This was my first visit to Perry Sandhills near Wentworth in New South Wales. ‘Cap in hand’, I did have a fairly strong preconception about the sort of photograph I wanted to come away with from this location – the iconic first light of dawn playing across the dunes with some spectacular cloud formations lit [...]
Unfortunately I have had to cut my photographic trip to Mungo, Mildura and the Walls of China a couple of days shorter than I had originally intended. Pretty much non stop rain for the last 48 hours meant that the road into Mungo and the Walls of China was a total quagmire and closed; combined [...]
RSEO is reporting 28/05/2010: Katla is the second largest volcano in the country of Iceland, and Iceland’s president is issuing a warning saying that the eruption of Katla is close. Icelandic president Ólafur Grímsson has warned other governments around Europe “that a significant eruption at the volcano is close.” “We [Iceland] have prepared … it [...]
I am leaving tomorrow morning for a few days landscape and wilderness photography in the far north of Victoria at Mungo, the Walls of China and Perry Sandhills with a probable stop off in Mildura. I have not been to any of these locations before for photography. The Walls of China at Mungo are supposed [...]
My Canon Travel thermos arrived in the mail today from Canon Mugs in China – I must admit I had my doubts anything would ever arrive (its the cynic in me). Overall the quality is quite good. The thermos is lined with stainless steel and the lid is a good snug fit. This should do [...]
The first time a new photographer encounters the price tag on some of Canon’s super telephoto lenses they quite often suffer from sticker shock at the price of entry. Just why does it cost more than $6000 Australian dollars for a 300mm F2.8L lens, more than $8000 for a 500mm F4 and more than a [...]
One of my favourite places in New Zealand is the small village of Kaikoura on the East Coast of the South Island. This tranquil, peaceful fishing village has simply the most stunning and spectacular sunrises I have ever experienced. Set against the Southern Alps Kaikoura offers not only amazing opportunities for landscape photography, but also [...]
HISZ RSOE is reporting that there is volcanic activity at Katla! Things are moving very fast indeed! There is as yet no further detail, but I will update as soon as I see that they have added more information. Edit – Approx 12 hours on and no further updates. Webcams show pretty good visibility. Edit [...]
During my two weeks in the South Island of New Zealand last year I had several opportunities to photograph The Remarkables on the foreshore of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. This is a wonderful location for landscape photography – not to mention convenient. One can simply wander down from one of the many restaurants before or [...]
In the past 48 hours there have been four earthquakes at the larger Katla volcano in Iceland. The earthquakes may be due to ice movements within the Mýrdalsjökull glacier or magma movement under the volcano. Scientists have been keeping a close watch on the Katla volcano, due to the possibility of an eruption triggered by [...]
Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano is erupting with much less force than before – spewing just five tonnes of ash per second instead of 200 at its peak earlier in the week. The material being produced is tephra rising to 1.5 to 2 km into the air. No lava is flowing from the crater according to the latest [...]
Today is endangered species day in the USA (pity Australia isn’t so pro-active – Are you listening Peter Garrett?). Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people young and old to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect all disappearing wildlife. Protecting America’s wildlife [...]
I dont know why someone didn’t think of this sooner – Or, maybe they did and I have just been living under the proverbial rock and missed it. Rather than purchasing an ultra expensive lens or even a camera for that matter for a photographic trip (such as a Safari to Africa or a trip [...]
The “boss” has begrudgingly approved a new laptop (after some not so general prodding on my behalf) so I ordered a new Macbook Pro today – A 17″ anti-Glare screen, Core i7 2.66 Ghz with 8 Gig of RAM and a 256 Gig Solid State Hard drive. It should arrive in a few days time; [...]
Well… put this one squarely in the truth is stranger than fiction category. With my Iceland trip now only a matter of weeks away I have started to stress just a little bit about the weight of all my camera equipment (as if I wasn’t stressing enough about the Volcano screwing up my well laid [...]
For the life of me I could not find my favourite small coffee thermos the other day – in frustration I gave in today and ordered one of these Canon Travel Thermos from Canon Mugs. These are apparently exact copies of the promotional thermos that Canon gave away at the Winter Olympics earlier this year. [...]
The fifth photograph in my Wildlife Portraits Project is of a juvenile Mandrill taken at the Melbourne Zoo. This was shot with the Canon 1DSMK3 and 300mm F2.8L IS lens wide open at ISO800 through a pane of glass on a very overcast day (with very low light levels). The 1DSMK3 and the 300mm F2.L [...]
Sean Stiegemeier has posted a really stunning time lapse video of the volcanic eruption in Iceland. The video is from a number of different locations around the volcano site so you get a really good impression of the surrounding landscape – its both beautiful and haunting. I cant embed the video because its on Vimeo [...]
The internet is a rapidly evolving beast. The idea that we would be browsing web pages on our phones and other small handheld portable devices was science fiction only a few years ago. Fast forward to 2010 and its the norm to check everything from the weather to stock prices to our favourite websites and [...]
This fourth photograph in my Wildlife Portraits project was an offhand opportunity grab shot I took a couple of years ago now. I had gone to Montsalvat with my son Julian to shoot some portraits in the grounds and amongst the buildings when this resident Peacock decided to put on a show for some of [...]
