Flinders Ranges BTS: Part 1 – Exploring Beyond My Comfort Zone

Background

Winter 2022 I went on a photography tour to the Flinders Ranges. It wasn’t until the end of 2023 that I finally wrote the blog and edited the photos. In the process I realised that for many years I have struggled with taking photos and wanted to explore behind the scenes of the struggle and all the small pieces that contributed to the frustration.

I’ve been interested in photography since my mid-teens. I don’t think I’m particularly good at it, and sometimes it feels like a fluke that I get photos that I like. I do have prints of my photos hanging on the walls of my home. For over 20 years I used a film camera, which taught me to understand my camera’s settings and hope that there was at least one decent photo on the roll.

The back and forth that went into taking photos back then: buy film, if travelling somewhere, getting all the film you are likely to need; take the photos – again if travelling, carrying the exposed film throughout the rest of your trip before they are developed; get the films developed; if you travelled with friends, swapping reprints requiring a trip to the print shop. Then once that is all done, buy a photo album and set them up so they tell a story. I did use photo albums, other people may leave their photos in the paper sleeves.

I’m the nerd who added captions to my albums so people could view them at their own pace. I got bored retelling the stories of where the photos were taken, also not knowing if they want less or more details. It was a little demoralising when a few people just quickly flicked through the pages. Leaving them to their own pace was much kinder to me.

Things changed once I got a digital camera – a Nikon Coolpix. Not a SLR, because I couldn’t afford one, but I was able to start with something. The reaction time on the Coolpix was slow so I missed what may have been good captures. The biggest benefit was no longer buying film and getting them processed.

I had the CoolPix for 10 years before purchasing a Nikon D7100 in 2014. I had scoped out what I wanted and then waited. Eventually the D7200 was announced and the D7100 was discounted. I thought I should be fine working with a digital SLR: after all my film camera was fully manual, even focusing. Turns out, with over three decades of development in cameras since my first camera, there was quite a learning curve that I am still on.

I found a video on how to use the settings on the camera, pause the video and test that particular function but unless I take photos regularly, and use those functions, the knowledge gets filed away in the never to be seen again partition in the brain.

So: I have been taking photos for over 40 years, my film camera was fully manual, I have now had a DSLR for ten years and I feel like my photos are not as good as they used to be. I wonder if I have photography amnesia – were the film photos really so much better?

Because I’ve struggled with taking photos, and sometimes struggle with what to take photos of, I’ve booked into photography tours. The night lights tour in San Francisco, December 2016 was cancelled due to weather. As it was, the rain didn’t start until late that evening, but the next day it rained so much that it was lucky I got in and out of Yosemite National Park – the roads were closed soon after we left.

I next booked a night photography tour in Melbourne in September 2017. That one worked out well, but I was a little frustrated with my lack of knowledge of the settings of the camera.

Why go on photography tours? It helps to be with a group of people who are also stopping at the weirdest things to try to capture something interesting. When we stop, it is longer than a second to quickly snap something. If the light is low, then usually there are tripods. If it is night photography, it is safer to be with others than doing it solo. And if it is a tour, the guide has already scoped out the place and knows the interesting views and vantage points. While doing the night shoot in Melbourne, the guide warned me as the lights were changing to get out of the middle of the road.

In March 2021 I did a night-time photo walk in the Adelaide Hills. This was when I realised the sensor on my camera was dirty and needed cleaning. John from Adventure Art Photography was the photography guide on this tour, with Sharon from Hahndorf Walking Tours the historical guide. I checked out the other offerings on John’s website and was eyeing off the Monarto Zoo tour. Sadly, although there were a couple of opportunities to take the tour, I delayed as work was busy. By the time I had the time and finances to book, the tour was discontinued.

In April 2022 I took the Astrophotography class. This wasn’t a good start for me. I couldn’t find a place to park as the carpark across the road from the meeting place said private parking only. I was getting increasingly frustrated and although I allowed plenty of time to arrive, was the last one to do so. I think everyone else was early, so it wasn’t an issue, but I was frustrated.

It seems that if something could go wrong for me, it will. I didn’t understand what the process was for the workshop. We had a lesson before having a meal, then would head out once it got dark to set up somewhere where there was no light pollution. I had left my camera gear in the car (so back to the car to collect it). It made sense to get our settings right before heading out in the darkness and trying to remember what we were told.

Cool: flustered due to parking issues, leave camera in car so go to collect it. I’m doing really well here. The trifecta was the tripod I took (the more compact, light one) is not suited for astrophotography. If you want to take more than one photo to create a panorama (merge the photos during editing), it helps to have a tripod where it can be locked and have movement along one axis. The tripod I had brought doesn’t have that function.

In April the Milky Way wasn’t as high in the sky as it would be in Winter (therefore noticeable), so while the tour was interesting and I learned a lot, the photos were somewhat bland and it just looks like a lot of stars in the sky: you have to squint to see the Milky Way. This may be because it is April and a little bit of light pollution, or it could be that I had messed up my settings.

By 2022 I had taken a redundancy package from my job, so decided to book the Flinders Ranges tour for late July. I know to take the older tripod that you can lock in an axis, and I had the sensor cleaned the year before. I should be all set… or so I thought. It would seem that the photography gods really love to tease me.

See next blog for part 2.