Sheldon Pettit Photography

I entered a few images into this years Epson Pano Awards. Im stoked to say i picked up 3 bronze awards for the 3 photos i entered. Hopefully next year i can pick up a silver!

At the end of March i ventured off on my long awaited trip to Karijini National Park for a photography workshop to be held my by photography idols Christian Fletcher, Peter Eastway and Tony Hewitt. I had been waiting for this trip for a year now, ever since i found out about last years trip.

So i knocked off work at around lunch time, pack my camera gear and borrowed Macbook (cheers Manda!!), said goodbye to my girls and off i went. There was some really low cloud forming up over the pilbara and there was many chances to pull over and shoot off a few rounds but i resisted as i didnt want to be the last one to Karijini.  I’d hate to miss something haha.

3.5 hours later i had arrived and what an awesome drive it was through the end of the Hammersly Ranges. I went and check into my shared accomodation. I met with my room mate Karl. He runs his own photography and framing business in Gero. He is a top bloke and fuck did he have some camera gear!!! Check out his blog: http://www.outbackpix.com/blog/category/blog/ so we headed back to reception to see who else had arrived and settled in with a few quiet beers. Christian and the boys rock up about 7:30 and everyone introduced themselves and gave a bit of a run down on whats going to be happening over the next 4 days. Its now become quite clear that there wasnt going to be much time for sleeping.

Day 1 – Oxers Lookout Sunrise Shoot

4:00am the alarm goes off for a 4:30 start down to Oxers Lookout. This is the place where 4 gorges come together (Hancock, Weano, Joffre and Red). Everyone is very excited to get out there and start shooting. I set my camera up on the tripod, find a nice position on the lookout platform, point my camera in the general direction and wait for the light. I start shooting and as the photos show up in the lcd screen im quite pleased. This is going to be a great trip i thought to myself. I end up shooting about 1.3GB worth of RAW photos and im looking forward to getting back to start editing the photos. After the shoot we head back to the Eco Retreat where everyone freshen’s up and started downloading their cards. As im looking through mine i realize there all slightly out-of-focus due to the small amount of movement caused by people walking around on the lookout platform!! AMATURE!!! i thought to myself! Ive got a lot to learn! Anyway here is 1 shot that i managed to get away with but i doubt how it would print up.

After that we head over to the caretakers quarters for a few presentations and lunch.

Day 1 -  Sunset Shoot Over the Range’s

We headed off about 4:30 in the afternoon to see if we could capture some magic sunset light. There were a few clouds around but they were very thick and alot hanging around the Horizon. The boys had since told us about the technique of Focus Stacking where basically you take several photos of the same scene and blend them all together so in the final photo the whole scene is in focus. Sounds like a good idea to me! everyone set off on there own little adventure centered around this hill. There was plenty to shoot, sometime a little too much to shoot. Again when i got back i wasnt happy with what i produced and its was then i really started doubting myself and wondering what the hell i was doing on this course!

Here are a couple from that shoot, most of them i dislike, although i could have a couple more coming in the next few weeks.

Day 2 – Sunrise shoot and Weano Gorge

We got up again for an early morning shoot close to Weano Gorge. We were let down by the lack of cloud. Only very light cloud around the horizon and not much else. It also made for a very chilly morning. Tony grouped us all together and gave us a very informative run down on how light plays a very important part in not only portrait photography but all kinds of photography. He used the early morning glow for a couple of portrait shots of the group. It was great advice and a very fun start to the morning. We then wondering around the bush taking a few snaps before heading down to Weano Gorge. With the recent rains accross the Pilbara there was plenty of water in the gorges. Its always a great sign when you can hear the waterfalls before you even come close to seeing them. I was getting very excited! Ive been wanting to shoot some waterfalls for a very long time. We get down there and the light was just starting to filter in. As the sun comes up, it hits the walls and reflects onto the water making for some pretty spectacular scenes. The waterfall systems in Weano are fairly tight and compacted together and we seemed to be getting in each others way, so the decision was made for half of the group to stay and the other half to head over to Hancock Gorge. I stayed in Weano as i had just set up and was in a very comfortable position and could see the red reflections starting to light up the water. Here are some shots from Weano Gorge.

Day 2 – Joffre Gorge Sunset Shoot

After a few more workshops back at the Eco Retreat we headed out to Joffre Gorge for a sunset shoot. This is the closest gorge to the retreat so the idea was to get out, get some shots, get back to the Retreat for a night time photoshop workshop run by Christian. We walked down to the top half of the gorge and there were a lot of little waterfall systems to keep everyone busy. I headed down to try and get a good angle of the main waterfall but everywhere i tried to set up there was something in my way. Some rock just poking into the scene that just through the whole photo off. So i just sat down and watched the waterfall for a while. 2 young German backpackers jumped down to the ledge i was sitting and and started having a chat about what we were all doing. Now me sitting with these 2 young, attractive German backpackers provided alot of entertainment for the rest of the group haha cheeky buggers!! After about a 20 minute chat with them and a few photos of them in the gorge, i was back into the action. Im very happy with my shots from this gorge, especially the last shot of the day. The waterfall with the tree over the top. The sun had well and truely started to go down and the rest of the group had started headed out of the gorge when i spotted this. I just had to take a few snaps. I havent even put my shoes and socks back on yet!! I set the camera up, 30 second exposure, manual focus on the rocks and away i went. While it was shooting, i raced over and started putting my socks back on. Next i focused in on the tree above the waterfall and get the shot off! I quickly pack up and race back up the gorge.

We head back to the retreat for dinner and then settle in for Christians photoshop tutorial. Now i dont know if everyone had 1 too many beers or a touch of sun stroke, but man this was a tough session to get through. It wasnt tough in the sence of actually being hard to follow but tough in the sence people were getting left behind and getting stuck and slow computers. Im sure Christian had a few more greys in that head of his by the end of the night. It was a really good actually. Peter Eastway didnt really help the situation either with his brilliant 1 liners.

Here are some shots from Joffre Gorge.

Day 3 – Hancock Gorge Sunrise Shoot

After our midnight finish last night, we got to have a bit sleep in this morning due to the lack of any decent sunrises. 5:00am was our starting time! So the group that went to hancock yesterday morning with do weano today and vice versa! We headed down the steep gorge and i was at the front of the pack. Theres only enough room for 1 or 2 photographers at kermits pool without getting in each others way, so i made my way down there first. Its a bit of a mission to get down there with alot of rock climbing, or clambering and a nice refreshing swim chucked in for good measure. I charged ahead, coming to a bit of a dead end. There was this waterslide like section which lead to a nice little waterfall at the end. I approached it from a few different angles and still had no idea how to get down to the bottom of it. Maybe i’ve taken the wrong track? That’ll teach me for rushing off hahaha. So i headed back towards the other group. They were all still coming this way, i must be right, so i took off back towards the waterslide. I looked around a bit and then saw the sign “Kermits Pool”. I was already there hahaha. I later found out you can get past the waterslide section, buts its a massive mission and you need a tour guide. So i got my shots of Kermits Pool and head back up so others could head down and get their photos. There are a lot of waterfall systems in Hancock aswell, plenty to keep me busy. I think Hancock would have to have been my most favourite gorge.

Here are some shots of Hancock Gorge.

Day 3 – Dales Gorge Sunset Shoot

After some more workshops back at the Eco Retreat, we headed out to Dales Gorge. This is probably the most “touristy” of all the gorges. It is home to Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool. Most of the group stayed around the main falls, Christian and a few of us when in search of a few of the smaller waterfall systems. We treked down about half way between fortescue falls and circular pool and found a bunch of flat rock and come beautiful colour reflecting off the rocks. We got a late start getting into the gorge so we didnt get a lot of time in there. Here are a few i managed to get.

Day 4 – Altered Landscape Sunrise Shoot

With most of the gorges now done, we were given the task to shoot Altered Landscapes, Christian’s latest fasination. Its actually a good concept, how much we have impacted the landscape, and how much we will impacted in the future. Even at a place like Karijini, in the middle of no where, you can have spots where we have change the landscape. Some people were really keen on the project, a few others not so much. I have got a few shots which i still want to process when i get the time.  Here are 2 of my favourite ones from the morning.

Day 4 – Dales Gorge (Circular Pool)

The last night of the workshop we headed back to Dales Gorge. The group split in 2, half went to the flat rock we went to the day before and the rest of us made our way to Circular Pool. I was pretty disappointed when i got there. There wasnt much of a waterfall. I had also left my zoom lens back at the retreat so i couldnt get in close enough to the falls. I noticed on the way in a few smaller water falls through the rocks so i thought i’d head back and have a crack at them. I havent had much of a chance to edit any of these yet, mainly due to the fact i dont really like them haha. Once back on top of the gorge, the sun had set and there was some really nice afterglow. I decided i wanted a nice Focus Stacked Panorama so off i went.  This is a 7 image focus stacked panorama. Once finished i tried to save it as a .tiff file but it was over 4GB.  I flattened the image and saved as a .jpeg and its still 38MB in size.  Im going to enter this in the up coming Epson Pano Awards. I’ll let ya know how i go.

This has been such as awesome 4 days with a great bunch of people. People i hope to stay in touch with. A massive thank you to Christian, Tony and Peter for the time, help and general banter! I dont think there was a serious word said the whole trip. I already cant wait for next years trip. Bring on Karijini 2012!!!

This is my first attempt at a textured image. The top layer is an photo of Ironstone, found through out the Pilbara region. The bottom is a photo of the Iron Ore ships waiting on the horizon to come in and collect the Iron Ore.

Here are a few of the latest sunset photos taken at Finucane Island over the past few weeks.

A few weekends back I went for a trip to Karratha and Python Pool. Here are a few shots from that little outing.

Headed out with our new neighbours on sunday night to shoot the sunset from Finucane Island, South Hedland. Cloud started to disappear in the west whilst a storm build up coming in from the east. Managed a few decent shots with some nice cloud formation over the Finucane Island BHP Iron Ore site. Here are 2 from the night.

Hey Guys,

Well we have finally made the move to South Hedland. Were both loving being back in the Pilbara. The first night we got here we got a massive storm with over 100mm of rain in 1/2 an hour. Nice!!

Anyway we got out first massive storm come through last night. I was watching it on weatherzone.com all day it as it started to come down the coast, i was off. I left here about 4:30 and told bel i would be back soon.

I headed out on the North West Highway towards Broome. I got about 20kms past the Port Hedland airport and found a few trees on the flat plane and thought thats a good a spot as any to set up. The lightning was already going off in the distance. You Beauty!!

Here a few shots that ive just finished, will have a few more to come later on… stay tuned!!

Headed down south yesterday for my sisters 25th birthday. The plan was to head to Margaret River for a look around, Colonial Brewery for lunch then over to Dunsborough for the arvo for a swim and then Sugarloaf for the sunset.

Anyway whilst we were having lunch Isla started getting really crook so we had to cut the trip short and head back early, not before stopping in at boranup forest but such a awesome place! I’d never been here before.

Heres one i took on Tuesday Night (21/12/10) down at the back beach. Took the family down to the beach for some nice fish & chips, would have been a beautiful evening apart from the 6 million flies that showed up and wanted to share out dinner.

9 images, stitched with AutoPano Pro

Another one from last week…