One of those photos from one of those moments

Have you ever experienced a time when you take a photo, purely because you have a camera, there's something in front of you to take a photo, so you are like, what the heck? Only to come home, edit the photo and realise it's actually one of the best photos you have ever taken?

That's this photo for me. I took it, because I was bored. We had packed up camp, and we were waiting for something, I can't remember what, so I walked a little way off with my camera, fitted with my wide angle lens.

I had just discovered that my Samsung Galaxy takes a pretty mean panorama. I mean, it put's a lot of my distorted efforts to shame. So I was in a state of denial, determined to out-beat my smartphone and take a cracking panorama on my camera. I decided to use a technique I have seen others use but I admit, I have derided. That is putting your camera on burst mode and taking heaps of photos as you pan around. It's a pretty good option if you don't have a tripod and the sun is bright.

So off I traipsed determined. I soon realised that I had to time my pan to be faster at the start and slower towards the end, to match my camera's memory speed. One thing I have noticed about my CF card, although it's a pain I need a card reader for it and they are hideously expensive, they are actually really fast at capturing information. Or maybe I just lucked it out on a good one.

The results - yeah, I was pretty happy with them. And yes, hands down beats out the smartphone! Take that Galaxy!

Young Grasshopper...

So I don't know if this guy was young...but he was naive.

He landed on a sticky plant while trying to hop away. Silly grasshopper - thank you for getting yourself conveniently stuck so I could take photos with my macro till my heart was content...or frustrated, take your pick.

These were very low, as in, ankle high shrubs that came alive with grasshoppers when you walked through. The shrubs have long fingers on the shoots that are sticky, oily, grimy and just generally not nice to touch. They smell nice when disturbed though - a strong but natural smell. Almost like a toxic cleanse - it's not a particularly nice smell like roses, but it feels good to be smelling it in the fresh air and early morning light.

Mulla mulla wannabees

These flowers have always confused me. They aren't mulla mulla but they look like mulla mulla - kind of. I call them mulla mulla wannabees.

Took advantage of some morning light and used the macro to capture these fluffy, purple beauties. Who would have thought fluffy and purple would be words to describe something of Pilbara beauty?

Early Morning Light...

One of the reasons I love camping is because by the time morning arrives, you are normally so uncomfortable in bed, you can't wait to get up. This provides ample motivation to take photos in the early morning light.

There was not a lot of motivation on this trip to climb any hills - but this is a pretty awesome scene to wake up to in a swag surrounded by friends.

And people ask why we stay in the Pilbara?

Poor Paw Print

To be honest I only titled this 'Poor Paw' because of the alliteration.

Do you remember that scene in the Lion King, when Simba puts his small paw into Mufasa's big paw? Aww, so cute.

So when taking photos of water droplets, and I saw a natural paw print, naturally, I had to take a photo...

Love the macro!

Where did Python Pool go?

Python Pool was running! Where did it go?

Groan. That's a dad joke.

We visited Python pool after rain to finally, after 4 years see the waterfall. It did not fail to impress. In my opinion it should be running more often!

Python pool is an interesting beast. It's a great swimming hole, but only for a few weeks after rain. After than it gets green and scungy. But I saw a different side to Python pool today. The brown side! But at least the water was fresh.

Last time I went to take photos here, I was attacked by horse flies and was taking anit-histamines for a week.

This time, while trying to compose a different shot, I was attacked by meat ants. But I had to take the shot from right on top of their nests - all I had was thongs. So, I would run up, take a few shots, then run back into the water to kill the suckers that had latched on. This happened several times.

The other cool thing about this visit is that we ran into an old friend we hadn't seen since about a month after we arrived in town who had moved to Port Hedland. Ahh, the Pilbara, the people you meet and then meet again!

The one above is six vertical shots stitched together into a panorama using a nifty fifty. I've got to tell you, the more I use that nifty fifty, the more I love it! It's taken a while, you definately have to get used to it, but it's so much fun.

Below is just a good close up of the waterfall.

What Is Pilbara?

While driving home today, I mentioned to my husband that no other region is revered quite like the Pilbara, to my knowledge at least. Maybe the Kimberley.

You know, a region, not a state or city but a region, that has set a name for itself. It rivals Kimberley. Other regions like the Hunter, the Barossa, Margaret River, they are tourist regions. Set up to attract tourists. The Pilbara is different. It's rugged, remote and not set up for tourists. I rather like it that way. It's a part of the country we can enjoy without the hype or the expectation.

The Pilbara is unique in Australia. No-where else will you find a region with such a name, that people don't want to go because the perception is that it's just mining! Just a hole in the ground! HA!

When I think of Pilbara, this is the scene I think of. It's not the greatest photo of the Chichester Ranges, but this isn't about the photo. It's about the Pilbara. And to be honest, there are too many highly edited photos of the Pilbara going around with all the wanna-be photographers around (yes I know, myself included). This is it. This is real. This does not do the stunning countryside justice.

Water Monitor

The final one from our Karijini whirlwine, Phew!

This guy was hanging out on the path. I love it when lizards make it easy for you like that. We watched this guy for a little while, as he snapped up a bug or two and cruised around on the rocks. He was very obliging.

Of course, being on the path, other people came and went, including a pair of camera nerds who had two 7D bodies between them and the guy decided he wanted a photo as well - he changed his lens three times. That's pretty dedicated.

I like this one, because he wasn't the most fantastic looking specimen, but his head and neck look pretty cool with his textured skin and scales.

Misty water in the sunlight

On this last trip to Karijini we managed to take my parents up and down each and every gorge you can visit in the park and then some.

We visited this little known gem, Kalamina Gorge. It's not really that interesting, but it does have some lovely little cascades. We were there late morning, but the shade was just nice enough to expose the cascades correctly to mist them up nicely while still getting the greenery around.

This photo actually caught me by surprise - it's one of many I took for a HDR, but I think it works just fine on its own.

That rare moment known as sunrise...

I never get up in time to see the sun. It's rather silly. But when camping in a swag on a hard rocky ground, you are kind of eager to get up as soon as possible.

In this case, I was roused out of the swag from my husband, urging me to take a photo of the sunrise. You couldn't see much from our campsite, but the colours were pretty fantastic. So I went with silhouettes.

Thanks to my husband once again for waking the morning zombie for the sunrise.

Back to the Handrail

Last time I took photos here, I ended up with a canvas on my wall.

I didn't set out to recreate that photo. But my husband and parents decided to go further down the gorge. It didn't look camera safe (we had not dry bag in this gorge...not that it did us any good down Joffreys!) so I stayed on the rocks. And took photos.

Hancock Gorge - #6

This is the last one from Hancock I promise!

But, I did save my favourite till last.

This baby is three photos taken with my wide angle stitched together for a panorama. The top is a little dark, and I have not yet mastered HDR photography, but I do love the lines, the water and the colours in this photo. It has everything you like, and the darkness at the top gives it a nice frame, or space for something to be written.

All in all, I call it a successful trip down Hancock Gorge.

Hancock Gorge - #5

Panoramas.

I wanted to take the wide angle down the gorges and take some panoramas. I got two in the end, that I was pretty happy with.

The first is below. It has a couple of muppets in it, but hopefully that gives you an idea of where we were, how we traversed the rocks and water to the views, and the kind of terrain I was taking photos in!

Also, this one is particularly cool because I had an accidental whirlpool! Cyclone Gorge!

Hancock Gorge - #4

So there are going to be a few more of these than I realised.

I did spend a good deal of time with the water in Hancock gorge, given that we missed it last time!

It's great when you discover little gems. Both of these photos were taken as part of would be panoramas, but the final product of them individually was enough! Loving the wide angle lens down the gorges!

PS How cool is the whirlpool???

Hancock Gorge - #3 (Kermits Pool)

One of the most popular spots at Karijini - Kermits Pool. Green pool, in a narrow gorge, fed by a waterfall. Paradise!

I love the colours in this shot. They have been played with a little, but only to bring out the pool's natural beauty.

The other thing I love, even though it's over-exposed, is the flash of orange and red flowing into the pool from the other side from further down the gorge. It adds a depth of colour. This shot was taken as part of a set of three with my wide angle, but when stitched together they were not as appealing! This one does just nicely I think.

Hancock Gorge - #2

Karijini is the kind of place where you can spend half an hour taking a photo, then take two steps down the gorge only to find another angle, another viewpoint, another perfect spot.

So of course, before heading down the spider walk in Hancock Gorge, I looked back at the little waterfall, and realised, oh my gosh that's just as stunning, if not more!

A key feature of Karijini is the flat rocks. I love how the water cascades over them. In this photo I love how the gorge is reflected on the cascade but made blurry by the movement.

It was very difficult to get the colours right in this shot, as the water is supposed to be a beautiful turquoise but I think the water was still settling from some recent rain.

If only there weren't spots on my lens!

Hancock Gorge - #1

We went to Hancock Gorge last time, but didn't get great photos because we went at the wrong time of day. This time, I made sure I was down that gorge in the morning, before the sun got there, and before the backpackers and grey nomads alike.

There are numerous shots of Hancock, so there will be numerous posts.

The only thing that was annoying is that I knew we were being followed by a bunch of loud backpackers. So I had to be quick. As quick as I was, they still managed to photo bomb a few of my shots! Over the next few posts, see if you can spot the backpacker...

But this one is nice and clean...I stopped to take it despite the oncoming loudness because I had not seen this section in shadow before. Seize the opportunity!

Hello Karijini...we meet again

That's right. We went to photography paradise. Karijini National Park - not the only place you can break your neck while taking photos, but in this part of the country, the odds do increase dramatically.

It's just stunning. Every time I visit, it blows me away. So this visit, I tried to take a few photos that we missed last time.

Sometimes I feel bad about making people wait for me to take photos. But not this trip and not here. How can you complain about waiting in a place like this?

So, let's kick it off with a nice little cascade from Dales Gorge, where we went the first day. I missed these cascades the first time around, and we were in the gorge just before the sun went down so the light was even. How could I resist?

I don't want to speak too soon. But I think this is a favourite. I was pleasantly surprised to come across this baby while editing.

While you're set up...

After taking pictures of the blood moon, I thought, hey, what the heck, I'm already set up in the front driveway, why not give stars a whirl?

Heaps of light around, and not a great lens, so you are never going to get a brilliant shot, however I was happily surprised by the results - I got many more stars than I was anticipating! And yes, the fancy angle was on purpose.

When there's blood on the moon...

Now that's a bit of an ominous title!

We have had a couple of blood moons recently. The first, I didn't even attempt to photograph, the second, I took my gear up the hill but it was murkey and hazy, and I was feeling lazy.

So when this one came around, I wasn't even going to bother, but I was in the kitchen and my husband came in the front door, all 'quickly have a look at the moon!' so I went out, and realised, you know what? I could shoot that from my driveway - no climbing, no shoes, not much hassle, just tripod up, camera on, point, shoot, bang you're done.

So that's what I did.

Admittedly, it's not a great blood moon shot. Heck, it's not even a good one! But it's a good first attempt, and much better than I was expecting, given the light all around. And not having the correct lens. I believe I shot this with my 18-200mm in the end (set at 200mm) which doesn't give the greatest focus but at least its zoomed as close as I possibly could.