Robert's Ramblings

I could be at an airport, a railway station, a bus stop or a suburban footpath; when ever I see someone trailing a rolling suitcase I wonder the story that brought them here.

In the busy places that wonder can become overwhelming with so many people and so many stories moving past like the books of anonymous authors.

In the quiet places it is easy to construct stories that probably are worlds away from reality.

I wonder what stories of me have been imagined and then lost to the next moment.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Traveller', 1/25s f/2 ISO640 50mm

The spread could apply to the scene before me or the the affect afterwards.

I think for Christmas both apply


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Spread', 1/8s f/9 ISO160 50mm

To every person who helped make 2015 a wonderful year for myself and my family, you have my heart felt gratitude.

May you all have a peaceful and happy time this festive season and all the best for the years to come.

... Robert

Photo: Robert Rath, 'So This is Christmas', 1s f/9 ISO500 50mm

While the poets performed with words of whit, wile and wisdom every person listening experienced their very own personal performance.

Some chose to chat with friends, others took in the visual performance while other closed their eyes, listened and and heard.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Contemplating Poetry', 1/8s f/2.8 ISO2500 200mm

Three boats chained and waiting.

One called Claudia, the other two unnamed.

What is that make us want to name a boat, give it a human persona and treat her like a peer before abandoning her?

I wonder if and when they will head out over water again.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Claudia', 1/1250s f/2.8 ISO160 200mm

Nestled deep in the fold of a moss covered tree I discovered this tiny little gem of a mushroom.

I was out photographing wide landscapes so the last thing on my mind was a tiny little thing the size of my fingernail.

Small and white, clean and bright, I'm sure it looked happy to see me.

The hills are indeed alive!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Small and White, Clean and Bright', 1/30s f/16 ISO640 15mm

The Sun does,
the clouds do,
the shore does,
the signs do,
the river does,
the people do,
... all lead to the horizon.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'They All Lead To The Horizon', 1/500s f/8 ISO160 15mm

Back to back they faced each other, drew their phones and SMS'd each other.

... or so a childhood rhyme of mine has been debased by more modern times.

I think I will start a new collection of people using their devices. Living in two worlds at the same time, not fully in either, is always a compromise. It is however a compromise many, many of us have chosen. I admit I am as guilty as the people I photograph.

At least my peers and I remember how to function in a world without these devices. Even if going back might involve a little grief at least we know how.

For now I'm in, ... and out.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Android vs Apple', 1/5s f/16 ISO800 50mm

The Adelaide Exhibition and Convention Centre has got a few parts that don't conform to 90 degree traditions.

Where panels become planes, joins become lines and light plays over geometries you could be forgiven for thinking you were in school rather than walking down North Terrace.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Planes, Shades and Geometry', 1/125s f/7.1 ISO1600 50mm

The Giant's Causeway?

Of course not but these hexagonal interlocking concrete columns remind me of the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway on the west coast of Ulster, Northern Ireland.

I love seeing architecture with strong ties to geological and natural forms, even if unintended. Mostly these are large civic or commercial structures which have the scale to explore form.

Personal dwellings though seem stuck in the recent past unable to break from mostly unattractive traditions.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Giant's Causeway', 1/1250s f/7.1 ISO400 15mm

It's obviously not moonlight illuminating this underwater vision but I could not help but feel as if it was the way the light draped over dragon and kelp.

This Leafy Seadragon captured at The Bluff, Victor Harbor, was just one of many we photographed in one of the best days here I have had all year.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Moonlight Dragon', 1/1250s f/7.1 ISO400 15mm

Is this outside looking in?

Is this inside looking out?

Is this outside looking outside from the inside?

Is this inside looking inside from the outside?

Or all of the above?


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Outside Mirrored In', 1/200s f/5 ISO1000 50mm

A solitary gull drifts back and forth in the late afternoon, its gaze intent on the breaking surf beneath it.

If it were human it might be searching for unusual shells discarded by their deceased owners to add to a growing collection.

If it were a flying fish it might be searching for a safe place to dive back under the waves again.

The truth more likely is that the prize will be some unsuspecting critter about to become the evening's dinner.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Searching', 1/6400s f/5.6 ISO400 200mm

Who's following who here I wonder as this school of Zebra Fish (Girella zebra) cruise through the pylons of Rapid Bay Jetty.

These fish are mostly juveniles but near the front of the school there are a few adults who seem to have things in hand leading the young ones from pylon to pylon.

On some pylons they feed and make a real mess. On other pylons they seem to just want to rub themselves up and down.

Then they are off following each other again.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Follow Me', 1/500s f/8 ISO400 15mm

It's all about the angle when searching for dragons.

Leafy Seadragons are masters of camouflage, blending into kelp or any of the other brown algaes they associate themselves with. You could be looking right at one from the side or from above and not even realise it. Get below one, however, where there is nothing but dragon and blue sky above, and that amazing outline is brought into dramatic relief.

Another magical dive at The Bluff on a day that provided all the angles.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'It's All About The Angle', 1/5000s f/7.1 ISO400 15mm

This cave dwelling sea star caught my attention by being perfectly oriented, in the middle of a large limestone outcrop and being so contrasted to its surrounds.

When many divers think of cave diving they imagine fresh water, sink holes, minimal life, impossible depths and meticulous diving logistics.

When I think of cave diving I imagine beautiful colours, strong surging currents, prolific life, corals, ascidians, sponges and sea stars. It's as if we are on different planets.

This small cave on the ocean side of Chinaman's Hat Island is just one of the many caves, ledges and swim-throughs that make this dive one of the most spectacular accessible shore dives of the Southern York Peninsula.

Diving here is the perfect example of the rugged oceanic South Australian limestone coastline. Big swells or high seas make many locations like Chinaman's Hat too hard or too dangerous. On a good day (and even then you have to work for it with an initial swim out to the island) it is spectacular. On a bad day leave the gear in the car and grab a surfboard instead.

Yes I like caves; salty ones full of cave dwellers.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Cave Dweller', 1/200s f/10 ISO160 15mm

It's getting too hot now in the Flinders Ranges for most daytime activities so I probably will not be heading up there again for a while now.

This sunrise over Rawnsley Station is from a trip a few months ago when it was a little cooler. As I sat up here watching the sunrise a warm glow swept across the valley floor before the sun finally appeared at the top of the bluff bringing sunlight to this ridge top.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Morning Glow', 1/500s f/7.1 ISO320 15mm

Well it's the first day of our southern summer and the ducks will rejoice because it may as well be winter again.

It's windy, rainy, cold and generally uninviting to go diving. I am hoping the weather will quickly recover so we can get back in the water again.

In the mean time this Pacific Black duck (Anas superciliosa) thinks all is well with the world as it waddles up the beach basked in the golden glow of sunset.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Waddle Waddle', 1/160s f/5.6 ISO400 200mm

We are about to enter summer here in Adelaide, in the the driest state on the driest continent (according to popular folklore).

During winter I would have been washed away attempting to stand here in the outflow of the River Torrens. Today this parched mud floodway suggests just how dry our summer will be.

There will still be water in the River Torrens around the city and in deep pools downstream, but precious little will find its way to the ocean for the next six months.

Standing here feels strange. Like standing in the middle of a silent freeway once busy with cars and trucks ready to run me down. I like the strangeness. I like the separation from a time before and a time after which would make this image impossible.

Some time well into next year it will flow here again but for now it is the ex-stream of the River Torrens.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'X-Stream', 1.6s f/18 ISO800 15mm

Dive the shallows of the old Rapid Bay Jetty at the moment and you can expect to be stalked.

This school of Zebra Fish (Girella zebra) started following me around as I searched the general area for other critters. Soon I was so caught up in their antics and carry on that they had me for the rest of my dive.

I'd follow them and then they would follow me. At times I found myself in the middle of the school and then they would break away out into open water only to loop around in big circle to come up behind me again.

Every dive at Rapid Bay is special and this dive the Zebra Fish made it magical.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Zebra Crossing II', 1/400s f/8 ISO160 15mm

The wonderful thing about sunsets is we get a brand new and completely unique one every single day.

The sad thing about sunsets is you will never see another one just like the one you saw tonight.

So many times I find myself watching an amazing sunset unfold and not being able to photograph it. Maybe I might have even lamented to a nearby sympathetic ear on the lost moment.

Almost without a second thought the response comes back, "there will always be another". Perhaps if they had lingered on that thought a moment longer they would have realised that there never will be.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Only Once'' 1/6400s f/7.1 ISO100 150mm

I am not sure which location I prefer for Leafy Seadragons, The Bluff or Rapid Bay.

Rapid Bay has an incredible diversity of sea life and never disappoints even if I do not see the critters I have come to photograph. It is a safe bet for a great dive even when the conditions are not so good.

The Bluff on the other hand is rough, has poor visibility, is exposed to southern swells but I never fail to find Leafys here. Even though this dive does not have the variety of life the Rapid Bay offers it has a rugged oceanic appeal that makes me come back time and time again for the Leafys of course but also for the great granite bombies, the thick kelp, seals, crays and of course the usual suspects (a technical term for local South Australian reef fishes).

This Leafy Seadragon (Phycodurus eques) is being swept back and forth through the kelp and around boulders but doesn't seem to mind at all. This is typical of their environment here and is what makes this dive so appealing.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Dragon Alley' 1/200s f/3.5 ISO100 15mm

The iridescent blue eyes of the Doughboy Scallop, Mimachlamys asperrima, are little optical marvels. They are in fact more like tiny Schmidt telescopes than conventional eyeballs.

The back surface of the scallop's eye is like a mirror which reflects the incoming light back towards the lens opening. The light sensitive cells of the retina are on the back of the lens and not the eyeball so they actually sense the reflected image back off the mirror.

As far as eyeballs go they are are quite rudimentary and not much more than a pin-hole lens. The internal mirror structure however gives the primitive eye a huge light gathering advantage important for dim lighting conditions, sufficient to detect the approach of predators in near darkness.

Despite their amazing biology, from my point those alluring blue eyes are just stunning.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Scallop's Eye' 1/200s f/22 ISO100 100mm

This Leafy Seadragon headshot was taken during a recent daytime dive at Rapid Bay.

This is another example of extreme separation normally associated with a night shot but instead done through strong strobes and removal of the blue luminance.

I expect he'll be wearing dark sunglasses next time I return.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Headshot', 1/200s f/8 ISO100 100mm

These yellowtail seemed so regimented into their 'march on by' that I could not help but imagine they had been given their marching orders.

Although this looks like a night shot it was actually created in full daylight by using a combination of bright strobe lighting to 'drown out the daylight' and then pulling back the blue luminescence in post production. The result is this striking black and silver contrast between fish and water.

March on by.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Marching Orders' 1/50s f/3.5 ISO160 50mm

A few weeks ago I first noticed the behavior of a male toadifsh (Omegophora armilla) collecting objects and filling a discarded bucket with them. On this dive I found another toadfish behaving in a similar way but this time filling a large sponge.

I wonder if they have completed their collections yet?

What happens when they start to overflow?

Have either suitors attracted a mate yet?

This weekend I plan to go back and visit Toad Hall and see how both are fairing.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Toad Hall' 1/25s f/8 ISO160 50mm

Imagine for a moment that going to heaven for a fish might have something to do with that strange sunlit world above?

Twenty years ago, 'up there', would have been teaming with amateur fishers angling for a piece of undersea action. From the fishes perspective the last place they might wish to go.

For years now Rapid Bay jetty has been slowing collapsing into the ocean. No one sets foot on its structure anymore. Sections of the Jetty are completely gone and no more fishing lines descend from above.

Where once were fishers there are now gulls and cormorants and of course fresh air.

For the fishes heaven will never be 'up there', only death.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Heavens Above' 1/50s f/8 ISO160 15mm

Sepia apama, the Giant Cuttlefish, is the largest of the cuttlefish and a South Australian draw-card critter. Thousands of cuttlefish congregate to mate in the shallows at the top of Spencer Gulf each winter creating amazing opportunities for divers and snorkelers to observe their antics in only metres of water.

This guy however lives out in the seagrass near Rapid Bay jetty where there was evidence enough he was up to antics of his own.

Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Giant Cuttlefish' 1/200s f/8 ISO160 15mm

I think I have enough moon images now for an independent collection but just because ... here's a new one.

Last night's waxing crescent is still mostly showing shadow but if you look really closely the almost hint of a full outline gives it a depth not perceived when the moon is full.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Moon Shadow' 1/40s f/8 ISO160 15mm

I may be looking up towards the light but that's of no use when it comes to lighting the way. I bring my own.

Conditions at Rapid Bay were sensational yet again with more schooling behavior under the 'Tee' than I have seen for a very long time.

As I arrive at the site I pulled up next a group of very happy divers who were laughing, whooping and exclaiming how exciting it was finally become certified open water divers.
I did not realise it then but later as I swam though forests of schooling scad, marveled at the visibility and was captivated by the dappled sunlight on the sand I realised just how special a dive those brand new divers just experienced.

I hope the conditions did not spoil them as South Australian diving ranges from sublime to ugly depending on the day.

This one was particularly good!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Towards The Light' 1/40s f/8 ISO160 15mm