Something perhaps a little different.

Midway through the year I went for a bit of a drive to see the Red Centre of Australia, which includes Uluru ( Ayers Rock ) & Kata Tjuta ( The Olgas ). There was a nice little bonus at Uluru, with an art display called "The Field of Lights", set up by an artist by the name of Bruce Munro. It is literally that; a field of lights. They are powered by solar panels that charge batteries during the day and thousands upon thousands of small lights set upon stalks that are arranged in clusters and fed light via a fiber optic cable from a central hub. The lights gently glow and slowly change colour, and with the surprisingly large size of the field the effect was oddly profound for me. There are walkways that wind back and forth through the field with small solar lights ( your normal garden variety ) to show the way, and I spent the better part of a very pleasant hour making my way through the field.

It does comes at a cost, however. Tripods are explicitly banned for not only a safety / tripping hazard ( it's pretty dark out there, even with the ambiance ) but also with the concern of tripod legs becoming entangled in the lights themselves. Thus, I had my Sigma 30mm f1.4 ( the older, pre-HSM one ) and my Sigma 18-35 f1.8 with me ( basically the fastest lenses I currently own! ) paired to my K-3II and K-01. Most shots were handheld wide open with pretty low shutter speeds! I went long after the sun had set in the winter months, and so I had no sunset colours or extra light to aid me. Propping my camera on my backpack as a makeshift tripod was an option, but with a gentle breeze making the lights sway, it wasn't too easy either! I had a blast, though. Apparently Uluru is out there somewhere as well, but I had no concept of where or how close it actually is. The display is currently ongoing until early 2018, and there are plenty of photographic and tour opportunities, depending on how deep your pockets are.

[Adam]

Wonderful series!