Water Like Cotton Candy

While on holidays at Cape Range National Park, was reading my book 'Understanding Exposure', which was great, it had a few tips I hadn't yet come across, although much of the information I had already read elsewhere. I found it funny that he described the 'misty water' effect as making it look like cotton candy. I guess I can live with that.

What I can't live with is the fact that I nearly lost my camera this morning. I had my tripod, was looking for leading lines and had to keep the shutter open for about 30 seconds as the sun wasn't yet up. Of course, the predictable happened - wave came along and I am very lucky that it only splashed a little bit of salt water onto my lens!

What that meant of course, is that the photo shoot was over, or other wise useless. I had nothing on me to clean my lens with me on the beach (I was in my pyjamas with a tracksuit on top - I got ready in a hurry) so the rest of my photos all had salt spots on them darn it!

It has just occurred to me that many of the misadventures I share with you on this blog involve me being quite clumsy...

Sunset on the Beach

One of the most obvious things that is wonderful in the west is watching the sunset over the ocean. While camping 10m from the sea at Cape Range National Park I made the most of my wide angle lens and the gorgeous light each afternoon.

Of course, there were some afternoons when the camera was put away, and I simply enjoyed the show. But not now. This was an experiment with finding leading lines, and inspiration from reading my book on Exposure.

On second thoughts, it's a little dark. Oh well. That's why we call it experiments. 

Room with a View

Every now and then I get distracted.

Well, I confess, it happens all the time.

But I was running around the beach at Cape Range, chasing the sunlight as it set over the ocean, creating golden hues bouncing off the water and the sand when I came accross this guy building his home for the night.

He was going between two pieces of grass that were approximately 2m apart. You you could hardly see his web yet, but the golden hues did not forget to touch him and light him up nicely.

He must have had one heck of a view from up there. And eight eyes to enjoy it with to boot.

I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. Psalm 50:11

Backlight Sunlight

I've seen quite a few photos taken recently into the sun during the golden hour at sunset. They are stunning. These are not silhouettes or overexposed, just golden goodness.

We took a trip down to Cape Range National Park to camp by the reef, so being by the beach watching the sun go down, I took the opportunity to give this technique a go.

I found some purple flowers in the sand that added some tremendous colour to the landscape, and were lit up with the back light of the sun. So, I crouched down, at all costs preventing my camera from falling into the sand and causing disaster, and started shooting away. I'm pretty happy with the result - as always, not quite what I had pictured but you get the idea.

Bubblegum Flowers

My favourite wildflowers up here are these purple ones. I have completely forgotten their real name, I have just aptly named them 'bubblegum flowers'. They smell like Bubblegum.

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore

With all my excitement with light sparkles and glints, I guess I never expected to get glints on a tiny sea creature, cruising along as the tide went out.

This guy was on the tide line, heading off on the long journey toward the ocean, and I got distracted. When I realised I was in the perfect angle for glints from the sun, I stayed distracted and I had to run to catch up to everyone.

Face to Face with Death - All 10cm of it

There are often jokes made about all the things in Australia that can kill you.

Snakes, spiders, crocodiles, sharks...drop bears...

Then, if it doesn't kill you, it will likely bite you and make you itchy, or poison you, or make your hand swell up like a balloon.

Let's face it, we may not have any of 'the big five' or carnivorous land dwellers, but Australia is a pretty scary place.

One of the things you always hear about is the blue ringed octopus.  This sucker, with is eight tentacles of suckers can kill you in three minutes. In a really horrific way. It's one of those things you always hear talked about but never see...like drop bears.

Until you see two of them at Point Samson while out reef walking.

Thank goodness I was actually in shoes this time.

We were with my sister and brother in law who were visiting. My Brother in law spotted the first one - and kept him out of his hidey hole with a rock until I could get there with the macro. Inches away from death. And this creature, I kid you not, was no longer than 10cm and the most vibrant blue rings I could ever imagine! The Blue rivaled glacier blue, it was almost fluorescent! We had fun taking photos, from a relatively safe distance. It was just a shame that my husband didn't see it - he had decided that he needed to confirm that there was indeed nothing at the end of the spit.

But, we did spot another one in the end. If you head over to my Instagram feed, you can see a short video I got of that one, and you can see his blue rings pulsing - getting brighter, even darker around the edges as he gets scared.

I have never been more grateful for the macro. They swam very fast but I managed to snap a few.

My Favourite - Blue Ringed Octopus cruisin' - giving these humans the evil eye

It's a pity the tentacles are out of focus in this one, but I love his eyes

One of the most fascinating things - other than the potential for a 3 minutes of excruciating death (unless someone basically performs CPR for 24 hours...) - is that the rings get brighter, but the skin around the rings also gets darker to make them stand out even more...you really can't say the don't warn you.

Sea Feathers

Out at Point Samson you can walk on the reef at low tide. The reef in this instance refers to a small spit that juts out in front of the Point Samson Tavern (home of the best fish and chips - EVER) where the old jetty used to be. The rocks are covered in oysters, they have thin layers in classic Pilbara style, and at low tide there are numerous rock pools to explore with coral, Christmas tree worms, clams, slugs and octopuses. I'm sure there's more there because every time we go back we discover something new.

On this occasion it was some feathered - not sure if it's coral or some kind of aquatic plant. But it was cool to look at and on a glassy day, the macro did wonders.

Wisdom

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
Proverbs 29:11

This proverb is about more than anger. It's about self-control. Self-control is one of the fruit of the spirit, and it's one I believe that does not get as much air time as, say, love. But it is so important. Personally, sometimes I wonder if it was listed last in Galations because it sums up all the other eight fruits - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness - they all relate to self-control in some way. It is self-control that helps us choose to love when we are angry and frustrated, chose joy in the dark times, be patient when we want to surge ahead, be kind when we don't feel like it, choose the right thing because it is good, remain faithful and be gentle with one another. When we struggle with fruit, it is self-control that gets us through - the self-control and discipline to turn to Jesus when the going gets rough and not simply act out on our emotions because that's what feels good. Or alternatively, turn to Jesus when the going goes well, not just act on our emotions because that's what feels good.

This tree reminds me of wisdom. Proverbs is one of the wisest books I know, hence the reference. 

These are a few of my favourite things

Growing up my favourite animal was the black swan. This was before I realised how vicious they were when they were after bread, and the hideous noise they make when calling out to each other (I was taken aback at just how un-graceful that sound is!).

But I have to say, on a side note, my older brother ruined it for 6 year old me - he used to pretend to point out dead swans to me just to get a rise. I would inform him that there were none there, and proceed to get quite cranky at his stirring. This is also the person whose pet name for me was 'mozzie'. Thankfully, we are now older and wiser, and the one thing (among other things) my brother and I have in common these days is photography. I love to chat with him about photos he has been taking and tell him why Canon is better than Nikon (Nikon aren't bad...but they aren't Canon) and look enviously at his photos from Europe...

Anyway, back to the swans. The very ALIVE swans.

I still love them - I love how they move in pairs, mate for life, are graceful, peaceful and calm. The picture of tranquility (provided they don't make a noise...or you have ear muffs). These guys were on a waterhole we went by on a 4WD trek. We were the lead car at that stage of a convoy of three. I'd tried capturing some swans (on camera) earlier that day but they flew away. This happens a lot with me and birds. And animals. And people. They just don't do as they told!

So of course, when I saw a bevy (yes a bevy - Wikipedia says so and it sounds better than flock or herd) of swans cruising placidly down the river, I could not resist. I stopped the car, which thus stopped the convoy, and ran out in my thongs on the stony riverbed to capture the swans. I didn't hold out much hope for this photo, as it was taken in a rush, but was pleasantly surprised. I love it when you have the right lens on a the right time for that quick moment! (we just won't talk about the Jabiru we saw later in the day that I promptly scared away by slamming the car door shut in my haste to get my camera...rookie mistake...)

I have two favourite things about this photo - one, the stunning light. Everything is exposed correctly except a couple of overexposed feathers. Two the fact that it seamlessly stitched together (two landscape photos) despite the movement of the swans.

This one is for my brother. The Alive Swans. Hope he likes it.