Tag: birds

2010 – 2019 My Favourite Images

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2010-2019 My Favourite Images from the Decade

 

The decade for starting a photography business, making new friends and lots of travel.  I hope you’ll enjoy my little journey down memory lane, these are some of my favourites.  Some you will have seen, others possibly not.  I’ve tried to limit the images to 2 per year but sometimes that was a little too hard.  

I look back and see a lot of variety but I still don’t know what my style is, perhaps someone can help me with that??

2010 – The Forth Bridge, Scotland.  Playing with light trails and long exposures at Blue Hour

 

2010 – Eilean Donan Castle, Lock Duich during Blue Hour

2011 – Experimenting with coloured lights and light painting.  Waroona

2011 – Playing with Macro in the backyard

2012 – One of the first times that I pre-visualised an image and then successfully made it happen.  Hampton Arms Bookstore, Greenough, Western Australia

2012 – The beginnings of my interest in minimalism. Maritime Museum, Fremantle.

2013 – A lone bicycle the morning after a Typhoon hit. Hoi An, Vietnam

2013 – Just a quick snap taken in the Ferguson Valley near Bunbury. These cows were so friendly, within a minute they were all coming up to me at the fence. So glad I got that first shot in.

2014 – Ah India, such an incredible place and rather heart stopping on the back of a motorcycle. Somewhere in Rajasthan.

Congelin Square

2014 – A minus 0 degree winters morning on a camping trip with the motorbike club. Congelin, Western Australia

 

2014 – More playing with coloured lights and light painting. Johnson Rd Yarloop

2015 – Female Scarlet Robin with breakfast, Barrabup Pool, Western Australia

2015 – A still autumn morning Kellands Ponds near Twizle, New Zealand

2015 – View of Coronet Peak on ‘fire’ in the late afternooon light. Taken from the balcony of our accommodation. Queenstown, New Zealand

2015 – Multiple exposures blended together.  Commercial Hotel, Meekatharra

2016 – KT The Cockatoo, this Female Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo photographed in my home studio

2016 – A sight I’ve always wanted to see. A multitude of African animals at a waterhole. Etosha National Park, Namibia

2016 – Love this sand dune.  Dune 44, Sossusvlei, Namibia

2017 – Sunset before the storm, Lake Ballard, Western Australia

2017 – A reminder of how small the world is these days. Brynja, reaching to her homeland, Iceland) and our Aussie mate Tom from down under. Eagle Rider Motorcycle Tour, Baja California Sur

2018 – My neighbour competing in the Best of the West Stockman Challenge, Packsaddle event. Dardanup

2018 – Fun with Silhouette at a Workshop in Fremantle

2018 – Spotted Pardalote in our front yard in Roelands. He/she stayed a couple of days, was possibly looking for a potential nesting site.

2019 – Our mascot ‘Jacks’, that we take along on our bike rides, meeting his own real life kangaroo which took a real shine to him. Donnelly River, Western Australia

2019 – Tidal Flats Tail. An aerial taken from a helicopter at low tide. Sandy Point Broome

2019 – Gimlet Trees. An in-camera Multiple exposure of Gimlet Trees against the bark of a Gimlet Tree. Near Norseman, Western Australia

Finally Found One Black-shouldered Kite

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Black-shouldered Kite (AKA Elanus axillaris)

It’s only taken about 3 years but I’ve finally spent some time with a black-shouldered Kite.  I’ve managed to get a couple of photos of these birds before but they’ve been off in the distance or have flown off on my approach. But not this day.  The weather was stunning for the middle of winter, no wind, not cold and beautiful reflections in the estuary.  The birds were chirping, people out walking everywhere.  

Black-Shouldered Kite Leschenault

I just love those red eyes and yellow legs and feet.  These small to medium raptors feed by dropping to the ground upon seeing mice, small lizards and ground birds.  More information can be found at Birdlife.

A big shout of thanks goes out to my friend Chris Tate for letting me know that this Kite has been hanging around Leschenault lately and that I had better get my act into gear and get out there.  

Black-Shouldered Kite Leschenault

Great Egret

I also came across this Great Egret sitting up on a branch for me.  These guys are often on the ground in amongst the grasses or in the water so you don’t always get the opportunity to photograph them legs and all.  These birds are stunning when they are in their breeding plumage usually in summer.

Great Egret

Crested Terns Fishing Bremer Bay

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Crested Terns fishing at Bremer Bay.  What a lovely sight for me.  I’ve never taken the time out to watch these magnificent birds, what a mistake.  I’ll not be overlooking them in the future.  Their long pointed silvery grey wings seem to effortlessly soar them through the air.  How they manage to catch the smallest of fish from a plunge starting a couple of metres above the water, is beyond me.  While the photos are not top quality they’re my first of this type so I’m happy with them.  I hope that you enjoy them also.

Fishing Crested Terns

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The Wonders of Victoria Dam

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On a recent overnight visit to Perth I headed up to Victoria Dam (a water supply for Perth City) in Carmel early in the morning.  My aim was to do some birding but it turned out to be much, much more.  It’s quite a walk on the weekends as the 2nd car park is closed and that’s closer to the dam.  Armed with my 300mm f2.8 birding lens and backpack with some breakfast, oh and don’t forget the rain coat as it had rained overnight and was still threatening to start again.  I didn’t find any birds that I hadn’t photographed before.  I was hoping for some Firetails or a Western Rosella, maybe next time.

Birds

This Australasian Grebe was happy to forage around in his little pond with me photographing him until a family joined us and the noise scared him into the reeds.  I was quite surprised at how well he blended in with the ground and the water in the 2nd image.

The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is a common sight in many areas.  We have them roosting in the bush behind our place. This female was not alarmed by my presence and stayed long enough for me to get a few shots off.  This is a female (white bill and yellow spots) Forest Red-tail, a subspecies found in the South West of Western Australia.  These birds are listed as Vunerable, if you wish to read more about them here’s a link to the WA Museum.

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Australasian Grebe

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and More

The early morning light, recent rain and a good quality lens at a big aperture make for good bokeh.  Here’s a great little article on Bokeh is you’re interested in the effect. I’ve never really used my 300mm lens for anything other than birding or sports photography.  Today was a different story.  There was just too much to photograph and I didn’t have another lens with me.

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The low cloud cover, or was it fog, in the valley created a beautiful mood which I did my best to capture.

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I was very surprised to see the city appearing out of the clouds.  Quite a cropped image but I think shows the diversity of the views from the walk down to the dam.  In conclusion, it appears that I didn’t photograph Victoria Dam itself.  And as I didn’t photograph any new birds perhaps I need to come back another time.

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