Ferntree Falls Mt Cole State Forest

[Mick Fagan]

Managed to get to this little waterfall, which is a sub waterfall of the main waterfall last weekend. I knew it would have water falling as the rain has been rather prodigious of late.

First time in a while that I have used the 65mm lens without a graduated centre filter; worked well.

Beautiful misty weather with a constant drizzle, fortunately the sound of the water drowned out the sound of at least a million mosquitoes; although I did feel their presence.

Taken in portrait mode, but I wonder if some judicious cropping of the top is the better picture?

Shen Hao HZX45-IIA 4x5 wooden folder
FP4+ D76 1:1
Fujinon SWD 65mm
1 sec at f/16

[Barry Kirsten]

Nice shot Mick. I like it as it is but I see what you're thinking. Pure conjecture, but I wonder how a landscape view with a 90mm lens would have worked. I've never been to those falls but should add it to my list of places to visit.

[Mick Fagan]

Barry, quite accessible as they are only around 250m from the car park, I walked in to check out the scene, then walked back to the truck and brought the camera back in with bag bellows already attached. I had already worked out the 65mm would be the lens, the main rocks are about 1m from the camera, maybe 1.2m maximum; so the 90mm was possible, but I wasn't going to get the surrounds, especially the height with the 90mm.

The only real issue I had was trying to stay upright, the ground was so slippery and the constant drizzle a bit iffy but bearable. Left the bag bellows in the truck cabin to dry out as I kept on driving, they are possibly leather, not sure if it is man made leather or real leather.

At close range, the 65mm is a world of a difference to the 90mm, more than I thought would be the case. From a reasonable distance, the 65mm and 90mm don't look that different, but up close, the 65mm is brilliantly different.

For some time after getting the 65mm lens, I tried a few movements and some very minimal shifting of standards. With about 10mm of coverage spare I started thinking of a 75mm. I've given that idea up now as apart from the cost, I have done a couple of sheets with movement and one with a little shift, then cropped the negative at roughly where a 75mm lens runs out. The end result is that I basically have the coverage of a 75mm with cropping of the negative, so sort of the best of both worlds. The camera bag is lighter, and my pocket is heavier.

By selecting the 65mm I could have the surrounding vegetation, especially the tree, on the negative. Once I had developed the negative I could see the swirling misty clouds, bonus.

I'm still pondering a severely cropped landscape version....

[Barry Kirsten]

Quite right, Mick. I knew I was out on a limb with that observation, but I was curious about what was to the right and figured that landscape orientation would allow that to be seen, and the closer view of the 90 would concentrate almost entirely on the water itself. All very hypothetical of course, with me sitting in my armchair and you actually on the spot and able to decide on composition! I think waterfalls are my favourite subject matter, and I like your image very much. I'll have to get over there and see it for myself.

[Mick Fagan]

Barry, you will certainly like it, especially the upper and main waterfall. Unfortunately I couldn't access the main waterfall as it was just too slippery, so I decided upon the lower tiny waterfall.

If I had turned the film back to landscape mode, then I would have almost all black on the right and a tree fern dominating on the left. One leg was standing in the water, but wouldn't have been if I had used the 90mm.

I decided to look up some online pictures and found out that the state forest park is now called Mt Buangor, with the eastern section having Mt Cole; a very short distance from these falls, with Mt Langi Ghiran in the western part of the state forest park. I've always known this part as Mt Cole, apparently not these days.

I would suggest that if you can, get there in a short time frame, do so. The landscape at the moment is fantastic, what with water everywhere, foliage just dripping constantly and all sorts of little waterfalls wherever one looks. Gumboots or good walking shoes, are handy if it is actually raining!

This was the Langi Ghiran campground last Sunday morning after it had stopped raining in biblical proportions, I'm in the dry section and the rivulets of water in the foreground, were raging creeks of water earlier; nature is wonderful.