Photographing Horsham Silo Art
About Horsham Silo Art
Hosham's Silo Art is within central Horsham, just to the north west, and on the railway lines. It is in a quiet industrial area of the city, and there is ample space to both photograph and park. The building is quite large though, as a collection of some four buildings and a fence. This silo art is on the Silo Art Trail and is often considered the start of it - being probably the most southerly silo, and reasonably close to Melbourne.
The painting is by Smug (Sam Bates), who is one of our favorite silo artists.
Viewpoints
There is a car park / open space in front of the silo art at 35-39 Wawunna Rd, and the main view point is from this location, or an arial shot from just above it. Unfortunately, while this space is large, it has a fence behind it that precludes people from 'backing up' far enought to get the entire silo art into a normal 50mm lens shot. A wide angle lens or some photo stitching is required to shoot the silo.
The Silo Art faces due east, and as the actual silo is rounded, it gets direct sunlight on it surface from first sun up until almost dusk.
How I photographed the Silo Art
What I took - what was in my kit
I took my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DSR body, Canon 24-70mm, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. I also took a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone. I shot wide (24mm), but still needed to stitch the final photo.
Techniques
Photo stitching.
As with many wide scenes (panoramas), you have a choice of a specialised panoramic camera like the Linhof, severely cropping a single image, or stitching several images together. I used multiple Canon 5SDR images stitched together.
Drone photography
Drone cameras, at least on those drones that do not cost a fortune, are not that good. Like small format cameras, they suffer from having a small image chip. They do wonders in terms of electronics to try and improve the quality of the image, but they are still not up to a good camera. The key advantage of a drone though is that it can get perspective that is impossible from a land based camera without a crane or hoist of some sorts. You can basically shoot a shot from 50m above your head, or 200m over the right, above a river or something.
Other things to look out for
If a photographer has travelled 3.5 hours from Melbourne to the 'Western District', then it would be a shame not to check out: the Pink Lake, Dimboola, the Little Desert National Park, and Murtoa 'Stick Shed'.
Location
Horsham Silo Art, 35 Wawunna Rd, Horsham, Victoria 75VW+5C ///windup.displays.consuming (-36.707028, 142.1960439)
Techniques used
Kit used
How to get there
You can get to Horsham, from Melbourne via car (about 300km, or 3.5 hours using the M8 Western Freeway), or via train. The Silo Art is only about 300m from the Horsham train station.
Best time to visit
Victoria is a fairly temperate climate, without severe winters. Horsham is in a fairly dry area of the state, so just about any time of the year you will find the area dry and temperate. The time of day is important for this silo art though, as the direct sunlight bleaches part of the round silo. Pre-dawn, very late afternoon, or just after dusk (twilight) are probably the best times to photograph this silo.
Accessability
It is a simple walk, on footpaths from the train station, and there is a car park right at the silo. All the roads are paved.
Where to stay
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Photographic Recommendations
recommendations XX