Robert's Ramblings

Just imagine being two inches tall, opening your eyes, turning on your torch and coming face to face with ...

Assuming you are still with me you'd quickly become entranced by those amazing blue-green opalesque eyes and what at first seemed ugly becomes beautiful.

You can spot a gurnard perch from quite a distance at night by those incredible eyes. Just scan your torch back and forth anywhere under Edithburgh Jetty and before you know it you too will be experiencing being face to face with this beautiful creature.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Face 2 Face' 1/160s f/22 ISO320 100mm

One of the wonderful things I like about macro photography are those tiny little surprises you discover when you zoom in on your subject while editing.

What seemed at first to be a solitary nudibranch, in this image Ceratosoma brevicaudatum, turned out to have a few hidden gems, those little creature just too small to see while diving.

In this image there are three minute shrimp around 1mm in length cleaning the nudibranch's skin while a minuscule amphipod of less than a half a millimeter in length hovers above.

Love those little gems.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Little Gems', 1/60s f/18 ISO320 100mm

This hand sized fan worm is one of the many spectacular creatures that inhabit our local waters. I say local but it really is another world altogether.

It looks like a plant; like some exotic miniature palm tree. This guy however is a worm which builds a tubular casing away from its supporting structure so that it can extend its frond like appendages out into the current to feed.

Approach too close and in an instant it will retract back into the safety of its tube. Imagine a coconut palm doing that!

Southern fan worm Sabellastarte australiensis.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Another World' 1/50s f/7.1 ISO320 15mm

In the visual cacophony of this scene the camera has captured everything from the jetty pylons and fish swimming near the surface to the bright orange nudibranch grazing on the rocky reef foreground. Is this really a fish's eye view within the underwater world? Perhaps, but not for the reasons you might think.

Optically speaking the lenses of all creatures with non-compound fleshy eyeballs including fish, reptiles, birds and mammals including us would all be classed as 'fish-eye' according to camera lens manufacturers. Those normal rectilinear lenses we are so accustomed to on our cameras are an intentional optical debasement which introducing their own unique distortion in an attempt to replicated our brain's ability to straighten curves when our common sense tells us they should be straight.

A fish-eye lens, in its simplicity, lets the brain of its beholder do the work instead. As for how fish feels about those peripheral curves as they swim about their business, I'd suggest they could not care less about straight lines anyway.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Fish's Eye' 1/100s f/11 ISO160 8mm

This image is the last of my Bronzies set; a collection of tiny bronze figurines by Tomm Otterness, adorning his much larger 'Other Worlds' installation within Hamad International Airport.

Yes it probably is the cliché of clichés. Still, because they are in bronze there is something 'other worldly' which disconnects it from humanity.

So, clichéd it may be but I love the feeling of love and nurture here and to me it symbolises family in any flavour you choose to imagine.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Family' 1/10s f/4.0 ISO800 34mm

There is no doubting the reason for two commuters being here. It's work travel. The suit and tie, the briefcases, the smart attire and not a handbag in sight are all the evidence I need.

If I were to hazard I guess, I'd say it was early morning at some outlying platform. The man, who catches the train here every morning has never said hello to the woman before being way too shy. This morning however he takes a chance.

'Looks like it might rain today' he suggests hoping to break the ice.

She looks up, sighs and without saying a word wonders to herself if she should have brought an umbrella.

Out of earshot the platform attendant checks the track in his own little world.


... bronzies by Tomm Otterness, 'Other Worlds', Hamad International Airport


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Waiting For The Train' 6s f/22 ISO800 16mm

Little bronze personalities came to life in all sorts of nooks and crannies as I continued exploring the 'Other Worlds' installation by Tomm Otterness during my Doha transit.

The four individuals coming together in this scene particularly caught my attention. The couple on the left appear attired in working clothes, overalls and an apron while the couple to the right appear to be of a different class with the more elegant clothing, sandals and even a wristwatch.

Despite their differences I felt that some some cordial engagement was taking place here along with a mutual respect. Perhaps a negotiation or an agreement yet to be made. Perhaps just a meeting of minds.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'A Meeting of Minds' 0.8s f/4.5 ISO320 16mm

Little bronze personalities came to life in all sorts of nooks and crannies as I continued exploring the 'Other Worlds' installation by Tomm Otterness during my Doha transit.

The four individuals coming together in this scene particularly caught my attention. The couple on the left appear attired in working clothes, overalls and an apron while the couple to the right appear to be of a different class with the more elegant clothing, sandals and even a wristwatch.

Despite their differences I felt that some some cordial engagement was taking place here along with a mutual respect. Perhaps a negotiation or an agreement yet to be made. Perhaps just a meeting of minds.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'A Meeting of Minds' 0.8s f/4.5 ISO320 16mm

My very first memories of gazing into the heavens and marvelling at the night sky were not so different from the little bronzie in this image.

In my case it was not bronze but the painted steel roof of my parent's car. Somehow those extra few feet made all the difference.

All these year later those memories burn just as brightly when ever I lay on my back and gaze up at the stars.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Stargazing' 10s f/18 ISO800 26mm

When I first transited via Doha's Hamad International Airport I was impressed by the large interactive bronze sculptures by American artist Tomm Otterness.

At the time I captured some wide angle images of the pieces in context but did not really give them the attention they deserved. I did however notice they seemed to covered by odd little bronze protrusion, like fresh buds on a tree.

On my second visit I decided to explore these little bumps and was delighted to discover tiny little bronze figurines in all sorts of strange places and predicaments. I was so enamoured with these little people I create as set of images I call 'The Bronzies'.

In 'Emergence' I imagined a little bronzie living a life of darkness in a void beneath the ground knowing nothing of the world above until the day a hole appeared.
On climbing out, in a single moment, I feel this scene represent excitement, fear, welcome, relief and joy.

It is delightful, whimsical and simply beautiful. Thank you Tomm.

Photo: Robert Rath, 'Emergence' 1/20s f/3.2 ISO320 16mm

What do dogs and hermit crabs have in common?

I wonder what kind of answers I'd get if I strolled down a typical busy shopping mall and asked random passers-by this question?

Well to start with, dogs and hermit crabs have two eyes. Perhaps you could even draw some tenuous connection between kennels and shells. But really, why would I even pose such a question? From my point of view it is all about having a willing photogenic subject.

For divers, hermit crabs are one of the easiest critters to photograph. They go about their business regardless of being observed. Even if you do startle them back into their shell it doesn't take long for them to re-emerge. And, if some unscrupulous diver were to pick one up and place it somewhere particular to stage a photograph, the hermit crab would happily show itself again when the coast was clear and carry on about its business.

So in my opinion, dogs and hermit crabs both make the most awesomely photogenic and most easy-to-photograph subjects.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Of Dog and Hermit Crabs' 1/160s f/22 ISO160 100mm

'Hello' said the whale as he swam closer and closer.

'Hello' said the whale as he craned for some intelligent response.

Finally in frustration at their lack of courtesy he came rushing in fast, stopped, then gave a gentle nudge. 'What part of hello did you not get!

Ah ..., memories of Tonga. I can't wait to be swimming with whales again.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'What Part of Hello Did You Not Get!' 1/320s f/7.1 ISO160 15mm

You'd go mad too if you had to carry this home around on your back wherever you went. At least down here you'd not have to worry about clipping power lines, low overhang bridges, getting tangled up in tree line avenues or finding somewhere out of the sun.

I found a lot of these little hermit crabs on the algae in and around Edithburgh jetty. They are so comical to watch as they navigate the between the the stipes and fronds. One moment they seem to know where they are going, the next they've gotten stuck or slipped and are heading somewhere completely different.

This crab, less than half the size of my little fingernail has chosen a particularly tall and impressive shell for its size. Still it seems to be in control. Perhaps its not so mad after all.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Mad Hatter', 1/160s f/22 ISO320 100mm

Three weeks ago on an Edithburgh night dive I found a tiny little leafy seadragon less than two inches long that took my breath away. It was that beautiful red translucent colour of a juvenile probably only a month or so old.

This dive I was in for a wonderful treat. I found my not so tiny dragon again, not right next to the jetty but some distance off in the sea grass. Wow had it grown in just three weeks.

Now it had nearly doubled in size and was beginning that red to yellow body colour transition. Its appendages were growing and becoming more complex and its markings becoming more pronounced.

Seeing this beautiful golden dragon a second time as it grows has inspired me to make another trip to Edithburgh to hopefully find it again and capture its change into a fully mature leafy.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Golden Dragon ', 1/160s f/18 ISO320 100mm