Entries by Robert

Almost every parent has mastered the art of flying spoon food delivery into a reluctant infant’s mouth. I’m almost certain that that flying spoon never contained leafy greens or blanched vegetables! As for raw, well, you’d have worn it for sure!

This little chick was totally happy to eat tiny pieces of a succulent plant that mum was collecting nearby. I am sure she was getting a little meat on the side but as for eating her greens, she was the perfect role model.


#ornithology #feeding #birds #morocco #travel #nurture #nature

It was both lovely and humbling spending time amid the Amazigh people of Zaouiat Ahansa. This is a place where motorised vehicles were absent, where people commuted by foot and donkeys carried goods, firewood and people. A rare extravagance might even be a rider on horseback.

When I say, “amid the Amazigh”, I do not mean in any interactive way. They were both polite and shy and seemed to flow around us going about their business as if we were not even there while the High Atlas mountain grades did not seem to bother man nor beast.

Alas we had to move on but the idea of lingering here for weeks or even months had a delightful, almost whimsical charm I will miss.


#morocco #ZaouiatAhansa #highatlas #mountains #donkeys #amazigh #rural #village #blackandwhite

We spent a couple of days exploring Zaouiat Ahansa and witnessed some of the most beautiful expressions of people and place.

Early one morning out walking I noticed small groups of boys and men wielding shovels, carrying buckets or pushing wheelbarrows all heading in the same direction. I thought it a little unusual but did not think I’d discover any reason why.

Later in the morning I walked back in the same direction and came across a frenzy of boys and men and shovels and buckets and concrete all working in close quarters on this house together. Somehow in this chaos, a house was being built, everyone seemed happy in their work and no one was getting hurt doing it.

The scene was so unexpected and so surprising and so delightful. Yet another reason why I love Morocco.


#Morocco #ZaouiatAhansa #highatlas #mountains #construction #teams #manpower #manuallabor #building #blackandwhite

Sunshine, Shadows and Shirts

Here in the High Atlas mountain village of Zaouiat Ahansal we explored the deep valley and gazed in awe upon the high desert peaks.

There were no tourists here and we felt like strangers in a strange land. Children scrabbled for attention, young men smiled and old men kept poker faces. The women kept to themselves. Regardless I felt welcome provided I showed deference and respect.

I so wanted to ask this old man about his amazing shirt while the young fella just laughed.

That’s why I love Morocco.


#Morocco #highatlas #mountains #zaouiat #travel #colour #donkey

Bathing Under the Ouzoud Falls

Despite the steep and hot walk down to the base of Ouzoud Falls, the colour of the water did not seem that inviting, still I would have been in there in a shot if we more time here.

I watched these two you men enjoy the sunshine, and the water and the constant mist spray of the falls and wished I was in there with them.


#morocco #travel #highatlas #mountains #swimming #water #waterfalls #ouzoudfalls

Escaping the craziness of Marrakech the High Atlas mountains were like travelling to another planet. At first they reminded me of the Norther Flinders Ranges in South Australia but the more I noticed, the uniqueness of these mountains became more and more obvious.

The High Atlas mountains contain Northern Africa’s highest peak, Toubkal, at 4167m and our highest mountain pass was 2260m, about 32m higher that Australia’s tallest peak of Mount Kosciuszko. It is hard to capture the vastness of these desert mountains. You really have to see them for yourself to feel their immensity.


#blackandwhite #morocco #travel #highatlas #mountains #monochrome

Gold and silver and jewels and more silver and more jewels. The markets in the old Medina cater for every taste and every whim.

After a while a stroll becomes monotonous. The same pots, the same rugs, the same shoes, the same trinkets. There is something comforting in sameness, in monotony. Perhaps abundance or lack of scarcity creates a comfort even if it’s an illusion.

Still it’s nice to re-frame, and look again through the eye of a wide open lens.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #jewellery #bokeh #abstract

Cats, cats everywhere. There were blacks ones and white ones and ones with a little yellow on them and they all looked like they owned the place and they all seemed just the same.

None seemed to be owned by anyone yet they all appeared to be looked after by the locals. During my exploration of the old Medina I found little bowls of food and water in tucked away nooks.

One thing I did note however is that none of these stray cats had morphed into the oversize wildlife killers we see in Australian strays. I guess there’s not much wildlife in Marrakesh if you don’t include the tourists.

I did find it a little strange to find cats here and not dogs but I guess it makes sense. Cats are both bold and polite and integrate seamlessly in the bustle of Marrakech life.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #cats #animals #street

An early morning walk through the Medina revealed a very different but strangely familiar city.

The hawkers had not yet opened their doors or arrived to set up for the day. Some litter lay around but surprisingly little. What I did not expect was that familiar sight of graffiti on walls.

I wonder if I might find graffiti in every city of the world and from now on will go looking for it in places I would never have thought.

Perhaps graffiti is the universal art of cities. Time and travel will tell.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #graffiti #art #streetart

In Marrakech a community baker is at work. Here local families bring their freshly leavened loaves to be baked. One man is responsible for the entire day’s baking and he has to get every one of those loaves perfect.

To say more about this Moroccan tradition I would only be paraphrasing so here is a link that has more about this wonderful community aspect of Moroccan traditional life.

https://www.citynibbler.com/home/2019/2/20/communal-ovens-morocco


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #bread #baking #community #culture

In the alleyways of the medina can be found any number of souvenir trinket shops to lure the visitor into parting with their tourist dollar for some Moroccan treasure. Unfortunately the goods that might actually be useful tend to be too hard to pack or made from materials that Australian customs would frown upon.

These beautiful incense burners might have just made the grade and presented such a stunning visual display that I decided to bring them all home with me … in my camera.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #trinkets #incenseburners

The alleyways of the Marrakech Medina are not for the distracted or those slow to react. One moment you’re sharing the cobblestones with locals strolling about their business or travellers exploring the town. The next moment you have some local Moroccan lads bearing down upon you on a tricycle hosting a couple of French tourists.

Motorbikes, tricycles and scooters vi for access with donkeys, hand drawn carts and people. No matter how quiet you think the moment is you will always be surprised by what comes around the next corner.


#colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #tricycle #fun

The Marrakech Medina was insane. A madding chaotic mix of tradition, tourism, markets, hawking and seeming managed confusion.
Initially I found my senses quite overwhelmed. I wanted to capture everything but everything was too big, too fast, too busy, too smelly and too colourful and it took spending time with a guide to begin making any sense of it all.
After a while it became clear this was a place of protocols and rules, a place of bending rules when they needed bending and being told one one thing while observing another. There was nothing black and white here! When asked about these indiscretions of form our guide Abdul simply laughed and said, “and that’s why we love Morocco”.
Just like the amazing colours of the spices in the markets of Tinsmith Square, black and white will never do.


#Spice #markets #colour #morocco #marrakech #travel #food

3 weeks ago I was in Morocco and experienced first hand the devastating earthquake that took thousands of lives. Since returning I have found it difficult to work on my images and uncomfortable to talk about my trip. This is my first posted image.

A birds eye view of this Marrakech riad’s courtyard reveals a colourful living space completely open to the sky above. What happens when it rains I asked? It gets wet was the answer! Who would have thought.

I would so love to see this space at night lit by a full moon. Perhaps the day, I dream of returning.

#courtyard #fisheye #marrakech #morocco #riad #travel #wideangle

I captured this image on my way home yesterday during the last minutes of civil twilight where the lingering colours of sunset blend with the emerging lights of Adelaide’s north-western suburbs.

Here, the northern terminus of South Road ends in a spectacular set of loops feeding the Salisbury Highway to the east, the Port River Expressway to the west, and the Northern Expressway in the direction you might have already guessed.

Like riding some fantastic Scalextric set I find myself regularly enjoying those sweeping curves at speed (under the limit of course) and enjoying the surrounding landscape.

I really like the integration into the Gilman, Wingfield and Magazine Creek wetlands. I wonder though if the effort to restore those natural resources would have taken place if not for a major infrastructure project bringing them them to attention.

Yet again I am so fortunate to make more of my daily commute than just another drive home from the office.


#aerial #expressway #roads #twilight #sunset #wingfield #gilman #commute #scalextric #welands #adelaide #southaustralia

Every diver who has spent any time under the Rapid Bay Jetty’s ‘T-Section’, or lately as I’ve heard it called, ‘The Aquarium’, will recognise this spot.

And almost always perched at the top if this broken piece of pylon will be a magpie perch. You could be forgiven thinking it’s the same magpie perch every time.

This spot is a cleaning station and magpie perch wait their turn to sit here and have tiny little wrasse cleaner fish scour their bodies for parasites. The tiny ones even swim in via the mouth and out via the gills cleaning anything inside as well.

When the jobs done this guy will swim off only to be replaced with the next in line. When another magpie will be perched.


#Pseudogoniistiusnigripes #magpieperch #rapidbay #jetty #southaustralia #scuba #diving #sealife #critters

Lady in red, she’s dancing with me beneath the waves, on the dance floor of the sea.

Our giant cuttlefish are beautiful, gentle and curious creatures. When diving with them you never know how an encounter will go. Sometimes they retreat under a ledge or into some hideaway. Sometimes they linger just out of reach. Sometimes you will be completely ignored and other times they will play and interact in the most amazing of ways.

I have had them try to pull off my mask, or breath through my regulator. On one occasion I am convinced I was challenged to dual of rock-paper-scissors. The cuttlefish won!

On this dive in the shadow of Rapid Bay Jetty, this lady in red just wanted to dance with me.


#Sepiaapama #giantcuttlefish #cuttlefish #mollusc #rapidbay #jetty #southaustralia #scuba #diving #sealife #critters

The unmistakable effect of ‘shallow depth of field’ can bring the most mundane scene into dramatic relief.

Looking around at the world, our eyes and our brains remove this effect and in our minds we imagine we see everything in sharp detail. Nothing could be further from reality.

The uncomplicated view of a camera and lens, laying in the grass with daisies, brings to life the beauty and the drama of even the simplest scene.


#Daisies #heather #grass #nature #bokeh #depthoffield #dof

This gal does not miss a trick. She’s on to me.

She knows I am likely to dislodge a rock accidentally with my fin. Or perhaps I’ll peer under a bit of fallen debris. Either event might deliver some poor morsel into view and unwittingly I'll have delivered dinner.

Wavy grubfish are masters of this game and divers attract their attention like a grumbling stomachs to a free lunch.

This gal’s not missing a trick and I’m sure she’ll be sated by the time I move on.


#critters #fish #macro #marinelife #parapercishaackei #jetty #edithburgh #southaustralia #wavygrubfish #scuba #diving #southaustralia

Twenty meters down colours are not what you’d think they might be. Reds are the first to leave followed by orange, then yellow and finally green.

The world down here amid the broken bones of the Clan Ranald wreck is blue and grey and shadow. A fantastic monochrome world of detail, texture and landscape.

Shine a bright light on coral or sponge or on curious school of bullseyes and moments of red, orange, yellow and green remind that there is so much colour down here, just hidden.

Take out even the blue and this imposing gorganian coral is just as beautiful in monochrome as the deep red it hides from the world.


#Balckandwhite #clanranald #wreck #scuba #diving #southaustralia #bullseyes #diver #gorgonia #coral #monochrome

Noticing a run of salmon cruising through the upper realm of the pylon forest of Rapid Bay Jetty I gently rose into their midst.

This stunning school cruised through and around me before disappearing into the open water gloom. A little patience paid off and they came back through again for a second run.

Then I noticed the impostor, the masked bandit amid the crowd. Of all places, here under the waves I could hear that childhood Sesame Street song, ‘One of These Things’.

To be fair that solitary kingfish swam like the salmon, was shaped like the salmon and probably believed itself to be a salmon. Who am I to judge if a kingfish chooses to be identified as a salmon.

Just another amazing experience under Rapid Bay Jetty.


#Rapidbay #jetty #scuba #diving #southaustralia #pylons #salmon #kingfish #wideangle

At first I thought I had come across a couple of dropped cuff links on the ocean floor. Then I thought, what an amazing pair of earrings.

I am still not sure what they are and why there are two of them anchored to their sea bed like lovers betrothed for life. I hope they get along well together!

If I were to guess they look like some species of anemone and perhaps this is some dormant time between feeding or other activities.

Regardless, what amazing inspiration for some designer to create an awesome set of cuff links or a stunning set of earrings.


#edithburgh #jetty #scuba #diving #southaustralia #benthic #anemone #critters #macro

The very first time I dived Rapid Bay Jetty, more than thirty years ago now, I was blown away by the schools of pelagic fish that swim through the pylons.

Thirty years ago they were probably yellowfin whiting, today they are definitely yellowfin whiting.

What I did not see all those years ago was the school of salmon you see in the upper reaches of the pylon forest. They were a first for me on this dive. Perhaps the salmon have accompanied many of my dives, perhaps I just never looked up!

Today on this dive the yellowtail whiting and friends simply made my day! Thank you.


#rapidbay #jetty #scuba #diving #southaustralia #yellowtail #whiting #pylons

Perhaps it’s unfair on the rest of the jetties that dot our coastline but I’d say that Rapid Bay is one of the best jetty dives for scuba divers in South Australia and probably in all Australia.

If you are into small critters, they are everywhere for divers to observe and photograph. If you are into larger pelagics then schools of whiting, salmon and kingfish coursing through the outermost forrest of deep pylons will take your breath away (hazardous for most divers).

From time to time the really big guys will come through just for a look. Regularly seen by the fisher’s on the jetty, rarely by divers (better that way).

I’d be remiss of course if I did not mention that Rapid Bay is home to leafy seadragons and a significant attraction. That being said even If you don’t find one, the incredible diversity of life here never disappoints.

Andy and I dived here yesterday and as expected we were not disappointed!

#rapidbay #jetty #aerial #sunset #scuba #diving #southaustralia #divesites

I can’t begin to describe how much joy I feel whenever I encounter a leafy seadragon on a dive. This was especially true last weekend as I had not seen any leafies at Edithburgh for quite some time.

In the last 30 years I have seen the rise of the leafy seadragon from curious local critter to the South Australian icon it is today. We now have yearly leafy namesake festivals, giant murals in Adelaide Airport and other important public centres, and magazine articles about leafies appear regularly in local and international publications.

A small industry in leafy seadragon tours has emerged and divers from all over the world come to South Australia just to see leafy seadragons in the wild and take away their own personal images and memories.

In a sense South Australia has become the ‘Leafy State’, and if this greater awareness helps protect and nurture these incredible and beautiful creatures, I’m on board with that.

I love living and diving in the Leafy State!

#Edithburgh #scuba #diving #leafyseadragon #leafy #seadragon #Phycoduruseques #critters #SouthAustralia #marine #leafystate

I photographed Miros here in the idyllic Sultana Bay of Edithburgh two years ago. At the time it looked a little run down but still quite serviceable.

Two years later she does not seemed to have moved. Moreover the amount of guano cementing the base of the jib suggests that Miro’s current seafowl residents have be here for quite some time.

It seems that Miros has new residents and they seem happy to stay.


#birdlife #cormorant #seagulls #aerial #boats #edithburgh #miros #ocean #sailing #saltanabay #sea #yacht

The beautiful fan worm Sabellastarte australiensis looks all the world like a miniature palm tree in an exquisite coral and ascidian garden.

Just a tiny part of the greater landscape under Edithburgh Jetty.


#diving #featherduster #macro #ocean #edithburgh #edithburghjetty #sabellastarteaustraliensis #scuba #sea #southaustralia #underwater #worm

When you play the game ‘what critter is that?’ long enough you eventually start talking Latin. It’s not by choice but most critters that live on the ocean floor are only known by Latin names.

This little guy, Tylodina corticalis, is a primitive notaspid (more Latin) or more commonly a ‘side gilled slug’ (finally some English!).

Languages aside, I was caught unprepared when Andy found this beautiful yellow critter bearing its tiny excuse for a half shell, Ninja Turtle style. I was set up with my wide angle lens and tiny critters were not on my image agenda.

This style of image is called close focus wide angle and unlike common macro images provides great environmental context with the critter just millimetres away from my lens.

Perfect for putting Latin in it’s place or in English, a half shelled side gilled Ninja slug under Edithburgh Jetty.


#Edithburgh #jetty #tylodinacorticalis #mollusc #critters #southaustralia #scuba #diving

We’ve just returned home from a weekend away in the small coastal town of ‘Edithburgh’ on South Australia’s ‘York Peninsula’ and we enjoyed every moment there.

Edithburgh is one of my ‘happy places’. In once place you can find a slow paced idyllic country town, one the best jetties for benthic marine life in Australia and a gateway to some of South Australia’s most incredible off-shore diving.

There is some big water out from here when the seas are rough but those welcoming outstretched arms of stone will be there waiting when back from a day out on or under the water.

Today we dived two of my all time favourite South Australian locations. Worth every inch of the twenty five nautical mile round trip.

Images and locations to follow in the coming days.


#Edithburgh #breakwater #boatramp #shelter #aerial #southaustralia

Today I was lucky enough to photograph this beautiful chunk of specimen gold in quartz.

Here with my watch placed on top for scale is 2.6 kilograms of gold in a 4.6 kilogram nugget specimen. A lucky strike indeed for a very lucky amateur prospector who found this gorgeous rock last month in central Victoria.

Thank you Darren and Leanne for bringing ‘Lucky Strike’ into the office today.

#luckystrike #gold #specimen #nugget #minelab #equinox800 #victoria, #yema #watch