The Longji Terraced Rice Fields or Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon’s scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon. Visitors standing on the top of the mountain can see the dragon’s backbone twisting off into the distance. In a early morning when weather is fine (unfortunately not like on this photo ), the sunrise on the summit of Longji Rice Terraces is magnificent.

I did this trip to China with my very good friend and a highly professional landscape photographer Yevgen Timashov. If you haven’t seen his images then I can suggest you to subscribe to his photography blog and see why I absolutely love his style and vision. He has a really good eye in photography and his photos always inspire me. I hope to make another trip to China with him in winter this time.

More images: Longsheng (Longji) Rice Terraces, China Stock Images | Country and Rural Landscape Stock Images | Landscape Stock Photography

Together with Hani rice terraces in China and Banaue rice terraces in Philippines, the rice terraces in Longsheng country in China are often considered as the most beautiful terraces in the world. Sometimes they are called “The champion of the terrace world”. They’ve got the name Longji Rice Terraces which literally means “Dragon’s Backbone”. They received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon’s scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon. Visitors standing on the top of the mountain can see the dragon’s backbone twisting off into the distance. Well… I didn’t see that, but anyway the view was magnificent. I was in China between seasons which wasn’t too good for photography, but it was total success with the terraces. In spring the Longsheng terraced fields are irrigated and the irrigated fields look like layers of bright mirrors among green mountains. In summer a green sea of paddy rice lures you deeply. And the terrace filed greets you with the golden blankets of the ripe rice in fall. Snowed terrace field in winter is also awesome. So there is no one single best time to visit Longji rice fields in Longsheng. At any time you you will be rewarded with absolutely stunning landscape.

More images: Longsheng (Longji) Rice Terraces, China Stock Images | Country and Rural Landscape Stock Images | Landscape Stock Photography

More images: Longsheng (Longji) Rice Terraces Stock Images | Landscape Stock Photography.

The Longsheng Rice Terraces are located in Longsheng County, about 100 km (2 hours drive) from Guilin, Guangxi, China. The most popular are Ping An Rice Terrace and Jinkeng Rice Terrace.

The terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, the highest part being 880 m in elevation while the lowest part is 380 m. The coiling line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain into layers of water glittering in the sun in spring, layers of green rice shoots in summer, layers of golden rice in fall, and layers of silvery frost in winter. At its beginning of Yuan Dynasty, the terraced fields were mostly built during the Ming Dynasty, about 500 years ago.

Longji (Dragon’s Backbone) Terraced Rice Fields received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon’s scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon. Visitors standing on the top of the mountain can see the dragon’s backbone twisting off into the distance. In an early morning, when the weather is fine, the sunrise on the summit of Longji Rice Terraces is magnificent.

The Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces is a beautiful natural picture. The linked together rice terraces vary from season to season. In spring, the water is irrigated into the fields and the terraces look like great chains or ribbons hung on the hillsides. When the onset of summer, green waves rush continuously down the mountainside from the heaven. The theme of autumn is the harvest, with the mountainside decorated with the gold of ripened millet. Coming into winter, the whole mountain will be covered with white snow, just like dragons playing with water.

The best time for a visit to Longji Terraces is during spring and autumn. During May and June, Rice paddies are just groomed for the planting season and are just a pool of mud and water. It would probably take another 2 weeks before farmers started planting. During September and October the rice fields turn golden and the afternoon sun paints the terraces as fields of gold.

More images: Longsheng (Longji) Rice Terraces Images Gallery | Landscape Stock Photography.

This image is kind of lucky one. My friends and I were in Dubbo in Western Plains Zoo a couple of years ago. And I was absolutely unlucky to make decent photos in Zoo. The last day was quite dull and rainy, we were driving back to Sydney and suddenly rain stopped and sun rays started struggling through the clouds. We were somewhere near Wellington and passing canola fields. We did a turn and… the view was absolutely spectacular! Two rainbows were shining on dark stormy sky above sunlit yellow canola field. It was absolutely impossible to not to shoot it. So I made a very nice panorama. A few minutes later we noticed a train approaching. A-ha! I can make a photo of the train and rainbow. It was a real surprise for us as the train was actually Australia’s best known and most widely travelled First 38th (3801) steam locomotive. Double luck!

Late the Double Rainbows photo was selected as a September image for 2009 Australian Weather Calendar, published by Bureau of Meteorology. And recently I was contacted by Channel 9, Adelaide regarding using this image in their weather reports. That’s how it will be looking:

PS. If you click on the top image you will see full panorama.

More about First 38th (3801) steam locomotive on Wikipedia.

More images: Gallery of Country and Rural Stock Images.

Another shot of the Sculpture Symposium in Broken Hill I made during my last trip to South Australian outback. Shot in about 20 minutes after the first one.

More images: Gallery of Desert and Outback Landscapes Stock Images.

Another shot of the famous abandoned farmhouse near Burra, SA. Sunset on that day was absolutely spectacular! I’ve got a couple of more shots to show you, besides the panorama that I already posted earlier: Abandoned Farmhouse, Burra, South Australia, panorama.

More images: Abandoned Farmhouse, Burra Stock Images | Country and Rural Landscapes Photo Gallery | Landscape Stock Photography.

The magnificent Broken Hill Sculpture Park is one of the main tourist attractions and icons of the Australian outback. Twelve impressive stone sculptures are situated on a hill located in The Living Desert Reserve in about 10km north of Broken Hill. The sculptures were carved in 1993 by artists from around the world, under the direction of organiser and artist Lawrence Beck.

For vehicle access to the sculptures you need to obtain a key from the Visitor Information Centre (cnr Blende/Bromide St) prior to departure. $20 need to be deposited and a $10 entry fee applies per vehicle.

Sculptures on the photo (left to right):

• A Present for Fred Hollows in the Afterlife, Laurence Beck, Australia
• Horse, Jumber Jikiya, Georgia
• Angels of the Sun and Moon, Valerian Jikiya, Georgia
• Facing the Day and Night, Eduardo Nasta Luna from Mexico
• Bajo El Sol Jaguar (Under Jaguar Sun), Antonio Nava Tirado, Mexico
• Thomasina (Ibis), Thomas Munkanome, Bathurst Island

The best time for photographing sculptures is around sunset and sunrise. The sculptures are look fantastic at that time.

Broken Hill Visitor Centre
Broken Hill on Wikipedia
The Broken Hill Sculpture Symposium on Google Map

PS. This is not the last image from that session. I’ve got another one made in a few minutes after sunset. I will show it a little bit later.

More images: Gallery of Desert and Outback Landscapes Stock Images.

This abandoned farmhouse was first photographed by famous Australian landscape photographer Ken Duncan. After that a lot of photographers go on their pilgrimage to that place. It’s located 3 km north of Burra, on the Barrier Highway, just next to the road. The best time for photographing it is the second part of the day and sunset of course. Because of its popularity the owner had to put “Private Property. Trespassers Prosecuted” sign on the fence. You will probably not be able to find such sign elsewhere in that region. So please do not get over the fence in order to get better viewpoint.

Abandoned Farmhouse, Burra, SA, Australia on Google Maps

More images: Abandoned Farmhouse, Burra Stock Images | Country and Rural Landscapes Images Gallery | Landscape Stock Photography.

Last October my wife and I did a sightseeing trip to Binalong and Boorowa in Southern Tablelands in NSW. Binalong is a sleepy village in a 37 km north-west of Yass. We stopped for a coffee at Binalong general store and asked about old and abandoned farmhouses. Lady at the counter pointerd to an old man, who was so kind to explain everything and moreover to get a ride with us, to show us all old farmhouses nearby and to get all permissions, as everything were situated on private lands.

I had clear thoughts of what I want – I wanted a lightpainting session in a rural area. I prefer to use a powerful torch outdoors instead of a flash. Please, don’t understand me wrong – flash is a great tool and some times it’s the only way to get a picture. But flash gives more predictable and more even light than a torch. Lightpainted picture is unique as it’s impossible to highlight something in the same way using a torch. You are a painter but with a torch instead of a brush and light instead of a palette colors. All you need is a camera with bulb mode (or at least 30 sec shutter speed), tripod, cable release or remote control and a torch. I was using a $15 torch from a general store. I waited for about 40 or 60 minutes after sunset and made a series of shots at ISO200, f8, 30 sec, Daylight WB and long exposure noise reduction function turned on. During taking picture I was constantly moving the light beam over the house, grass and fireplace. I tried to highlight the house from different angles, highlight rooms inside the house. With LCD on digital camera I was able to check results straight away and make necessary changes.

Famous sports photographer Dave Black has written a few fantastic articles with step-by-step instructions for lightpainting. I also can recommend to watch his great lightpainting video tutorial at Sports Shooter.

More images: Gallery of Regional New South Wales Stock Images – Australia Stock Photography.