Albert was keen on another canyoning photographic weekend and didn’t need to do much convincing to talk me into joining him. We discussed a list of possible canyons and decided on Dargans Creek and the Hat Hill Canyon. We were joined for the first day at Dargans Creek by Craig, from Lithgow. I had been canyoning with Craig many years before. In recent years, with his kids growing up, he has been able to venture into canyons once more. He was happy to put up with our photographic pfaffing.
We met at the carpark above the dam at Dargan. We soon had our gear packed and set off for the dam. We then headed down the track to the canyon. On the way, we passed a pair of climbers on one of the lower crags. We didn’t envy them, as it was a hot day, and we would soon be in the cool refuge of the canyon.
We changed into wetsuits just above the first swim through a very shallow canyon like section. The true constriction starts not far downstream.
The canyon was quite beautiful and Albert and myself spent a fair bit of time with our cameras and tripods. Craig also took lots of photos.
We slowly moved through the canyon. Going slow with cameras looking for shots allows you to really appreciate the amazing beauty of the canyon. You see a lot more this way.
We eventually regrouped at the end of the constriction – this is just after a long swim and the canyon opens up into a large amphitheatre. Quite a beautiful place.
When I arrived, Craig and Albert were looking at small reptile. It looked like a snake, but Craig thought it most likely a legless lizard. It was too dark in the amphitheatre to see it clearly, but he was later able to detect sure signs that it was a lizard from his photos. It had ear holes.
A little later some sunbeams appeared.
I headed back up the canyon to see if the light had changed. It had. It was quite different to earlier with a few sunbeams entering the canyon and some nice reflected light. Also, another party were making their way downstream. I was able to get a few more photos –
The canyon was really quite stunning.
I then went back down to the others and we made our way out of the canyon via the tree wth spikes. It was then a short walk back to the carpark. We farewelled Craig – he was only ten minutes from home. Albert and myself headed down to the dam for a swim and lunch. Later in the afternoon, we visited the nearby Dargans Arch – a nice sandstone natural arch.
Craig has a writeup of the canyon and his photos, including the legless lizard on his blog. . I have some more photos online here on my website.
Hi Dave,
Comparing your pictures to those by Flynny, you have captured much richer colours, especially last 12 of them, of the last dark section, with sun beams penetrating from above. Truly amazing work. Looks better than real, magic colours. I’m not exaggerating, having been there recently. The only difference of my visit was: it was in the afternoon about 3:00-4:00 so sun beams did not fall directly from above & the section was very dark.
I wander what kind of image processing did you do if any, to achieve such effects. I think HDR from several tripod exposures is required to show the sunbeams together with the walls glowing with colours on a same picture. And you had to have any subject people standing still for the duration of the exposures. Was it true?