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I thought it might be interesting to see what everyones favourite locations are for photography around Melbourne and even outside Melbourne.

For landscape it's hard to go past the Great Ocean Rd. Last summer though I went down to Cape Schanck and that was great with the various locations along the coast and also with the lighthouse. The view from Arthurs Seat is also pretty cool.

For wildlife, a trip to the Werribee Zoo on their photographic safari is worthwhile. I went earlier this year and it's much better than the normal safari bus although costs extra. Also the Brisbane Ranges is quite good with koalas, kangaroos etc.

The Botanical Gardens are a lot of fun for macro work. Lots of various gardens in the city too. Southbank is great, especially at night. Then there is the architecture of Federation Square.

What about everyone else?

Excellent thread idea Nicole.

I haven't been along the Great Ocean Road for some years, hoping to do it this summer.

There are some good spots around Victoria Harbour looking back towards the city, particularly when it is dark or semi dark, the lights are great.

There are also some good spots along the Yarra, near Swan Street for example.

The Bourke Street Mall is good too, when the lunatic fringe is in full flight. Really tests out your ability to get in there.

Wattle Park, just near where I live, is a fantastic oasis of bush in the suburbs, good for birds etc.

I need more ideas though.

Seaford.. there's a pier opposite station street, a little shelter there.. spent quite a few hours there..

I'm with you Greg. Need more ideas.

Nicole, I like starting at Lavender Bay and walking past Luna Park to the Bridge. Probably wont help you much but a great spot, irrespective of what you are taking be it the harbour, old boat slips, yachts, Luna Park, tourists, Bridge, etc. I can see why Brett Whitely used to live there








edit: just realised this was under Melbourne, apologies for posting, or spend $69 with Virgin and come up to Lavender Bay

Nicole wrote:For wildlife, a trip to the Werribee Zoo on their photographic safari is worthwhile. I went earlier this year and it's much better than the normal safari bus although costs extra. Also the Brisbane Ranges is quite good with koalas, kangaroos etc.

so whats the safari thing like Nicole? do you get close to the animal? or see them in the distants?
I was think of going but wasn't sure if it was a good idea, maybe cos i don't have anything longer than 200mm atm

The photographic safari is the way to go (if you don't mind paying the extra). They can take you up close to a lot of the animals and will drive off the road. I think they have a limit of 12 per trip and they also turn off the engine which helps. It also goes for longer than the normal tour. When I went a giraffe actually stuck its head inside the truck. It's always nice to have that extra zoom but I think you could get away with 200mm.

This thread was for Melbourne, but i can't give up the opportunity to send props to my little town.

Squamish is a little town 45 minutes south of Whistler (site of the 2010 Olympic games) and 45 minutes north of Vancouver and it seems to have endless amounts of photo opps. First of all there is the second largest free standing granite monolith (Stawamus Chief) that towers over the town. 5 minutes away from that there is a bird estuary, then the rain forests with Garibaldi Peak looming over all of that http://www.flickr.com/photos/87899971@N00/1318068/, and then it is riddled with lakes and ponds. In the fall when it is rainy there is still tons of great shots as the clouds somehow mingle themselves into the mountains like comforting spirits, creating mystique and wonder. I almost forgot to mention that in the middle of all this is the Howe sound, a beautiful body of water separating the Tantalus and Garibaldi Mountain Ranges and glaciers. Black Bears everywhere, rivers full of salmon, thousands of bald eagles that all migrate to feed on the salmon, it's a natures' photographic dream. Check it out. If anyone wants to come on over give me a shout.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like my sorta thing! I went to check out you photos but the link didn't work.

Hmmm, I wonder why this didn't work? Maybe this one..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1318068_1b925050e0_b.jpg

Here, this one should work. I have many more photos but I don't have any more room on Flikr.com until next month unless I pay the money which I just might do. I tried to post some on Pixbot but my files are always too large, so I need to figure out how to shrink them down some.

Feel free to check out my other photos on there as well, and please make comments, I get all excited when people make comments.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87899971@N00/

Dooda!!

I stopped off in Squamish, well.. my train stopped off there..
It was on the way from VC to Banff..

There are photos ( not from my D70 ) at my page..
http://www.platinumweaver.net/viewgallery.php?cid=15

Nicole - favourite place outside Melbourne? H'mmm

Northern NSW, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and the rest of Queensland

Jealousy and envy are bad things, but when one lives up here, these things are indeed unknown to the people!

Outside of these places, Melbourne is a favourite. Dandenong mountains, Rosebud, Phillip Island and the Melbourne Zoo are not to be missed.

Cheers

Graham

G'day,

A few I've enjoyed are:
Werribee open plain zoo - definately go on a photographic safari, 5-6 people on the back of a one-tonner... It's great... Had a ball... Melbourne Zoo and Heallesville's good too (I'm a FOTZ member, ie: animal nut)...

Some of the country towns along-side rivers are nice, like Warrandyte or Warburton (brings back memories when I used to go fishing with dad when I was a kid), or for a bit of a drive from Melbourne, places like Maldon, Bendigo are nice...

City scapes along Southbank can be nice...

My pet at the moment is old huts or run down houses, factory ruins etc in the country-side... Know of any???

Platinum,

What a wonderful train ride that must have been! Nice photos.

Dooda & Dean, cool pics from Canada!

As for Qld, can't wait to go up at Christmas. Last time we went in March we went to Maleny, Montville and some of the state parks in that area. Some nice waterfalls around there.

Hey Mudder...nice to see another animal nut. I'm a member of the FOTZ too. Haven't been recently though as have been checking out other places. Did you see the Red Panda pic in the last magazine?

Nicole
Just outside of Melbourne...Sydney Harbour. It has light.

People must think I am mad because I look into every bush I can find - of course, I have the macro on. . .

Chris

Chris,

cant wait till I see you round Neutral Bay looking into a bush with your D70. I'll be the guy pointing at you saying "pervert in the bushes"

Not quite, but I am sure you get some funny reactions.

Hey Matt, couldn't help yourself could you.

Plenty of light down here today. Seems like it could be quite a productive weekend.

Matt is wearing ND glasses when he looks at Melbourne

Moonlight on the Yarra? C'mon guys.

Moonlight?

Nicole I love Cape Schanck Lighthouse and Bushranger Bay, which is the beach that is visible from the lighthouse. If you go past the lighthouse road down Boneo Rd there is a parking area at the side of the road and you can take a nice hike down to the beach (1hr return) or continue onto the lighthouse (2hr return).

When I've got some time I want to do the walk from the carpark to Arthurs Seat. It's a 28km hike I think so it'd take a good part of a day to do.


Other than that the Dandenongs and Churchill National Park are nice walks and you can usually spot some wildlife from up there. In the Dandenongs I usually go to the Sherbrooke Forrest on both sides of Monbulk Rd. Also the Puffing Billy and all the structures along the track usually makes for a good photo shoot outing.


Also if you've got the time going to Port Fairy and Koroit is quite good. I was down there a few weeks ago for the Melbourne Cup weekend and the sunsets at Tower Hill were spectacular. For those of you who don't know Tower Hill is an extinct volcano and now has wetlands in it. It's probably good to go during the Sept/Nov/Dec months. When I went down it was very green still.

After working in the UK a little near Durham, I love the Dandenongs in Winter. But why stop there? Mt Donna Buang is a short drive from Warburton and the views are astonishing. Unfortunately the last time I visited they had closed off the tower to public access, but some friends and I went up there a few years ago to watch the Leonid meteor shower (1998) and it was outstanding.

Nothing like standing up a 50m tower on the crest of a 1200m mountain with the city lights in the distance, and the stars so clear you could almost reach out and touch them!

If I had a Go board and it was about 20 degrees warmer I would have been in paradise!

Yep, Warburton is a great little spot set in the valley of two mountains. Also you might try the yarra river at Warrandyte. I'm sure the river along there has some great picture spots.

Buxton and Marrysville are some other good spots if you fancy crossing over the Black Spur.


Although I want to get over to Scotland nextyear and take some photos of the highlands The opening footage in Braveheart was magnificant and I'd love to get upto where they filmed that.

Nicole wrote:Dooda & Dean, cool pics from Canada!

Hey Mudder...nice to see another animal nut. I'm a member of the FOTZ too. Haven't been recently though as have been checking out other places. Did you see the Red Panda pic in the last magazine?

G'day Nicole,
Yep, saw the panda... Beautiful animal... The FOTZ magazine has just come out, check out the red panda pic with the grape...

Cheers,
Mudder.

Mudder, you should submit some photos for the mag. As a FOTZ member you can do that. If you want details I can give you the guys name etc.

I have favourites in the latest edition but then I am biased.

I was looking at their upcoming events and I'm keen to check out the sunset photograpic safari at werribee on the 6th or 20th Feb. Usually they run them in the morning so a late afternoon trip would be great!

G'day,

Oh I'm so jealous of you and the 80-400mm... I've jumped in the list too... Can't wait!

That's a great idea... I was thinking about that the other day and what a buzz it would be if a pic you took was published in the mag... I'm going back to the magazine now to check... I might know someone famous!

A contact would be great thanks! Just PM if you like...

The sunset safari sounds great, I went on a morning photo safari with about 5-6 other people on the back of a one-tonner and had a ball... I might check out their Summer schedule as I always intend to go to the Zoo's a few times over each summer.... I could sit and watch the Orangatangs and other primates for ages... The baby Orangatang just makes you go awwww....

Cheers,
Mudder

For a nice day outing try going along the Calder Fwy. There are some great photo opportunities along this road.

* Mt Macedon
* Kyneton - Lots of Red Kangaroos around the 3 lakes
* Malmsbury or Taradale there is an old arched rail bridged

Plus if you go on around to Castlemain and Daylesford there are some good places to take photos around there. I have some film print that I need to scan in of Daylesford.

abit closer there is the tourist road around puffing billy nice little stops with rainforest creek type stuff. Wilsons Prom is hard to beat for the combination of Bush and sea. i go down to Point lonsdale a fair bit which has some nice scenery and lighthouse. grampians are good if you fancy a wal there are also some spectacular photo's to be had on the flatter but wide open area past ballarat horeshome way

The mornington pen is very good, cliffs, peirs and lighthouses

I enjoy two days at Sovereign Hill including a night at Goverment Camp which is located on the site of Australia's foremost outdoor museum. On the first day you receive a key which allows access to the park. On the last day you can use your discounted entry ticket. On the second day the people in costume within the park are usually different.

Here can relive the excitement of Australia's golden past during the day and spend time with your frinds at night within the lodge area.

Sovereign Hill would be great D70 Users trip location.