Broken Hill Headframe

I imagine the we all have bucket lists with places that we want to see and experience before we get too old or die and those of us that do no doubt spend a lot of free time dreaming of those places. Well one of my bucket list places is or was Broken Hill. I have always wanted to go there and shoot photos, to shoot the desert at night, the mines and the ruins and find an iconic photo that spoke of Broken Hill and the rich history of its outrageous wealth and prosperity. Now I say it was because in May this year I finally got to see and experience this amazing place for myself. I took the wife and kids on an adventure along the Murray from Albury to Mildura and ending in Broken Hill. I know it's not the traditional way to get there from Sydney but I wanted to save to more boring drive on the Barrier Highway for the return leg and it seemed like a history lesson along the Murray would tie in well with our eventual destination of Broken Hill.

Anyway as a family holiday I was somewhat restricted with my photography but that's the way we planned it and we allowed time for me to get out early and late if and when the conditions were favourable. One such favourable evening was the very first night we arrived in Broken Hill. I had watched the Cirrus clouds streak across the sky all afternoon and I knew that come sunset something special was going to happen but even then I wasn't prepared for how special this evening was in the end! I quickly looked up possible locations for photography when we arrived at our accommodation for the night and found the location of a historical mining head frame in a reserve only a kilometre away, so without any further delay I grabbed my shooting bag and left.

The old head frame which was the location of one of the historical mine shafts was located in a reserve area at the top of the last remnant of the original Broken Hill. When I got there the cirrus clouds were streaking over from the west south west which was perfect for the location and the sky was already a nice aqua blue but there was a 4WD parked right in front, noooooooo! Luckily the owner came over when he saw me setting up my tripod and offered to move it! We soon struck up a photography conversation and he joined me shooting with his own compact camera for most of the shoot while we talked cameras, lenses and various settings as only photography junkies do! 

My initial set up was right in front of the head frame about 30 meters out in the carpark and I shot with my 14-24 at 14mm to keep my lines straight and the distortion to a minimum. I got plenty of nice shots but nothing outstanding, at least not yet.

After about 30 minutes the light started to die off and sensing nothing more special my companion packed up and left but I knew there was still a chance as the sun dipped below the horizon that something more could happen with such high cloud. So wanting to get the streaking cloud in a better position I moved from the carpark in front of the head frame to hill itself on my right hand side which would afford me a higher perspective to be able to get a better angle with the streaking cloud and then it happened. Within the space of only 1-2 minutes the clouds lit up a deep purple-red colour. 

I could not believe what I watching. In one of those rare sublime moments where you have to constantly pinch yourself, I was a spectator to one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in ages which had combined with near perfect cloud formations to frame the very object I was photographing. Or as they say, all of my ducks had lined up in a row to result in a stunningly beautiful photograph of an amazing, slightly haunting, location. Then after only two minutes the cloud formation fell apart on the right hand side and with another minute the colour was gone. All up there was a window of only 90 seconds when the cloud and colour peaked in the optimal position! I learned again the lesson to always be patient and prepared because that magical moment we seek as landscape photographers is often finite and fleeting but for me on this day, the iconic photo I came to Broken Hill to find was mine and I still pinch myself every time I see this photo, even today.

Junction Mine Sunset, Broken Hill