Entries by Robert

As I looked into the bush, there in the distance under a shining beam of sunlight shone a perfect yacca!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 192 - Yacca'. 1/200s f/2.8 ISO-160 200mm

Winter time is lambing season here down on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Odd really that an animal would choose to bear young in our coldest time and wettest time. Unless of course you are aware that these new newborns would not survive our 40deg summers!

These two little lambs are oblivious to my approach but mum is not as she gives me a wary eye. 5 seconds later mum is off in the opposite direction with confused lambs in hot pursuit. Lunch will have to wait.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 191 - Lunchtime'. 1/1250s f/2.8 ISO-160 200mm

Waiting for the moon to rise above the treeline I could not help be captivated by how the leaves were backlit by the clouds filled with moonlight.

The actual moon itself turned out to be a bit disappointing due to the cloud cover but I am happy with the silhouette.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 190 - Moonrise'. 4s f/5.0 ISO-1600 200mm

Visual recursion is something some of us have experienced by pointing a video camera at its own monitor. That seemingly infinite diminishing set of images within images.

I never expected the same thing when I set about to photograph the aperture of my lens using the lens itself. I initially set up with the lens focused on its own nodal point, the aperture blades. It was a compromise between depth of field and a pleasing visual position for the blades to be in. (I have never heard of anyone ever setting the aperture for this reason!). On taking a few test images I noticed the reflection of the camera body off the camera's reflective CMOS sensor. I thought COOL!

Getting the camera body, as reflected off the CMOS sensor, in focus simply came down to trial and error as I simply could not get enough light to preview manual focus.

Here's the end result, 'Recursion', I hope you like it.

Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 189 - Recursion'. 20s f/6.3 ISO-320 100mm macro

As a child I remember hearing the expression 'to tighten one's belt' when needing to save money, pay for unexpected expenses or to engage in some form of austerity measures.

This puzzled me for many years because elastic did a perfectly good job at keeping my pants up! Fortunately for me I never experienced the idea that austerity could lead to becoming thinner so again the saying simply made no sense.

Well there it is, a saying for austerity that most of us have never and probably will never know. 'Tighten your belt', we're doing it tough in hard economic times. Really?


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 188 - Austerity'. 1/10s f/8.0 ISO-100 100mm macro + strobe

Plumbing makes our lives wonderful!

Just imagine no running water and no sewerage and think how miserable our lives would be in comparison to the well serviced environment that keeps as so comfortable. So why do we hide something so valuable rather than proudly display our plumping in full view.

Buried away in an underground basement, I am sure this plumbing keeps the building occupants very happy in their plumbing ignorance!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 187 - Hidden Plumbing'. 1/20s f/4.0 ISO-1600 28mm

The beach is a wonderful place to make images.

Once you have had your fill of jetties, sun-sets and seagulls you start to notice how visually dynamic a place for images it is. There is a never ending parade of new joggers, dogs, sea-birds, boats, kites, sailboard, weddings, picnics, etc, etc,etc. I'm sure I could make a new image there every day for a year and each would be as fresh as the last.

For this image the light was low, my ISO high and my aperture wide open. As the petrel came into view I new I'd only get one shot thanks to the less than ideal focusing on my camera. Fortunately luck favors the persistent!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 186 - Johnathan Livingston Petrel'. 1/1250s f/2.8 ISO-1600 200mm

Once this service station owned by Mick Skorpos was once Adelaide's biggest and busiest.

It was ugly back then and it's even uglier now. Abandoned, left to wind blown leaves, litter and graffiti. Perhaps this is symbol of our transition to electric vehicles. Will the electric car leave a blight of similar abandoned service stations on suburban landscape? I hope not.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 185 - Urban Relics'. 1/25s f/16 ISO-100 17mm

Adelaide has amazing talent!

Driving down East Terrace, Bowden we happened on walls and walls of amazing graffiti art. One particular wall would have needed 10 or 12 stitched images together to do it justice.

I made several images and labored over the one I would use for today. In the end I chose this piece of wall not because it was the most brazen or most colourful or most intricate or most bizarre; this piece of wall stood out simply becuase I liked the composition of art, textures of brick, the old bricked up entrance and the overall feel of it.

Unfortunately I have no idea who the artist is and probably will never find out.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 184 - Watching Paint Dry'. 1/100s f/5.6 ISO-320 45mm

Salt, what would our lives be like without it?

I first gazed upon these man made salt mountains at Dry Creek in 1984 while studying at the Levels Campus of the South Australian Institute of Technology. There they were off in the distance and one day when I had some time to kill I set out across the industrial wasteland to get a better look. It took much longer than I imagined.

It has taken me 28 years to finally make an image of them I am happy to share.

As an added bonus this is my very first Geo-tagged image!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 183 - Salt Mountain'. 1/1000 f/5.6 ISO-125 105mm


P.S. This image no. 183 is exactly 50% of the way through my '366 Days of 2102' project. Only 183 to go!

It must be cold, even the hard core skaters are packing it it to head for cosier places.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 182 - Too Cold To Skate'. 1/80s+1/20s+1/5s f/7.1 ISO-2500 17mm hdr

Cold winds sweeps off the sea chilling to the bone. A far cry from the Great Barrier Reef a few days earlier!

Only a lone kite-sailor, a man walking his dog and a few people were out this evening. The sensible; cosy in nice warm cars as they drive home from work or settling into a hearty winter meal.

Who wants to be sensible?


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 181 - Windswept Grange'. 1/30s f/2.8 ISO-50 70mm

When I looked down on these tracks and followed them through their industrial landscape I was struck by the beauty of four lines merging to a distant turn.

Four parallel lines converging in perspective, curving to a new parallel convergence then curving to a single point marked by a single lit signal light.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 180 - Tracks'. 1/320s f/14 ISO-400 100mm

Water reflects perfectly on a breathless morning.

It was one of those perfect, cold and still mornings doing the morning school run when I saw how beautiful the reflections were. Fortunately it was just as still on the way back.

'Camera, ... never leave home without it!'

Still on that stubborn water theme!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 179 - Mirror Image'. 1/6400s at f/4.0 ISO-160 55mm

P.S. If this image does not mess with your head you are not really looking!

Reflections of suburban lighting on water can be just as pretty as the large city scape.

Back in Adelaide again and I can't seem to shed the water theme of my last 8 days. Here is Glenelg's King Street bridge with the marina behind.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 178 - Glenelg'. 3.2s at f/4.0 ISO-640 200mm

All good things must come to an end.

The final overnight crossing from Lady Musgrave Island to Bundaberg was by most accounts ugly. By about 5pm the only souls left with stomach's intact or not cowering in their bunks where the skipper and a four of us. Even the cook was nowhere to be seen!

Well into the night and the seas, Liam, Michael, Pasi and myself kept a vigil, drank the rest of the alcohol, made own dinner in the galley, watched movies and otherwise braved it through. By our accounts it was a good night and a great end to a fantastic trip.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 177 - Ocean Traverse'. 1/500s at f/2.8 ISO-3200 15mm

Farewell said the lionfish but before you go let me pose for you so that the world may see my beauty.

Well perhaps the thoughts of a lionfish are not quite so vain and complex but a poser it certainly was. For me it was a lovely way to end my last dive on this Great Barrier Reef odyssey.

This guys is a red lionfish, Pterois volitans and as mentioned in a previous post, Lionfish are common to the Indo-Pacific region and considered every bit a part of our tropical waters. Its new arrival in the U.S.A. however is not welcome at all since being introduced by the aquarium trade back in 1992. Having no natural predators in other parts of the world means this beautiful creature has become an introduced pest to our friends bordering the Atlantic Ocean.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 176 - Farewell Said the Lionfish'. 1/160s at f/9 ISO-640 15mm

We search over the reef and down to the depths, we looked far and wide and high and low. We searched the cays and then the lagoons till we finally found Nemo.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 175 - Finding Nemo'. 1/200s at f/4 ISO-400 38mm + 1.0 diopter

The dark and looming shape above is our lifeline, our home in this vast ocean, the mother ship!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 174 - The Mother Ship'. 1/100s at f/13 ISO-400 17mm + 1.0 diopter

Giant clams bring back childhood memories of movies with swimmers trapped by giant clams and rising tides!

Scary movies aside, the magic, colours and gorgeous textures of giant clams has held a fascination for me ever since and will always remain up there for me in the highlights of diving the tropics.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 173 - Wham Bam Giant Clam'. 1/100s at f/11 ISO-320 15mm

Twilight reflections on the ocean go hand in hand with amazing Great Barrier Reef sunsets.

A dappled beautiful sea beckons more fantastic diving ahead.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 172 - Reef Twilight'. 1/8000s at f/5.6 ISO-800 290mm

Grey hunter of the sea glides past me on Hackies Reef.

Half curious, non-perturbed, sleek and beautiful. The grey reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, is a beautifully proportioned shark. Everything about it speaks of speed and efficiency.

This is my first shark encounter on an amazing Swain's Group, Great Barrier Reef adventure.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 171 - Grey Suit Hunter'. 1/160s at f/7.1 ISO-200 40mm +1.0 diopter

Our home for the next 8 days.

The MV Venus II. Built in 1961, later acquired and re-fitted by George Christensen as a live aboard dive charter vessel.

The beginning of out Swains Group, Great Barrier Reef odyssey.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 170 - The Good Ship MV Venus II'. 0.6s at f/8 ISO2000 24mm

It's a beautiful ride along the Torrens River which meanders down from above Gorge Road in the Adelaide Hills, past the city itself and under the bridge I am standing on before emptying into the sea.

It is quite dark, the sun having recently set and I have made a simple long exposure image of the Torrens River looking back towards the city and beyond.

I love these long exposure night-into-day images for the surreal warmth they give to an otherwise cold and uninviting landscape.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 169 - Sea to City'. 25s at f/8 ISO1000 15mm

I am so fortunate that we live near the beach and I get to drive along it every day.

I don't however spend anywhere near enough time actually down on the sand or even better still actually in the water!! Plans are afoot to rectify this but in the meantime here is an image I took yesterday from the sand in front of Joe's Kiosk at Henley Beach looking north. I loved the dramatic early morning sky so I have used HDR to really bring this out.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 168 - Windswept Morning'. 1/320+1/160+1/80 at f/14 ISO100 39mm hdr

Powerful, beautiful, of form, formless, life giving, simple, turbulent, movement, life taking, breathtaking, water.

It falls, it flows, we complain there too much then we complain there is too little. We must respect it's partnership with all life on this planet.
I love being in it, under it, drinking it, watching it. From vast ocean to a tear on a cheek or just a simple glass of water it is the best photographic subject ever!

Take one Riedel wine glass, fill with water, stir vigorously, photograph then drink!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 167 - H2O'. 1/100s at f/20 ISO800 100mm strobes x3 at minimum power

Batten down the hatches, get off the streets, shutter your windows and hide under the bed! Were up for a big one!

Well perhaps all is not quite so bad here but with a forecast of 60-90km/h winds and gusts I am happy not to be out in it. This image is not so much a mad dash home but an idle click through the windscreen as we drove through local Henley Beach.

Maybe I'll take some storm photos tomorrow or maybe I'll just stay in my nice warm office. We'll see.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 166 - Speeding into the Weather'. 1s at f/11 ISO800 19mm

For a subject of amazing colour and form I have chosen to leave colour completely out.

This is my first truly monochrome image in this series. I generally resist the temptation to use monochrome as tool to create a surrealness where an image could not stand on its own. In this HDR image however the colour seemed so at odds with the dark and grungy feel of this street that I almost felt it detracted so for me the decision to drop it was easy. So please let me know what you think of this Blyth Street Art in HDR monochrome.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 165 - Bank Street Art'. 2s+8s+30s at f/13 ISO400 24mm hdr

There is something intriguing about multiples of things.

Walk down any supermarket isle or meander through a grocery store and there are plenty multiples to photograph. The problem is most such place do not like big cameras pointed at their merchandise! Next time I visit Foodland or Coles I'll have to see what I can sneak through!

On a much larger scale, these buses at the Alberton depot with their shiny mirror-like windscreens caught my eye. These buses with no passengers are my photo for today.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 164 - Not on the Buses'. 1/50s at f/14 ISO400 105mm

I have not been in deep blue for longer than I care to admit. A chance meeting with my friend Terry yesterday, some reorganisation of my schedule and before I new it I was gliding once again effortlessly beneath the dappled surface of the ocean just off Port Noarlunga.

I'd nearly forgotten how much I adore this sport and put me under those waves with a camera in my hand and I am in my element ( or should that be molecule ).

This image captures Terry gliding above me, briefly silhouetted in the morning sunshine.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 163 - When Blue is Beautiful'. 1/4000s at f/7.1 ISO400 15mm


Here a few extra from today that did not make photo of the day...