Robert's Ramblings

What is it to set a goal, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) and then finally find yourself at its manifestation?

When I began this project it was a simple but ambitious '365 Days' project with a twist, 2012 had 366 of them. At its completion the once audacious goal seemed to become something far less than its original design. 366 days became 1000, my goal had just expanded and the project gained a new life.

Now I find myself at the end of 1000 images and the palpable déjà vu of being here before. What next? A new goal like Thomas Hawk's 'one million published images' might be a little too hairy to contemplate but I will create something to keep me driven and practice this amazing craft we once called photography.

Thank you to everyone who supported me in this project and especially my wife Jennifer and the countless hours of imaging, editing and posting that she graciously allowed and supported. Support is important and without it I would not have reached 1000.

So here it is, image number 1000. A selfie taken at my favorite location Henley Beach Jetty along with my very first attempt at light painting.

It may not be beautiful but I am happy to have a little fun to finish with.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 1000, One Thousand', 35s f/16 ISO100 15mm


Stay tuned .... the show is far from over!

I had the most amazing shot in mind for day 999 but .... Humbug Scrub caught fire.

At first I thought the billowing white cloud above Adelaide was some strange storm cloud but soon it became apparent it was anything but natural.

Today was hot, 44degC hot, and all morning the catastrophic fire warnings were being repeated for all of the Adelaide Hills. For Hills dwellers a fire like this is always on theirs minds during our summer and today the worst appears to have happened.

I've not heard of any injuries to people so far and I hope it stays that way while fire crews do their best to bring it under control.

Just to put some perspective on this bushfire, this image was taken from Rapid Bay Jetty, nearly 100km away to the South.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 999, Humbug Scrub Bushfire', 1/800s f/7.1 ISO100 200mm

An impromptu takeaway meal, rugs on the sand, a refreshing swim in the salty ocean and a few images to capture the moments unfolding.

The end of the first day of the year and what better place to spend it than on a balmy Henley Beach with my girls.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 998, My Beach Babes', 1/125s f/2.8 ISO1600 145mm

Thank you to everyone who made 2014 an amazing year.

For my family it has meant travel, discovery, learning new skills, leveraging old ones, celebrating milestones and being grateful for all we have.

It has been a year of solving problems and planning futures, making new friends and reacquainting with old ones.

Once again, thank you everyone for your friendship and your generosity of spirit and we wish you all the very best for 2015.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 997, Bringing On 2015 Over Adelaide', 1.3s f/7.1 ISO160 200mm

Here is is what our home town looks like in the dead of night!

Beautiful Adelaide under the Southern Cross of the southern skies.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 996, Under The Southern Cross', 6s f/9 ISO320 17mm

I am sure I'd not find anyone who would disagree on the grace and beauty of black swans.

There was once a time when I thought that swans were white until as a small child I came across a postage stamp in my mum's stamp collection.
This 1954 commemorative stamp was adorned with a black swan to commemorate Western Australia's first stamp in 1854, the one penny black swan.

Since that childhood revelation, to me the black swan is not only a creature of grace and beauty but also one of mystery and discovery.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 995, Black Beauties', 1/160s f/2.8 ISO2500 200mm

Ever wondered how in these virtually black retail decors the merchandise is always brightly lit and full of texture and colour?

Well I do and I have to say I love the effect almost as much as I love vibrant colour.

T2 has yet again a perfect example with a tea set perfect for fruit tisane.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 994, The Colour of Fruit Tisane', 1s f/11 ISO640 15mm

But who's eyes are you?

This guy is probably a masked stingaree (Trygonoptera personata) but it is hard to tell with all that sand and shell-grit.

Whoever's eyes you are we stared at each other for some time before both going our separate ways.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 993, Eye See You', 1/100s f/11 ISO100 100mm

Photographing the gurnard perch would have to be the low hanging fruit of a Rapid Bay Jetty midnight dive.

They sit there on the sand at the start and end of the dive and let themselves be photographed from any angle you want.

Not the prettiest fish among the amazing diversity of life under the jetty but beautiful all the same and a great subject to practice fish portraiture.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 992, Fish Portraiture', 1/100s f/11 ISO100 100mm

There is something special about a beautifully set table.

Regardless if it is Christmas dinner with family, an evening dinner party with acquaintances or wine tasting with friends, the setting tells all in attendance that this is an event to be remembered.

What one actually sets the table with however is really just a matter of taste, shiraz, grenach, fiano, ... ...

Thanks to the attentive staff at Olivers's Taranga Vineyards for a fun tasting experience and our good friends Wayne and Christine for inviting us.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 991, A Matter of Taste', 1/1250s f/2.8 ISO100 90mm

As a child I always preferred silver over gold for its understated beauty and its lack of being tarnished with any colour.

Oh how things have changed with the burnt yellow-gold of a sunset on the water becoming my most favourite colour.

Silver still lingers in the whites and greys of the twilight surf but that gold on stranger tides has my heart now.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 990, On Stranger Tides', 1/125s f/14 ISO1600 15mm

This place always feels so desolate even when it is packed with cars and every large shopping centre has one just like this one.

The dungeon of car parks.
Some places with shops above.
Some places with more car parking above.
Always at the bottom.
Always glad to leave.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 989, Retail Dungeon', 1.6s f/14 ISO160 15mm

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the square
Not a creature was stirring, there was nobody there.
All the presents were laid 'neath the tree with great care,
But with no Christmas lights 'twas completely bare.


I never expected to see our city's beautiful Christmas tree completely in the dark, let alone photograph it but here it is.

I knew something was wrong as I approached Victoria Square. It was dark and all the traffic lights were out. My initial reaction was disappointment. After all I had made a special trip into the City just for this image. I even drove off and waited for a while to see if the power was restored. A second time I was disappointed and about to drive home when it suddenly dawned on me, what an opportunity to show something special.

So here it is, our city's unadorned Christmas Tree.

Merry Christmas.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 988, Unadorned Christmas', 120s f/13 ISO160 15mm

There is nothing like a wall for making a public statement and in this case a sanctioned graffiti wall in a highly visible location under the Morphett Street Bridge.

Thousands of people drive past Bad Santa every day. Does anyone wonder what Bad Santa uses his 'Naughty List' for? Perhaps they will be getting present to this year!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 987, Bad Santa', 2.5 f/9 ISO160 70mm

Get close, get even closer. Still not close enough. Get closer still but don't touch or else that bull in a china shop just might be my camera.

Now, butterfly tea anyone?


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 986, Butterfly Tea', 2s f/14 ISO640 15mm

Some images you could never capture even if you planned for them. Keeping a camera at the ready for the 'unplanned' has produced some wonderful gems.

While heading home tonight I decided to swing past the beach, just for a look but never planning to stop and before I new it I had pulled over and was down on the sand with my camera.

Usually I use a tripod for beach landscapes but this time I was too rushed and so went hand-held. What a fortuitous turn! If I'd been lumbered with a tripod I'd never have captured this image of the 'Wall Walker' on my way back to the car.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 985, She Walks on Walls', 1/80s f/13 ISO1000 15mm

I really can't help but anthropomorphize people traits into animals I interact with.

When this little sparrow looked at me like this the word quizzical popped into my head as I wonder if the sparrow is doing this same with me.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 984, Quizzical', 1/10s f/16 ISO160 15mm

Spellbound as she followed unseen critters in the gentle back and forth wash.

This simple delight in our world does not have to be lost with the end of childhood.

Head down to the ocean, wander into a forest or just find a place new to your normal experiences then sit, wait and watch and see what happens.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 983, Spellbound', 1/10s f/16 ISO160 15mm

Christmas trees everywhere with tinsel and baubles and glitter and fairy lamps.

Look carefully into every non-frosted spherical ornament and you will see what I see, a mini world surrounding a selfie.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 982, Six Selfies', 1/125s f/5 ISO1000 90mm

While exploring important images from the last 100 years I came upon Edward Weston's 1927 image "Nautilus" and was intrigued by its austere beauty.

At first I set out to replicate the style of this image but as I played with my very own nautilus shell, peering at it from various perspectives I suddenly saw the light, literally!

Edison would have been proud to see how I transformed an ancient creature from the deep into his modern invention.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 981, Nautilus Illuminata', 1/160s f/13 ISO200 100mm 2x off camera strobes

I actually created this image early in my 1000 images project but for some reason it never made it into the collection even though I have shown it before.

On reflection it would be a pitty to not include one of Adelaide's most popular and accessible dive sites so it's now officially number 980.

There is a little bit of history behind this image I'd like to share.

I submitted 'My Very Own Fish Bowl' to a well known US Celebrity Photographer's show for a blind critique. He looked at it, scratched his head and asked if he was looking at an aquarium shot before seeming being critical of people who take photos into aquariums.

Oh well, maybe if I have called it something like 'Killer Piranhas' I would have avoided the prejudiced reception.

For me this image captures so much of what I love about scuba diving Port Noarlunga Jetty.

Huge schools of sweep and silver drummer to entertain the new divers training here. A tranquil protected space behind the reef to simply relax, shakedown gear not used often enough and the anticipation of what lies on the other side.

I really do feel like it's my very own fish bowl!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 980, My Very Own Fish Bowl', 1/160s f/7.1 ISO400 15mm

While out looking at the Geminids I thought I would have a little play with long exposures to the South.

During the middle of this exposure heavy cloud started rolling in from the South and the combination of stars and the reflected light from the towns of Mannum and Murray Bridge produced an effect I could never have planned.

After this beautiful image was complete the clouds covered the entire sky leaving the stars and the Geminids hidden from view and calling an end to our star-gazing adventure. Best thing really as it was nearly 2am with a long drive home.

A very late night but well worth it.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 979, Celestial Whirlpool', 15minutes f/4 ISO320 15mm

I once heard another photographer claim that 'pets' were the low hanging fruit of photography.

In some sense it's no wonder as unlike people, animals are not capable of being anything other than their genuine self.

If the animal happens to be a dearly love pet expressing their personality then of course it is very easy to capture the magic.

Low hanging fruit? Guilty


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 978, Jenny', 1/1250s f/5.6 ISO640 200mm

A gentle wave breaks the sun's reflection bringing the base of the stroke to an abrupt end.

Just like the ninth letter of the alphabet, I see 'i'.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 977, i', 1/6400s f/22 ISO100 200mm

Well at least I think it's Simosyrphus grandicornis, but then it could be Ischiodon scutellaris.

Not being an entomologist the above are my best guesses but I can confidently say it's a Common Hover Fly.

I noticed this little guy hovering motionless in mid air above one of my chilli plants and thought how cool a photo it would make. After getting my camera and finding it still there I tried many shots of 'the hover'.

Ultimately I did not get a good 'in-flight' shot but after it settled I got this one.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 976, Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly', 1/500s f/8 ISO800 100mm

Orion is definitely my favourite constellation and when I saw it hanging in the sky above our beautiful Henley Beach shore-scape I instantly had the title for this image.

Low tides at night are a fantastic opportunity to walk out onto the wet sand and look back towards the foreshore and the lights reflected in the low lying water.
It's so easy to do but I wonder how many people have ever seen the Henley beach foreshore like this.

And as for Orion? I just like the fact that it's up there above it all.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 975, The Colours Under Orion', 20s f/14 ISO640 15mm

The versatility of Alex Castillo's voice is extraordinary when it comes to singing covers with Adelaide band, 'The Incredibles'.

What's not so incredible at the Arkaba is the intense colour in the lighting when it comes to creating a good image. When I first reviewed this image, Alex looked like a cross between Kermit and Donatello, great if you like green!

Now as much a fan of black and white images as I am I tend to avoid using B&W just to be artsy but for this image it was the only way I could get Alex to look normal again.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 974, Alex Castillo', 1/125 f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

It has kind of snuck up on me this year but apparently the festivities have already begun and Christmas is indeed coming.

People's homes are becoming festooned with all manner of light shows. Some happy to just twinkle a little while others seem to be participants in full on visual warfare.

These huge hanging decorations at the Arkaba might be little output of place here but I am reminded that a few decorations for Christmas are in order.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 973, Christmas is Coming', 1/200 f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

I never meant to take band photos tonight.

It was supposed to be just a Christmas function with good friends but when the band started playing the most diverse collection of covers I have ever heard I was torn between dancing with friends and photography. Fortunately I was able to combine them both. Sort of ...

Adelaide band 'The Incredibles' did not wear the red spandex of their namesakes (which I am truly thankful for), instead they were sharply dressed and put on a fantastic show taking us from the 80's to the present and back again.

I don't very often get to interact directly with a performer but when vocalist Louise Messenger spotted me I definitely experienced that 'who you looking at' feeling but in the best way.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 972, Who You Looking At?', 1/160 f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

Yes, this place in particularly!

Here's a mood of the Henley Beach jetty I have never captured before. It's dark and grainy and very surreal in it's austerity.

There is no sunset, no waves crashing, no jetty lights. This is place is separated from our normal experience of it by the stretching of time and the quiet darkness of night.

It took a very long time exposure under the dark moon shadow of the jetty to bring this mood to life.

This is indeed is a place I am tonally addicted to!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 971, Tonally Addicted To Place', 240s f/16 ISO400 15mm