The tunnel was decommissioned in 1919 when a two track tunnel was constructed alongside, under Mount Gibraltar. It is a genuine feat of engineering, heft through about 650m of shale and sandstone.

As well as taking along the bellows and SMC Takumar lens for macros, it was a great chance to test out the Laowa 12mm ultra wide lens in low light, and up close. It didn’t disappoint. At ISO 1250 (just before the Canon 6D starts showing grain), I rarely had to go down to f2.8 under the flourescent tubes. The lack of distortion and close focusing distance (18cm) helped create some splendid images.

At the end of the tour everyone received a tray of produce, which we used straight away. These receipes and background from the Mycological Society of San Francisco make for interesting reading on oyster mushrooms.

As ever, there are more photos on flickr…

[See image gallery at www.drewduckworth.com]

The roof of the old trams sheds in Glebe, now redeveloped into Tramsheds.
More pictures in the Harold Park set on flickr

Watching the goings on at the gallery…

Just a fraction of the Inner West now demolished to make way for Westconnex.

You never know what you’ll find at Reverse Garbage…

Outside Franks, at the ‘new’ site along Parramatta Road.

A quiet spot in Callan Park, which is still waiting for some TLC after many years.

Bonds Country, Newtown Festival 2010

Last week I took some time off to relax, get in some riding and try out the new lens. I spent a few days on the Cudgegong river, in Wiradjuri country at the Ganguddy campground in Wollemi National Park (also known as Dunn’s Swamp). Apparently, Ganguddy means “good place”, and “was once a birthing area for Aboriginal women”. I spent my time there lounging around, walking, reading, and swimming. You can rent kayaks and paddle boards there too, which was very popular.

The area is stunning. Although not an entirely natural river (the Kandos Weir was erected abount nindty years ago to supply the cement plant), the unchanging water level has created a stable ecosystem for all sorts of bird life, with reeds along much of the riverside. The area is quite flat, rock formations notwithstanding, and offers pleasant walking. There are two main tracks (not listed on the NPWS site): one east (Waterside Walk, to Cudgegong Picnic Place, which is only a flat area close to the river – there are nicer places to stop along the way) and one west (Long Cave via Pagoda Lookout, which involves climbing).

The main topographical feature of the place are the pagodas, regularly breaking out of the sclerophyll forest to offer plenty of climbing opportunities. It would have been interesting to see the Pagoda Parkour at a recent Cementa (PDF program).

You’ll have to forgive me in advance. It’s common knowledge that ulta-wide angle lenses should be used sparingly, lest they overwhelm with their unusual perpective. I took along both the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM and the new Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D, and they worked well together. There were plenty of shots for the 12mm lens: restraint wasn’t easy. With the 17-40mm for the regular landscapes, the 12mm was available for unusual perspectives. Ken Rockwell is right to say ‘get in close’, but I’m not sure I’ve found the lens’ sweet spots just yet, in terms of balance between focal distance and distortion. One learning from the weekend is that the Laowa 12mm gives strong results when cropped square. It’s certainly an extremely versatile lens, and a precise optical instrument, with close, exact focus and very sharp results. See you yourself…

I found this article by Margaret Brown in Photo Review the best summary of the park.

More of my photos from Ganguddy are on flickr…

I’ve been after an ultra-wide lens for quite a while. I really enjoy the results from my EF 17-40mm f/4L USM (Canon, DPreview), but have been keen to produce wide panoramas in a single shot (rather than stitching), as well as play with the perspective from the maximum available width. I knew I wanted a rectilinear lens rather than a fish-eye, as it’s more versatile.

Initially, I was tossing up between the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM prime and the Sigma 12-24mm F4 DG HSM zoom in the Art lens series. Neither quite had the mix of features I was after. The zoom was deemed unsharp in the longer half of its range, and the 17-40mm is also limited to f/4. The 14mm looks to be a lovely lens but is more expensive and not a significant increase on 17mm. Both are quite heavy.

The Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D was exactly the right balance for me (Imaging Resource), so I picked one up from Digital Camera Warehouse (who were open on Sunday afternoon and offered a fair price). It’s a pleasure to use. I often use fully manual lenses, and usually shoot in manual mode, so this is definitely not a disadvantage.

• It’s light (609g – half the weight of the Sigmas), and solid (aluminium body – it’s nice to hold)
• Sharpness, chromatic aberration and distortion management are excellent
• It’s about as wide as a 35mm rectilinear lens can go, and is still quite open (f/2.8)
• It’s supposed to perform reasonably well at minimum aperture (f/22)
• Being able to focus as close as 18cm is a bonus (to complement all the macros I shoot)

I’m very pleased with the initial results. The images are pretty sharp and natural looking, it handles brightness well without a polarising lens (which you shouldn’t use), and it’s fun.

I’m heading bush soon to give the Laowa more of a run…

I know, I’ll have to be careful not to overuse it, but I’m looking forward to getting in close.

Includes the images below…

Plant Science by Night

Thursday 11th May 2017, 6:00 – 7:30pm
NSW Herbarium, Mrs Macquaries Road

Without plants, life as we know it would cease to exist.

For almost two centuries, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has been collecting and studying plants from around the world. Scientists at the National Herbarium of NSW study how plants function within ecosystems, how plants are adapted to their environment and evolve over time, and what causes them to die.

On this special tour, you can join our passionate plant scientists as they take you behind the scenes in the Herbarium, Library and Plant Pathology Laboratory.

In the Herbarium, surrounded by over 1.2 million plant specimens, you’ll be shown specimens from Australia’s early explorers including those collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in 1770 on Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific.

The Library holds a collection of treasures including the first edition signed copy of ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin, and stunning folios of historical botanical illustrations.

Then, get up close with DNA in the Plant Pathology Laboratory! Learn about the fascinating work done here using new methods and technologies to explore plant biology on a molecular level.

Plant Science by Night

In the Herbarium, surrounded by over 1.2 million plant specimens, you’ll be shown specimens from Australia’s early explorers including those collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in 1770 on Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific.

The Library holds a collection of treasures including the first edition signed copy of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and stunning folios of historical botanical illustrations.

Then, get up close with DNA in the Plant Pathology Laboratory! Learn about the fascinating work done here using new methods and technologies to explore plant biology on a molecular level.

Dr. Brett Summerell explaining the work done in the plant pathology lab at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney to protect the Wollemi Pine from Phytophtora, during Plant Science by Night.

Mortars galore

My ‘must have’ desiderata were straightforward: the printer must have a wide gamut and offer profiles for most papers. It should also be able to print plain paper, and handle A3 size. The ‘highly desirable’ list was included having a roll feed (I’ve been working with concertinas), being able to handle common paper thickness, minimising low total cost of ownership, and easy to refill inks. I also considered the footprint, ethernet / wi-fi connectivity, ink wastage, ease of maintenance, duplexing and the ability to print transparencies. Unlike most other tech products, the prosumer printer market hasn’t changed much over the past few years, and the models haven’t changed much in that time.

I decided on the Canon Pixma PRO-10S. I felt the main competition to be the Pixma Pro-1 and Epson models like the Stylus Photo R3000. While the Pro-10S cannot handle rolls, there were two reasons why I favoured it over Epson: the need to swap matte and gloss black cartridges depending on print job (and associated waste of ink), and the price. While the R3000 produces excellent quality prints, it does not represent great value (see DPreview). Other reviews I consulted include PhotoReview’s comparison of PRO-10 and P600, DPReview on the Pixma PRO-10, Northlight’s review of the Pro-10S as well as Luminous Landscape and wirecutter on the P600.

My impression of the Pro-10S has been largely positive. In terms of output, I am very impressed. I take colour management pretty seriously, and regularly update my screen profiles with an Eye-One; I’ve found the output completely predictable, based on the ICC profiles supplied by the paper suppliers (although more on that below). Even in those cases when I let the printer handle out-of-gamut colours, the results are natural and strong.

A number of my earlier prints stopped after printing the first 5-10%, and then fed through. This is an issue with the ethernet connection, and what I take to be poor spooling. The issue is resolved by using a USB cable rather than ethernet / wi-fi, or by ensuring that no other internet traffic interfers with the print job.

The margins for art paper on the Pro-10 and Pro-1 are quite limited. For instance, 8×10″ cannot be printed on A4 paper (unless it’s glossy, in which case borderless printing is available). I rarely use glossy paper, so this is a little frustrating. Two 8×10″ prints can be fitted on A3+ paper, but the top and bottom are margins are very limited (just 16mm / 0.6″ separation between the two). The problem is a 30mm border on each of the short edges for most paper types (except specific glossy types), even on A4. The Canon website claims “Large A3+ printing to the edges – Produce borderless prints up to A3+ in stunning colour or black and white on gloss or matte from the PIXMA PRO-10S”; I think this is misleading.

The image to the right shows how some common sizes fit onto A3+ paper with ‘art margins’, i.e. for most fine art paper types:

• Black – A3+ paper edge
• Red – A3+ with art margins (30mm short edges, 3mm long edges)
• Blue – 8×10″ (two) – note practically no separation between the two
• Purple – 6×6″ (four)
• Orange – 4×5″ (six) – currently my favourite size for photo books

In terms of deciding on paper types, I can’t recommend enough the sample packs provided by ImageScience – they offer a great way to try out a range of different papers from the major manufacturers. The packs provided by Giclee also look good, though rather more pricey. I felt that setting up the profiles for the printer was more laborious than it needed to be, with the the paper manufacturers (I have been using Ilford and Canson papers) doing barely enough to match paper description and profile to printer settings. Once you’ve done it of course (and write down what you did), it becomes easy enough.

There’s a fair bit of work setting up templates to match paper types, and matching ICC profiles to printer settings. This would naturally be the case with any printer. I’m very happy with the Pro-10S, and am looking forward to loads more printing…

The sandstone walls of the canyon are over 100m high, with constantly changing textures and tones during the softer light of dawn and dusk.

This is M looking down from Cotterill’s Lookout at the view above.

Cotterill’s Lookout nearly had me fooled – if it weren’t for the sign that said ‘600m’, I’d have turned back after the the first peak (which is where the first image taken from). But the lookout goes back to give views of the other side of the canyon, and a stunning vantage point of the entire area.

The texture of the canyon walls is what intrigues me most about the western walls (on the left). They look to have been sheared off by some great circular saw. They’re very smooth, particularly in contrast to the moonscape around the canyon rim.

The weathered sandstone domes on the eastern part of the rim are referred to as ‘The Lost City’. The interplay of textures is amazing: softly waving grass over knarled, desiccated trunks; orange, weather-worn rocks sparsely populated with flowers, eking out a modest existence.

About half way around the rim walk is ‘The Garden of Eden’, a men’s sacred place.

I can recommend these two articles about Kings Canyon:
Louise Southerden for Australian Geographic
‘A Stairway to Heaven’ on Journey Jottings

Personal narrative, telling an unusual kind of story
Causal style, but very informative

Warragamba Dam from Visitors' Centre walkway from drewbios on Vimeo.