Patrick Booth, Power Of Water (DOCO 2023)

Power Of Water In the early weeks of 2022 during our second consecutive La Ninya event, we on the east coast had already had our fare share of rainfall. The deluge that descended on the far north coast during the last days of February however has broken all previous records and a year on still finds those effected communities still struggling to get back on their feet. As this human caused climate changing catastrophe started to unfold I was on the mid north coast at a favourite spot of mine behind Hat Head on Dunghutti Country and was torn between going up to Lismore and heading up onto the tablelands to a place where I knew something extraordinary was taking place. That is both the Wollomombi and Chandler rivers in flood and converging on Wollomombi Gorge where they join to form the Macleay River on Nyanyaywana Country. In the days after Lismore and surrounding areas got smashed by this phenomena, the same system had weakened slightly but was still dropping huge amounts of rain on the northern tablelands. The following images depicts the falls in an unbelievable state with millions of litres of water smashing down into the deep ravine below. A sight to behold and unfortunately a more regular occurrence as we battle to live with the effects of Climate Change. All shot handheld The Bigger Picture - Google Pixel 6 Pro XL Rear Camera A wide shot of the gorge with Chandler Falls obscured by mist clouds created from both falls. The Drop - Google Pixel 6 Pro XL Rear Camera A mono shot of Wollomombi Falls from top to bottom throwing down a mind boggling amount of water. I really like using a Supe-tele on landscapes and this scene was no exception. In these next three shots even in low light my 500mm Phase Fresnel with a 1.4 teleconverter performed well capturing the immense power of water at its most ferocious and beautiful at the same time. I can safely say I have only previously seen water do these sorts of things in the ocean. Water is such an incredible medium and after living in and around it for most of my life it just keeps calling me back to see what it’s capable of. Ugly Beautiful - 1050mm @ 1/1500 sec f11 Iso 5000 Freefall - 1050mm @ 1/1500 sec f11 Iso 5000 Gravity - 1050mm @ 1/1500 sec f11 Iso 5000

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.