After our visit to the Solar Energy facility, we headed towards the Waubra Wind Farm in the hope of catching a solid late afternoon (almost dusk) type shot. Naturally I was not looking for a full dusk image, since the wind turbines are not artificially illuminated, but was rather hoping for some interesting colours in the sky as the sun set. These images are part of the energy series that I was commissioned to capture for Fluid Design, and while we had set locations with the other shoots, this was really a race against time to find a suitable vantage point from which to shoot with the afternoon light slowly slipping away.

The turbines are located some 35 km’s north west of Ballarat, and approximately 2 hours drive from our previous location. Upon sighting the giant propellers we desperately began scouting for the spot from which I could capture the ‘hero’ image. As we drove around a very steep hill, I realised that I would need to be on the very top to get the sweeping vista that I was hoping for. And so, after stripping down the gear bag to the essential requirements of 2 bodies and several lenses, my client Clifton and I started the steep climb to the top…

For all of these images I had my camera mounted securely on my trusty Really Right Stuff tripod, while I sat down trying to act as a wind shield for the camera (and at the same time avoiding the sheep poo as I captured the panorama!) One wet bottom and many files later I was quietly confident that we had the necessary images…

Each of these giant turbines (there are 128 in total) apparently has a capacity of 1.5 megawatts, which I have to be honest, does not mean a great deal to me in itself until by way of context I was informed that the energy generated by this farm can provide electricity for some 143,000 local households.

Clifton kindly grabbed an iPhone shot of me at work…!

I would stress that all of the images on my blog have been compressed for quick web viewing, consequently the colours are not always typical of the final delivered files, however for the purpose of ‘blogging’ I think they tell the story…