Waiting, I watched the gentleman patiently stand in the crisp cold night air. He rubbed his hands together cupping his mouth to keep the cold at bay. The still morning hung silently as a growing energy surrounded me.
Deadpan in appearance, cold iron tracks stretched from my feet into the darkness, waiting for the ride to pass. The faint click-clack of moving metal echoed and encompassed my surroundings.
The atmosphere grew dense and sharp as hissing sparks leaped and danced on the wires above. The screaming whip-like crack had marked the arrival of the train. The growing light seemed to emerge from nowhere as the graceful snake-like movement of the locomotive rolled around the corner, arriving silently at the morbid station.
The air was cold as I turned over at the sound of the annoying alarm. The swag I had called home for the night was filled with an alarming rush of cold air, my body was engaged into action. With a flying jump I was out of bed – the adrenaline rushed through my body as I thrust clothes onto my body and camera gear on my back. The pins and needles in my foot had long disappeared as tyres warmed the road – headlights lighting my way. I was on a mission to capture the morning light as it bounced off the cumulus sky.
As I arrived to my destination the air was filled with a hum and the smell of a salty breeze. Walking along the empty car park I looked up at the dawn sky to see a ginormous propeller almost hit me as it rotated toward the ground at a speeding rate. Standing over me were a mass of monumental structures all turning to their own beats. A marching set of wind turbines filled the landscape, the wind was energising their blades. The air was filled with a chorus of hums so rising above the sound I trekked to the highest point in the landscape.
Clenching hands warmed in my jacket pockets. The shutter had been pressed and a time-lapse capture was in full swing. I stood in awe of the mighty machines and waited as the first light stuck the long vertical poles.. The warming natural glow seemed to give the wind farm a brighter energy as it creeped from the ground toward the top of the turbines. I was expecting the reflecting light to broadcast over the cumulus clouds. To my disbelief the light faded as quickly as it started. Disappointment was kicking in. This wasn’t going to be the shot after all.
A time lapse video of the Albany Windfarm with disappointing light.
Optimistically with tripod and camera over my shoulder I headed for a new location. The view I had chosen this time wasn’t going to disappoint.
A rolling rain cloud filled the vista, dark charcoal clouds loomed and the confined ocean swell battered against the cliffs. A photo was brewing. With anticipation my camera was set to manual; the 85mm lens was connected and my glasses were firmly pressed against the viewfinder. Swinging the camera from left to right I aimed to capture the light as it danced about the scene before me… after all this is why I had left the comfort of the swag.
The end result of the distant storm photographed from the Albany Wind Farm (14 image stitch)
LEIGH DIPROSE 