Farina - Gone but not Forgotten

[Peter Ryan]

Farina was a vibrant town in the late 1800. It was one of two railheads for taking cattle south toAdelaide, Sth Australia. With better roads and heavy transport cattle are now trucked north and Farina is left a ghost town for tourists and photographers to call into as they pass by.

Farina's hotel




The sands of time catch us all.

[jeeperman]

Peter...another great series! I am very much enjoying all you have posted lately.

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks Paul. It was a great trip but I am staying home for a while now to cacth up on some workshops, etc. My next trip is into the Kimberley region of Western Australia in the middle of next year.

Space is one thing we have plenty of and infact outside this old town it is flat almost to the horizon in all directions.

[jeeperman]

How did that new rig work out for you? Looks like it did as needed.

[jjbacoomba]

Very well done Peter. Thanks for sharing these.

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks Joe.

And Paul, I did not take the rig with me on this trip. It was actually good being a passenger as I got to see everything. Through the desert we only average 20klm/hour so concentration on the road was essential.

I still need to get the suspension done and off-road tyres. I have had the canopy put on the back and some draws put in. I have ordered the fridge and know what GPS system I want. So all things are happening slowely.

[Donald]

#1 - Again, that sky. Wonderful. I wondered about some more local contrast enhancement on the building?

#2 Gorgeous. I think that's a beauty. The whole composition just works: From those two posts on the left, the trees behind them, right over to that ruin on the right, to the grass in the foreground. Wonderful

#3. Well what a story. I find it a very emotional image. Somebody made that wheel. He's probably a long time dead. Now the wheel is joining him.

[Bobobird]

Very nice seeing what we do not have an opportunity to see first hand.

Thanks.

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks for your kind comments Donald and Bobo.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Peter,

It is so easy to appear smart after the event, especially when I have had the benefit of Donald's comments too, but for 'next time', or when presented with a similar opprotunity, I hope I remember these things ....

#1 I'd frame up, or crop in PP, a few percent off the left hand edge to remove the dark diagonal thing leaving the frame, plus I'd clone out, dull down, or crop off the bottom edge, that bright foreground rock on the left hand third.

#2 I think I'd prefer to see a smidge more space between the cultivating device and the more distant stone remains of a building, if I worked it out properly, I think that means stepping back a little and moving slightly right - which for all I know wasn't possible

#3 was shot at f/11, I'd try f/5.6, there's too much DoF giving sharp background grasses distracting (a little) from the wheel

As I say, easy for me to know now, much harder to remember at the time

An instructive series, thanks for posting, I have learnt from them.

The first two are definitely above average as they stand and my suggestions may make only a few percent improvement - and that's only if you/others agree

You are kinda lucky it seems out there in Aus; I don't think the UK has such 'wide open' places, anything derelict here tends to be fenced off and you'd be trespassing, and even if you did find somewhere, everything is so much more 'cramped in' that separating the subjects would be a bigger problem. Perhaps I'm just making excuses (it wouldn't be the first time )

Cheers,

[JohnC]

Interesting photos,Peter- photos like this always have a 'sadness' about them simply because it's a record of abandonment.

[PhilipM]

Great photos. One can only imagine the hopes, dreams - and losses - of real people that were once linked to each of those scenes.

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks for your interest John and Philip; and Dave many thanks for your thoughtful input. I have taken on board all comments and can only say they will assist in the next version.