I  would like to share a few photos I took at the Horse Rescue’s Open Day on the 28th of October 2012. Horse Rescue was celebrating their 25th anniversary and I had the pleasure to be a part of this great day. I didn’t get to take many photos, as I was raising money that day, but I watched one demonstration at 2pm from a natural equestrian instructor Suzanne Bellette with here gorgeous liberty horses.

Once I saw these two gorgeous boys i could not help myself, but to take a few snaps. The friesian was striking one great pose after another, it would be so great to work with a trained horse like him.
It’s truly incredible to see the powerful relationship between horse and a human like Suzanne had with her horses.

Here are a few photos I took during a short informal demo. Thank you and I hope you will like them.

I hope you enjoy.  Cheers  :)
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Nightlights of Circular Quay

Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park after Dusk

Cahill Expressway after sunset

The Three Sisters are dominating the landscape above Jamison Valley and they can be viewed clearly from an Echo Point lookout which offers an astonishing panoramic views of Blue Mountains National Park.

Blue Mountains National Park is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia and it’s spreading over 11.400 square kilometres and is listed as a World Heritage Area by UNESCO on 29 November 2000, becoming the fourth area in New South Wales to be listed.

So, after waking up at silly o’clock (3am) I hit the road and drove 1hour 45minutes to this location ready to catch the first glimpse of sunlight hitting the peaks of this beautiful landscape. I must have gone about half way when the first rain drops landed on the windscreen of my car, oh dear. The rest of the way the rain was stopping and starting whenever it felt like. After my arrival the rain was holding off but the mountains were covered in a thick layer of fog and clouds and I knew there was no chance of seeing the sun.

Determined not to leave without my shot I set up my camera and composed the scene. When I saw my  first image my thoughts yelled hallelujah, good news this will convert nicely into a black and white landscape. The fog added a little bit of a mystery too, which I liked.  Even though I am pretty happy with my shot, I would love to revisit so I can have a colour version of this amazing location.

Afterwards I went for a wander and decided to do the 4km loop walk called Waterfall Circuit, which includes the Federal Falls, Adeline Falls, Junction Falls and Cataract Falls. This image below is of Junction Falls and the image above the page is of Federal falls. They were not overflowing with water, so I would love to return and get a few shots after a decent amount of rainfall.

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Cheers All!

Thanks for stopping by, this post is from my October shoot for Horse Rescue Australia a non-profit organisation and registered charity. This is my 3rd time in 2 years I have been photographing these horses, this time I was going for something different, you could say more “arty”.

It was quite challenging, as I waited quite a while for the light to get better and better but at the same time it was vanishing in front of my eyes at rapid speed. You can not tell from the pictures bellow, but I was also surrounded by a mob of other horses, trying to sabotage my shots (hehehe). I love a good challenge! .

Because, theses horses went through a trauma at some stage in their life, most of them are shy and untrusting towards people, I like to just leave them alone or be gentle with them and not make them do anything they do not want to. Most of the time I just have to have a whole load  of patience in me and be ready to click the shutter when the right moment comes!

The main reason for coming to take some photos was to help raise money for an Open Day event HRA will be having on the 28th of October, celebrating 25 years! I will be printing some prints and products and they will be available to purchase for visitors on the day, of course all my profits will go to HRA. It will be a great day full of fun, so come and say “Hello” to me or come and meet the horses!

You will also be able to book my silver package photo session for your horse in return for a Donation to HRA (regular booking fee is normally $200).
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If you are interested in buying any of my photographs you can contact me via my contact page and I will send you my up to date price list.
BIG Thank you to Anne for being so nice and accommodating and another Big Thanks to my partner Steve for helping me out with the shoot!

Cheers All,  enjoy!

]]> http://www.soniamphotography.com/2012/10/horse-rescue-photoshoot-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.soniamphotography.com/2012/08/port-stephens-photography-getaway/ http://www.soniamphotography.com/2012/08/port-stephens-photography-getaway/#comments Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:39:03 +0000 Sonia Masarova http://www.soniamphotography.com/?p=3392 Hello,

A few days ago I got back from a small photography trip to Port Stephens which is located 3hours north-east from New South Wales capital city, Sydney. The plan was to relax, eat, explore and to take photos and I ticked all boxes successfully (wink*). Those of you who have not visited this place, you must do it, its a beautiful part of the world.

I booked a fully equipped cabin for 2 nights in the Halifax holiday park which was really nice. I only paid something like $120 per night, I say only because I was there during the week and I am sure it would cost a lot more at the weekend or in the summer. The best thing about staying there was, that the Shoal Bay beach with all the cool rock formations was about 2 minutes walk from the park.

A short introduction to Port Stephens:

Port Stephens is a large natural harbour located approx 3 hours north-east from Sydney, NSW.
Port Stephens has a narrow entrance between two striking hills of volcanic origin. The southern headland, “Tomaree” or “South” Head, rises to 120 metres above sea level while “Yacaaba”, the northern headland, is 210 m above sea level.

…..26 golden sandy beaches, crystal clear water and blue skies. Its known for its nature and abundance of aquatic marine life and land activities on its uncrowded sandy beaches, sheltered bays and unspoilt national parks.

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I recommend to view this file in Large Format, click HERE to do so.

On my first evening, I got treated to this beautiful sunset from the Tomaree Head lookout. It took me about 30-40 minutes to climb up the top of the mountain, but  as you can see from the first 3 shots I posted it was well worth the effort.

A short Video

I hope you enjoyed my post, cheers and take care.

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I have been busy for a while now, so this time I will do less writing and more showing
Here are some photos I took in the past three weeks at various locations around New South Wales:

Cronulla Beach Sunset | Sutherland Shire

Bradley's Head Sunrise | Mosman | Looking towards the Central Business District

Brighton Le Sands | South Sydney | Looking towards one of Sydney's airport landing paths

Blowhole Point Rock Pool | Kiama | Illawarra Region

A stretch of Kiama's volcanic coastline

Bronte Ocean Baths | Sydney's Eastern Suburb

I took 2 exactly the same photos with 2 different filters, 30 minutes apart from each other.

The top image was more than half an hour after the sun came out with a B+W 1000 nd filter (10stop filter) which allows for extremely long exposures, but adds a red colour cast when using it. This red effect can be a blessing or a curse, but in this case its a good thing.
By 7.30am the sun started to light up the clouds from behind and give them more of an orange colour which was instantly intensified by the 10 stop filter.

The bottom image was taken 30 minutes earlier whilst the sun was coming up, but because of the thick clouds the colour was not going through the surface. I was using the Hoya nd 16 filter (4stop filter) which as far as I can tell does not give any colour cast to the photos.

I this case I prefer the top image a lot more, it has got a bit more of a wow factor.
But both of these filters are a great addiction to my equipment arsenal and I couldn’t live without either one them!

I pretty much knew I wanted to be up high on top of the headland looking towards the island with the cliffs and some kind of flowery bush in my foreground. I am pretty happy with this shot below, the only thing could be better is the bush in front of me, I wish it would be more colourful.

The other photo, on the top of my page is very different its mainly because the light had changed dramatically after the sun rose and disappeared up in the clouds and also due to using of a different filter.

Minnamurra in the local Aboriginal language means “Plenty of Fish”. It’s located in the Illawarra region 200km south of Sydney, Australia.

This photo was taken from Minnamurra headland, in the distance is the picturesque Stack island or as the locals call it the Rangoon island, named after a ship wrecked on the island in the year of 1870.

Cheers
Sonia

Camera settings: Canon 7D | canon 10-22mm EF-S lens|
ISO 100 | 10mm | F11 | 90sec
Hoya ND 16 | Coking 0.9 grad

Anyhow, whilst in Slovakia I had a chance to see one of my childhood friends and had the pleasure to photograph her beautiful chocolate Labrador Retriever. Apart from being extremely photogenic she is also the biggest softie and we had a great session together.

To be honest with you, this was my first time I photographed a dog and I really loved it! I have experience with photographing horses, but a full pet photography is something I would really love to get into in the future as it can be really fun and a bit of a challenge as well!

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