The Red Centre 2012 - Day one

What an amazing week in the Red Centre.
The Trekabout Photography Workshops 'Red Centre Experience' workshop and tour is over for another year, but what a workshop it was!

Apart from low temperatures the weather was glorious. Incredibly clear blue skies and crisp cloud free nights saw some amazing landscape and starscape opportunities presented. Michael and I arrived in Alice Springs a few days early to give us a chance to photograph before the workshop commenced. We knew we were in for a treat.

Star trails near Alice Springs Desert Park. A low slim crescent moon lit the MacDonnell Ranges whilst an LED torch was used to illuminate the Ghost Gum. A 10 minute exposure achieved the star trails.

We kicked off with the usual meet and greet on Sunday evening with nibbles and drinks and it was immediately obvious that we had a group that would get on like the proverbial 'house on fire'. Di, Natalie, Pamela, Wolf, Steven, Chris and Ken were to spend the next six days together and it was great to see new friendships formed and a strong 'photographers bond' develop.

Day one commenced with an informative talk by Doug from the Alice Springs Desert Park. Doug explained the layout and a brief history of the park, the animals we might encounter and a description of the different habitats. Alice Springs Desert Park is one of the 'must see' spots in the red centre. It has been set up painstakingly to create the various types of desert country.

Sand country, desert woodlands and desert river country are represented perfectly with the amazing backdrop of the West MacDonnell Ranges rising up to the south.

One of the key highlights of the park is without doubt the Nature Theatre. The Nature Theatre runs a magnificent 'Birds in Flight' display twice daily giving aspiring nature photographers a fantastic opportunity to practice their skills. Make no mistake, photographing birds in flight is not easy but having them right there in front of you flying back and forth allows for fine tuning of technique.

We like to challenge our workshop participants so we kicked off the photography with a session in the Nature Theatre. There is method in this madness though.

Thrown in the 'Deep End'. The group coming to terms with settings, focus, exposure, aperture, ISO, white balance, metering, composition etc. etc. for the Alice Springs Desert Park Nature Theatre - Birds in Flight!!

Without exception, everyone had a ball. Some of the group captured some terrific images and everyone wanted more. It was our way of giving he group a taste of things to come. There were two more opportunities during the week to revisit the Nature Theatre and by the third, everyone was getting 'the shots'. Michael and I were also able to grab some shots as talking during the show is not permitted. Rather than just sit there we had a ball trying to grab that elusive, perfectly focused Whistling Kite or Brown Falcon whizzing past against that magnificent mountain backdrop.

A Barn Owl glides silently above the crowd. What an experience is was to have these amazing birds so close.

The amazing backdrop, The West MacDonnell Ranges, is the perfect setting to photograph birds in flight.

We visited the Desert Rivers Habitat that first day also and, again, birds were on the agenda. Michael and I explained the best techniques and helped the group constant tips on camera settings and technique to attain great images. A number of aviaries are 'walk through' so there is no glass between the photographer and the birds. Patience is paramount along with fast reflexes but, oh boy, didn't I see some fantastic results.

Each of the habitats has a number of aviaries which contain birds endemic to that habitat. The variety is stunning. Australasian Grebe, Western Bower Bird, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Australian Ringneck,  Black-winged Stilt, White- browed Babbler, families of Masked Woodswallows, the ever present  Chiming Wedgebill and many others were the subject of our group's photography in the Desert Rivers Habitat walk through aviary.

White-browed Babbler

Black-winged Stilt lining up a tasty treat.

Day one also saw us squeeze in a session in the Nocturnal House. This awesome facility is home to many species of snakes, lizards, mammals and birds. The reptiles are presented in authentic displays including the habitat in which they would normally reside. Thorny Devils, Taipans, Death Adders, Central- netted Dragons and many, many more are all available to photograph through glass. Michael and I advised on the correct methods for shooting through glass to avoid reflections and allow for the artificial lighting.

Death Adder deciding which of our workshop participants would taste better.

The end of day one involved me presenting an introductory Lightroom session where we also looked at Steven's images taken throughout the day. We discussed file transfer, composition and basic adjustments. Throughout the week I presented two more similar sessions covering other topics including panorama stitching and HDR technique as well as many other trips and tricks. So that was day one finished!!
Tomorrow we head east into the East MacDonnell Ranges for Emily Gap, Corroboree Rock and Trephina Gorge.