You never know what you're gonna get

I was out camping with my wife one weekend at a place called Undara, about four hours or so west of Cairns.

Leaving my wife to sleep I got up to see what was happening at sunrise. It was raining lightly, overcast and grey. In short it didn't look like I was going to get anything special.

But I really liked the looks of this tree and the way it look silhouetted against the sky. So I set up my camera on my tripod in front of the tree and just sat there and waited.

They say that landscape photography is a slow, deliberate process. And for the most part it definitely can be. It takes time to think about your composition and set everything up and then just to wait for mother nature to do her thing.

Anyway after about ten minutes the previously invisible sun decided to pop out from behind a cloud and when it did - what a show! The whole sky lit up like it was on fire. The only problem was this light only lasted for about two seconds. During those two seconds the crow flew into the tree - it wasn't there originally. I managed to get off exactly two frames. The first one shows the crow flying into the tree, and then this one.

And as soon as I had pressed the shutter it was all over. In the blink of an eye. And that's when landscape photography can be a very fast process. You need to know your camera intimately to capture that instantly changing light. The waiting takes time but when you get the chance at a great picture you'd better make sure you're really quick or you'll miss it.

But if you gave me a choice between spending eight hours in front of a computer creating great light, or eight hours sitting in the outdoors waiting for it...well there's no competition really. I'll take the waiting any day of the week.