Popanyinning photography trip--on the way back
This is the second and final part of my recent photographic trip to Popanyinning. In the first part I featured some of the photographs I took on the way there and this posting features—as you might expect—pictures I took on my way back. If you missed the first part you can find it here (opens in a new Tab).
As you can see from the following picture, taken on the road coming into Pingelly on the way back, the wattle trees are out in full bloom already. They are a bit early coming into bloom this year. Probably due to the relatively dry winter.
I could have cropped this to remove the bitumen road on the right-hand side, and I did actually do a test crop to see how that looked. But I decided to leave the road in the shot. In this case I think it actually adds something to the overall balance of the image.
It's a pity about the shadow being cast onto the building but I really like all the hues of brown going on in this picture. The almost red colour of the rust on the iron roof, the sort of terracotta brown of the paint remaining on the brickwork on the left of the picture, the tan-brown of the stage-coach sign writing, the brown grass-matt dropped down over the main entry, the brown leaning fence on the right of the picture, and even the brown-red of the paving in front of the abandoned business.
The next couple of pictures are of an old school building between Pingelly and Brookton. I have driven past the remains of this old structure at least a hundred times going to and from Popanyinning over the years but this time I actually stopped, went in the gate, and took a few pictures.
It was winter and the time was probably close to 5:00 p.m. so the sun is low in the sky and the shadows are strong. But I managed to find a couple of angles where the shadows were not too disruptive and the colours were interesting.
In this first picture I like the colours on what is left of the closest side wall and the remaining mud-brick corner on the right-hand side of the picture. There is some light leaking through the trees behind me putting a slash of gold light on the little bit of front wall, and then that bit of sunlight strikes the mud-brick wall and highlights the mud colour.
This next shot features the fireplace wall of the old building. As far as I can make out this is a dry-wall; meaning that there is no mortar between the slabs of rock holding them in place. Interestingly it is the dry-wall that has almost remained standing intact while the mortar fixed walls have collapsed.
I might go back one day, before this wall falls down, and try and get a better picture because this picture looks dark and dank due to the winter's day, the setting sun, and no sunlight striking it.
At this stage and my way back to KalamundaI have almost lost the light. I have had to shoot at ISO400 and opened the lens up. The tree below mostly comes up in focus only because the picture has been condensed down (re-sampled down) from 6000x to 1000x.
Presumably when the decision was made to leave this out-of-place tree there it was healthy and covered in leaves. But it's dead now; as you can see. It looks sort of strange and out of place with it's spooky looking bleached dead limbs stark against the backdrop of the healthy pine trees.
My final shot taken on the way back because now I really have lost the sun. I know it's a bit cliché; the silhouette of a lone dead tree on a hill. But I think it works because of the hint of blue sky still left just over the tree while the rest of the sky has been turned to sunset gold.
This last picture is 1,900 pixels wide, so if you have a sufficiently wide screen and click on the image you will see it much larger.
And that ends my recent photographic to Popanyinning and back.
I am thinking of going to the "Almost Annual Popanyinning and Surrounds Grand Bonfire Affair" on the 5th of September—assuming it is not cancelled (they do that sometimes if they don't sense enough local interest). If I do go I will be sure to take some pictures of the Affair and post them.