# Can anyone identify this location from an album cover? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516 "2012-09-22T18:11:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/21 "2012-09-23T19:34:47Z")
A little detective work (Google + 5 minutes\*) found that the photographer is Richard Bellia. [Link](http://www.richardbellia.com/). Might want to ask him. Slee \*Googled for The Field Mice Where’d You Learn to Kiss That Way? credits. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/22 "2012-09-23T22:04:50Z")
Dang, that really does look like Nessie! Hills or mountains, they are much too pointy to be anything on the US East coast, and much to short to be anything in the Mid West. I’d say you’re looking for somewhere with “young” mountains/foothills and prevailing west winds. (for the way the closer hills are bowed in front but appear straight on the backslope.) Also all the vegetation has the look of plants living in a dry region. It doesn’t have the feeling of lushness. But from my gut and without reference to any reason per se (Including my own reasoning above) it just looks to me like the area between France and Italy. Could those be olive trees? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/23 "2012-09-23T23:29:31Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Just to add an observation – those mountains must run east to west given the sun position. The shot looks like it’s near dawn or dusk so the mountains would be more likely to run North-South. Note that in the U.K., the sun can be a long way off East or West depending upon the time of year. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/24 "2012-09-23T23:51:46Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > A little detective work (Google + 5 minutes\*) found that the photographer is Richard Bellia. > > [Link](http://www.richardbellia.com/). > > Might want to ask him. > > Slee > > \*Googled for The Field Mice Where’d You Learn to Kiss That Way? credits. Good work, but from his portfolio he looks like a band portrait photographer, so probably not. **Baron Greenback** , thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/25 "2012-09-24T00:13:17Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The shot looks like it’s near dawn or dusk so the mountains would be more likely to run North-South. Note that in the U.K., the sun can be a long way off East or West depending upon the time of year. I’m not convinced that they do. The sun isn’t visible in the shot, only an area of burnt out sky that provides an indication of the side of the picture the sun must be. I looked hard for a shadow, and there is one of a tree on the far right hand edge about middle way down, and it is clearly throwing a shadow that suggests that the sun’s position is almost at right angles to the range. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/26 "2012-09-24T00:18:08Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > A little detective work (Google + 5 minutes\*) found that the photographer is Richard Bellia. > > [Link](http://www.richardbellia.com/). I’m going to bet that he didn’t take the cover photo, but will have taken a set of pictures of the band members that featured on the back or inside the cover. His game seems to be portraits of seedy rock and roll stars. (And it seems, at least one of the infamous plaster casters.) ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/27 "2012-09-24T01:35:23Z")
An interersting challange. It could be a lot of places, so I’ll just offer a couple of observations and suggestions. The observation up-thread that it could be northern California is valid…parts of the Napa Valley look like this, as well as the Paso Robles region to the south. And the Southern Willamette Valley of Oregon too. Possibly some of the Texas Hill Country as well. All things considered though, I don’t think the scene is in the U.S., or North America. For one thing, I’ve rarely, if ever, seen that type of sheep fence used on open-range areas of the American West. The scene has a sense of, well, spaciousness…that I don’t associate with Britain or, for. That matter, much of Europe. The tree spacing and ground cover give an impression of a semi-arid or temperate climate; the foliage and ground cover is green, but not particularly lush which might mean spring time or monsoon season. The trees are mostly deciduous, they look like Oak, but could easily be eucalyptus as others have suggested. At the right and center foreground are several coniferous trees that could be some sort of pine or cedar. My best guess FWIW is somewhere in New Zealand; or just possibly Australia. SS ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/28 "2012-09-24T01:58:59Z")
If it does turn out to be New Zealand, I should win an Internet or something. Although, I have a feeling this’ll become that lost wallet thread, all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/29 "2012-09-24T02:04:44Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > The terrain, especially the form of the hills, the vegetation, fence design, and apparent evidence of grazing, very much suggest to me the Grampian Ranges in Victoria, Australia. Yeah, I’m liking \*\*The Grampians \*\*as well for this. [http://www.sydney-australia.biz/victoria/grampians/graphics/grampians\_ranges.jpg](http://www.sydney-australia.biz/victoria/grampians/graphics/grampians_ranges.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/30 "2012-09-24T04:59:26Z")
I think it’s Wilpena Pound in Australia. On first glance it doesn’t look anything like it, Wilpena Pound looks like a jagged [crater](http://www.above-australia.com/photo_2351940.html), but check out how these ridges match. [The large version I posted earlier](http://www.nature-free-pictures.com/images/wallpaper/nature-225.jpg) [An image of Wilpena Pound I found](http://thesentimentalbloke.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Wilpena-Pound1.jpg) [Comparison of some of the peaks in those two images](http://imageshack.us/a/img696/9021/snap2uh.jpg). The general fingerprint of the peaks matches, and so do the details on the peaks and when there is enough detail the faces of the mountain under the peaks match too. When you zoom in on the first image, you can sort of see what appears to be the same horizontal lines in the closest mountains. I found it by image searching “dingo fence mountain” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/31 "2012-09-24T05:11:57Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > [Comparison of some of the peaks in those two images](http://imageshack.us/a/img696/9021/snap2uh.jpg) I’m sold. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/32 "2012-09-24T05:12:25Z")
Nice work! I’m positive you nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/33 "2012-09-24T05:29:12Z")
I was lucky that one showed up high in the search results and was taken from a similar angle. I actually didn’t think it was a match at first, I was looking for a fence but happened to notice that the peaks were similar. [Here](http://thesentimentalbloke.com/2011/02/almost-invincible/) is the original site where I found it. It was taken by a guy who takes landscape photos in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/34 "2012-09-24T05:45:38Z")
Yup, that is it. Bah, it was actually my first thought, but I didn’t think the terrain was as undulating on the side of the pound as that. But the geology is right. The pound is an old syncline and the asymmetric shape of the hills comes from this. Given I have visited Wilpena Pound more than a few times I’m thoroughly embarrassed, but there is no doubt it is the site of the picture. The fences are quite typical for Oz. On the other hand the vegetation is atypically lush. It must have been a good winter. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/35 "2012-09-24T05:58:43Z")
Nice work. I was about 98% sure it was Australia but I’ve never been into the Flinders Ranges so it didn’t rate in my thinking. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/36 "2012-09-24T06:00:53Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Yup, that is it. Bah, it was actually my first thought, but I didn’t think the terrain was as undulating on the side of the pound as that. But the geology is right. The pound is an old syncline and the asymmetric shape of the hills comes from this. > > Given I have visited Wilpena Pound more than a few times I’m thoroughly embarrassed, but there is no doubt it is the site of the picture. The fences are quite typical for Oz. On the other hand the vegetation is atypically lush. It must have been a good winter. First of all, hats off to **Fubaya**. Anyway, as far as the vegetation is concerned, I found [this pic](http://thesentimentalbloke.com/2012/07/a-variety-of-landscapes/) on Peter McDonald’s site that features very lush scenery a bit like in the album cover pic. Also, I found an almost identical fence in [another picture](http://thesentimentalbloke.com/2011/08/old-fences-2/), the mountains in the background are similar enough that it was probably taken very close to the picture in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/37 "2012-09-24T06:04:36Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Just to add an observation – those mountains must run east to west given the sun position. Seems to maybe eliminate California. The mountains run east to west and the ocean is to the south in my part of California. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/38 "2012-09-24T06:28:13Z")
Okay, if anyone wants to go check the spot out in person, it appears to have been taken from the [Moralana Scenic Drive](http://www.flindersranges.com/attract/moralana.htm). Check out [this picture](http://livingtravel.com/australia/southaustralia/flinders/images/MoralanaScenicDrive_5785_86.jpg) which is a very, very close match to the OP’s photo. As a matter of fact, [I lined them up](http://s1048.photobucket.com/albums/s378/gustave433/?action=view¤t=Moralana-mountains_zps5331e702.jpg) and it’s a near-perfect fit. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/39 "2012-09-24T06:29:45Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I think it’s Wilpena Pound in Australia. On first glance it doesn’t look anything like it, Wilpena Pound looks like a jagged [crater](http://www.above-australia.com/photo_2351940.html), but check out how these ridges match. > > [The large version I posted earlier](http://www.nature-free-pictures.com/images/wallpaper/nature-225.jpg) > > [An image of Wilpena Pound I found](http://thesentimentalbloke.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Wilpena-Pound1.jpg) > > [Comparison of some of the peaks in those two images](http://imageshack.us/a/img696/9021/snap2uh.jpg). The general fingerprint of the peaks matches, and so do the details on the peaks and when there is enough detail the faces of the mountain under the peaks match too. When you zoom in on the first image, you can sort of see what appears to be the same horizontal lines in the closest mountains. > > I found it by image searching “dingo fence mountain” That’s pretty incredible. The SDMB triumphs once again. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516/40 "2012-09-24T06:47:36Z")
A couple of other pics that pretty much nail the location IMO to either the Moralana Scenic Drive or Moralana Creek Road (which may well be part of the former) [https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&client=safari&tab=wi&q=moralana%20scenic%20drive&sa=N&biw=320&bih=416#i=240](https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&client=safari&tab=wi&q=moralana%20scenic%20drive&sa=N&biw=320&bih=416#i=240) [https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&client=safari&tab=wi&q=moralana%20scenic%20drive&sa=N&biw=320&bih=416#i=251](https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=uk&client=safari&tab=wi&q=moralana%20scenic%20drive&sa=N&biw=320&bih=416#i=251) Edit: Sorry jovan, missed your post! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-location-from-an-album-cover/635516.md?page=3)