Robert's Ramblings

No I did not publish an upside down image! It is just as was captured.

While heading into town I tried and tried to create an image with a streaking background to give a sense of speed. Unfortunately all I got was jagged bumping blurriness.
This image finally came close by jamming the camera bottom up against the ceiling.

I wonder what the driver thought of it all?


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 593, The Camera's View' 1/80s f/8.0 ISO640 23mm

This sign in my view really grated with me at first.

The leading lines kept on drawing me back to the bent, buckled and defaced warning sign which seemed so out of place.
I re-framed the the shot a little further down so that I only captured the unobscured clean lines of the drain but felt something was missing.

On moving back to my original position, the bent and bucked signed felt just fine where it had been in the first place.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 592, Waterway Subject To Flash Flooding' 1/250s f/7.1 ISO160 17mm

The Mansions on Pulteny always remind me of a huge doll's house.

Originally I thought this building was relatively new as far as Adelaide's architecture goes. Thank you Jim Manning and Martin Christmas for digging up its 100 year old history making it significant as an Adelaide historical building.

Ruthven Mansions http://mansions100.webs.com/history.htm


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 591, The Mansions' 6s f/7.1 ISO160 17mm

Another building I had on my 'to do' list was St Andrews Uniting Church on Jetty Road, Glenelg.

Tonight I just happened to be there with my camera and when I stood back I could not help but laugh at the irony before me.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 590, Open 7 Days' 2.5s f/8.0 ISO160 15mm

Today we are experiencing the most amazing sea mist that just kept rolling in all day long.

This image taken in the early afternoon shows that the sun has not done anything to burn it off yet 1000m inland the sky is blue and beautiful.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 589, Lost In Sea Mist' 1/6400 f/7.1 ISO320 15mm

Another mural spied on a house backing up to the Sturt River, Glengowrie.

At first I just noticed the obvious brightly coloured collection of words and shape and puzzled over the odd robotic looking dudes.
Then I noticed the label 'Google' and suddenly two Google Chrome Bots left their less than subtle obscurity and entered into the scene.

I'm still not sure what they are doing but I am sure it has nothing to do with Apples or ...


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 588, Google Chrome Bots' 1/200 f/7.1 ISO160 17mm

Today we all said our goodbyes to a man, my cousin, who's weather beaten appearance hid a heart of gold until you truly met him.

Today his grand niece's letter will be the last letter he will ever receive.

Today he takes with him a little colour from the world.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 587, His Last Letter' 1/640 f/4.0 ISO320 17mm

This swampy wetland is the last vestiges of Brownhill Creek as it wanders down from the hills and through the suburbs before emptying into the Patawalonga River in Glenelg.

Tucked in behind Adelaide Airport, this hidden treasure is full of bird life. I counted at least thirty ibis in addition to ducks and other waterfowl. Having only the wide angle lens I was not able to capture anything other than the landscape itself. The few birds in the sky are actually ducks. I plan to return again with something longer next time.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 586, Brownhill Creek Wetland' 1/200 f/9.0 ISO320 17mm

This tangled clump washed up on the beach is a brown algae commonly called strapweed, Phyllospora comosa.

There seemed to be quite a lots of this on the beach this evening so I used the opportunity to create some foreground interest to a familiar theme. As is also a familiar theme is washing the seawater soaked tripod after the shot.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 585, Washed Up And Tangled' 1/6 f/16 ISO100 15mm

With the magnificent sunsets we have been having here it's easy to overlook many of the other beautiful aspect of the beach.

When I first noticed this stream of water flowing out to sea I thought it must be the outfall of a drain but on closer inspection I could not locate the source. Anyway I set up the camera inches above the sand for the shot and moments later before I was even ready a large set of waves came in an swept through where my camera have been moments before I plucked it to safety. I should have noticed the way the sand textures on either side showed evidence of water flowing in the opposite direction.

So that's where the water came from!


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 584, Leading Lines To The Sea' 1/125 f/8.0 ISO800 15mm

I am always on the lookout for good street art.

I discovered this extended work of graffiti today while out riding near the intersection Morphett Road and Austral Terrace. You can't see it from the road but the a ride along the bike track provides a great view. be warned however if you venture too close for a better look. The area is riddled with three-corner-jack thorns. I pulled hundreds of then from both my shoes and tyres!

Street art like this takes time, love and effort to create and I for one am appreciative of the work when I see it.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 583, Save Water' 1/400 f/7.1 ISO160 19mm

Another stormy day and a beautiful sunset to match.

I could see it was going to be a great photo opportunity but despite my efforts I did not make it down to the beach in time. I should have made it but tonight the sun and clouds conspired to create a window of sunshine a few degrees above the horizon which came and went before I arrived.

Oh well, it wont be my last so I captured a few images of the dramatic clouds instead.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 582, Best Friends' 1/200 f/8.0 ISO800 15mm

Normally this is the kind of thing that happen to bears, not tigers!

Tonight we visited my sister recovering after surgery. She is doing fine and we enjoyed each other company for a good while before I discovered her 'get well soon tiger'. That was it all it took and for the next 30 minutes the unnamed tiger proceeded to investigate the room and its surrounds. I finally got this shot when the tiger was investigating the apparatus for its personal fitness training potential.

Get well soon sis'.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 581, Get Well Soon' 1/50 f/4.0 ISO800 102mm

Back in Adelaide again and one of the curious things I noticed different in bars here are the iced taps.

While traveling recently overseas I did not see the familiar iced taps anywhere. Aside from different local beverages, the taps essentially looked the same except for the ice.

Here at the Aldgate Pump Hotel with this chilly weather the ice did nothing for me so we enjoyed a couple of good red wines instead.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 580, Pull The Other One' 1/13 f/4.0 ISO1600 140mm

It's a long way from Bag End and for most of us now this is where we think the adventure begins forgetting all about the part of leaving through the front door and shutting the garden gate.

There is no doubt something very magical about air travel. A sense of limitless access to the world even though that is far from true. I have loved air travel ever since my first big adventure when I started working. Even now when ever I see a plane take off or land I wonder of all the adventures unfolding.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 579, Off On An Adventure' 1/160 f/8.0 ISO320 200mm

Have you ever wondered how a rack of wine glasses could send me off wondering order and chaos in the universe.

These beautifully racked glasses were once nothing more than a collection of molecules distributed though our environment. Go back further and the materials I now see as a rack of glasses were nothing more than space plasma. In their journey of creation, order was paid for by borrowing it from the universe, lending its entropy. As we all know, systems when left to their own will move to wards a state of higher entropy. The glasses will get filled and scattered around the bar. Some will get chipped, scratched or smashed. Eventually they will all become nothing more than glass dust distributed back into the environment.

One day the molecules themselves will be torn to atoms and some back to plasma. Entropy karma? Perhaps, but don't hold your breath waiting!


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 578, Waiting For Entropy' 1/200 f/4.0 ISO1600 100mm

I have been waiting to capture this image of Adelaide for some time now.

I had already planned my vantage point, I simply had to wait for those few days where the sun would set at the perfect angle to reflect directly off the Westpac Building to where I would be standing. For any given vantage point which could get such a reflection there will only be two periods per year of a few days where the sun will set in just the right place to observe it. These few days at this location were it for me.

To plan this image I used the help of the Photographers Ephemeris and Google Maps. I simply mapped a line from my vantage point on to the western face of the building and traced it's reflected path as a line out to the west-northwest. I then cycled through the days of the year until the the Photographers Ephemeris showed a matching line a few degrees above sunset.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 577, Adelaide In The Spotlight' 1/160 f/8.0 ISO320 200mm

I loved the cluttered feel of this image. Even though it is so alien to my technical world I still feel like I could enjoy being in this space if it were not a shop window.

Like creating an image from a sculpture or a painting, shop window displays are their special kind of art. Often an amazing amount of creative energy goes into a display like this. I am not sure how many people simply see retail at work or the vision of the window display artist. To me they present another another opportunity to share the way I see the world.

Lush Lighting, Kent Town.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 576, Forgotten Room' 0.6 f/8.0 ISO100 40mm

Architects do all sorts of interesting things to hide mundane but necessary pieces of plant associated with services like power, water and cooling.

I discovered this example on the corner of Pultney Street and North Terrace in the the Adelaide CBD.

I am not sure what this technicolor grill is hiding other than two large white cylindrical stacks which may be a part of the building's air-conditioning system. Anyway the continuous Technicolor light show makes it all seem like a piece of art rather than an ugly part of the air-conditioning plant.

I just loved the geometry and especially the symmetry of this image.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 575, Urban Geometry' 1.3 f/7.1 ISO160 27mm

I love avocados but they are not the sort of thing I'd imagine growing here in Adelaide. So just for fun I put a discarded seed into a pot instead of the bin and waited.

I waited, and waited and waited. All through summer, nothing. All through autumn, nothing. At the beginning of winter I brought the pot inside from the cold and put it up on the window sill. Almost like magic (which is a good explanation for life generally) it began to grow. Within a few short weeks the sprout had grown to nearly 12cm with four tiny cute leaves at the top of a long thin stalk. That's one avocado rescued from the oblivion of municipal waste!

In creating this image I am experimenting with a technique called 'focus stacking' used in macro imaging to expand the captured depth of field. At f/8.0 my working depth of field here is about 0.2mm meaning I could only hope to get a small part of one leaf in focus at best. Stopping down the aperture from here loses resolving power as the physics of light and optics and aperture conspire to trade greater depth of field with a blurred overall fuzzy mess.

In this image I have however been able to produce an expanded depth of field over about 6.0mm by focus stacking. I created a sequence of 34 individual images starting with the first having the very foremost part of the image in focus. For each successive frame I moved the focus 0.2mm further away until by the last frame the very edge of the back leaf was in focus. Finally I used a combination of LightRoom and Photoshop to bring all 34 images into a single frame with the full detail rendered from front to back.

Not only have I rescued an avocado but learned something new as well.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 574, Rescued Avocado' 2.5 f/8 ISO100 100mm Stacked

Adelaide's North Terrace is in my opinion the most photogenic strip in the Adelaide CBD.

You could easily start at one end and still be creating images 8 hours later without even leaving the footpath. This image is the view from the northwest corner of North Terrace and Frome Road looking west and features the University of South Australia's impressive Brookman Building in the foreground with Adelaide University's Historic Bonython Building in the background.

I think an evening North Terrace photo-walk would be a really fun way to explore this beautiful part of Adelaide.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 573, The Universities' 30s f/11 ISO160 15mm

While driving down Rundle Street in Kent Town my attention was caught by a window display of brightly coloured parasols.

I find something exotic about parasols, about umbrellas for display and shade. They are so far removed from our world where umbrellas and cold rainy weather seem to go hand in hand.
The shop I discovered was call 'Lush Lighting' and sold all sorts of exotic things for partys and weddings as well as lighting, lamps and ornaments. Not really my kind of place to come back and browse unless of course to create more images.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 572, Parasol Parade' 1s f/8.0 ISO100 40mm

Grange foreshore. Just a really nice place to visit in winter or summer.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 571, Grange Foreshore' 2s f/14 ISO100 15mm

Here is really important tip to remember when photographing the moon.

'It's not night time there where you are looking!'. The moon is in full sunlight and so the camera needs to told one way or another that a daylight exposure is required. It might not be a problem if you are using a 4000mm lens where you can fill the entire frame but for normal everyday lenses where a severe crop is required, normal camera auto exposure has no chance of getting it right. We are not talking about a few stops of correction here on the camera's auto exposure but full manual control.

Fortunately getting the exposure right is quite easy using the image preview and simply looking to see if you have captured lunar detail or just a big white blob.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 570, Our Celestial Neighbor' 1/100 f/14 ISO100 380mm

The normally warm and cosy Grange Kiosk takes on a whole new feel in the moonlight.

Actually it's not really moonlight but how it would look if the moon was 10 times brighter and setting on the horizon. To create this effect I have filtered out all of the warn reds and yellows of the setting sun turning it's light into something from a pale apocalyptic super moon.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 569, Moonlit Cafe' 1/25 f/11 ISO100 15mm

While taking photos of the Grange Jetty I played chicken with the surf with an unexpected surprise.

As each wave receded back into the ocean I'd follow it down as far as I dared and set up the camera for a long exposure capture. Sometime I got the shot but more often than not I'd pluck the camera and tripod from the next advancing wave just before it hit right in the middle of an exposure. On one occasion I noticed that if most of the exposure was complete then only the jetty lights would be smeared across the image.

Having seen what chance showed me I purposefully set up the ensuing shot. 25 seconds of exposure followed by 5 seconds of painting Grange Jetty with its own lights.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 568, Painting Grange Jetty' 30s f/11 ISO100 15mm

On our arrival we settled in to the cosy bar with Jennifer's oldest and best friend Darina.

What did we order, a bottle of Roederer of course!


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 567, Roederer' 1/1250s f/2.8 ISO100 200mm

Cold and wet, wild and windy.

Waves crash on the shore and sea foam is strewn all over the beach. Grey foamy tumble weed roll along the beach gaining size and momentum as they go.

Still dogs and people will not be deterred from their daily winter walk.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 566, Winter Walk' 0.5s f/11 ISO80 15mm

Four of us were have a quiet drink at 'The Rosemont' when two strange guys invited themselves to our table.

There's a lot more to the story but I'll simply cut to the pool game that later ensued. At this point in the game there were some delays and some exasperated words from the opposition, "would someone just take the shot". Never one to miss a cue (no pun intended), I did!

I don't think this game actually finished with both teams eventually losing interest and reverting back to their original conversations.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 565, The Shot' 1/30s f/2.8 ISO1600 15mm

From spray cans to thermic lances it is amazing the tools out there to make their mark on walls, roads and other durable surfaces.

This worker in the middle of the night under the Morphet Street Bridge is handling one heck of blow torch. A moment's distraction, a little slip and there would not be much left of melted and charred boots and feet.

Perhaps the the divine effigy in the background by Adelaide artist Sebastian Humphreys really is supervising this guys well being.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 564, Divine Supervision' 1/40s f/2.8 ISO1600 165mm