Robert's Ramblings

The way this teddybear star (Anthenea australiae) has latched onto that bed of mussels has a kind of possession quality. It's as if she's saying 'Hands off,... My mussels!'

No sooner had I uttered that phrase and I was whisked away into a Sydney dentists office and to his the characters in his marine aquarium. 'Bubbles' might have had the fascination for bubbles but I can just as easily imagine the starfish 'Peach' being equally possessive of her mussels.

... clearly I have been out of the ocean too long!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'My Mussels' 1/40s f/7.1 ISO800 15mm

As the sun dipped below the horizon it kindled a fiery twilight. Orange and red embers flicker in the clouds, birds took flight and for a short while the world was bathed in firelight.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Fire Light' 1/5000s f/2.8 ISO320 95mm

Perception of the world is so intimately bound with time that things that happen outside of normal time perception go unseen, unnoticed.

For thing that happen slowly like trees growing in the garden or large constructions sites this is obvious. What happens though when perception of time is slowed down?

As time slows people going about their business become fuzzy and blurred. Slow it down further and they become like wispy ghosts. Eventually they are gone completely.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Nobody Saw Him Leave' 0.3s f/14 ISO100 15mm

This atrium of stairs in Adelaide University's Ingkarni Wardli building is an open invitation to explore.

Either exploring up or down I still wondered which way?

In the end I had to leave this Escherian space and take the elevator.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Which Way?' 1/2s f/16 ISO800 15mm

Nina Ventura's art might not be for everyone but if you are into mannequins and you are a local then you should see her exhibition at the Adelaide Convention Centre while it's running.

I personally found this piece quite disturbing, like an out of body experience gone terribly wrong yet I could not keep myself from coming back to it and capturing it in my own way .


Photo: Robert Rath, 'An Out of Body Experience' 1/125 f/2.8 ISO800 200mm

A breathless evening on the Port River is full of image opportunities.

In all of that waterscape the lack of boats has not gone unnoticed. Except for 1286.


Photo: Robert Rath, '1286' 30s f/7.1 ISO640 70mm

Steven Griguol works with wood and steel to create beautiful objects.

I have come across Steve's work for the first time at this year's SALA Festival. This image is part of a small collection he has on display in the foyer of the Adelaide Convention and Exhibition Center.

I honestly feel uncomfortable showing images I make of others art. Mainly because, well it's theirs, not mine and partly because the original artist might be offended by my vision.

I guess we will both learn to get over it!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Of Wood and Steel' 1/25s f/2.8 ISO1600 130mm

Saturday we took to the water again. Somewhere local this time, Port Noarlunga Reef.

I've sung the praises of this dive site, so close to most Adelaide divers, on many occasions. Many people regard Port Noarlunga as a training location and as such we are very fortunate to have such a protected and accessible site. But this place has a few surprises for those adventurous enough to explore a little out of their comfort zone.

While my dive buddy Andy christened his new GoPro I decided to spend a while in the impact zone, three feet of water breaking over the reef. How I wished I was holding a GoPro and not wrestling with my beast. Next time I do this I will be taking the strobe arms off!

I love this part of the reef when the tide is high for the interesting life here that survives cycle after cycle of being baked dry during low tide and then brought back to life again. Every now and then a huge school of silver drummer will swarm over the reef in excitement chasing morsels unlucky enough to get kicked of the reef and into the churning water with the crashing waves.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Impact Zone' 1/1000s f/13 ISO800 15mm

Last week I attended the opening night of the South Australian AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photographers) Awards Exhibition 2015, part of the SALA (South Australian Living Arts) Festival.

It was fantastic to see all of the images in print, on real old fashion honest-to-goodness paper.

All of this years award winners and their images can be found here at http://www.stateawards.aippblog.com/index.php/2015-epson-aipp-sa-professional-photography-awards/

Benjamin Liew won the Travel Photographer of the Year category. Nice work Ben.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Benjamin' 1/60s f/2.8 ISO1600 142mm

I love the lips on this girl hence the name Angelina just came to me.

Castelnau's Goby, Nesogobius pulchellus, is not normally known for great lips but you have to admit she is a cutie!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Angelina Gobie' 1/200s f/18 ISO100 100mm

It might be the middle of winter but last night's sunset at Henley Beach had all that golden warmth of a summer evening.

That imagined warmth did not last long though as the sky faded through turquoise to violet and then to darkness leaving an inky black ocean with a chill onshore wind.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Northern Flow' 1.3 f/16 ISO100 15mm

Our most common nudibranch (sea slug) Ceratosoma brevicaudatum is a beautiful creature. It is very hard to capture all of its detail in a single image due to its size and the depth of field challenges of macro imaging.

This rear view end shows the detail and complexity of its branchial plume, the organ it uses to breathe with.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Branchial Fire' 1/200 f/29 ISO100 100mm

Fishery Beach at the very bottom of the Fleurieu Peninsula faces south west onto Backstairs Passage, one of the most perilous waterways in Australia.

If it's not the 4 knot currents or claptopic seas then it's the men in grey suits who prowl beneath the surface that make this part of our coastline unique.

But sometimes, just sometimes, it's OK to dive here.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Cruisin Through Algae ' 1/250 f/9 ISO250 15mm

A pale blue sky, whimsical clouds, a grey horizon and flat water and a long white jetty out to sea made for perfect diving at Port Hughes.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Nice Day for A White Jetty' 1/100s f/11 ISO100 17mm

As the sun rose behind me a great shadow raced down from the distant ridge-top of the Elder Range.

It was breathtaking the speed it moved but that was nothing to compared to the way it raced away from the base towards me across the eucalyptus and native pine scrub below.

As the shadow got nearer it began to slow to a crawl while the storm clouds in the west gathered and followed in pursuit.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'An Elder Morning' 1/10s f/16 ISO100 15mm

There is so much controversy, misdirection and plain old fallacy about the ill affects of wind generated power.

Some people complain of sleepless nights, nausea, headaches and a loss of general well-being if a power generating turbine is part of their visual landscape.

Funny how those people with turbines on their own land and who collect a tidy rent seemed to sleep perfectly sound and no ill health is anywhere to be seen.

Perhaps if the naysayers got the exhaust from their preferred coal powered electricity pumped through their homes they would feel differently about sleeping with the real enemy.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Sleeping With The Enemy' 1/500s f/10 ISO320 105mm

Up here in the Flinders Ranges the winter night sky is so dark that even a moonlit landscape can't wash away the spectacle of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Even the distant galaxies LMC and SMC can clearly be seen just above the ridge-top to the left of the scene as fuzzy cottontball blobs.

All this captured in a simple single 60 second image just makes me want to go back for more.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Under a Southern Winter Sky' 60s f/2.8 ISO1600 15mm

It's nice being able to share an experience of being somewhere wild and out of the way. That is why good landscape images are so compelling.

It's also fun to share the actual experience of being there with friends. This image is proof that Gavin actually did make it to the top in time to enjoy some of that Flinders Ranges sunset goodness from up high.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Out in the Wild' 1/80s f/8 ISO160 15mm

These little critters are Blue Throat Ascidians (Clavelina australis) and live in compound clusters.

They look like a nest of little chicks of some bizarre bird with mouths agape chirping for food.

Actually just like birds these critters are chordates and though they don't really have a backbone they do have long nerve running the length of their body making for a rudimentary spinal cord.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Mouths Agape' 1/200s f/18 ISO100 100mm

Biscuit Stars, Tosia australis, come in all sorts of colour variations.

This beautiful purple star under Rapid Bay Jetty reminded me of a gingerbread man with its striking orange internal markings.

Sea stars are not perhaps the most exciting of undersea critters and are often overlooked by divers who miss out on their intricate beauty.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Gingerbread Man' 1/200s f/18 ISO100 100mm

Nestled inside a pocket of alien pink landscape is a Castelnau's Goby, Nesogobius pulchellus

Like all gobies this one is cute, curious and you can almost imagine it wanting to startup a conversation.

Make a sudden move though and in the blink of an eye there will only be an empty pink grotto.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Pink Grotto' 1/200s f/18 ISO100 100mm

This feathery looking thing is actually a worm. It's a Southern fan worm Sabellastarte australiensis

Sometimes they are even called Feather Duster Worms and just like its cleaner namesake those appendages sweep the water clean hoping to find nutrition in the suspended particles floating by.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Feather Duster' 1/200s f/32 ISO100 100mm

The conditions today at Rapid Bay were sensational with 15m visibility. I so wished I had set up for wide angle but today's dive was a macro gear shakedown.

Immediately on our decent we came across this beautiful Swimming anemone, Phlyctenactis tuberculosa. The fact that this macro image make it look like fluorescent coffee beans is purely coincidental.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Swimming Anemone' 1/200s f/32 ISO100 100mm

The beautiful Wilpena Pound is an ancient geological formation which looks like a giant crater and is something of a temperate oasis in the semi-arid Flinders Ranges.

Off in the distance what appears to be a gentle saddle separating left and right sides is the incredible Edeowie Gorge. The small triangular peak a little to the right is St Mary's Peak, the highest point in the Flinders Ranges. Our look out here is the southern pound wall with Rawnsleys Bluff behind us.

All of it under the spotlight of an outback Australian sun.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Spotlight On the Pound' 1/2500s f/14 ISO400 15mm

When I was thirteen years old I remember being on a walk in the Flinders Ranges and walking into a great big net spread between two trees. I also remember that it did not break and I had to extricated myself from it by walking out backwards. It was the web of a Golden Orb Weaver, Nephila edulis.

After the incident we looked all around but the web's owner was no where to be seen and I spent the rest of the day dreading she had stowed away in my pack and would seek retribution later. Fortunately that did not pass.

This time I saw her first high up in her web. With legs as long as my fingers and a body as big as my thumb she was awesome in her own arachnid way. This time I was happy to only interact with my camera and then leave her in peace.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Golden Orb Weaver' 1/250s f/4.5 ISO100 200mm

The southern wall of Wilpena Pound is fortified with the Rawnsley Bluff escarpment.

Anyone approaching the pound from the south gets to watch it rise larger and larger until it looms above them on their left as they make their way up the eastern side.

This region of South Australia is considered arid and only good for sparse livestock so a body of water like this within Rawnsley Park Station makes a beautiful counterpoint to the rugged semi-desert landscape.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Rawnsley Reflection' 1/40s f/13 ISO10 15mm

Arid region plants use all sort of tricks to remain hydrated for the months that separate quite often heavy downpours.

These beautiful crystalline structures are not blades of grass but leaves of small shrubby bushes.

Like pine needles the cylindrical tubular leaves seal in the water keeping the internal cellular workings in good shape through searing 45 degree summers ready to capture the water when it finally rains again.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Crystal Grass' 0.3s f/16 ISO320 15mm

I could not help myself when that golden colour fills the sky my local beach calls.

Now in the middle of winter there is no one to be seen. No one on the jetty and no one on the beach. A few die-hard joggers in full track gear and hoodies dot the esplanade but otherwise the beach is mine.

At least for a while.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Winter Sunset' 0.3s f/16 ISO320 15mm

At first I thought about calling this image 'Seeing Stars' but considering the significance of the fabulous Eta Carinae Nebula I felt compelled to give it the attention it deserves.

This tiny piece of the night sky in the Milky Way is only a few widths of the moon across and yet even in this images there are over 10,000 visible stars. In fact the massive star density here somewhat detracts from the stunning beauty of the Eta Carinae Nebula 10,000 light years away.

In the center of the brightest cloud is a giant binary pair of stars called Eta Carinae. Together the pair is around 120 more massive than our sun and shine 5,000,000 times brighter! The two stars circle each other in a deep elliptical orbit every 5.5 years and at their closest are as close together as Mars is from our sun resulting in regular extraordinary interactions.

If you are curious this little NASA video might just wet your appetite for more. NASA Missions Take an Unparalleled Look into Superstar Eta Carinae


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Eta Carinae' 30s f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

High up on the southern wall of Wilpena Pound we were entreated to some of the most beautiful vistas of the region.

However there were just as many exquisite things up here on a much smaller scale.

Normally we see wattle trees flower in the spring so I was a little surprised to see them beginning to flower high up here in the middle of winter.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'High on Wattle' 1/500s f/16 ISO400 100mm