Robert's Ramblings

What to do with green tomatoes?

We could fry them or roast them. I've read they make great chutney or even go with eggs benedict.
I might add them to a lentil stew or create a sweet and savory jam with a difference.

Or perhaps we'll just let them ripen into bright juicy red globes and enjoy in a fresh summer salad.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Green Tomatoes' 1/125s f/7.1 ISO800 100mm

The title of this image might just a seem little strange. What in this image might be lost?

There is always a story lurking in any image. Sometimes obvious, other times it's a case of 'you had to be there'.

Despite the drama of a stormy Henley Beach sky, angry clouds and a threatening thunderstorm; as it turns out this story is far more human and personal.

A couple stands on the foreshore looking out in anticipation. About fifty meters out in chest deep water a dark figure is wading, probing the sand beneath his feet and searching.

We watched this man for more than an hour as he scanned the sea floor using an underwater metal detector searching for some lost treasure dear to the couple looking on.

In the end the darkness won the night and he abandoned his search. Perhaps he will try again tomorrow.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Lost At Sea' 0.3s f/9 ISO160 9mm

Prowling the sandy bottom between the sea-grass beds of Rapid Bay, the carnivorous undulate volute, Amoria undulata is on the hunt for other mollusks.

Up close that beautiful spiral shell reminds me of cinnamon scrolls while from a distance a tiny Dyson vacuum cleaner.

Volutes were plentiful during our recent night dive under Rapid Bay Jetty and always easy to photograph. I chose this perspective because I love the repeating geometry of sea shells just as much as I love cinnamon scrolls


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Cinnamon Scroll' 1/160s f/18 ISO320 100mm

Three days in a row with temperatures over 40 degreesC had taken their toll and despite the ominous clouds and the expectant change people flocked to the beaches in droves to escape the saturated heat of the suburbs.

When I got down to Henley beach around 8 pm this evening the sky was a sullen blue grey, the sun long obscured by the clouds of the coming change. No one expected what was about to take place on the seaward horizon.

About 30 minutes later a reddish glow began creeping into the distance. Deeper and deeper those oranges and reds grew as they filled the western sky, reflected in the salty wet sand and filled the Henley Beach foreshore with its golden amber glow.

People stopped what they were doing, they stared, they whispered to each other. Some took photos with their phones.

For the next 20 minutes the western horizon glowed as if lit by some unseen fire before it sank back down to a distant thin red line on the ocean before fading once again to grey.

So happy I turned up tonight for such an unexpected and beautiful evening gift.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Evening Gift' 0.3s f/10 ISO400 15mm

What a super cute way to herald in a New Year of diving; my first every sighting of a short-head seahorse, Hippocampus breviceps at Rapid Bay.

There is no reason why I should not have seen a seahorse under Rapid Bay Jetty in the hundreds of dives I have enjoyed here. I just haven't. Even my dive buddy Alexius had never seen a short-head seahorse here and he is one of the best critter spotters I know.

Actually this little guy was under the new Jetty which has a different kind of benthic structure. More seagrasses and less algaes so maybe that has something to do with it.

Perhaps I will spend a little more time exploring the new Jetty from now on. Who know what surprises await.

Photo: Robert Rath, 'Super Cute Surprise' 1/160s f/18 ISO320 100mm

Last night was my first night dive for 2017. In fact it was my first dive for the new year and the conditions were perfect.

The evening star and a waxing crescent moon shone down on the water as we slipped below the surface. To the fishers on Rapid Bay jetty above it must have seemed like some mini apocalypse with our dive lights blazing and strobes firing. To the critters we were diving with most seemed unperturbed by our roving light show though I'm sure we were asked once or twice to turn our lights down or stop shining them in faces!

Despite the lovely conditions we did not see much variety in critter life so it was a dive to mostly enjoy being underwater again. Hopefully just the first of many for 2017.

One critter I always like seeing and photographing is this feathery looking thing. It is actually a worm called the Southern fan worm Sabellastarte australiensis. As those soft feathery appendages wash around in the current and surge you can never be sure just what the camera might capture the instant those strobes fire.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Aquatic Feathers' 1/160s f/18 ISO320 100mm

When the sunset plays the game of pretending to be over it pays to stay a while, to look up, to look around and to look behind.

Sneaking up from behind, the clouds, now struck with the sun's golden receding light, have become a new source to colour the world before twilight takes hold.

I wonder how many people missed it, the sun a while gone, giving attention back to evening meals, books or to a different kind glow from their coveted devices.

When it comes to sunsets and twilight it pays to stay a while and look around lest you miss something special.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Sneaking Up From Behind', 1/2s f/14 ISO160 15mm