Snapshots of Katoomba
A week ago I took my brother, Ben, to Katoomba.
Let me tell you a little about my family. Ben and I grew up on a farm. We spent our days playing on creek banks with the dogs, building rafts made of tractor tire tubes and (literally) chasing our pet sheep around the yard for fun. (NB: no sheep were harmed in the making of our childhood- she totally loved it). When it comes to nature, you pretty much don't get more qualified experts than us.
So when we experts tell you a place is pretty damn spectacular and well worth the 2 hour train ride- it totally is.
We left Sydney at about 11am, and managed to get to both Minnehaha Falls and the iconic Three Sisters in the time we had. Our day involved a lot of walking (hills, stairs, rocks, you name it)- so I only packed one lens- my Tamron 17-50mm. Now don't get me wrong, I'm crazy in love with that lens- but after risking my camera's life (and mine) to climb to the very base of Minnehaha Falls, I expected greatness from the shots I would achieve as a result.
Instead, I found myself being eyed off by amused tourists as I contorted myself over wet rocks with my camera tilted at obscene angles in order to just fit the image I wanted in one frame- and I can pinpoint that as the exact moment that I began to wish I owned a wide-angle lens.
But hey, cool angles! Very intentional.
While I'm still pretty proud of my efforts, I'm definitely in no position to be giving advice, especially in the field of landscapes (no pun intended), so I feel a little underqualified in giving this advice- BUT if you do go to Katoomba (which you will, because I told you to), and you happen to be the lucky owner of a wide angle lens- please take it with you so I can live out my dreams through you.
Moving on.
We dashed to The Three Sisters after an icy swim, where I ran around taking photos for the ten minutes we had before the last bus arrived. This is a pretty damn nice spot- and it's almost impossible to take an ugly looking photo of a subject that good. I felt guilty for giving The Three Sisters and the hikes that sprawled out from the lookout so little attention- and so I resolved to allow a good few hours just to explore around here next time I find myself in Katoomba.
By the time we got back to Sydney, my brother was pretty over my insistence on photographing everything- so I released him and wandered down to Milson's point alone for a few cheeky harbour shots.
Even a short adventure like mine can be a great opportunity to get out there and put your camera to good use, work on your skills, and of course, have some fun. It's days like these that I fall even more in love with photography and feel so grateful for the accessible beauty that surrounds Sydney.
PS: My brother legitimately wore this hat the entire time. Truly an expert.
