Sometimes home is a great place to take photographs because there is a wild jungle in the garden with all sorts of wonderful creatures contained within. Over the summer of late 2020 I found myself always taking a camera with me when I was out gardening or doing other things in the yard. I always wanted to be ready to take those fleeting shots of the amazing tiny animals that keep us company but we barely notice. Sometimes, an overturned clump of mud would come alive with life or a pruned branch would reveal an insect upon it. This led to a lot of random photographs that did not really fit in other posts so I knew that I would have to do a compilation to include them all. Over time I became fascinated with those small creatures and I find macrophotography allowed me to see them in far more detail than my eyes did. Sometimes they were not so small, like the truly amazing looking Twig-like Katydid at the top of this post. In the small ones, sometimes the shots revealed colours that we were not able to see, I became amazed at the colours in some flies. I know that insects and spiders are not everybody’s favourite subject but I find them fascinating and I hope that you like the photographs below.
Read MoreNatural beauty of the Long Plain, Kosciuszko National Park in March 2021
My good mate and fellow photographer BigFigTree said he wanted to try to get some atmospheric shots of the wild Brumbies on the Long Plain in Kosciuszko National Park, and that there was a spare seat in his car if I wanted it. I jumped at the chance so we decided to do the trip over the Saturday and Sunday of the Canberra Day Long Weekend. I am so glad that he invited me because it opened my eyes to a whole wilderness just on the outskirts of Canberra that is so beautiful. We had a great couple of days, stopping to take photos, camping beside the beautiful Blue Waterholes and just moving at a slower pace. Our Brumby photographs did not turn out well but we found so many other subjects. He is a great photographer and I would recommend checking out his Flickr feed, linked above. It really was a fun two days and I hope that you enjoy the photographs below.
Read MoreSeabirds, New Holland Honeyeaters and wonderful shorelife - Photographing around Sydney in December 2019
Being in Sydney over Christmas in 2019 was a chance to get away from the smoke in Canberra. It was also a great opportunity to photograph the shore life around the south-eastern side of Sydney Harbour, including the birdlife. Strangely, it was hard to find too much birdlife so I am not sure if the December weather patterns and bushfires had made it harder on Sydney birds than usual. However, I did enjoy photographing some Crested Terns and a Pied Cormorant, although they were at a distance from me so the shots are not the best. I also had the opportunity to do macro photography of some cool insects I found around the place. The weather was mostly pretty good with reasonable light, although there were some gusty winds at time. Still it was nice to enjoy the photographic opportunities I had. I hope you like the pictures below.
Read MoreA White-faced Heron catching food and getting close to an Australasian Darter - Photographing around Jerrabomberra Wetlands on Sunday, 19 January 2020
Jerrabomberra Wetlands is such a gem for bird lovers in Canberra because there are always interesting birds to see yet it is basically right in the heart of Canberra. I had not been to the wetlands for a while but this time I wanted to try to see birds from a different angle, by photographing them from the water. I am enjoying paddling my kayak so I thought I would try photographing purely from the kayak, not going ashore at all. I was worried the whole time I was on the water that I would turn over and wreck my photography equipment but I think the morning turned out much better than I had hoped. A lot of birds seemed less worried about me, possibly as I was less ‘human’ sitting down in the kayak, letting it slowly drift towards the birds rather than walking to them on land. I had a marvellous morning right from the start when a White-faced Heron grabbed a fish out of the shallow water I was preparing to launch my kayak from. I saw so many wonderful birds I was late getting back to my start point. I also tried more videography from the kayak, which was very hard keeping the camera still, but the video is embedded below. In summary, I had a really enjoyable morning with the amazing birds and I hope you enjoy the photos below. (Please note, I did not realise 2 February was World Wetlands Day but what a good coincidence to publish this post on that appropriate day. I hope we can protect this wetland along with the others, they are truly fantastic places that are of great importance to us all.)
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