Photographing Burra
About Burra
Burra is an old (1848) company mining town about 160km due north from Adelaide in South Australia. The Burra mines supplied 5% of the world's copper for 15 years, and this brought a lot of wealth to the company, town and South Australia. Apart from a brief period in the 1970's the mine closed in 1877, and the area became the centre of pastoral activities. This means that the town has kept many old buildings and it is now a tourist location for both these buildings and the mine itself.
The Visit Burra Website is handy for details on the area and what is on.
Viewpoints
The town has dozens of old buildings, each offering several photographic opporunities. In addition, there is a lookout, river (stream) and parks.
How I photographed the Burra
What I took - what was in my kit
I took my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DSR body, Canon 24-70mm zoom, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. I tended to shoot 35-50mm, expect for some shots at the lookout where I went wider.
Techniques
Most of the photos here are architectural in nature. This means that little is required in the way of techniques except composition. As almost all of the building are single level, not even tilt-shift techniques are required. I did, as usual, shoot-to-the-right though.
Other things to look out for
We did a nice drive south around Burra, taking in some small roads, the Burra Gorge and many wind towers.
Location
Burra, South Australia. (-33.670, 138.927)
Techniques used
Kit used
How to get there
Burra is a popular day trip or weekend trip from Adelaide. You can catch a train from Adelaide to Clare and then a bus or taxi onto Burra, but most people drive.
Best time to visit
The area around Burra is dry, cool to warm in Winter, but hot in Summer. If you wish to avoid hot days, then I suggest you avoid summer, but apart from that, it is good all year round. From a photographic point of view, I would avoid school holidays and public holidays.
Accessability
Getting to the town is the biggest issue. Once there, the town has all the normal footpaths and ramps. While you could walk around the town - and I suggest you do - some of the sites are a kilometer or so from the centre, so I suggest a car.
Where to stay
Burra has hotels, cottages, bed & breakfast accomodation as well as caravan parks. We stayed a the Burra Showgrounds. These are just on the edge of town. They have toilets and showers but are more suited to self-contained travellers. I beleive the Caravan Park is more suited to those that are not self contained.