Entries by Robert

This Leafy Seadragon headshot was taken during a recent daytime dive at Rapid Bay.

This is another example of extreme separation normally associated with a night shot but instead done through strong strobes and removal of the blue luminance.

I expect he'll be wearing dark sunglasses next time I return.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Headshot', 1/200s f/8 ISO100 100mm

These yellowtail seemed so regimented into their 'march on by' that I could not help but imagine they had been given their marching orders.

Although this looks like a night shot it was actually created in full daylight by using a combination of bright strobe lighting to 'drown out the daylight' and then pulling back the blue luminescence in post production. The result is this striking black and silver contrast between fish and water.

March on by.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Marching Orders' 1/50s f/3.5 ISO160 50mm

A few weeks ago I first noticed the behavior of a male toadifsh (Omegophora armilla) collecting objects and filling a discarded bucket with them. On this dive I found another toadfish behaving in a similar way but this time filling a large sponge.

I wonder if they have completed their collections yet?

What happens when they start to overflow?

Have either suitors attracted a mate yet?

This weekend I plan to go back and visit Toad Hall and see how both are fairing.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Toad Hall' 1/25s f/8 ISO160 50mm

Imagine for a moment that going to heaven for a fish might have something to do with that strange sunlit world above?

Twenty years ago, 'up there', would have been teaming with amateur fishers angling for a piece of undersea action. From the fishes perspective the last place they might wish to go.

For years now Rapid Bay jetty has been slowing collapsing into the ocean. No one sets foot on its structure anymore. Sections of the Jetty are completely gone and no more fishing lines descend from above.

Where once were fishers there are now gulls and cormorants and of course fresh air.

For the fishes heaven will never be 'up there', only death.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Heavens Above' 1/50s f/8 ISO160 15mm

Sepia apama, the Giant Cuttlefish, is the largest of the cuttlefish and a South Australian draw-card critter. Thousands of cuttlefish congregate to mate in the shallows at the top of Spencer Gulf each winter creating amazing opportunities for divers and snorkelers to observe their antics in only metres of water.

This guy however lives out in the seagrass near Rapid Bay jetty where there was evidence enough he was up to antics of his own.

Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Giant Cuttlefish' 1/200s f/8 ISO160 15mm

I think I have enough moon images now for an independent collection but just because ... here's a new one.

Last night's waxing crescent is still mostly showing shadow but if you look really closely the almost hint of a full outline gives it a depth not perceived when the moon is full.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Moon Shadow' 1/40s f/8 ISO160 15mm

I may be looking up towards the light but that's of no use when it comes to lighting the way. I bring my own.

Conditions at Rapid Bay were sensational yet again with more schooling behavior under the 'Tee' than I have seen for a very long time.

As I arrive at the site I pulled up next a group of very happy divers who were laughing, whooping and exclaiming how exciting it was finally become certified open water divers.
I did not realise it then but later as I swam though forests of schooling scad, marveled at the visibility and was captivated by the dappled sunlight on the sand I realised just how special a dive those brand new divers just experienced.

I hope the conditions did not spoil them as South Australian diving ranges from sublime to ugly depending on the day.

This one was particularly good!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Towards The Light' 1/40s f/8 ISO160 15mm

A wonderful gathering of people at Coriole Winery enjoying the wine, the pizza, the fire, the ambiance, the food, the company and of course the poetry.

Poets Amy Bodossian, Jennifer Liston, David Mortimer, Jan Owen and Jude Aquilina entertained us with verse, song, prose, rhyme and whit while the Coriole team kept the pizzas and wine coming.

Looking forward to the next one already.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Coriole Pizza & Poetry' 1/10s f/3.5 ISO2500 15mm

This poor guy is suffering war wounds of love as he and many other suitors battle it out for the available girls.

There seems to be a lot of cuttlefish activity at the moment with both males and females engaging in all sorts of games.

If you look closely here you will notice translucent lumps all over his body where other males have taken chunks. The translucent colour is due to the lack of chromatophores in the wounded area.

He's fairing pretty well I'd say and will be up for a lot more before the season is over.

Giant Cuttlefish, (Sepia apama), Rapid Bay, South Australia


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Wounded One' 1/100s f/8.0 ISO160 50mm

The Majid Spider Crab, (Leptomithrax gaimadii), is commonly seen critter in South Australian coastal waters.

Equally at home in the sea grass, the rubble or on the jetty pylons, most of the time we see them as solitary scavengers or as mating pairs when the time is right.

There is however a certain time of the year when they come into the shallows in their thousands as walking wall of spider crabs two or three deep and tens of meters wide.

Just not today.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Picking Through The Grass' 1/100s f/5.6 ISO160 50mm

Most divers at Rapid Bay perform the usual ritual of crossing the sand from the new jetty to the old before really starting to pay attention to their surroundings.

Granted, the old jetty is certainly the draw card here but take the time instead to head off in a different direction, over the seagrass beds and it is an entirely different experience.

The seagrass is home to all sorts of interesting critters most of which you have to look carefully for as they hide among the grasses but not the leatherjackets.

Toothbrush Leatherjacket, (Acanthaluteres vittiger), Rapid Bay, South Australia


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Meet The Leatherjackets' 1/100s f/13 ISO160 50mm

Just like people, there are fish which collect things to show off.

I first spotted this Ringed Toadfish (Omegophora armilla) guarding a large white fishing bucket resting on the sand near Rapid Bay jetty. Wondering what was so interesting about the contents of the bucket I swam over to take closer look.

Initially the toadfish swam away but not very far and then tried to swim behind me and back to his bucket again. I backed off a little, settled down on the sand and waited.

He soon came back, inspected the contents of his bucket and then swam over to a small broken chunk of coral nearby. After examining it for a moment he proceeded to pick it up in his mouth and swim back to the bucket again where he dropped it in on top of the rubble already there. It was nearly three quarters full and I can only guess that he must have been responsible for filling up that bucket right from the beginning.

A fellow diver suggested it was some form of mating behavior as he had seen other toadfish trying to fill more natural objects such as sponges with rubble such as shells and grit and broken coral.

With his big white bucket filled with rubble this guy is obviously out to prove that size really does matter.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'My Rubble' 1/100s f/11 ISO160 50mm

Rapid Bay did not disappoint us this weekend with 10m visibility, minimal currents, warm weather and even the water is not so cold anymore.

Hanging around the t-section of the old jetty we discovered a huge school of Yellowtail Scad (Trachurus novaezelandiae). Initially they were timid but after a while they became used to us, allowed us to swim through them as they parted only to reformed behind us.

Another beautiful diving experience.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'In The Can' 1/100s f/4.0 ISO160 50mm

Another look on the amazing Eta Carinae Nebula to be seen in our southern night sky.

This fabulous structure can be seen in one of the most visibly dense parts of the Milky Way. There are 10s of thousands of stars visible here creating patterns of textured starlight, seemingly empty voids and the stunning Eta Carinae Nebula 10,000 light years away.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Eta Carinae II' 30s x30 f/2.8 ISO1600 200mm

Too focused on his own subject to notice he was the subject of mine.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Focused' 1/125s f/2.0 ISO640 50mm

Every one of these boys seems to be in a different world.

One in a daydream, one with the group, one in virtual world and one peering into it from a distance.

Maybe it's a guy thing but I regularly see a very different dynamic between groups of boys and girls.

... just fun to notice.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Boy's Night Out' 0.5s f/16 ISO800 50mm

Getting comfortable with taking street images is not coming easy for me.

Just the other day I was accosted by a man accusing me of taking photographs of his daughter. Rather than stand my ground I took the easy route of showing him the images I had been taking. No apology was forth coming, just a grumpy huff as he pretended it was no big deal.

My friends, peers and role models all seem to have different, sometimes opposing and often very strong opinions about taking photos of people in public. From suggestions such as quick and discrete, use a camera phone, ask permission first or simply don't do it there seems no simple way around it than to use my judgement and be prepared to justify myself if challenged. Some of the most powerful story telling street images I have see were either taken without the subject's awareness,r under sufferance or with indifference. How many of these powerful moments were lost because the photographer 'broke' the moment?

I captured this image of a family waiting for a tram on North Terrace. They all seemed lost in individual daydreams until I was spotted lying prone in the middle of the tram line. Moment broken perhaps.

I'll see where this experiment of street images goes. Perhaps I'll get more comfortable or perhaps I will abandon it as too stressful. Time and trials and images will tell.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Waiting', 1/160s f/3.2 ISO640 50mm

The weekend's Adelaide Mini Maker Faire was a wonderful opportunity to explorer everything crafty, geeky and techie.

There were 3D printers, steam-punk appliances, electric vehicles, Lego, robots, maker workshops and an incredible collection of really cool people doing really fun and interesting stuff.

... and of course there were Daleks, ... lots of Daleks!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Exterminator', 1/3200s f/4 ISO500 50mm

The event we call 'Halloween' is becoming bigger and bigger in Australia every year. For us this is a relatively new thing.

As kids growing up in a small South Australian country town, Halloween was some strange ritual played out in American movies involving kids dressing up in scary costumes soliciting treats from well prepared locals.

I recall one of my enterprising friends (thank you Squish!) tried to organise a 'Trick or Treat' expedition one Halloween evening which ended up very badly with confused locals and several threats to call the police.

Now I see Halloween embraced everywhere. I wonder how many caught up in the costumes and pranks really understand its origins.

Image by artist Joshua Smith, found in an Adelaide alleyway.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Halloween Prayer', 1/50s f/2.5 ISO640 50mm

I was thinking of some corny title for today's image but as it marks a very special occasion for my niece and her new husband I figured that despite the backdrop it deserved a little more reverence.

Congratulations Julia and Jamie. May your life together be long and joyful.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Julia and Jamie', 1/10s f/4 ISO160 17mm

Just for fun I walked down the other side of Hindley Street and looked at the world staring directly into the muted afternoon sun.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Bikes on Hindley', 1/2000s f/11 ISO100 50mm

The full moon carries a special fascination and being up for a technical challenge I thought I'd try and see just how good an image I could get from a 200mm lens.

Actually it's not quite full having just begun waning but I'm still happy with the result.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Full', 1/400s f/7.1 ISO100 200mm (80images+Drizzlex4)

I'm rather one eyed about Sigma's 50mm ART lens.

This shot at f/2.8 shows just how circular that aperture stays as it stops down which directly translates to beautiful out-of-focus background textures.

This one's definitely a keeper. As for the subject material ...


Photo: Robert Rath, 'One Eyed', 1/60s f/2.8 ISO320 50mm

The Blue Ringed Octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa, has one of the deadliest toxins of all sea creatures! Its venomous bite can easily kill a human despite its diminutive size of less than 12cm.

Fortunately human deaths are very rare as long as effective treatment is close at hand.

Edithburgh has a large population of these fascinating critters however they're not often seen as they hide during the day and come out at night to hunt.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Blue Ringed Denizen', 1/60s f/4 ISO100 35mm

In many years of diving Edithburgh Jetty is my first every encounter with a Western Blue Devil, Paraplesiops meleagris.

One of the most visually striking in both form and colour of all the southern Australian reef fishes, the Western Blue Devil normally is found lurking in caves and under ledges of deeper offshore reefs.

This beautiful but grumpy looking creature was indeed found in a small cave near the jetty so in habitat it was keeping form but as I said, my first Blue Devil in Edithburgh.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'The Devil's In Town', 1/100s f/8 ISO320 15mm

This little guy under Rapid Bay Jetty is a Western Cleaner Clingfish, Cochleoceps bicolor.

In more than 25 years of diving this location, this year is the first time I have seen them here.

The first time was back in late winter when my dive buddy Alexius found one during one of our dives. Since then I can find at least one on most dives here.

As I have mentions before, the thing I love about clingfish is that they always look like they are smiling at me.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Western Cleaner Clingfish', 1/200s f/5.6 ISO100 100mm

At first we saw nothing, just jetty pylons, yellow algae and usual nocturnal subjects found on an Edithburgh night dive.

Then we saw them everywhere, on the yellow algae, short-head seahorses hiding in plain sight.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Hiding In Plain Sight' 1/160s f/9 ISO160 50mm

Prime numbers are common in plants but not so common with animals unless you are talking about starfish.

The eleven-armed sea star, Coscinasterias muricata, is our largest starfish and very common here in South Australia.

There were plenty of these starfish under Edithburgh Jetty but this guy was the only one nicely posing for a photograph.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Primes' 1/200s f/5.6 ISO320 15mm

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The Bluff is a difficult place at the best of times to dive and observe Leafy Seadragons.

With a consistent southerly swell, strong surge and flailing kelp it can be hard to pickout the leafies from the fronds.

There are usually quite a few around but it is not uncommon for divers to spend a while staring into kelp before their first leafy magically comes into focus.

Once spotted it's a good idea to keep your eyes on the leafy as it sways back and forth in the surge. Even a moments distraction could mean that 'now you see me, now you don't'.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Now You See Me' 1/200s f/3.2 ISO200 15mm

He steals a glance while texting his mates.

She captures the sunset while listening to her favorites.

They enjoy the sand while engaged in their own games.

All of us doing more and being less.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Multitasking' 1/15s f/7.1 ISO640 50mm