drove over the dam wall and took a walk down the east bank. Much easier. I set up the camera and intervalometer on the tripod, started the sequence and walked back to the car to finish my macca's and attempt to dry my thermals over the steering wheel with the heater on.
After about an hour, I went back to check on the camera, to find the brand new batteries I had just loaded in there had failed. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! Then thick clouds came over and put a total end to any thoughts of continuing.
I packed it all up, very frustrated and headed home.
Along the way, I stopped to take some pics of the snow. While I was doing that, the sky cleared.
I continued to a dirt turn-off I had recon'd before and made tracks into the scrub. I came to a clearing, where a lone HUGE pine stood to my south, majestically pointing straight up the milky way! I spent the rest of the night until a little after 3am there, whe the clouds finally rolled in and stayed.
I got maybe 3 and a half hours total on one timelapse, with a mix of other interesting frames from around the night. I guess I learned a lot about the effort involved in trying to be a perfectionist, and taking a few gambles and risks .
I could have stayed home, but then I would have no story to share with you all.
Photo's and timelapse coming soon to a forum near you...
Baz.
