Tag Archives: snow

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Snow in Katoomba, Blue Mountains-August 2022

There had been a slight chance of snow a couple of times throughout July-August here in Katoomba, however it never quite eventuated. Forecasts on the 22nd of August were starting to look good for some snow falling here in the upper Blue Mountains in the late afternoon on Tuesday 23rd. I had seen some video online of some good falls happening at Shooters Hill (1355m), one of the high points in the central tablelands, and it was starting to look promising for Katoomba.

At around 6.45pm I could see the first proper flakes and within an hour it was starting to settle on the ground. As I stood on my porch watching the cars go up the road in the snow, I had the thought of getting a long exposure image as the car travelled along Lurline street. I grabbed the camera and a umbrella and setup on the footpath and waited for a lone car doing about the right speed for what I wanted. I had estimated I needed about 15-20 seconds to expose the shot correctly and get the red trail I envisioned.

After waiting for a few faster 4WD to exit the street, I saw a car approaching, quite slowly. With the shot pre-framed, I pressed the shutter as it entered my frame and then ended the exposure after 20 seconds. When I looked at the back of the camera, I knew I had the shot I envisioned and it was time to go and warm my hands by the heater….This is the fifth image in the “atmosphere” series which explores the transitional atmospheres within a landscape or urban environment.

Snow in Katoomba, Blue Mountains, August 2022
Snowtrails – Lurline street Katoomba

The next morning we went out before sunrise looking to see how much snow was around. I was a little dissapointed to see that we didn’t get any more falls that night as I was hoping for a really solid dumping…We drove around and found some nice views looking across to Narrowneck plateau on sunrise, which had a nice light dusting on the trees. I waited for the early warm light to filter in and took a few frames. I’m still hoping that we’ll see another good snowfall here in the mountains, before the weather warms up later in the year.

Narrowneck plateau on sunrise
Snow on the eucalyptus trees on sunrise
The sun starts to warm the cold landscape
Golden light and snow on the Blue Mountains landscape
Old cars and new snow

Thanks for viewing, cheers Ben

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Snow in the Blue Mountains- June 2021

Weather forecasts for some snow around June 10th, 2021 in the Blue Mountains had me intrigued. It was starting to look good for a decent dumping. I’ve been trying to get a great snow photo of the iconic Three Sisters for many years and I thought, perhaps, just perhaps, this could be it, as they had forecast snow down to 600metres. As I packed my camera bag the night before, I’d sneak a peak out the window every few minutes, to see if the snow had started to fall.

I woke up about an hour before sunrise and the snow had begun to fall. You could tell that the snow flakes weren’t as large as the last snowfall and perhaps a little on the wet side. I decided there was no point in trying to shoot the three sisters at sunrise as it was very overcast and not enough snow had fallen yet. After a couple of hours I decided it was time to walk down, (yep I live just up the road from echo point). The snow was falling pretty consistently down at echo point, however the jamison valley was a complete white out at this point and you couldn’t see anything of the 3 sisters. You could barley see out a few metres from the hand railing at times…

Enjoying the snow at Echo point- June 10th 2021

I decided that I would wait and see if the heavy fog in the jamison valley might lift over time. As there wasn’t that much option for still images, I decided to film some video of the snow around the echo point lookout areas…You can watch it on my YouTube channel link below.

It was evident after a few hours that the valley was not going to clear and provide an opportunity for my Three sisters image. I was quite sure that the 3 sisters did have an amount of snow on them, how much, well that I guess I’ll never know…So the quest continues and I’ll continue to try until I click the camera shutter, on the image I’ve had in my head for many years. I only took a few more still images that day and I’ve posted them below….

Hairpin banksia’s in the snow

Gums in the snow

Snowman

Ferns covered in snow

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog…

Cheers Ben

Ben’s Website

About Ben:

Ben Pearse is an Australian photographer living an working from his home based portrait studio in Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia.

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Blue Mountains Snowfall-August-2019

It’s always nice to wake up to snow covering the ground in my hometown of Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia. Over the last decade I’ve tried to capture a snowfall that has settled on the iconic three sisters in Katoomba. I’ve only seen an old postcard of snow that has properly settled on these sandstone ladies from the 1970’s. I thought this time I might be in luck as the snow really starting coming down on sunrise, however it just wasn’t quite enough. So the quest continues, perhaps 2020 will be the year I get the photo I’m seeking…

Snowfall in the Blue Mountains

Snow on the Mountains

Snowfall in the Blue Mountains- Three Sisters

Sunrise and Snow

Snowfall over Three sisters- August 2019

Snowfall over Three sisters- August 2019

Ben Pearse Photography

Blue Mountains Snowfall- Ben Pearse 2019

Visit Ben’s Website here: Ben Pearse Photography

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Three sisters and snow

Three sisters in snow

Three sisters in snow

After the promise of snow in the blue mountains from the weather bureau came and went a few weeks ago without even a flurry, it was finally great to see a decent amount start to fall on thursday night (16-07-2015). Now over the last few years I’ve been trying to capture an image that combines the iconic three sisters in Katoomba and some snow in the scene as well. Each time there has been a snowfall I’ve raced off down to the three sisters to capture this image that has been sitting in my head for a good few years. Anyone familiar with the landscape side of my photography knows that I’ve attempted to capture the three sisters in as many different moods and weather scenarios as possible over the years. So with family and friends in tow we set off on foot down the street as the snow started to blanket the streets into a winter wonderland.

As we walked and slid our way down to echo point and the lookout, the wind was really starting to howl. I remembered the last time it snowed I had come down and my umbrella blew inside out in the first few minutes, luckily for me it was 90% rain and there was no shot to get. So this time armed with a few handy assistants I liked my chances allot more. Knowing the three sisters are lit up at night was a real deciding factor for coming here in such horrid conditions. So with my partner holding the umbrella for me and a friend giving me some light via the phone light I set up my tripod and camera. A big part of photography is pre visualising a scene in your head before you take the shot. Prior to coming down I was 90% confident of the shot I wanted without even knowing how much snow was around. As I set up the conditions were rapidly getting to the point where it was really hard to keep the camera covered from the elements. The floodlights though strong, were not going to shed enough light to highlight the snow which was rapidly swirling around us. I attached my trusty speedlight (flash) and metered the scene in camera. I manually dialled in how much fill light I wanted in the flash, wiped down the lens element of snow for the umteenth time and pressed the shutter……..got it!

I was really happy with the outcome of the shot and was glad to have finally captured the iconic three sisters in some snow. I came back in the morning on sunrise hoping to get the sisters covered in snow, you know that picture perfect postcard esque scene…. but alas that wasn’t to be. The snow hadn’t settled on them as the wind had been far too strong (you can see this clearly in the B&W image below) overnight and the sisters elevation in the valley proved a little low for a decent snow dusting….with any luck it might snow again this winter and I’ll be able to tick a few more of my “must have”images of my list.

I also went out and captured some images of the blue mountains township of Katoomba when it was covered in the beautiful snow. See the photos here

About Ben– Ben Pearse is a commercial and wedding photographer who works and resides in the beautiful blue mountains, Australia. Ben also sells and licenses his portfolio of blue mountains landscape images. These are available from this website in the shop section.

Follow Ben’s photographic journey on any of these social media platforms Facebook  Instagram  Google+  Twitter  Flickr  500px  Pinterest 

Website- benpearsephotography.com.au

Contact Ben here

Sisters under snow siege

Sisters under snow siege

Three sisters on sunrise with a little snow

Three sisters on sunrise with a little snow about…

Snow over three sisters

Snow over three sisters

Three sisters in a snowstorm

Three sisters in a snowstorm

Blue Mountains winter wonderland

Blue Mountains winter wonderland

Katoomba gets some snow

Katoomba gets some snow