Meso's Photo's and chase reports

[Meso]

I'll start off with a couple of daytime CG lightning shots I managed to capture during one of the storms back on the 9th of February this year. I forget exactly where it was taken, somewhere between Huntly and Elmore I think...

[Meso]

Heathcote Storm - 27th Feb 2010

When i saw that Heathcote cell start to develop, decided to go for a drive.

I was originally gonna head out to Seymour as it looked like it was going to track that way. I don't have mobile radar or anything so decided to go with my instincts on the way and turned off towards Heathcote instead as judging by the sky that looked like it was where all the action was. We ended up somewhere between Heathcote and Lake Eppalock and saw this, i'm no weather guru, but appeared to be a fair bit of rotation happening...







After that got obscured by trees we decided to drive a bit further towards it, which turned out to be somewhat of a bad idea as we got caught under a barrage of large hail which seemed to come out of nowhere. Amongst all the excitment I forgot to take photos of the hail so I was cursing myself for that! Luckily, as we headed back towards Bendigo I saw this on the side of the road...







Got out of the car to check the size and these things were huge, golfball size!





Was quite a bit of flash flooding too...



Anyway, motor on a bit further up the road and saw this strange fog/mist, dunno if it was all the hail melting or what, maybe someone can fill me in...

[Meso]

Bendigo Flash Flooding - 5th March 2010

Here's some pics of the flooding around Bendigo...

The usually dry Bendigo creek became a raging torrent of water...





And spilled out on to the road in the street behind our place...











Few more of Bendigo creek, behind the White Hills swimming pool...







Bowls will probably be cancelled tomorrow...





And finally, Bendigo creek again - beside the Golden Square swimming pool, looking north...



Would not have wanted to get caught in those waters, were flowing pretty darn fast! Have some video of it that I might upload later.

Hope everyone else gets a drink over the next few days!

[Meso]

Rochester Storm - 6th March 2010

Saturday was a pretty uneventful day for us. Partly because I slept too long and missed the storms that passed by here in the morning, lol, oh well.

While Melbourne was getting smashed by hail, this is the best view we got of a storm all day...

[Meso]

Wunghnu Storm - 7th March 2010

After the dissapointment of the day before we were rewarded with the most intense storm I've witnessed in my short chasing career...

The colors in these clouds were amazing...











Sheep after copping a pounding from the hail...



Three weeks ago I didn't even know there was such a thing as hail fog. I've now seen it twice in the space of a week! This was on an epic scale tho...









Sheets of hail...







Incredible day!

[Dez]

Wow amazing photos. Love the storm structure photos and wow at the hail fog.

[rikjpool]

Superb Work Judd!! Havnt seen the Bendigo creek flood like that in a long long time. 1996 comes to mind.

[Meso]

Finally got a chance to get out and have a good play with my new Canon 550D today, I even dragged my arse out of bed at 6am to catch the sunrise!

Anyway, here's the results for todays effort...my first SLR camera, so go easy on me...

Sunrise...




Few attempts at HDR images, first couple are the Loddon River early this morning and the last one is Rosaland Park in town this afternoon...

[Australis(Shell3155)]

Well done with the new camera, love the HDR ones, I must learn - have a go at HDR myself. I like it on some photo's but now so much on others. cheers.

[Rivergirl]

Wow certainly worth the effort Judd. Some lovely captures there. Glad you're enjoying your new Canon, they're a great camera. I've graduated from 400D to 40D to 50D. Loved them all.

[Meso]

Thanks guys! I am loving the camera, can't wait to take it on a storm chase hehe

Yeah, know what you mean about the HDR pics Shell, some of them can be overdone and end up looking a bit too "fake". But, I definitely reckon the technique has it's place, can really bring an image to life imo.

[daviescr]

Great pics Judd, love that last one especially.

[rikjpool]

Good to see your enjoying the new Cam Judd.

We should catch up sometime and go out shooting somewhere sometime.

[Meso]

Definitely!

Here's a couple of sunset shots from a fortnight ago, taken at a farm somewhere in Newbridge...

[Meso]

Might as well update this...

Sept 5th 2010
Well, my day was pretty much a bust for chasing storms. Saw some fantastic convection towards the end of the day and one of the most amazing little punchy Cu clouds/cells I've ever seen. But, apart from that it was almost a waste of time, if there were decent cells around I couldn't get a good vantage point on them.

Here's the tower I'm talking about...









Aug 10th 2010

Here's some photos from my adventures today...spent most of my time up around Kyambram/Nathalia/Echuca way. Plenty of lightning and rain about, didn't cop any hail tho. Thought I saw a funnel developing, but was too slow to get a decent shot of it. Anyway...

Some chunky towers




Something I've been hoping to see for a while...mamatus!

[Meso]

Some pics from my trip down the east coast of Vic and Gippsland area...

[Hamlan]

Ok im way too tired to be typing but I couldnt help it - there is some seriously nice photography you have posted there Meso. Very impressed but i'll look closer another time!

[Rivergirl]

Wow, awesome pics Meso

[Meso]

Thanks guys! It's a shame living here in Bendigo makes it so hard to get to such picturesque places more often and at the right times of day for good photos. Still happy with how the majority of those turned out tho.

[Hamlan]

Yeah I'd be real happy with many of those from your trip. Is there some HDR work amongst your shots? The clarity and sharpness is very good too. Love the sunset beach (sand and rocks) and waterfall shots especially.

Brad.