My Red Centre Photography Tour finished a week ago and now I have had a chance to get through a lot of the photo and pick out a few favourites. The tour itself was quite different to my previous visit for a number of reasons. First up, this group of travellers were all ‘newbies.’ None of them had traveled with me before and many of them were quite new to photography. So as well as taking photos of my own, I had plenty of teaching to do which kept me pretty busy from start to finish!
The big thing that set this tour apart was the light cloud that accompanied us along most of the tour. While some people might wonder why we would welcome clouds on a holiday, any photographer knows that an interesting sky adds a whole new element to a landscape. In 2017 we saw amazing sights but not a cloud in the sky the whole way. This time we were blessed with some terrific opportunities, so that even though I visited the same locations as before, I came home with a very different batch of photos.
We also enjoyed some great little wildlife opportunities along the way. The Red Centre Photography Tour is primarily about landscapes, but you grab any opportunity that comes your way. It does mean carrying ALL your lenses on your back just in case, but the rewards are worth it.
The unwelcome wildlife on this tour was the flies…millions of them, wherever we went. They are a standard feature of the outback, and this year they were very bad because there has been no rain for a couple of years, and lots of bushfires which have taken even more moisture out of the landscape. Flies crave a source of moisture and we were it!
It’s just one of those quirks of outback travel that you get used to. Most of the people in our group invested in fly-net hats. I stubbornly refused and was rewarded by swallowing a few flies along the way. Not something I would recommend and next time I will add one of these hats to my collection.
Ultimately a photography tour is all about the friendships you make and the photos you bring home. On those scores this tour was a resounding success. Already several of those ‘newbies’ have declared plans to join me on more future tours, and I have brought home a new collection of images I will enjoy for years.
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Now I get to look forward to my next big adventure, starting in just a few weeks – AFRICA!
NATURE'S IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHY 