New Wall: Sunrise on the Church of the Good Shepherd
- At March 25, 2009
- By Neil Creek
- In walls
1
A new free background image is available today!
This image is free for you to use however you like, as long as you abide by the following Creative Commons lisence:
You can also purchase a fine art print of the image. Just click on the “Buy Print” button on the image’s page. If you use the image, please tell your twitter friends with the link below the image.
New Wall: Night Sky over the Church of the Good Shepherd
- At March 18, 2009
- By Neil Creek
- In walls
3
A new free background image is available today!
This image is free for you to use however you like, as long as you abide by the following Creative Commons lisence:
You can also purchase a fine art print of the image. Just click on the “Buy Print” button on the image’s page. If you use the image, please tell your twitter friends with the link below the image.
Kinglake: One Month After Black Saturday
- At March 10, 2009
- By Neil Creek
- In Places
49

Life Returns to Kinglake. Amid the destruction wrought by the bushfires, a tiny flower blooms, just one month after the flames died.
On March 8th, 2009, one month and one day after the devastating bushfires of Black Saturday engulfed much of Victoria, Australia, I was invited into the town of Kinglake to photograph the destruction.
Roadblocks were still in place to prevent sightseers and looters from entering the town, but a pass system allows residents and immediate family to enter to take care of personal business and try to begin to return to a normal life.
A friend, Erin, who’s brother Ben had lost his house, was generous enough to give me the opportunity to go with her when she visited Kinglake. These are the photos I took on that day.
Please note: All of these photos are being made available at full resolution, and under a creative commons license. My purpose in doing so is to make these images available for educational and documentary use. Please see the information on the image pages for the specifics of the license.
Kinglake CFA. On Black Saturday, the two CFA trucks were away fighting fires elsewhere when the firestorm hit Kinglake. With nowhere else to go, three hundred residents sheltered in this large tin shed for more than 12 hours while the fire raged in all directions around them.
Kinglake Home Panorama. Above is a full spherical panorama taken from within the ruins of Ben’s house in Kinglake. To preserve detail, this panorama is larger than most I have shown you before, so please give it a little time to complete loading.
Nothing Left. CFA volunteer Ben stands in the ruins of what was once his home. Everything has been destroyed, but he and his family survived, while so many others did not.
Ben’s X-Box. Ben pulls his X-Box from the ruins of his home. Someone has already given him a new X-Box 360.
Child’s Trike. Ben’s five year old daughter’s trike stands destroyed in what was once the garden shed.
Exploded Fire Extinguisher. The heat of the fire was so great that it caused the pressure to build inside this fire extinguisher until it could no longer stay together. The side of the extinguisher was peeled back in a great explosion.
Melted Swing. A child’s swing survives the bushfire with relatively minor damage, while the house just meters behind lies in ruins.
Tragic Loss. When he returned to his property, Ben’s neighbours were missing. He looked in their cars to see if they were inside, but couldn’t find anyone there. The police later searched the cars, and found two bodies in the car to the left. The utter destruction of the fire left nothing that the untrained eye could discern as a human body.
The blue police tape here indicates that human remains were found on the scene. The yellow tape is to keep others out while the scene is investigated.
Marking the Loss. A bouquet of flowers and a small teddy bear marks the spot where two children and their grandmother died.
Their father had evacuated the children to their grandmothers, where he thought they would be safer from the bushfire. He stayed and defended the family home, which survived.
Petrol Station Destroyed. In the heart of Kinglake, less than 300m from where hundreds of residents were sheltering from the fire, the town’s petrol station was engulfed by flame.
A View of Death. What was once a spectacular mountain forest view is now nothing but destruction as far as they eye can see. Almost half a million hectares (nearly 2000 square miles) were destroyed by the bushfires in Victoria in February 2009.
Never Give Up. The local church was utterly destroyed, but when locals found the burned and bent flag pole in the wreckage, they erected it once again, exactly in the state they found it, and raised the Australian flag.
The flag has become a symbol of solidarity and determination for the town, and everywhere you go, you see it flying proudly.
You can see the full set of fifty four Kinglake photos in my flickr set.
Flickr Tag Error: Bad call to display set '72157614892618925'
I want to express my sincere gratitude to Erin and her Mother, who took Naomi and I into Kinglake, and to Ben for allowing me to photograph him and his property, but most of all for selflessly risking his life to protect the property and lives of others. Ben and people like him, the volunteer firefighters, are true heroes.
During our visit, we delivered the fine art print and proceeds from the fundraising auction I conducted last week. Another post with more information will follow shortly.
I’ve Been Published in Discover Magazine!
- At October 22, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In My life
27
Flickr Tag Error: Call to display photo '2962465169' failed.
A couple of months ago I was contacted by the photo editor of the prestigious Discover Magazine, about the possible use of one of my photos – “Night sky over the Church of the Good Shepherd” – in a limited edition special of their magazine, on astronomy. I asked them “How would you like it?” :)
I have been sitting on this very exciting news since then, and I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on a copy so that I could show you all. As you can see, it’s a double page spread, with a photo credit (if you look closely, you can just see it at the bottom right :) ). This is a huge thrill, and I am honored to be a part of this collectors edition of this wonderful magazine. To top it all off, I was also paid a reasonable fee for the use of my image.
If you would like to see it for yourself, or even if you just dig beautiful photos of our amazing universe, I highly recommend getting a copy of the “Whole Universe”. The issue should be on shelves in America until December, but there are only 100,000 copies of this limited edition issue. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I am!
Here’s the original photo:
Flickr Tag Error: Call to display photo '2156538672' failed.
Night Sky Over the Church of the Good Shepherd print for sale
- At March 26, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In For Sale
0
Theres not much more to say about this image than you can’t find in the post at the Fine Art PhotoBlog. Fortunately the photo speaks for itself. If you would like to purchase a high quality fine art print of this photo, please click on the image above.
Recent Comments