The Photo Walk – Part 2 (read part 1)
Environment ~ Photo Tips ~ Shop ~ Links ~ Directions
You can find Part 1 of this blog here to read about our trip to the foot of the falls.
There was definitely a lot more action at the foot of the Falls though they were far from being at their most exciting I suspect we missed their best performance by a few weeks.
Unlike my last waterfall trip I actually remembered to bring my tripod with me this time and not leave it in the boot of the car, so this was a great opportunity to play around with some longer shutter speeds.
Armed with my Tripod plus ND8 & Polarising filters I was able to get some nice long exposures of up to 3 secs, even though it was early afternoon with very little cloud cover.
Having got some nice wide angle long exposure shots I decided to switch to my 70-200 lens and try to get some higher speed close-ups of the water crashing over the rocks.
Shortly beyond the foot of the Falls the river transforms back into a quiet, peaceful vision of beauty. Such a stark contrast to the chaos occurring just a few feet away, nature is always so full of surprises.
Having got some great photos and made a new Magpie friend we decided to head back to the car so we climbed back up to the top of the Falls and retraced our steps back to the car park.
On the way back I spotted the ruins of one of the old railway buildings which looked ideal for a grungy & moody image.
Just as we got back to the visitor area a friendly hiker mentioned to us that there was a Roo with her baby just up ahead. Awesome, I can never resist the chance to get some wildlife shots and apart from our friendly Magpie the wildlife had been a bit reticent to show itself.
Mum and baby proved to be very accommodating and I managed to get some gorgeous shots of both.
These sorts of shots may look easy to just snap away but can actually be quite technical to get the depth of field and shutter speeds just right.
It’s always important to make sure you focus on the animals eyes, of course this can be tricky when there are two sets of eyes of equal importance! Getting just the right depth of field to keep both animals in focus but blur out the background is crucial.
To complicate matters the light was starting to drop of making it harder to get the shutter speeds I needed to freeze any motion so I had to up my ISO to 800 to allow for the already reduced depth of field from a 200mm lens and give me shutter speeds of at least 1/200th sec, which was still pushing my luck.
We’d had a great day out and got some great shots so to top it off we decided to sit under the trees, relax and have a quiet beer with nature. What I love about just sitting in the outdoors is that you start to notice all the things that you’d normally miss. The birds ignore you and just do their thing, kangaroos wander past, even the insect life seems to have more purpose.
At one point two kangaroos suddenly hopped out of the bush with the back one barking very loudly and the front one seemingly running away, I don’t think I’ve heard a Kangaroo make a noise before. We guessed that it might have been some kind of mating activity, but who knows ?
As the light started to fade and the temperature cooled more kangaroos appeared leaping through the bush at high speed. Not one to miss an opportunity up came my camera with my 70-200mm lens and I started snapping away just in case I was lucky enough to get an interesting shot. The light was too low to stand a chance of freezing any motion and it all happened to fast to change my ISO so the shots all came out a bit blurry.
Not to be put off I picked the best one and added a bit more motion to the background and turned it into and action shot with a bit of a surreal look to it. Best part of the shot is that you can just make out a baby joey in the pouch of the roo at the back, probably my favourite shot of the day ?
Cheers,
Dave
Environmental Issues
When visiting natural environments such as this please be respectful of the flora and fauna, take your litter home and treat the environment with respect.
Leave No Trace
Take Nothing but Pictures
Leave Nothing but Footprints
Kill Nothing but Time
Keep Nothing But Memories
Burn Nothing but Calories
Original Quotes
“Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints.”
~ Quote: Chief Seattle (Dkhw’Duw’Absh chief, c. 1786 – June 7, 2023)
“This we know: the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth.”
~ Quote: Chief Seattle (Dkhw’Duw’Absh chief, c. 1786 – June 7, 2023)
“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home.”
~ Australian Aboriginal Proverb
Photo Tips
All images in this article were either taken on an iPhone 6s or with Dave’s Canon 5D MKII with an EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Lens or an EF 70-200mm f4L USM Lens and processed in Lightroom CC & ON1 Photo 10.5 & Photoshop CC.
Get Good Photo Editing Software
You will need to post process your images to get the most out of them. Software tools such as Adobe Lightroom & On1 Photo 10.5 are affordable and essential for getting the best out of your photos.
Free trials or licensed products are available for Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop & ON1 Photo 10.5 at the following links:
- Lightroom Free Trial or Purchase
- Photoshop Free Trial or Purchase
- ON1 Photo 10.5 Free Trial or Purchase
Related Clothing & Photo Products
As usual we’re planning a whole range of clothing & products featuring our “John Forrest” images.
Meanwhile you can take a look at all of the amazing images and products that we currently have available in our shop, all based on Dave’s photography.
Useful Information
Parking & Facilities:
There is a very large amount of parking around the visitor area as well as a many barbecue & picnic areas, toilets information boards and a Tavern. This is also the starting point for all of the walk trails in the area.
Walk Trails:
There are numerous walk trails that you can follow from the visitor area including the popular Eagle View Walk Trail:
- Eagle’s View Walk Trail. 15km return, Class 4, allow 5hrs
- John Forrest Heritage Trail. 10.5km return, Class 3, allow 3hrs
- Wildflower Walk Trail. 4km return, Class 2, allow 1.5hrs
- Glen Brook Trail. 2.2km return, Class 2, allow 45mins
- National Park Falls Trail. 2km return, Class 2, allow 1hr
- Jane Brook Promenande. 1km return, Class 1, allow 30mins
Check out the links below for more information about John Forrest National Park and it’s walk trails,
- Perth Hills Visitor Centre
- Eagle’s View Trail at Trails WA
- Department of Parks & Wildlife
- Eagle’s View Trail at The Life of Py Hiking Blog
- Experience Perth Top Walking Trails
- Atlas of Living Australia
If you’re looking for more interesting walk trails around Perth then make sure to check out “The Life of Py” Hiking, Photography & Travel Blog he’s done a great job of documenting a lot of our local walk trails which we will be working our way through.
Directions
John Forrest National Park is located in Hovea in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia.
Like Lesmurdie Falls it is also situated on the Darling Scarp, one of Australia’s largest geological fault lines and the iconic entrance to the region known as Perth Hills.
To get into the Park take one of the 3 junctions off Great Eastern Highway onto Park Road.
The first turning onto Park Road will take you on a longer scenic drive through the beautiful forest, whilst the second turning onto Park Road is the fastest way to get to the visitor area and car park.
There is a fee for entering the visitor area which usually works on a trust system and costs $12 per car unless you have an Annual All Park Pass (as we do) which costs $55.