Day 3-Winter in Bright

With a forecast for torrential rain all night and cold temperatures on the surrounding mountains there was no way we were going to miss the possibility of snow on Mt Buffalo.

Day 3 we woke up late, that pitter-patter sound of rain tapping away of the roof lead to us sleeping in. We were out the door moments later, coffee-fueled and eager to see whether there would be snow on the mountain.

First glimpse at Rollasons falls from the trail head

Getting to Rollasons Falls was a 45 minute hike requiring moderate levels of agility, ie. you need to be able to Spiderman over some parts of the track. The hike was fairly easy for the initial part, we walked along the ridge with ravines on either side that we filled with translucent fog, like something you see on the battlefield in ‘The Last Samurai’. It was a picturesque landscape filled with birds calling to each other and the sludge noise of boots in the mud.

As we got closer we could hear a deep thundering sound like engine brakes on a large semi, the type that you feel vibrating through your body. The roar was coming from the left side of the path, which brought great excitement to us all. There is nothing better than experiencing waterfalls at capacity! Yeah, it definitely adds a level of risk but its way more of an adrenaline rush when there is so much water.

Rollasons Falls full and in all its beauty, our final composition

After spending some time photographing the lower falls we traversed up to the upper falls to see where the waterfall gets its power. Up the top, the rain was so heavy that we struggled to keep our cameras dry. I made a made dash to the edge to scoop up a few quick shots but in the end, the camera was already covered in rain drops.

Rain drops on camera lens at the top of the waterfall

Peering over the edge of the waterfall

Given we couldn’t keep water off the lens, we decided to capture this perspective with a short video before the camera was too wet. This is what we came up with.

Following our drenching, we enjoyed a quick coffee and tried to dry off a little bit in search of our next photography location.

We made it to the next spot where there were two people using their camera to take a photo of themselves…pfffff, I (Henry) offered to take the photo, being the fun and jovial event photographer that I am it wasn’t long people I had them laughing and getting a nice portfolio of images together for them.

It’s the enjoyment that others feel when I make them laugh, feel comfortable that really makes me happy. If you are reading this and you haven’t been to an event I am working at, you can only imagine what it’s like.

This spot looked over a 500-meter drop to your death off the side of a cliff. Given there was so much fog, we were not able to see the bottom which made it even more ominous.

Vertical drop of 500 meters off a cliff, waterfall Mt Buffalo

Rain covered lens, photographing winter waterfall in Victoria’s Alpine Region

Following our death drop waterfall experience we headed over to photograph the lake up the op of the Mountain. The first day we were up the mountain there was no snow and the lake looked pretty neutral without the snow.

Now that there was a nice blanket of snow highlighting the edges of the lake it created and interesting element of contract for the photographs.

Contrasting landscapes of red reeds, white snow and dark mountain silhouettes

Ice battered gumtrees on Mt Buffalo in winter

Photographing the lake in the snow/rain, Image by JP

Our final day in Bright was pretty special, with a morning of chasing thundering waterfalls, getting drenched to photographing off the edge of a 500 meter waterfall.

What made it even better was the 10cm of snow fresh from the night before.