Mount Buffalo Part 2

Last night I had travelled up from Melbourne and camped overnight on the Mount Buffalo plateau. The morning had been spent finding subjects in the low cloud that covered the plateau and I had made some nice images (read more in Part 1).

I was still focussed on getting an image of The Cathedral rock formation. I had a composition lined up, having walked up the trail twice in the past 24 hours - I just needed the cloud to lift to provide some more directional light.

This is the second part of my photography journey to Mount Buffalo.

As I finished my lunch, there were some promising signs that the weather was clearing. I decided to drive to The Horn, at 1723 metres above sea level this peak is both the high point of the Mt Buffalo plateau and the most southerly end of the road.

The car park has magnificent views from the Back Wall and the climb to the top of The Horn is steep, with permanent stairs in place to scale the final rocky outcrop. Feeling exposed in the increasing wind, the 360 degree views from the summit are outstanding.

I descended part way down the track and followed a secondary track used by rock climbers to edge around the base of the rock formation. Below is a panorama of the Mt Buffalo plateau, showing the amazing landscape of rock formations, alpine grasslands and snow gum woodland. The peak in the middle right is The Hump, with the smaller Cathedral just to its left.

There are many days of exploring this amazing landscape. As the clouds lifted and patches of light moved across the landscape, I spent an hour or so with a longer lens finding compositions amongst the boulders, trees and shifting light.

At my back was The Hump. The image below captures the imposing bulk of the rock formation. I particularly like (aesthetically) the crown of railing at the peak (although I am conflicted by its presence in the first place).

With some time on my hands, I decided to scout out the 3.2 km out and back Dicksons Falls nature walk. Being mid-afternoon, I didn’t really have any expectations for good photos – it was nice to relax without worrying too much about photos and just enjoy the walk.

The track follows a creek through open alpine grasslands filled with wild flowers and between snow gum woodlands on the higher ridgelines. These snow gums have been impacted by bushfires (probably the 2003 Alpine fires) and, while many trees have lost branches, there is strong regrowth from the lignotuber at the base of the tree. Below is an example of the landscape.

By the time I got back, the weather was looking very good. I decided to have dinner as, if all went well, I would not be back until after dark. It was nice to get some food and a little rest as I had walked over 20 km so far today, and had to head up the trail to The Cathedral for a third time.

At last the view of the Cathedral had fully revealed itself with beautiful soft side light. Already having a composition set up, it was just a matter of picking the right time as the light exposed the rock formation.

I also set up a second camera for this timelapse as dusk approached, which I am very happy with as I have only just started trying out timelapses. This was taken on my Canon 90D, Canon EF-S 10-18mm f4.5-5.6 at 13 mm. It started at 1/8 sec, f11, iso 100, with images taken 4 seconds apart, ending on 1.3 sec, f11, iso 100.

It was dark by the time I was back at the car. I headed straight for camp and to bed.

Sunday

I woke up at 5.30am with a plan to head back to Crystal Brook Falls. In the pre-dawn light I was able to scramble down the creek and position myself on a large rock shelf that offered good views of the front wall that would be the first to receive the sun.

With rapidly changing light and cloud, I was so busy taking photos that I didn’t get a chance to set up a timelapse. In hindsight I should have set up one on my 360 degree camera, if only for the comic relief of watching me frantically running around trying to take photos in the rapidly changing light. But sometimes one camera is more than enough to manage.

The other challenge was finding a composition that captured the flowing water and included the scale of the cliffs. In the end, I am most happy with the photo below. This two shot panorama required some significant camera movement to get the required width to look down at the water flowing over the edge and capture the trees at the top of the far cliffs. I am amazed at the ability of Photoshop to stitch these images together, although there were two gaps that required some generative fill.

There was still plenty of cloud around which was dispersing as the sun emerged and being replaced by the mist rising up the cliff face out of the valley. As I explored the cliff top, I reflected on the weekend.

I had enjoyed two days exploring a variety of scenes and contending with rapidly changing and difficult conditions. A balance needed to be struck between letting go of expectations (such as grand vistas when there is nothing but cloud) while still being persistent enough to chase the shot (such as walking up that track to the Cathedral three times, often in the dark and the rain).

In the end, I can only accept with gratitude the experience of being immersed in the landscape and do my best to record that experience through the camera. Perhaps the image below, made on that last morning, best sums up the amazing conditions I enjoyed over the weekend.

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