This particular image was my first shot on a trip to Karijini National Park in Western Australia. Having arrived in Paraburdoo in the late afternoon and driving the 1.5 hrs out to the national park we had little time to scope out a location for a sunset shoot. As we were driving along the road in awe of the rugged Hammersley Ranges and the sun dipping in the sky, we decided to pull over and try to find a reasonable location for sunset.

Well, we pulled off the road and access to any vantage point was inhibited by thick spinifex, so I decided to stay where I was, get out my 180mm lens and forgo any foreground interest to isolate the mountain range in the background. I later found out this mountain is Mount Bruce, Western Australia’s second highest point.

The story goes that a mining company applied to the State Government to mine Mount Bruce back in the 1980’s. The State Government declined the application based on the ground that it was then the known highest point in WA. The mining company then sent out an exploration team and found another mountain a couple of metres higher. The mining company then applied again on the ground that Mount Bruce was not the highest point. This application was declined on cultural and environmental grounds. Not sure how true, but seeing the bands of iron ore in the rock, it’s not hard to wonder why the mining companies wanted to mine it so badly.