Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

Welcome!

Welcome!
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO TO MY RED BUBBLE STORE.

Saturday 24 August 2013

Getting that cover shot of the Holland Track, Western Australia

If you are a regular regular reader to my blog you might remember that we took a trip along the remote Holland Track south of the Western Australian Goldfields back in April.  If you missed it you can read about it by clicking here - Holland Track - Following the goldrush prospectors


The Holland Track is one of WA's great 4WDrive treks. It lies within the environmentally significant Great Western Woodlands which covers sixteen million hectares and is the largest and healthiest remaining Mediterranean climate woodland left on earth. 


I wrote about our trip for Go Camping & 4WD Adventures Australia magazine - Go Camping on Facebook  - and my story was published in their August-September 2013.

I was excited to see that they used one of my pics for the front cover! You can see the original image below on the left and the cover on the right.  Contrary to what I wrote about capturing cover images in my February blog post - What makes a good magazine cover - they used a horizontal photo, cropped to vertical. You don't always know what the design editor is looking for. So take lots of pics, from different angles and view points. Even though I always say your choice of camera is not important, just get the shot, using a good quality camera with a high resolution image will increase your chances - especially if the magazine decides to crop. But see how the image allows for the magazine's mast head, and space to tell prospective readers what articles they will find in the magazine.  I think what might have won this image over was the camper trailer in the shot.



The image I thought they would use for the cover, they used for the opening page to my article. You can see it below here. They have cropped slightly, but the big section of mud at the bottom of the shot has allowed them to print the first part of the article over the image for the opening page. 
When I presented entered this image at my photography group last month, I didn't receive a very good response for the judge. But I am reminded, that judging is subjective, what one person likes another might not. In this case I have been rewarded because the magazine have published and paid for my shot. 


Of course to get a shot like this you need to first "see" the shot before you take it, and then get out and prepared to stand in the mud and take lots of shots to get that one shot that the magazine will like. 

You need to travel with people who support you and are prepared to stop, wait and be patient while you take pictures. It can add quite a bit of time onto your trip if you are stopping to take photos. My husband is used to that call to "stop the car"! Numerous times I have been left on the side of an outback road while I wait for my husband to drive ahead, or back and then drive towards me so I can get a driving shot.

 As you can see the Holland Track was very muddy when we travelled in late April so you need to drive according to the conditions. It is best to travel the track during autumn and spring not during winter or after rain, and you should travel with others. The track was a variety of mud, sand, rock and gravel and in places corrugated and tightly winding with scrub and trees right up to the edge of the track (impairing driver vision ahead), or hanging low over the track. 


Of course I couldn't get pics like this alone. My thanks go to my husband who drives me where I want to go, to my eldest son and his family who went with us and who have travelled the track before so had had experience of it, to Ryan Butler, the DEC Goldfields Regional Fire Co-Ordinator for background information and who I quoted in the article, and to my youngest son who travels with us with good humour, well mostly good humour. Without them a trek like this would not be possible for me. 

Tracks like the Holland Track are also a fantastic way to introduce children to bush camping, nature and history, and gets them away from the TV and computer games. There is plenty to play with out in the bush!  Two more pictures from my article.



- Where is it? – The 4WD only section runs in a north-easterly direction from 56 km east of Hyden on the Hyden-Norseman Road to Victoria Rock Road, 78km south of Coolgardie.  

-  Distance - Broomehill to Coolgardie is 731 km. 4WD section east of Hyden to Victoria Rock Road is 170 km.

Including travel from Perth you can cover the Track over four days, so be prepared to camp. It is a very achievable trip for people wanting a remote 4WD and bush camping experience close to home.


Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little review of my Holland Track trip. If you missed the original you can go back and see it by clicking here - Holland Track

I hope to bring you pics of our next camping adventure soon. 

As Jack from Perth who we met on the Holland Track and  who has been exploring lesser used tracks for over 35 years says  “There is always another track isn’t there.”

You might also enjoy - 

Cave Hill, Burra Rock and Woodlines
Camping with heritage - Karalee & Boondi Rocks
Bob Cooper - Australian survival expert




I am linking up to Mosaic Monday, Travel Photos Monday, Our World Tuesday, Tuesday Around the World, Travel Photo Thursday, What's It Wednesday, and Oh the Places I've Been. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday
Travel Photo Mondays
Our World Tuesday
Tuesday Around the World  
What's It Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
 Oh The Places I've Been

35 comments:

  1. This looks like a great adventure... great photos :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. If I were driving in all that mud, I would probably get stuck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would too - so I am glad I wasn't driving - just taking pictures!

      Delete
  3. Lovely pictures! Looks like a great adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember your original posts about the Holland Track. It's very interesting to see what the magazine chose for the cover and the 1st article page. When I saw the images, I immediately thought of how much planning that must take to get ahead of all the action. I seem to always be following my family and rarely run ahead so that I can turn around and take a photo of them approaching.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. must important - it also requires patient travel companions!

      Delete
  5. You are such a professional, Jill, that you can even make a muddy road look amazingly interesting. My hat's off to you!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Sometimes you get lucky with a shot.

      Delete
  6. Fantastic trip and congratulations on your magazine article and great photos.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How very much I miss trips like this which are not really advisable on ones own. Super shots of the rugged road and terrain. Glad you had it published.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wonderful photos! Congratulations on having some of your photos featured in a magazine,

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great adventure! Nice shots too. And congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  10. OMG ! what the ways! sounds only a adventure tour.. ...thanks for sharing your experience...yours most welcome my new post....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Now that is what I call off roading big time, Not sure my Vitara would cope with that in it's present form but we don't have tracks like that on the UK. Great feeling to have photos in a magazine, I has some featured ina recent Mag and one of my cars was featured in another manyyears ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes it certainly is great to see your shot on the front of a magazin on the book shelves.

      Delete
  12. Great sequence!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi again Jill! I can't keep with all the bloggers I like during the week but every Monday and Tuesday through blog hops I to visit with everyone again. Including you! Congratulations on both the article and the cover photo! That is absolutely awesome! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Mike. I know what you mean about trying to keep up!

      Delete
  14. That's lots of different terrain on one track. We ride quads in Coastal BC, but there are lots of 4X4 trucks that use our trails as well. - Margy

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's always interesting to me as a freelance writer, what Magazines and Newspapers pick as their cover pics. I think your photo was very worthy and I loved your explanations as to 'why' in a previous post you wrote. I love the pic here of the truck in the mud, it tells a great story and it has lots of action in it! What a marvellous adventure.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow..that looks like rough terrain!

    Congrats on your cover photo!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a thrill it must be to see your photographs on a magazine cover - well deserved too. I can well imagine you spent considerable time in the mud to get that cover shot. Great job. And you're right about families having to be patient.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes well, we did have to stop a few times. You never know how they are going to turn out. The one with the mud splashing up was a lucky shot I think!

      Delete
  18. Congrats on your articles and pictures! This definitely looks like a fun and adventurous drive to take!

    ReplyDelete
  19. that looks like a lot of fun, never done any four wheeling that crazy...and congrats with your image....yeah!

    ReplyDelete
  20. HAHA!!! If my husband took the photos, they'd never be published. :)
    Congratulations on your articles and photos being published.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Occasionally I use one of my husbands pics to send to the magazine, though I am not sure he has had one of his published yet.

      Delete
  21. thank you wonderful dear readers. It has been a busy busy week!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Jill, congratulations for the having both your article and photograph publish! It such a great thing and so deserving of your talents.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is a road trip where the road is a trip! Nifty that your photo ended up on the magazine's cover!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Fantastic post, amazing photos:) Greetings

    ReplyDelete
  25. Kudos go out to you!!!What an adventure of a lifetime. The first photo of the road going on forever is brilliant. I would LOVE to visit someday.
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  26. What an adventure!

    Wonderful to have you be a part of "Oh, the PLACES I've been!"

    - The Tablescaper

    ReplyDelete
  27. You make a good road trip adventure! its amazing, looking at the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you provide. Cheers

    4WD Light Bar

    ReplyDelete

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog. Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to comment. I read and very much appreciate every comment and love hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return.