110101_051756_13634 Illuminating New Beginnings (Sat 01 Jan 11)

            Macquarie Lighthouse, Old South Head Rd Vaucluse NSW

Shameful to say, there are many parts of Sydney that I haven't visited or don't know very well. I've been using my PAD to get to some of them. On this occasion I decided to go to South Head, the southern entrance to Sydney Harbour. The intention was to get a shot of sunrise over the heads, marking the beginning of a new year.

I didn't quite make it there because looking out of my window as I drove along Old South Head Road I saw this sight and knew that it was the right one for me. It was the perfect shot for a theme of "new beginnings".

I therefore found a parking spot and pulled out the camera gear.

Macquarie Lighthouse marks the site of the oldest continuously operating navigational beacon in Australia. A flagstaff was erected here in 1791, not long after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. This was replaced by a coal fired beacon in 1793, and a lighthouse, designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, in 1816 at the request of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Greenway warned that the lighthouse was going to have problems because of the quality of the sandstone used and he was right; by 1881 construction began on a new lighthouse (this one) using the same design as the old one but better materials. It was finished in 1883 and has been operating ever since.

At this time last year I didn't even know of the existence of this lighthouse. And certainly discovering it unexpectedly changed the way I thought I was heading. Funny how life can turn out that way. 

(Incidentally, the only visible object in the sky beside the crescent moon and the glow of the new year's dawn is Venus, off to the left.)

Taken in: Australia / New South Wales / Vaucluse (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 2011

Tags:

Dawn Light

Macquarie Lighthouse

Vaucluse

Old South Head Road

Sydney

Crescent Moon

Venus

NSW

New South Wales

Australia « less

Sets appears in: • Hanging Out In My PAD; 2011 Visual Diary

Groups appears in: • Lighthouses of the World

Camera: Canon EOS 40D, f/8.0, 1/4 sec, 24mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 40D
Lens:	EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.25 sec (1/4)
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	-2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 25.9 (Windows)
Show full info

Stats: 59 views / 1 comment

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder