I found some peace amongst these tiny plants and the surrounding forest. It is a place of dead giants. Many years ago the largest old growth Jarrah trees were felled for timber and milled leaving massive stumps scattered throughout the area. A graveyard of sorts. The little orchids tended to grow in the shadow of these stumps and after several visits the idea of photographing them over the course of their above ground life cycle formed. To visit, observe, photograph and document until the seeds dispersed to the air and the flowers returned to the earth. Hatching, matching and dispatching, from birth through to death. At the beginning of this project I didn’t realise deeper stuff was at play but slowly time revealed it’s hand? Interesting how my mind and heart instinctively knew what would help, and found a way to make sense?
Read moreThelymitra pulcherrima is commonly known as the Northern Queen of Sheba orchid in Western Australia. The latin word pulcherrima means prettiest and is definitely an appropriate epitaph for this species. I imagine the common name reference to the legendary Queen of Sheba derives from both the unique and fascinating beauty of the flower and a commonality in that this stunning orchid, just like the mysterious Queen, worships the sun? Impermanance is woven deeply into the fabric of nature and life. It is integral to the process and is effectively what propels the magnificent dance onwards through the gates of time.
Flowers and humans exist just once. Physical form inevitably decays giving way to the intangible, a legacy of memories, tales and genes throwing forward to create the future. It is such thoughts that inspired the following saunter back through time and then around, full circle……….
Read moreAs part of my website upgrade I am planning to publish regular online journal articles. This is the first entry in many years. It is on the theme of change, because there are some big ones happening in my life right now. More entries will follow, a mix of topics! Updates on life in the new place, progress on shack building and veggie gardens, field trip reports, information on photography gear and processing software and notes on the process behind my favorite images. Articles on the Meerup landscape and the plants and animals that live there. Details of my photographic expeditions into the misty forest, up rugged coastal cliffs, along white sandy beaches, diving into the cold southern ocean and exploring intriguing wetlands full of diversity. A brave new world!
Read moreI recently showed my photograph of a caged Crested Serpent Eagle to an artist friend, Claire Stapely-Walker and explained the story of it’s capture and the thoughts it had provoked. Claire paints eyes and was inspired to create a work that represented both the photograph and my thoughts. It has been a fascinating process which resulted in an incredible painting that has provoked more thoughts. The reality that this beautiful bird lived its life out in a tiny cage of steel bars is a tragedy, just one example of an overwhelming mass of sadness created when human ignorance interesects with nature. We are all in a prison of some sort.
Read moreI get a lot of questions about processing images, so decided to write a couple of journal articles which detail the exact steps I follow for a particular image. This article focuses on a problematic capture of two baby Black Shouldered Kites and illustrates the process I follow with a series of screen shots and commentary explaining why I did what I did.
Read moreI started photographing birds at Booragoon Lake about three years ago. Overtime it has become one of my favourite spots. Why? There are several reasons. The small size of the lake and surrounding area has allowed me to build up a good knowledge of the species that inhabit the reserve and develop an in depth understanding of their movements and behaviour. Such knowledge increases predictability and therefore the probability of obtaining good shots. It takes time and a lot of consistent observation to know nature. The many obsessive hours I have spent at this tiny lake have greatly helped my understanding of Goshawks, Black Shouldered Kites, Hobbies, Night Heron, Spoonbills, Swamphens and White Necked Heron. Such knowledge is extremely valuable to me. It builds slowly. Each observation, each understanding is another piece in a far greater puzzle. It helps me take better photos, but, more importantly it is how I find meaning, it is how I connect and it is how I make sense of my life.
Read moreWhen things get difficult in life I think of the image that came from the strange morning at the lake. The image of the Kite and the Raven powerfully represents my own difficulties, but, it seems larger than that, extending to symbolise the battles we all face in life. An ancient human struggle, forces of darkness and light vying for position within, opposing yet complimentary, different perspectives of the same wisdom, locked in a process that is never really resolved either way. It is my all time favourite image out of the tens of thousands I have captured.
Read moreMy interest in photography originates from my childhood, forty years ago, in the West Australian desert. As a kid growing up on Kalli Station a remote sheep farming property, I developed a fascination for the natural world. My spare time was spent out in the bush, wandering the creeks, granite outcrops and breakaways that surrounded our homestead with Jacko, my dog. We would walk for hours, looking for waterholes, aboriginal carvings, birds, animals, tracks and different plants. Sometimes we would take the motorbike to a distant rock or breakaway that held the promise of wondrous finds.
Read moreI am fascinated by light and colour, and, the more time I spend photographing birds the more I appreciate the incredible complexity and beauty existing within these two phenomena. In my opinion light is what makes or breaks a photographic image. It easily trumps subject, composition and technical accuracy. As a photographer I am constantly studying light, its qualities, direction and intensity; its effect on subjects and the vast array of subtle hues and tones it forms.
Read moreWarning............This is a bit of a long and rambly post.....me looking back over the year and really just putting words to a whole lot of thoughts mostly for my own purposes.............you can skip straight to my favourite 2015 images at the bottom!!
Terry was determined to get better and against all odds he has done it!! Over the course of the year he has got stronger and stronger. He has had very few long term effects from his treatment, and is now back into the full swing of life, fixing things, building things and making things.
Read moreOver the past year I have spent many early mornings at Alfred Cove photographing birds. This is a collection of my best images from Alfred Cove along with a discussion about exposure issues and techniques for photographing white birds. Alfred Cove is a tiny area of remnant marshland and bushland located on the margin of the Swan River in the heart of Perth. Within the reserve there are sandy beaches, mud flats, sand flats, intertidal zones and bushland. The diversity of habitat within such a small area creates a haven for a diverse array of creatures particularly birds.
Read moreOne thing I have learned when capturing takeoff shots is to back my zoom out to allow for the wing span and avoid cutting off the wing tips.......it is a tradeoff because in doing this you often have to crop out excess background and lose image size but you also greatly reduce the chances of completely ruining a shot by cutting off the wingtips.The more I photograph a particular species the better I get at judging how far to zoom out, but with this bird I completely underestimated it.
Read moreThree weeks ago now.............I had a very interesting week.........it really started on Tuesday when I went to Bibra Lake arriving before dawn. Nothing unusual about that, or the first few hours which I spent photographing Egrets, Heron and Black Winged Stilts.
Read moreI have struggled throughout my life to find space where I feel authentic and where things are real. Within the mundane complexity of jobs, relationships, family, friends and daily life there are so many unsaid expectations and conflicting priorities that it is easy to lose perspective and clarity.
Read moreTwo weeks ago I came across a Bar Tailed Godwit on the sandy point at Alfred Cove early in the morning. I had seen this bird with its distinctive long beak a couple of times before but never this close.
Read moreOne morning I couldn't find any birds to photograph so decided to lay out all the gear I usually take out in the bush...........I was surprised to see it all together..........clearly I am not so good at travelling light!!
Read moreWe left Perth on Saturday 28th of March at around 7.00am and drove to Hyden where we had lunch before heading out on the Hyden-Norseman road which intersects with the Holland Track near Emu Rocks.
Read moreIn my teenage years, I came across the above stanza derived from Thomas Osbert Mordaunt's poem 'The Call' in the book 'One Crowded Hour' written by Tim Bowden. The book documented the life and death of Australian war photojournalist Neil Davis who is best remembered for his work on the front line in the confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia in Borneo and the Vietnam War.
Read moreLuck seems to play an enormous role in photography and for that matter life. This week I am having my own very personal bird drought. There just doesn't seem to be birds anywhere. I have tried all the usual spots and they seem devoid, even the regular stilts, ibis and pelicans are in short supply
Read moreOn a recent trip to the South West we spend a few days camped on the shore of Lake Towerrinning near Boyup Brook. It is a large freshwater lake with surprisingly clean deep water surrounded by farmland. Adjacent to the main lake is a smaller shallow salt lake filled with bleached tree skeletons, stinking black mud and a slightly sinister atmosphere.
Read more
