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.

Discovering the New

Have you ever met those people who can just find stuff? $20 note? No problem! Rare animal? Sure! Satellites at day time? What's so hard about that?

Well, I'm not one of those people.

I'm always the last to see, hear, do anything. So when we were out camping on the weekend, and I spotted a wildflower I'd never seen before, I made my husband stop in the rocks so I could run out...in my socks among the thorns...to take a photo, thinking I had struck something amazing - a wildflower I had never seen before that was redder than the rocks!

Canon EOS 50D (Betsy), f/18, 1/250 sec shutter, ISO 500, 200mm, manual mode with polarizing filter. Contrast, brightness and white balance adjustments in Adobe RAW. 

Turns out, there were quite literally squillions of these things in patches dotted up the riverbed. The seeds must be carried down when the river is in flood and deposited in small patches - they only grew in the river bed and I have never seen them anywhere else!

I tell you what though, the red was absolutely stunning! It made me think of the Poppy scene from the Wizard of Oz. I even started yawning! If anyone knows what these lovelies are, I am all ears.

Like I said, a more vibrant red than even the rusty iron-ore clad rocks! Betsy, f/18, 1/250 shutter, ISO 500, 20mm, manual mode with polarizing filter. White balance, contrast and vibrance adjustments in Adobe RAW

P.S. If I find out these are weeds, I will surely die!

Pilbara Gems: Wildflowers - Part 2

Of course, you can't focus on wildflowers without a nod to another of the region's most prolific and definitely one of the most impressive flowers I've ever seen. Sturt's Desert Pea is technically the floral emblem for South Australia however in our travels the place where desert peas were most prolific is here. It is astounding. They are like tongues of fire spreading across the ground.

Betsy, f/10, 1/800 shutter, ISO 500, -0.3 step exposure bias, 50 mm, shutter priority

Betsy - f/14, 1/800 second shutter, -0.3 step exposure bias, ISO 500, 130 mm,  Shutter Priority

I must admit, I am a little obsessed with these little gems - they are stunning! I can't count how many times I have taken pictures of these. What is particularly remarkable about these guys, is that they are not always black and red...more of that to come!

Pilbara Gems: Wildflowers–Part 1

September is the time of year when Western Australia comes alive with wildflowers – well, most of it anyway. Most people may think of the wildflowers down the south west corner – kangaroo paw and the like. Here in the Pilbara though, the wildflowers bring life and colour to the otherwise arid, spinafex covered landscape. And we aren’t just talking one or two here, no. A whole sea of colours – pinks, yellows, oranges, whites, blues, reds, blacks, maroons, purples, greens, browns…just to name a few.

In celebration of September and the coming of spring (ignoring the fact that we are already getting days above 35 degrees Celsius) I would like to highlight some of the incredible and unique flowers that have graced the landscape.

To begin with, I would like to focus on the Mulla Mulla – purple at first glance, but upon further investigation are full of different shades, as well as whites and contrast nicely with the green leaves.

Betsy, with f/8, 1/640 shutter, ISO 500, -0.3 step exposure bias, 200 mm, shutter priority. Taken in the morning and displays the wonderful way these flowers grow and their prolific nature.  

Betsy, f/18, 1/320 second shutter. ISO 500, -0.3 step exposure bias, 185 mm, aperture priority. My favourite point of view of the Mulla Mulla. 

Mulla Mulla are likely the most prolific where we are. They do come in shades of green and white. There are also a number of different varieties that are different shades of purple. When they grow, they get longer and longer and they are surprisingly soft.