Storm over Ballarat

January 31, 2010

I was lucky enough to spend a little time in Ballarat today. Nearly 2 hours melted away in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery as I wandered from room to room, soaking it all in. At one point I found myself in the James Oddie room, standing centimeters away from the dramatic and moody 19th Century Maritime painting A bore on the Hooghli (By Norwegian Johan Jakob Bennetter) which really put things into perspective… apart from it being a powerful and emotive image… its sheer size, measuring more than 2.2m across was quite daunting. And also made the average 20×30″ sized photographic print seem like a bit of a joke by comparison to be honest !!

I emerged from the Gallery a little troubled. On the surface, a strange sense of joy, peace and dare I say enlightenment… But I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that deep down in side I had just been put firmly in my place by Artists that have not drawn breath in a hundred years… Humbled. It is true, I did still have a lot to learn.

Just before unlocking my car door I caught a flash of lightning to the north and standing there on the footpath with more than an hour until my next “engagement” (to photograph another engagement session for one of my awesome Ballarat couples) I decided to open my mind and be inspired.

Soon I was surrounded by paddocks and heading East, the city was behind me somewhere and just I kept driving… turning South as heavy rain began to fall… Looking for that one perfect place…  The clouds building to the North-East as I made one last turn to face them… Driving down a narrow gravel road… with very passing second the scene got better and better…

A Storm Over Ballarat

Thats exactly what I was looking for. (And to be honest, the 750pixel wide version above does the image an injustice!!)

Captured by Canon 5DII & Canon 24mm/1.4 IIL – ISO 100 – 1/160 second @ f/8.0

So there you have it and like I always say, please feel free to comment… Especially those of you viewing this via Facebook !!!

© 2010 Robb Duncan

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