Robert's Ramblings

'Air Time' might seem an odd name for this image but it seemed appropriate as I come up for ,air so to speak, from my underwater images.

We are fortunate here in having the diversity of weather which helps in creating dramatic images. Sunsets are obvious of course but when ever there is heavy but patchy cloud and the sun low in the sky the light will be gorgeous and everything looks wonderful.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Air Time' 1/4000s f/11 ISO160 200mm

I spy with my little eye something that starts with 'e'.

It's really not that hard to guess it's looking right back at me.

Mosaic Leatherjacket, Eubalichthys mosaicus

Port Hughes Jetty, South Australia.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Eye Spy' 1/125s f/14 ISO320 100mm

Another first for me. Finally after years of diving I have finally found Veronica.

I called her Veronica as it is an anagram of Verconia verconis, her real name.

She has no common name as is the case with most of our beautifully weird and wonderful sea critters. Unless they are commercially significant or in the popular mind then creatures like Veronica never get a simple name, forever to be known only by some tongue twisting phrase of Latin.

Another wonderful find under Port Hughes Jetty, South Australia.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Veronica' 1/125s f/13 ISO320 100mm

Tucked away safe and sound in a previously owned razorfish shell is a cute little girl octopus.

I know she is female as just outside her protective hideout there are two very enthusiastic males battling it out to join her.

When all was done and the looser vanquished she did not however bow to the victor's octpusly prowess.

Instead she chose to stay in her cosy nook and make him wait.

If you have not seen the battle you can find it on Youtube, Octopus Love Triangle


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Octohideout' 1/125s f/13 ISO320 100mm

This little guy has me beat. At first I thought it was a spotted grubfish but after seeing the beautiful coloured markings I am not sure anymore.

Captured ( photographically speaking) under Port Hughes Jetty.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Curiousity' 1/125s f/14 ISO320 100mm

Filmed under Port Hughes Jetty, South Australia this amazing display of octopus mating behavior with one male defending his access to a female against another male's advances was an unexpected surprise.

I shared this extraordinary encounter with diving friends Alex Sutandio, Mike Rowlands and Robert Paton.

Sound thanks to 'Bensound' www.bensound.com

The trouble with photographing people is drawing attention to myself.

All eyes on me this time!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'All Eyes on Me' 1/60s f/2.8 ISO640 168mm

The moon is waxing again and soon will be full. The pattern repeats over and over but the sky is always different.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Lunar Layers' 1/25s f/4 ISO1600 200mm

I love what I do in the corporate world, expressing my creativity with solutions to problems painted in ones and zeros and control structures and and arcane languages.

I love what I do in my visual world painting with light and tones which I have gathered as images from my local environment.

I am lucky and grateful to be immersed in both.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Painted by the Light' 8s f/16 ISO200 15mm

Trapped behind a protective screen or a caged treasure?

Constrained indoors does not mean no photo opportunities. There's always something interesting to create with objects, light and imagination.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Caged Treasure' 0.4s f/22 ISO100 100mm

I called this image 'Reception' for no other reason than it is the main reception entry to Mount Lofty House where a few of us spent a very pleasant afternoon with local photographer Hilary Hann sharing insights into her images, her travels and her thoughts on the 'art' of photography.

I first noticed Hilary's work a couple of years ago and while not a big fan of wildlife photography, her images moved me with an other-worldliness feel. As if raised from the mundane to some mythical status it was easy to imagine I was looking at a landscape lost in time, remembered as something precious and perhaps even lost. In her work I felt feelings of awe, admiration, wonder and even loss and grief.

Hilary's work can be found at her website http://hilaryhann.com.au/ but nothing beats a real printed and framed image.

At the end of the afternoon I did what any self respecting photographer enthusiast would do... click


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Reception' 2s f/8 ISO160 15mm

This afternoon while photographing sunspots a favorite Pink Floyd song came to mind.

"While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun"


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Staring Straight Into The Shining Sun' 1/640s f/16 ISO100 400mm filter 400ND + Long pass hydrogen alpha

What can you do with a mobile phone and a marble? ... This!

If I told you the image conveyed the book cover of a collection of short stories by one of my favourite writers you might just be able to work it out.

The author's name appears across the top while the collection title can be seen in the center.

Sorry, toy box marbles were never really designed as optical devices. You might just have to use your imagination.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Marble Vision' 4s f/9 ISO100 100mm

A moment later I was wet, my camera was wet and my evening on the beach was over.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Salty Bathtime' 1s f/20 ISO100 15mm

The afternoon sunlight caught my germinating chili plants in the window sill and I just had to capture it!

It's silly of course. Light can't be captured but hopefully you get the same feeling I did.

Now looking forward to the hot fruits of these little beauties in the months ahead.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Hot New Life' 1/400s f/2.8 ISO100 100mm

The Short-Head Seahorse, Hippocampus breviceps, is one of the cutest seahorses in the sea and Edithburgh is great place to find and photograph them.

I almost never see them during the day but at night a bit of hunting will soon find them.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'I Sea a Horse' 1/100s f/14 ISO320 100mm

Always willing to pose for an image is Edithburgh's Gurnard Pearch.

When nothing else seems to want to stay in the frame;

when the hunt for a prettier subject is failing;

when the surge is making midwater images impossible;

there is always a gurnard perch, or three sitting on the sand patiently waiting for their photograph to be taken.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Photogenic' 1/100s f/14 ISO320 100mm + twin strobes

The world of macro marine photography is full of life and colours and action that many new divers simply swim on by.

However for photographers and those who take the time to look nudibranchs make wonderful subjects due to their diversity of colour and form.

This bulldozer of a sea slug, Ceratosoma brevicaudatum, is only 5cm in length but is quite imposing up front.

Not to be outdone however a tiny little amphipod has photobombed the scene and stolen the limelight.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Photo Bomb', 1/100s f/14 ISO320 100mm

I found this beautiful mineral specimen recently while exploring the historic Barossa Goldfields.

The most obvious thing about this mineral specimen is of course the gold but when I thought about it a little more I realised that symbolically the ironstone and quartz represented perhaps the real value.

Without iron the world would have been a very different place and without the silicon we may never had miraculous technologies that the microelectronics industry has created.

So what about the gold? Funnily enough gold is also a very important part of microelectronics and other industrial processes.

Put into perspective, this mineral specimen is a great symbol of our industrial, technological and aesthetic world.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Industrial Gemstone', 15s f/11 ISO100 200mm