Lake Elysia
If I had to pick one image as my favorite all time shot it would be Peter Dombrovskis’ Mount Geryon from The Labyrinth.
To me it is quite simply the most inspiring example of everything a fantastic landscape photograph should be . An amazingly interesting, colourful and sharp vegetated foreground (perfectly executed with the tilt feature of his large format 4”x5” Linhof technorama camera), the most perfect reflection I’ve ever seen, great middle ground topped off by the amazing profile of Mt Geryon accentuated by a sprinkling of snow. The combination of these elements creates a beauty so perfect that it almost defies belief.
Back in 1998 when I last did the Overland Track – Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair walk in winter I did a flying visit to the labyrinth on my last day before walking back to Coles Bay completing most of the St Clair leg by torch light in the short winter days. Unfortunately due to inclement weather visibility was only about 10 to 100m at best and I didn’t really see anything. The next day on the way home on the boat across Bass Strait I bought the above poster feeding my dreams of returning till now.
In a way history repeated this week when I finally returned, it had been snowing all night on us down in the valley at Pine Hut and as we climbed steeply up to the plateau the world was transformed into a winter wonderland. The cloud cover was again thick and visibility was again low but donning my pack I at least was equipped to stay a few nights. Leaving my companions to return to the comfort of the hut after lunch I continued alone to Lake Elysia. Walking over the final rise and seeing the lake and surrounding hills was in many ways a return to a place long held dear such was my familiarity with the numerous photographs I have of the area.
It was very cold and I half expected that I would have such cold hands after setting up my tent that I would probably remained tent bound for a while afterwards to warm up but everything was in an acceptable comfort range so I wandered around the shore of the lake umbrella in hand taking shots. One hand was in a wet glove for carrying my cold metal tripod the other one bare so I could handle my camera without getting it wet and despite frequent snow flurries I spent an enjoyable few hours exploring some of the more intimate aspects of the shore line this shot being taken in an ever so brief moment when the cloud cover lifted enough to at least see the bases of Mt Geryon and The Acropolis.
That night it bucketed down with rain and by morning every last skerrick of snow had been washed away. As luck would have it my tent site was transformed into a very wet puddle and with my tent floor leaking badly everything ended up in various degrees of wetness. I had the food to stay another night but with everything including my sleeping bag and a very expensive 15mm fisheye lens being wet my dreams of an open sky sunset and sunrise at Lake Elysia had to wait till another time.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D mkII
Lens: EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM @ 24mm
Filter: UV
ISO: 100
Shutter Speed: 1/30th sec
Aperture: f/16
WB: Auto
Exposure Compensation: -1/3rd stop
When: 3:15pm on 6/4/09
For more Tassie shots check out my Tasmania gallery.
10% of all profits go to the Wilderness Society
Lake Elysia belongs to the following groups:
! 100% !, 5D Mark II, All Countries ~ Wetlands, Ponds, Lakes and Rivers, Alpine Australia, Art 4 Charity, Art for Conservation, Australian Landmarks and Icons, Canon DSLR (One Image Per Day & A Canon Camera Must Be In The Description Before It's Accepted), Fine Art of Landscape Photography, Lakes and Inland Waterways *one* per day, focal point - the water!, Landscape Photography, Live, Love, Dream: , MASTERS OF THE SCENIC, Mood & Ambience - Strictly Photos, Mountains and Mountain Light, Scenery, Shots in the Fog, Snow! Glorious Snow!! 2 a day, Stillness Speaks **Max 2 uploads per day** {{No NUDES, ABSTRACT, CANDIDS or ACTION IMAGES}} and Tasmania Available for sale asGreeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters
Ralph Olsson
Just eye popping shot mate. Love that low cloud/mist over the mountain…hey, good exp for the whites:)
Philip Johnson
great shot Travis congrats, tassie is a favourite, great to see some snow down there
Philip Johnson
hope you add it to the National Parks of the World group
David Murphy
Great read, and an even greater image….....
Dombrovski was a legend, for sure…..
But, you’re getting up to those lofty heights, Travis…..
Always a pleasure to see what you see…....
Travis Easton replied
Thanks David, One of the joys of Dombrovskis is that he set the bar so high that it will never cease to inspire…
helmutk
Great shot Travis !
Laurette Ruys
great shot, love this snow :))
David Hibberd
Fantastic Travis
Mel Brackstone
Fisheyes are meant to get wet Travis :) Great story, no doubt you’ll get the shots one day :)
Travis Easton replied
Thanks for the lens compassion you …
OK OK I get the joke, always appreciate your comments mate (I think :) hehe. Hope it doesn’t take another ten years to get back though. Dombrovskis would wait around for days for all the elements to come together to get shots like this… the eternal one day.
Cora Wandel
Stunning work, Travis, and excellent commentary about the photo.
Karin Mai
Beautiful Travis. Got to get there some day.
Karin Mai
Have you got Peter Dombrovskis book? If not its worth buying, its one of my favorite photography books that i have.
Travis Easton replied
I’ve got ‘Simply’ and mum and dad have got ‘Wild Rivers’ and there are another four books out as well but all out of print now, ta mate
Carmen Mandel-...
Thank you, Travis, for sharing these magnificent places along your continuous support to conservation.
Jim Worrall
great atmosphere in this shot Travis, very nice.
Mel Brackstone
heh….those lenses are pretty tough….I really do have compassion, honest! I’ve ripped all the electronics out of mine…..since hubby dropped it onto bitumen from a height of 60cm…..still works fine, just has no auto focus :)
You’ll get back there before the 10 years, I’m sure!
Travis Easton replied
Next time I’ll probably be with my kids, that would make a visit even richer hey. Gasp no auto focus my awe increases ;-p
Garth Smith
It was a great read. I love the story behind yours and many other photographers inspiration. Dom was a great man and a brilliant photographer. He is one of my main 2 inspirations as well.
You photo here is a very worthy tribute to the master and an image that he himself may well have been proud of.
Great stuff Travis.
Travis Easton replied
Wow thanks Garth, who is your other big inspiration if I may ask?
Mel Brackstone
That will make the trip much more interesting, to show your kids the places that inspire you. Focus is over rated, didn’t you know? heh
Travis Easton replied
Yerr I know derrr. f22 fixes everything, everyone knows that, hehe
Mel Brackstone
with fisheye f/9 or f/11 is all you need :)
Travis Easton replied
I thought ‘love is all you need’, you’re weird.
(well I think it’s funny)
Mel Brackstone
hardy har har…...LOL
Garth Smith
Ansell of course.
Travis Easton replied
Of course. I’m a big fan of Joe Cornish and Galen Rowell too.
kathy s gillen...
excellent capture
Pamela Inverarity
Beautiful shot! Your tale of snow, wet gear, a cold camp, buckets of rain – strangely enough just makes me want to pack my tent and head over there. I only got to Tassie once, but I fell in love with the scenery and I’ve been wanting to get back there ever since (just so long as I get to come back to my warm, dry Flinders Ranges afterwards).
Travis Easton replied
It’s a funny hardship, just seems to add to the experience. At least I had the option of going down. While up there I thought of those poor soldiers in the trenches in WWI who had no such luxury and often ended up suffering trench foot.
Heather Rivet...
fantastic
JamieGreen
Outstanding..
Neil Boucher
Great photo and great story Trav! I often dream of taking photos like Dombrovskis and think that with the resolution of modern DSLRs it may be possible, but even with tilt-shift lenses I somehow doubt it. I guess one of the large frame cameras with a digital back it may be possible, but then we would have to lug all that weight around – like Peter did.
Travis Easton replied
Personally I don’t think digital will ever make large format obsolete, just a completely different discipline really. I’m getting up there in the weight stakes but no large format load yet, thanks mate.
traveller
Loved the story, great capture, well done. As you say The Dom’ set such high a standard that it will be a long time (if ever) before anyone comes close, but it keeps us motivated to push ourselves in the quest for that special shot.
Jared Revell
Such a beautiful landscape, Travis, lovely shot.
I really enjoyed your narrative too, it sounded like you had a very eventful journey to say the least.
Neil introduced me to Peter’s work a few years back; very inspiring, as was his story.
Looking forward to more of your latest Tassie shots and the future ones when you head back, hopefully the weather will be just as you want it for that special moment.
gaylene
Yet another truly marvellous work of yours Trav and as always your story is fabulous – I coud image being there too. And Peter Dombrovskis really inspired me too – what a wonderful man he was capturing such a huge array of stunning shots. What a treasure to have lost to the world.
Richard George
Your narratives add so much to your works. They reveal to me the determination for excellence which in turn translates through your lens. Fine work.
Travis Easton replied
Thanks Richard for wading your way through my essay. Peter used to lug incredibly heavy gear and sit around for days waiting for the perfect light to trip that shutter… but the results… inspiring, thanks.
Tatiana R
Outstanding image Travis! Great clarity and suttle colours, beautifil blend of snow and fog!
Lisa Evans
Outstanding shot !!!
Robert Mullner
What an awesome scene Trav…a special moment thats for sure…Great reading about your adventures…I’m keen to head over to Tas…if just for a few days to catch some Autumnal splendour..look foreward to seeing more from your journey.
Donovan wilson
COOL shot Trav .the plants seem a bit less trampelled in Peters shot and i bet the trail up was harder..
Geoff Coleman...
Ah but it wouldn’t be Tassie if the beauty was handed to you on a platter – how many time do you think Dombrovskis went there to get his masterpiece lol! And what a masterpiece it is. You’re a brave man putting a Dombrovskis next to your own image but damn they go well together. The fact that you’ve caught this beauty in less than optimum conditions is a testimony to just how masterful a photographer you are Travis. This image of yours is so quintessentially Tassie Highland – love it.
10centpiece
Hey Travis,
Nice shot and good to see you survived your night up there, pity about the rain.
I notice the the clouds lifting as we were heading back down to the hut and thought you might get a little sun in the morning, oh well, maybe next time.
Matt
Travis Easton replied
The next day in almost zero visibility I decided almost on a hopeless whim, (i.e. I’m there so I may as well even if I don’t see anything) to climb up to Labyrinth lookout and to my delight the cloud lifted that little bit higher why I was up there giving me only semi obscured views of Geryon, Acropolis and labyrinth while I was up there, awesome place. The day after the weather was a dream hope the rest of your walk was good, thanks for droppin’ by.
Tony Middleton
fantastic moody shot and great story Trav – yep that shot of Dombrivskis is just an absolute killer hey ! love it !
Travis Easton replied
Thanks Tone shame I didn’t get to share the view with you maybe next time, hope your trip was good.
Tony Middleton
Hopefully Trav ! Photographically speaking my trip was a bit of a bust with no nice light over the duration (or am i just too fussy?)...not to worry as it was good to get away all the same :)
Neophytos
Great shot full of atmosphere and a lovely story too,and the images of Dombrovskis are simply Magnificent !!
bevanimage
Oh, this is just so beautiful! I too am a great fan of Peter Ds; he and Olegas Truchanas inspired my love of photography. You have created a wonderful work in their spirit! Thanks for showing it.
adgray
Travis These shots, the inspiration from the poster and your story makes this a stunning EKPHRASIS combination
Would you please submit this and any other work like it to the EEG as it is truely an exceptional ekphrasis example!
Chookas! X♥X
tasadam
What they all said Travis. I have looked at this photo a few times before, and am surprised I had not commented earlier.
I like the colour in this too. It looks real – how I remember it.
Travis Easton replied
Magic spot hey, thanks again for your help.
Paulaa 15 days ago
This is crazy! Wow fantastic snap I absolutely love it :) and ps i worked out how to add pics to groups. Thanks for the tip