Celebrating Birthdays

There are two birthdays to celebrate this week. Firstly, Merry Christmas! Christmas is of course when we celebrate the birth of Jesus our Lord, come together with family and friends, and relax in stifling heat.

Secondly, it's very nearly one whole here, keeping this blog! The number of times I have started a blog only to have it fail to inspire me is ridiculous, so to have made it to a year is terrific. 2013 has been a great year and I thought I would do a bit of a wrap-up post. I started out with the goal of taking my photos to the next level - actually thinking about shots, planning them and getting settings right. Also a lot more experimentation occurred on the digital editing side - I started taking photos in RAW and attempted a few HDR images. How did I go? Well, there is still a fair way to go as far as I can see, but things have definately improved.

My favourite photo of the year? This:

Karijini is such a beautiful place, and I absolutely adore the colours in this photo. Taking these shots with water was the most satisfying photography expedition this year. Read about the 2013 Karijini exploits in Photographer's paradise, Mysteries of Misty Waters in Karijini and Karijini the Third: Panorama.

The most fun I had this year taking photos though, would have to be the FeNaClNG fireworks. So often I have fun taking photos only to discover when getting home that it was a complete waste of time. It's a bit of a downer when that happens. But this year, I was delighted with the results, and just enjoyed watching the fireworks explode over head, not looking through a viewfinder, just watching, enjoying and capturing.

The most popular post at the day of writing is a whole lot of luck and uncommon sense. I can understand this - Manta Rays Are Cool (as are bow ties...Dr Who fans will get the reference). And I know you were all waiting for me to fall out of my kayak into the drink with my camera out!

Of course, I am writing this post pre-South-America-holiday, so favourite photos could change. By the time you are reading this I will be back safe and sound (God Willing), celebrating Christmas with family in QLD before heading back to Karratha. This is of course if everything goes to plan.

South America photos and stories are just one of the things to look forward to on this blog for 2014 - when we get back to Karratha it will be coming into storm season, I aim to try and procure Lightroom to improve ease of RAW editing, get off my backside and do more star trails and starscapes. But just in general I hope to keep experimenting and try and get better at the planning and execution of taking great photos.

Wherever you have been celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I look forward to adventuring with you in 2014!

Pilbara Gems: Staircase to the Moon

You may have heard of this phenomenon - Staircase to the moon. It is heavily promoted in Broome, where you can sit on the beach at low tide and watch the full moon rise. The reflection on the mudflats looks like a staircase leading to the moon. It's pretty, but it's also a heavily romanticized  occasion. The tide and moon rise need to coincide.

Those in Broome would have you believe it only happens there, but this is incorrect. It is supposed to be pretty spectacular up there, but it only happens three times a year. Here in the Pilbara, it happens five times a year.

My first experience trying to photograph the staircase to the moon was tarnished by grumpy grey nomads. The moon was no where in sight and I needed my torch to set up my camera. I got yelled at.

Then of course you have to contend with people taking photos...with the flash on. You feel like screaming, 'the flash won't do you any good!!' but yet there is always one.

This photo is from our last attempt at the moon. It doesn't have the same stairway effect because it was taken a little late in the piece - clouds were on the horizon when  it rose - but I do love the golden glow it created. I've also included an edited version to try and capture the moon-glow in a colder, crisper, more moon-like tone.

This night was actually really great, it was the night of the lantern walk and we sat on the beach for ages. Have you ever watched the tide come in? By this I mean, watching the waves roll in, but not out. You could see the water heading over the mud flats, coming straight for you it was incredible! Another Pilbara Gem.

Canon EOS 50D, f/5, 4sec shutter, ISO 500, 50mm. Golden glory! Edit free. 

As above except edited in Adobe RAW - cooler tint and contrast adjusted. 

Just a note: Compression has decreased the quality of these photos - they are quite sensitive if they have a high ISO.

Lesson #12: ND Graduated Filters

In preparation for our trip to South America - that we are currently on - I bought some Neural Density Graduated filters. (One day, I am going to take a photo of all my gear and label it for you. That day is not today). These babies are brilliant! The theory is that the top half is dark, but it is neutral so it doesn't interfere with the colours, so that you can darken spots likely to be over-exposed (like the sky). It's pretty fun. I took them for a test drive. All these photos were taken on my Canon EOS 50D, f/10, 1/160 shutter, 18mm, ISO 100. Full sun, 38 degree heat. Bright blue skies. These are the results:

As shot - no filters.

One filter

Two filters

Two filters, edited in Photoshop.

I had the line too far down, so it wasn't meeting the horizon, and middle of the day does not create the best conditions, but all in all, I didn't think it was too bad!

This is what lights do to photos...

Following on from my previous post, I thought I would share this photo with you. While trying to get the hill of Heason's, stars and little lights all in the same photo, someone walked past with a blue lantern. It ruined my photo but I thought I would share it here, because it is a cool effect, akin to light painting, and something to experiment with one day.

Canon EOS 50D, f/3.5, 28 seconds, ISO 1000, 18mm. I can't believe I still got a couple of stars!

Making the best of too much light in a low light situation

Sometimes all the preparedness and best intentions in the world are impacted by unexpected occurrences. I recently had one of these experiences when I went down to take photos of the moon at Hearson's cove, only to discover the annual Lantern walk for cancer was occurring. That's right, lanterns. And I was trying to take photos of the moon. It didn't turn out well let me tell you, but instead of packing up my gear and enjoying the atmosphere, (because it was actually a really top night - live music on the beach and the moon as bright as a dull sun) I decided to experiment.

I've seen a number of photos of millions of starts and I want to know how to take them without star trails. Of course, taking photos of stars with heaps of lanterns on the beach and a really bright full moon is not ideal. At all. Like I said, it was an experiment!

The results were below. First is the original Betsy version, and the next two have been edited in RAW. The hill was illuminated in the photos based on the amount of light was around and the colour looks a little odd so most of the correction in Adobe RAW was aimed at that, but I think I still need more training.

All these photos are the same photo that had a 31 second shutter, ISO 1000, f/3.6, at 18mm on Canon EOS 50D

The Orignial, Betsy version. Note the lanterns. This was an artistic choice as the lanterns represent support for those suffering from leukemia. Note also the unreal red hill. There were also a couple of people down the beach also experimenting I'd say, by making circles with their lanterns.

The second version - aimed at increasing, creating a midnight blue feel and reducing the redness of the hill. Unfortunately the people are now the incorrect colour. 

Third version and probably my favourite, except for the purple haze over the people I suppose. Manipulating colours in Photoshop RAW is hard!

From the Archives: My first panorama

So while adventuring in South America, you may have noticed I have set my blog to auto pilot. I'm too busy having fun on the other side of the world to report on photography experiments in the Pilbara.

A few months ago I went through all my photos and found some of my old photos that when I look back, were my initial inspiration. I came across this photo taken at Port Arthur in Tasmania on a school trip (this one time, at band camp...to clarify I have never to this day seen that movie nor do I want to!). I was using the first digital camera to grace our family - a Ricoh...something. I can't remember but it was blue! It was blue, and I was 16 and freezing.

This is a regular reminiscence. The first time I went over the 2006 band camp photos I was surprised to discover this photo had a partner. I was using a program called ArcSoft at the time to experiment with panoramas taken on my first Kodak - so I experimented to see if they fit.

Firework Friday

So I was lucky enough to have a second shot (pardon the pun) at tackling some fireworks. I think this celebration in Dampier was for Guy Fawkes day, but I could be wrong. Regardless it was pretty special to be sitting under the palm trees at the beach, watching fireworks. Again, I went prepared with my remote, camping chair and tripod, ready to enjoy the show.

I had some success. Next time I am going to try and extend myself - there are two things I want to try: 1) having something in the foreground. Now I feel I have mastered capturing the explosion, I want to try and add scenery. 2) I want to try and achieve other patterns than just explosions from the center - maybe dots or sparkles. Next time, anyway.

Below are...quite a few. I figured everyone would just be happy it's Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! May you all feel like letting off fireworks this evening!

I  like the sparkles in this one.

In this one I like the little, sparkler-type ones at the bottom

The green colour, and the red on the end of the lower explosion make this one interesting

Love the stars and sparkles! They look like sparklers standing on the beach!

Happy!

This almost looks like a love heart

Post process - Just as important as taking the photos

You may ask, if you take a good photo, what use is it if it is not printed correctly? In days gone past my understanding is that if you were serious enough to develop your own negatives in a dark room, the printing process was just as much as important as taking the photo.

Sadly, I have never been in a darkroom, nor developed a 35mm negative. The closest I have come is dabbling in editing RAW files which are essential digital negatives. So where does the printing come in? Well, in the digital age, this is surprisingly difficult.

Firstly, there are the kiosks in shops like Kmart, Harvey Norman and so on where you plug in your media, go through the touch screen process and Bob's your uncle, there you are with some prints. Now, there is nothing wrong with this process, except in my experience it can be a bit hit and miss. The colours need to be well calibrated on the touch screen for a start but the main thing I've found you need to be careful with are the sizes - numerous times a good photo is ruined by poor cropping - I've had a problem with printers like this cutting off heads.

Secondly, you can print at home. This involves self-calibration of your printer and computer and expensive ink but it does give you a great deal of control over the product.

Printing is important. A few tips include: making sure the file is saved at 300dpi, the screen and printer are calibrated correctly and you have high quality photo paper.

This is a photo I took on my smartphone of some of the firework photos I took in August. I like it. Three landscape oriented ones I printed at home before my printer got sick and the other two I printed at Kmart. It's not a great quality photo because I needed the flash to bring out the colours.

PS still in South America having a great time - I hope!

Landscape at 140mm

Growing up in South East Queensland I never realised how precious that paradise was. I never realised what a rare commodity the rainforest was, nor how much mountains (even small ones) can affect the weather, or valued being able to walk  barefoot on green grass.

On recent visit to Bribie Island, just north of Brisbane, we spent some time on the beach of the passage between the island and the mainland. It was a beautiful day, clear as a bell. You could see the Glass House Mountains in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland across the passage in a blue haze. So very blue.

Of course, they were quite a way a ways, therefore the trusty 18-200mm was zoomed in to a 140mm focal length. Not your typical landscape focal length, but I was pretty pleased with the results. I have cropped this image to be a panoramic size, and tweaked the colours slightly in Photoshop and added a post-crop vignette.

Glass House Mountains. Canon EOS 50D f/5.6 1/2000 shutter, ISO 160, +2 step exposure bias, 140mm. 

Of course, it has dawned on me that as I write this, I am sitting in my lounge at 9:20pm watching British comedy. I can multi-task. (I said the same thing about my homework in high school). But as you are reading this I will be in some real mountains. Big mountains. Called the Andes - hiking up to Maccu Pichu in Peru to be exact. Hopefully safe. Hopefully this is a self-fulling prophesy - we are having an amazing time and sometime in 2014 you will be seeing some South America pictures on this blog! God willing my camera and memory cards are not stolen. And I am not killed in a terrifying plane crash. OK, it's 9:30 and the paranoia is creeping in so I had better sign off. Hope you like the Glass House Mountains and I look forward to sharing the Andes with you in good time.

Ozzie Snappy Gums

One of the most interesting features of the arid landscape in much of Australia are the white gums, or snappy gums. Not sure to this day why they are called snappy gums, but they create an amazing contrast in the landscape. I remember taking a photo of the Devil's Marbles in the Northern Territory and thinking that they looked like a permanent form of lightning striking the landscape.

That photo was not blog worthy, in case you were wondering.

There are a lot of them up here though, and they present a rather artistic challenge: how do you take a photo of a twisted tree? Composition is probably one of my weaker points as a photographer (which is kind of an issue) and particularly with trees. I always think they just look so cool, and then I get home to go through my photos and feel let down. Here is just one example.

Betsy, f/7.1, 1/640, 18mm, ISO 500. 

The other cool thing about them is they are home to cute creatures like this little guy.

Betsy, f/7.1, 1/400, ISO 500, 200mm, cropped, Edited in Adobe RAW

The Pilbara: Tough on Cars

We recently made a purchase of a new car. Some people may perceive this as hasty, materialistic, take your pick. But the truth is, the Pilbara is tough on cars.

Rule one: don't leave your car unattended in the bush. Otherwise this happens.

Pilbara: Tough on cars - Canon EOS 50D f/10, 1.250 shutter, ISO 100, 18mm. Reduction of saturation in Photoshop, also contrast and brightness adjustment.

Lucky for me, old beaten up cars in the bush make great subjects - they don't move! Plus, they have distinctive character. The bush will rule over mankind trying to tame it!

Lesson #11: Polarizing lens filter

It's been quite a while since I've done a post about something technical. Last week I told you about that Pilbara Gem Conzinc Bay and began to tell you about my adventures with the Polarizing filter I have. It really does warrant a post to it's own because let's face it, that sucker is difficult!

I have a circular polarizing filter. Now, I am not savvy with angles with the sun or any of that technical stuff, I point and shoot what looks good. Lesson 11 is that you really should pay more attention to the technical stuff because polarizers, while brilliant, can really mess with your colours if you don't use them right. They are magnificent on the water and taking the glare out, but in the sky - especially when taking a panorama (this I don't actually recommend)  - it can be temperamental, it can make other colours dark and even unreal at times.

While on my photographic adventure in Conzinc Bay I was pretty snap happy taking panoramas. The trouble was I was on the rocks,  with a beautiful scene on each side and the sun heading pretty much well overhead. I had to keep rotating the filter so that the colours were OK. Trouble was a lot of time when the glare was completely gone from the water, the surrounds were darker, meaning I had to do a fair bit of lightening in post production. And stitching a panorama with a polarizer?  Forget it. You can do it, but it ruins the sky. I guess it would be OK if you had no sky.

I took these examples especially for this blog.

NO FILTER: Five portraits stitched. EOS 50D, f/13, 1/250, ISO 160 shutter, 18mm. Slight enhancements in photoshop

WITH FILTER: Five portraits stitched. EOS 50D, f/11, 1/160 shutter, ISO 250, 18mm.

You'll notice I adjusted the settings - I was still trying to take a good photo both times (while crouching in bare feet crawling with ants on hot rocks). Notice how you can see better colours in the water in the polarized shot, but the rocks look nicer in the non polarized shot. You can also see how half the sky is darker in the polarized shot. Just different techniques I guess. I must admit though, I love how the polarizer works on the water.

Still learning!

Pilbara Gems: Conzinc Bay

After buying kayaks or indeed, any kind of water vessel, this place really opens up. The lifestyle here is second to none. Most have the opinion of the bigger the boat the better, however we love cruising around in our kayaks. Where else can you hang out with six manta rays?

One of our regular trips is to a place call Conzinc Bay on the Burrup Peninsula. The colours on these trips are truly spectacular - turquoise, aqua contrasted with red, black rocks, white sand and brown (and green at times) spinafex.

Thanks to a dry bag I now have capacity to take my SLR with me on these adventures to take advantage of the more remote gems we visit by kayak! My husband fishes, I take photos, it's a good system!

Conzinc Bay - Canon EOS 50D, f/11, 1/100 shutter, ISO 160 18mm, manual, polarizing filter, adjustments in Adobe RAW. 

 This is only one section of the bay - it actually extends well around the rocks. Here, once again, I am clambering over hot red rocks in bare feet. I really need to remember to take appropriate footwear.

Dolphins - Canon EOS 50D, f/5.6, 1/640 shutter, ISO 250, 200mm, cropped, Vignette and colour adjustments in RAW.

Dolphins awaken in me my inner child. It makes me think of Shirley Barber's book about mermaids. Yes, I had a very innocent childhood, but these creatures are so majestic and just scream fun! I must admit though, I was a little frustrated by the shine on the tail in this photo. Everyone hopes to capture that perfect dolphin moment, jumping from the surf over a perfect sunset...yeah, I'm not into a cheesy shot like that...besides, these guys just would not jump any higher and I was in no position to chase them to do so!!

Also, now that I am posting this, I'm not sure I'm a fan of the vignette.

Betsy, f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 250, 18mm. Two landscapes stitched using Adobe RAW presets, lightened, sharpened, colour adjustment in RAW

One of the many panoramas taken that day. I did some experiments with the polarizer...before I start on that I think it probably warrants a post for itself. Standby!

Mythical places

A lot of photos these days look as though they belong in a mythical wonderland. You look at them knowing that that's really not how they look in reality - such as photos of star trails, HDR images of sunsets with glorious amounts of colour in the foreground and background and you think, no way. But in a way it's great to have these digital images of mythical places that resemble reality. Yes, I called them digital images rather than photos - while there is heaps you can do with HDR and I'm sure they are photos, a lot of them just have an unreal quality about them. I hope I don't reach that stage where touching up is a touch overdone.

Anyway, there are certain things that take me back to my childhood games of mythical places and one of these are huge tree trunks in green forests, with big roots and screaming calmness and fun all at the same time. I thought you could not get any such places in the Pilbara. Turns out when looking the right way, you can!

I fell in love with these roots over the rocks at our campsite! Canon EOS 50D, f/7.1, 1/250 shutter, ISO 500, 20mm.

This tree is my favourite. Behind my position here is dry riverbed, spinafex hills and red rocks. But here is one slice of oasis, complete with tree tunk and an attractive root system! Enough to inspire some kind of magic. A pity this scene doesn't surround you - you have to be looking one particular way! EOS 50D, f/7.1, 1/250 shutter, ISO 500, 18mm

Lesson #10: Always review your archives before deleting them

They call me snapper. I'm not happy unless I've taken ten photos of the one thing. My workflow consists of this:

Snap heaps of photos experimenting with settings...
Load all onto the computer filed according to year - month - activity...
Go through, pick out favourites, sharing, WOW factor and images to edit...
Edit images and save into respective folders - facebook, flickr, blog, photography...
Start all over again...

Leaving hundreds, thousands of photos left in my archives! What to do with them? Get a bigger hardrive? Delete? I'll be honest, a small part inside of me dies when I delete photos, even if they are complete and utter rubbish! (This is coming from someone who as a child would waste a whole film on taking photos of her bedroom...and keep the photos...) but there is no point keeping photos that are blurry, exactly the same, over-exposed, too dark, or will never be looked at again.

HOWEVER, before you go and delete all those folders GO BACK AND LOOK AGAIN. Check and double check. This is not me being obsessive compulsive this is coming from experience. I nearly wiped my card once without checking. Had I done so I would have missed out on this baby.

While travelling my faithful HP computer decided to crash, hence I needed to transfer my photos first onto an external hardrive, then onto a new computer...which consequently crashed requiring a second transfer onto a third computer. In the process I somehow lost 150 photos. Gone. Have no idea what I am missing, except I know there was a lighthouse there, as well as some great caves. All I now have of these photos is this blog post. And yes, part of me is dead.

So always check and double check when deleting photos, moving photos. Not to mention, it's fun! When I went back through my archives recently, I found these little images taken on my Olympus. My Olympus u-900 is a great compact digital camera, if a little beaten up now. I still use him regularly on the water in his case, and he doesn't take too bad photos really! These were taken in my student days when we were first married and I was just starting to really get into taking more than snaps.

In the back yard - I remember liking this photo because the nodes were in focus..and nothing else!! 

Purple. Need I say more?

Pilbara Gems: River

There are many places to camp in the Pilbara, if you are prepared to battle the rocks, the spinafex and the lack of shade. But we were delighted to discover camping in the riverbed is nearly like camping on the east coast - there is shade! 

For a weekend away, I strongly recommend finding a river and driving down it, respecting all signs, gates and fences of course, and finding a nice waterhole. You may even find a dragon fly among the peacefulness!

Our campsite - ignore the blue esky...EOS 50D, f/9, 1/640 shutter, ISO 500, 18mm.

Sleepy dragonfly - here's a tip, photograph dragonflies in the morning! They are really sluggish. Betsy (EOS 50D) f/5.6 1/200, 200mm ISO 500

Flooding tall trees

The Pilbara may be a dry and arid place but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. The old saying of 'When it rains it pours' is really applicable to this place and it is not uncommon for roads to be cut due to rain and swelling rivers. Rain itself is just uncommon.

Of course, say that to a local and they generally scoff, but I think they forget places down south or over east where it is very irregular to have a month go by with absolutely no rain at all. That's just common, dreary everyday life here. There isn't even a regular, stable wet season like there is up north. There are odd patches of rain (usually a storm) and cyclones, both brought in by a low pressure system from the ocean (that believe it or not can cause nasty headaches as well).

We remember these flooding rains when camping in a riverbed. Dry most of the year, with tiny streams running through it, it is easy to forget you are actually in the bed of a mighty flood prone river. The only clue is really the bridge when you turn off, and trees like these that line the bank.

In the absence of rushing water - Canon EOS 50D f/14, 1/125, ISO 500, 28mm, manual mode polarizing filter

Mid-Spring Long Weekend

You can't speak to anyone in the Pilbara without these three questions: 1)How long have you been here? 2) Where are you from? 3) Do you enjoy it?

Don't get me wrong, it's a great conversation starter.

People are split into three camps (generally speaking) - those who hate it but are here for the money, those that love it and are here for the money, and those that genuinely love it.

The people that hate it here are depressing and those that just love it generally scorn those who are in between. You do get really tired of people thinking you live and work in the Pilbara just because of the money, but let's fact it without the opportunities on offer here, what do you have? It's remote, it's hot, there's cyclones and virtually no shade! It's not everyone's cup of tea.

Fortunately though, I love it. It's unique, it's beautiful it's own way, the colours are amazing and as long as the cyclones behave themselves by not destroying my house I enjoy the rain.

It's the first week of October and we are heading back to QLD for a visit. Migration home is inevitable each year. We live about as far away from 'home' as you can get on mainland Australia. 'Home' is south-east QLD, a little pocket of paradise.

Further into a general Pilbara 'How do you do?' conversation, you get to the part where you talk about what you most miss about 'home' - wherever that may be. For me, I miss the green. I've had locals laugh at me, look down and me and scorn when I say that, followed by a quick retort of 'It's green (when it rains) here!' Um, yes it is but you can't sit and relax on spinafex, even if it is green! Nor does it provide shade. I think they just seem to have forgotten the pockets of paradise this country has - such as SE QLD, the Daintree, Victoria, the Tasmanian forests...They are kind of spectacular and I miss them - the dense trees, the shade, the rainforest, the damp smell.

So in honour of our long weekend back to QLD to visit family, I am posting some photos from the archives in the hopes that in my love for the Pilbara I am not blinded to the fact that there are some other beautiful parts of this country!

PS: When I say from the archives, I mean it! These babies are some of my first panoramas, taken pre-SLR.

View from one of our 4WD trips. I can't even remember if this was taken with my Olympus or my first camera, a little Kodak. I just like the green grass - that is stuff you can roll around in!

The Daintree. Where the rainforest meets the ocean. It. Is. Amazing. (panorama not so good - taken on my $100 Kodak camera when we were first married. I said archives!)

This post would not be complete without a view of the Glass House Mountains. Only a few hours drive from where we lived, this is on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland...otherwise known as paradise! (Panorama generated in-camera on my Olympus u-900)

Spiny hazards and prickly situations

Taking landscape photos in the Pilbara requires more than a camera and a beautiful landscape. You need to be prepared for the conditions as without a doubt you will come across these prickly sensations:

Betsy, f/13, 1/500 shutter, ISO 500 200mm

That's right, unless you are careful you will experience slow and painful death-by-spinafex!

These guys are tough. You can see they can grow out of the rock, they sneak up on your ankle when you are trying to balance and when they are green they lull you into a false sense of 'It's-ok-I'm-just-grass' security!

After a month of celebrating Pilbara wildflowers I thought I would 'point' out that to take photos of wildflowers you are constantly battling nature's pin cushions!

So, don't leave the house without long pants, preferably made from canvas, boots, gloves and any and all other forms of protection.

When not threatening you with their pointy spikes that do actually sting and itch, they are rather stunning to see covering a hill...from a safe distance.

I am Pilbara! One of many spinafex-ed hills. Betsy, f/13, 1/500 shutter 18mm manual

Wildflowers Post-Script: More Mulla Mulla

Mulla Mulla are by far the most prolific wildflower in the Pilbara, and it would be a tight coin toss as to who would win a most-photographed flower here between them and the Desert Pea. Mulla Mulla photos are a dime a dozen - from the top, from the bottom, from the side, in bunches, on their own, against the sky, against the ground...the list goes on. 

But just as a little appendix to my September of Pilbara wildflowers I thought I would share with you my first Mulla Mulla photo against the sky. This particular variety does not have as green leaves or stems, begins to lose its purple from the bottom and has more accented purple spikes. I think they are pretty spectacular.

Until next year I bid the wildflowers adieu!  Although I make no guarantees that they won't appear on this blog between now and then, they are simply too colourful!

Canon EOS 50D, f/10, 1/200 sec shutter, ISO 250, 50mm, manual, cropped, contrast and colour adjustments in Adobe RAW. Not to mention  I was on my knees, neck cricked and back hunched to get snap this sucker!

Pilbara Gems: Wildflowers - Part 5

I finish September and the beginning of Spring with my favourite wildflower. This guy is small and mighty. Small bursts of colour surround your feet, contrasting the red rocks and the green leaves. They are too beautiful for many words. Happy Spring!

Betsy, f/13, 1/250 sec shutter, ISO 800, -0.3 step exposure bias, 130 mm, shutter priority

An instagram shot I took of these fellas on top of Karratha hills - Sunset, red rocks and gorgeous flowers. Hello Spring!

Pilbara Gems: Wildflowers - Part 4

I am a real sweet tooth. I tried the whole giving up sugar thing and it just didn't work. I love sweet things. When I go to Cold Rock Ice cream, I order lemon sorbet with skittles and or nerds. Basically a bowl full of sugar with a dash of lemon - the ultimate sweet and sour!

So when I discovered wildflowers in the Pilbara that smelled like bubblegum, I was pretty darn excited!

That's seriously what these guys smell like! Sweet bubblegum and they are purple to boot! I keep forgetting their actual name, for me they are affectionately known as bubblegum flowers. Smiles!

Aside from that, I am also fond of these guys because we first saw them when we decided to end our travels and plant ourselves in the Pilbara (yes, I took this photo two years ago, it's from the archives). We have never looked back since! These gems are a perfect example of the small, good packages that are in this place, and the good gifts that God gives to his people...just because he can.

Betsy - f/6.3, 1/400 second shutter, ISO 100, 200mm. Manual. I took numerous photos of this flower. 

A whole lot of luck…and uncommon sense

Sometimes photographers, amateurs, hobbyists and professionals alike, spend too long looking through the lens to actually notice the world around them. This weekend I had the opportunity to go kayaking and I decided to leave my water camera (The Olympus) at home and just enjoy the morning, and being in creation rather than endlessly trying to capture the photo of the century.

I did however take my new dry bag with my SLR backpack securely tucked away from the splashes for on land later, but that’s not the sort of camera you want to take out while kayaking in the ocean. Especially not when you are chasing wildlife.

This is a wildlife story. Previously I have spoken how I do not hunt wildlife for photos (particularly birds) because they are not obliging, and apparently a woman running towards you with an SLR is a scamper-worthy sight! My motto for taking photos for wildlife is, if it moves it’s too hard, take what you can by luck, or grace.

Well as luck would have it this Saturday morning was the most wildlife prolific of our kayaking adventures. Probably because I didn’t have my Olympus or the GoPro (which has gone to a much, much more exciting cause at the moment!). Murphy likes to play games with me like that. We saw a pod of dolphins, turtles, and a massive spotted ray all within ten minutes of hitting the water.

We paddled on and spotted movement on the horizon. A pair of manta rays were cruising around on the surface feeding – a pair! So we paddle over and just cruised with them – they weren’t fussed! They dove under our kayaks, they came up right next to us, they even invited their friends. At one point we had six manta rays all within 5-10 meters of our 12ft kayaks. Largest wingspan was the length of the kayaks. We even saw two of these beauties breaching about 100m away. It was magical.

After some time, the numbers dwindled, my husband says to me ‘Hon, I think you need to get your SLR out.’ We are in the middle of the ocean, can’t see the bottom, the kayaks are rocking (although, these kayaks are pretty stable, you’d be hard pressed to capsize them) and my camera is tucked/buried in the dry bag a the front of the kayak. This means I need to edge forward, undo the dry bag, dig out my camera and move back without tipping the kayak, without letting Betsy touch either me who has had a dip already, or the kayak which has water in the bottom. We debated about it for a little while, but the opportunity outweighed the common sense of leaving the SLR in the dry bag.

I got the camera out. The Manta rays vamoosed.

Again, one of Murphy’s games.

We spotted them about 100m off. This meant I had to paddle – carefully so as to not splash poor Betsy – after them, breaking my rule of not hunting wildlife for photos. Three times we did this to no avail, they simply stopped being obliging. It was at this point that I literally started to pray. ‘God,’ I said, ‘You have created these amazing creatures, I have my camera out, please send one back for a photo!’ One of those prayers that’s like a kid asking their parent for a special treat…and sometimes they give in. He sent two of the mantas back and I started clicking madly away. Next thing this creature is right next to my kayak, I could not have asked for a better swim by. I was blown away, not only was I able to capture one of these amazing creatures but it brought home a little lesson – that God does care about the little, seemingly insignificant things and does delight to see people happy in his creation. Sometimes it’s the small mercies that make this life worth living!

It was about now that I realised, hey this guy is gonna swim right past me! EOS 50D f/6.3, 1/640 shutter, ISO 250, 120mm, manual. Polarizing filter. Adjustments in Adobe RAW

Now he is right next to my kayak! Woo! EOS 50D, f/6.3, 1/640 shutter, ISO 250, 35mm, polarizer, adjustments in Adobe RAW

Pilbara Gems: Wildflowers - Part 3

Blue bells, cockle shells, evi, ivy, over...

We used to dance to that little rhyme in the playground, you know, you join hands and turn around. (sometimes known as washing the dishes...).

Blue bells are dainty, bell shaped flowers that for some reason always sound so posh and British. But here in the Pilbara, we have our own version of blue bells. They are not quite bell shaped, but the plants can stand head height and when the light hits them they glow and you can almost hear them ringing with colour. Gorgeous.

Betsy - f/6.3, 1/640 second shutter, ISO 800, -0.3 step exposure bias, 200 mm.