LIGHT ON THE LAND
I’ve been working on an exciting new project for the last few months……My first book! It’s called Light on the Land and has 100 of my favorite and most popular images. I’ve done the design and layout myself with the help of Renee Creative from the Sunshine Coast. I’ve gone down the self-publishing route so that I have complete control over the whole process, which also means it’s being printed 100% in Australia. It’s going to print this week and should be ready for sale towards the end of next month. With the book so close I’ve decided to offer my customers, blog and facebook followers a special pre-release offer. If you order your copy of Light on the Land for $46.00 inc delivery to anywhere in Australia before the 15th of July, I’m going to include a 30cm x 22cm signed, unframed fine art print valued at $125.00 at no extra cost (five prints to choose from). Please follow the link below to my website to get your copy and choose your free print. Thanks in advance for your support.
Light on the Land pre-release offer
Canarvon Gorge
I’ve just returned from our Canarvon Gorge workshop I ran with Tony Middleton we had a great time with lots of great light and conditions. We’ve decided to run this workshop again next year. Please click this link for details SECRETS OF CANARVON GORGE WORKSHOP This is an image from deep in one of the amazing moss covered gorges.
Eye of the Storm | Lake Mungo
I recently returned from an almost 5000km road trip through western Queensland, western NSW and almost to the Victorian border and then back up the coast. Here’s an image from western NSW as a storm cell is about to move through, we were lashed with crazy winds and sand blasting at us. Many more images to come.
Dragon Cave
I recently did a road trip through Western Quennsland looking for new images and locations. This is a little spot I came across called the Dragon Cave, captured at sunset just before the sun dipped below the mountains. Check out my website and my facebook page for more new images.
Camera- Nikon d800e
Lens- Nikkor 16-35
Picaninny Creek Sunset
I spent a few hours exploring Picaninny Creek at the Bungle Bungle on my last afternoon there. The sunset didn’t look like it was going to do anything exciting, but in the end lit the place up nicely. Also I’ve just returned from a trip out to western Queensland so I’ve got a heap of new images coming! Check out my website and my facebook page for more new images.
Camera- Nikon d800e
Lens- 50mm F1.4
10 image stitch
Echidna Chasm
This is my image of Echidna Chasm in Western Australia, the light show you get here at the right time of day is fantastic! Check out my website and my facebook page for more new images.
Camera- Nikon d800e
Lens- 50mm f1.4
10 image stitch
Bungle Bungle Sunset Panorama
This is the same spot as my recent post from the Bungle Bungle, this image was captured earlier while there was a nice glow in the clouds. I’ve also posted some other new images on my website and my facebook page.
Camera- Nikon d800e
Lens- 50mm f1.4
10 image stitch.
Light on the Cliff
On our way to the Bungle Bungle from Broome we found this spot named Ngumpan Cliff. Check out my website and my facebook page for more new images.
Camera- Nikon d800e
Lens- Carl Zeiss 21mm 2.8
Bungle Bungle at Dusk
This was my first sunset at the Bungle Bungle, I had nothing but clear blue sky all day then just before sunset I saw one lone cloud on the horizon. Not too long after seeing that first cloud the clouds you see in this photo came through and lit the place up, this image was just after the colour had mostly gone but I really liked the afterglow on the beehive domes. I’ve also posted some other new images on my website and my facebook page.
Camera- Nikon d800e
Lens- Carl Zeiss 21mm 2.8
POP UP!
Last week I did a pop up gallery at one of Brisbane’s newest riverside office towers. This is new ground for me, I’m used to having my own gallery and attending art fairs and markets but setting up for a short period with massive amounts of traffic was a great experience.
Kimberley Roadtrip 2012
I’ve just returned from my latest travels starting in Darwin through Kakadu, along the Gibb River Road to Broome and back again through the Bungle Bungle, all up about 5000km’s. What a fantastic part of Australia! It was fairly dry but as it was the start of the buildup to the wet, generally the light was great in the afternoons. This image of a Kimberley Boab is from the Gibb River Road with the Cockburn Rangers and an almost full moon in the background, taken with the Nikon D800e and my Zeiss 21mm 2.8 Lens.
Hills in the Mist
With last weeks bad weather in SE Queensland I headed west of the sunshine coast looking for new images. This one is taken in the Malaney/Montville area under thick morning mist. This is a 10 image stitch with the Nikon D800e and the Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8G ED VR II.
Epson International Pano Awards 2012
The third Epson International Pano Awards is dedicated to the art of panoramic photography. Advances in digital photography and software such as PTGui, Adobe Photoshop, Kolor Autopano and Easypano Panoweaver has resulted in an explosion in image stitching, especially in the panoramic format.
The Epson International Pano Awards showcases the work of panoramic photographers worldwide and is the largest competition for panoramic photography.
I entered 4 images for this years Pano awards and they all scored well, here are the images and results.
My Noosa Storm image also made it into the top 50 coming in at 40th. Here’s the link for the top 50 in the Open Award Nature (including landscapes).
Bluff Knoll, Stirling Ranges
On our way back from Esperance we decided to visit the Stirling Ranges. This image almost didn’t happen as I was about 15 km’s away from this spot trying to capture another composition I had found. As the sun started to set the wind picked up making my original image not possible. So we jumped in the car and rushed to make it for this image before the good light finished.
Outback Glow
This was a great spot that Tony showed us when we were in the Flinders Ranges. It was an interesting afternoon instead of looking for a location to shoot for sunset we ended up looking for somewhere that sold Coopers Tyres as one of ours got a huge slab of beer bottle in it! Of course nowhere had the size we needed so we did a quick repair and headed for this spot.
2011 Epson International Pano Awards
I’m happy with my results from this years Epson International Pano Awards, I entered 4 images and they all got awards, I won 1 silver and 3 bronze for the following images.
Wherever
Here’s another one from South Australia that caught my eye, captured just near Burra. Single image hand held with my 70-200 2.8L.
Hills of Gold
This is another image from our travels through the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. This spot was one of my favorites as it has 360 degree views of the Flinders great for sunrise, sunset, night shooting. Hills of gold is shot handheld with the 5d mk2 and a 70-200 2.8 lens. There’s a roo and joey in the image that is a bit hard to see in the web image but look’s great in print.
Cathedral Rock
This image is of Cathedral Rock just outside of Hawker, South Australia, captured on a trip I did through S.A, N.S.W and QLD last year. This one is a 9 image stitch with the 5d mk2 and the 50 1.4
Afternoon Light
I captured this one at the end of a trip through South Australia, Outback NSW and Queensland. I used an ND filter to slow down the shutter speed as the last bit of light was hitting the trees.
Outback Sunrise
I captured this one on a recent trip through western QLD and NSW with Tony Middleton. After a day and night chasing storms we ended up in a two horse town with no fuel, no food and no option but to pull up beside a river and wait for the local servo to open the next morning. Once we fueled up I was able to grab this shot for Sunrise.
Ben Messina Landscape and Nature Photography 
