Robert's Ramblings

When I captured this image our team's fate was in the balance. Little did we know this would repeat itself a few hours later in the grand final.

Photographing indoor action sports is a real challenge with fast movement and low light. One way to get around all of these problems is to capture the emotional moments between the action.

Here out team's bond is evident in comparison with the oppositions. I'll let you guess who won the Gold Cup.



Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 443, Timeout’ 1/160s f/4.0 ISO1250 17mm

This is a place I never expected to be creating an image of something I never expected to see.

The Heysen Tunnels are normally off limits for bicycles and pedestrians, in fact anything that can't power through at typical traffic speeds of around 90Km/h. This morning the Boileau VeloAdelaide Mt Lofty Challenge Ride saw that all change for a few hours as hundreds of riders powered up the steep freeway unencumbered by anything other than gravity and perhaps fitness.

As for me, this was yet another example of chance. I was coming back down the freeway from the other side so I pulled over to witness the tail end of the riders emerging into the light at the end of the tunnel.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 442, Light at the End of the Tunnel’ 1/13s f/8 ISO800 22mm

It just so happened that I crossed this railway bridge this morning while driving through the Adelaide Hill and something made me stop, park the car and grab my camera.

When I got down to the track I met three guys all set up with assorted cameras. At first I though they were train buffs but once I got chatting I discovered they were train drivers themselves. So what do train drivers do on their 3 week holidays, chase and photograph trains apparently!

I did not have to wait long for GM46 to come powering past the old Mount Lofty train station with a haul of grain the stretched as far as the eye could see. GM46 is a GM class locomotive manufactured in 1967 by Clyde Engineering in Granville, New South Wales.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 441, GM46 The Grain Train’ 0.6s f/22 ISO50 17mm

I’ve just completed an environmental family portrait session at the local Grange Golf Club. You guessed it, they are golf crazy.

During the shoot I got them to do a ‘Four Musketeers’ with clubs and this is one of the resulting images.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 440, The Four Musketeers’ 1/8000s f/5.0 ISO640 155mm

I think it is extraordinary that one of the most common events in our lives, the evening sunset shared by every soul on this planet every single day, never ceases to take my breath away.

Last night when I headed down to the beach it was on a bit of a whim. The sky was heavily in cloud and the chances were that the sunset would have been hidden. Imagine my delight to find a sliver of clear sky just above the ocean's horizon. It reminded me that being lucky is not about being lucky at all, its about being there!

As I watched the sun emerge into the gap for it's end-of-day finale I watched the eyes of others around me light up with the delight of another beautiful sunset.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 439, Another Day, Another Sunset' 1/1000s f/7.1 ISO160 200mm

Sometimes the people you see and the things they are doing create an entire story in you mind in an instant.

This was one of those moments. I am sure you can get as creative as you like here. Imagine the message she is reading or what she might be thinking.

No matter what, I am sure the truth would have been stranger than the fiction.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 438, Text Message' 1/10s f/2.8 ISO2500 200mm

Have you ever come back out to the carpark after shopping and wondered where you left your car?

I wonder if the owners of these bike might feel the same when it's time to go home. Especially if you wanted to go early!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 437, Now Where Did I Leave My Bike' 1/6s f/2.8 ISO2500 85mm

One day I will do a beautiful lover's silhouette by full moon. It is yet another on my rapidly expanding photographic bucket list.

In the mean time it is quite amazing the potential substitutes! This image of a couple's silhouette was created by using the reflected light from a Walk-On-Water ball at a popular amusement ride.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 436, Contemplating The Moon' 1/80s f/2.8 ISO1250 200mm

This dahlia is beautiful. The delicate structure of its petals are beautiful. The progressive expanding circles are beautiful. Its overall squashed spherical geometry is beautiful.

Its crowning glory of deep intense purple colour is simply extraordinary. To me however the colour overwhelms putting at risk appreciation of all the other beautiful aspects of this wonderful flower.

So here is how I saw this dahlia in all of its beauty.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 435, Colourless Beautiful' 1/80s f/2.8 ISO1250 200mm

These old ceramic bottles may have found themselves in private collections, old museums or long since crushed into historical oblivion.

These bottles have found a different role. Every year they are brought out from careful storage and filled with the best and the most beautiful cut flowers on display at the Tanunda show.

I wonder if they still are the property of B. Seppelt & Sons?


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 434, The Property of B. Seppelt & Sons' 1/80s f/2.8 ISO1250 160mm

She sat in the middle of the road. Four lanes of busy city traffic flowing to and fro around her seemed completely at odds with her fascination of the sounds being piped from the silver Walkman into her ears.

At one point she appeared to become distressed and began fumbling for something in her bag. A moment later with fresh batteries in her Walkman again she settle back into her reverie again in in her own world.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 433, In Her Own World' 0.3s f/2.8 ISO2500 200mm

The 'Garden' is like a great melting pot of people all coming together for the wide and varied Fringe shows hosted there.

And just as the shows themselves are so diverse, so are the people. Here at the 'Pigs on Fire' dinner venue there's is a lot going on, a lot being discussed and probably a lot being eaten waiting for the next show.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 432, The Garden Of Unearthly Delights' 0.8s f/5.6 ISO160 70mm

Another trip into the 'Garden of Unearthly Delights' netted a trove of fantastic visual treats.

Try as I may I was not able to identify this juggler and his partner. I suspect the two were part of a bigger performance elsewhere. Promoting or just practicing it made for great entertainment.

I did not really nail the image I really wanted with the juggler in sharp focus and the skittles blurred with motion. All my attempts resulted in too mush movement in both. In the end I upped the shutter speed and took the easy way out!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 431, Dancing Skittles' 1/500s f/2.8 ISO640 168mm

This first crop is blooming hot!

For more than a year I have been tending a ghost chili plant plant I had grown from seed, the Bhut Jolokia, also known as the Naga Ghost Chili and reported to be the hottest chili in the world.

This is my the first real crop aside from a few early teasers so I am no looking forward to some truly hot culinary delights to come.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 430, Hot Crop' 25s f/32 ISO160 100mm

Tonight promised a gorgeous sunset and I was not disappointed.

These warm and balmy summer evenings make being at the beach so easy with shorts and bare feet and sand between toes.

Armed only with the 15mm FE I played around with various images from conservative to downright wacky in the hour I had to play with. This image of a runner across the setting sun seemed to capture the mood perfectly.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 429, Another Beautiful Adelaide Sunset' 1/320s f/11 ISO160 15mm

Port Noarlunga is definitely underrated as a dive site.

Sunday night Alexius and myself arrived at the dive site to witness a gorgeous sunset over a calming sea on a high tide. Always looking for an opportunity for something different the high tide gave us the opportunity to swim over the reef and drop down on the seaward side and the amazing dive which ensued.

Although the visibility was not the best it was more than made up for by super calm conditions without the incessant surge we usually experience when diving on the ocean side.
I tried something a little different this time, a 17-40mm zoom with a +2 diopter following the very constrained experience of using the 100mm when there are lots of larger critters around.

This image is of one of the local residents, a shaw's cowfish, Arcana aurita.

I'm now looking forward to my next 'underrated' dive at Port Noarlunga!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 428, Shaw's Cowfish' 1/100s f/18 ISO640 40mm

Gluttony is a curious little Adelaide Fringe space with five tiny performance spaces: 'Pig Tales', 'Pig Pen', 'The Piglet', 'The Runt' and 'The Bally'.

Perhaps these three little pigs represent a mascot of sorts. Then again, perhaps not.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 427, The Three Little Pigs of Gluttony' 1/40s f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

So often at shows the ambiance is significantly created or altered by props.

Much of the time these props although creating a feeling really go unnoticed. If you were asked after a show what background props were used you might not have been able to recall.

This stack of old suitcases attracted my attention on many levels. Firstly and perhaps most importantly I loved the way the light fell on them, the highlights, shadows and textures as well as how they were framed by the evening sky. But soon I became aware of a curious inconsistency with how we would stack suitcases either while traveling or in storage. All of these suitcases appear to be both unlocked and upside down. Something you would never normally observe even if you bothered to notice.

Clearly these suitcases are going nowhere!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 426, Going Nowhere' 1/40s f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

There is plenty of free entertainment on the streets these days.

With the 'Fringe' being such an unstructured free for all there are plenty of artists setting up on street corners and performing their art.

This guy was part of a Spanish group who set themselves up just outside the Garden of Unearthly Delights. Judging by the crowd that gather around I'd say they were a huge hit.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 425, Fringe Street Gigging' 1/13s f/3.5 ISO3200 130mm

Ben Mellor's performance of Anthropoetry at the Fringe was a real delight.

I must confess I am not into reading poetry but when someone else is performing it to me, and they do it well, I really love it!

We are not talking about a tame recital here but a lively spoken word performance. Polished and raw at the same time Ben's performance was engaging and entertaining and was well complimented by Dan Steele's various music and theatrical accompaniments.

Anyone who says Adelaide is boring needs to get out more!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 424, Ben Mellor's Anthropoetry' 1/80s f/2.8 ISO640 200mm

The Adelaide Fringe festival is an amazing experience that is worth coming to Adelaide to be involved with.

The other night we decided to take a stroll through the Garden of Unearthly Delights, have a bit of a look around, grab something to eat and plan our next show experience. Of course I had my camera with me and could not help take peek at one of the shows!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 423, Sneaking a Peek' 1/50s f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

Even though we have had a good supply of water this summer our Torrens river has stopped flowing.

Even the recent good summer rains we have experienced were not able to bring the water level up to where is would resume its flow out to sea.

This image taken from the outgoing spillway looks out towards the Seaview Road and the ocean beyond.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 422, No Flow Here' 1/100s f/11 ISO100 17mm

Brittle stars are nocturnal and very timid and although very common are almost never seen during the day.

This brittle star, Clarkcoma canaliculata is out hunting on sponge and was very sensitive to torch light. Unlike other starfish these guys are fast and agile and can move very quickly if they choose to. To make this image I had to use stealth mode with torch light off to avoid disturbing it.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 421, Clarkcoma canaliculata' 1/60s f/16 ISO640 100mm + 2x strobes

Friday night's dive with Alexius, Ken, Damian and Alistair was sensational!

More than two hours underwater down at Rapid Bay presented so many photo opportunities. The only problem was being stuck with one lens configuration, a 100mm macro. During this dive I could have used a wide angle 15mm fish eye or perhaps a 24mm prime on any number of subjects from eagle rays to congregating spider crabs.

We only found the leafy seadragons near the very end of our time underwater, three all together in fact. At that stage we were all getting rather cold but it is amazing how getting excited over a new photo opportunity can warm you up again, at least for a while. Having a macro lens I took the opportunity to go for the head shot!

I love diving at night. It's great to see so much life down there and I am looking forward to the next one already.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 420, Leafy Seadragon Up Close and Personal' 1/100s f/8.0 ISO320 100mm + 2x strobes

So why does such a beautiful creature so common to our local jetties have such a hard to produce name such as Ceratosoma brevicaudatum?

You could just call it a nudibranch or even a seaslug but these are as vague as calling all dogs, dogs. There are of course many answers to a question like this. The obvious answer is that it needs a scientific name to accurately describe the species but why no common name? As it turns out the vast majority of animal species have no common name and the poor nudibranch falls into this category. Quite simply it comes down to this, if you can't eat it or it has no significant commercial value then nobody bothers to give it one.

This guy on a pylon at Port Hughes posed perfectly for the camera and is portraying in the close-focus - wide-angle style which gives a real sense of habitat.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 419, Ceratosoma brevicaudatum' 1/200s f/11 ISO320 15mm

Port Hughes jetty was a welcome respite to a blown out Edithburgh.

Shallow, gentle, plenty of fish action and then there were the jellies! Hundreds of them floating past in the gentle current. Fortunately these guys had no sting, at least none I was aware of even as several of them brushed past my exposed face during the dive.

After several attempts to photograph them in mid-water and the havoc they play with my auto-focus I decided to try a sun shot! In addition to the main jellyfish I just happened to capture a column of them leading up to the surface.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 418, The Jellies' 1/4000s f/16 ISO320 15mm

Edithburgh is not always a pretty dive!

This night dive with Ken, Damian, Alistair and Alexius was more like swimming through breakfast cereal in a washing machine than the pleasant gentle experiences I normally associated with Edithburgh Jetty. Still we all took down our macro gear in the hope we would pull something out.

In keeping with the spirit of a 'not so pretty' dive I did manage to capture the grumpy expression of a 'not so pretty' gurnard perch.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 417, Not So Pretty' 1/60s f/16 ISO640 100mm + twin strobes

There's a bit of action down at Rapid Bay at the moment.

It seems that spider crabs are pairing off to do their thing. This pair of majid spider crabs ,Leptomithrax gaimadii seem happy enough to make a spectacle of themselves though I am not sure that the smaller female has any say in things the way he has her in his pincer like grasp!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 416, She's Mine so Back Off' 1/200s f/10 ISO640 15mm

The worst way to try and photograph fish underwater is by chasing them!

How would you feel if a huge black one eyed monster 10 times larger than you started chasing you in the street for a photograph or perhaps lunch!

To capture these beautiful zebra fish I simply sat under the this collapsed structure and waited. Five minuted of being still rewarded me with this image and no zebra fish were harmed in the making.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 415, Waiting for the Shot' 1/320s f/6.3 ISO640 15mm

Sunday was hot, very hot and at 39 degrees C in the shade being underwater was one of the best places to escape.

The visibility was not too bad and the warm 23 degree C water was like being in the bath, I could have stayed under all day if I could have made my air last. Here my dive buddy Alexius captures my lens in his down at Rapid Bay.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 414, Underwater Respite' 1/400s f/10 ISO320 15mm