Entries by Robert

The day began dreary and rainy and I had virtually consigned myself to a day in the office. Soon after lunch however the clouds started becoming patchy and my hopes were raised.

By 3:30 in the afternoon the clouds with sparse and the sun began to dim.

By 4:00 there was a noticeable change in the way the light felt, like someone had taken the edge away.

By 4:30 the light all around was soft and gentle. Not like the soft yellow glow of the golden hour but something else full of day colour but quite surreal.

From there is started getting brighter again leaving a full yellow orb to set on the horizon.

Today's eclipse was the last solar eclipse (partial or otherwise) here in Adelaide for the next 14 years so I'm glad the clouds parted and I captured this image.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 839, The Dark Shadow', 1/2000s f11 ISO100 400mm UberND

Having a little fun with boats and ropes and pulleys and clouds and the last light of the day...


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 838, Rigged Silhouette', 1/3200s f2.8 ISO400 200mm

This image is unashamedly inspired by recent black and white work of local Adelaide photographer Tony Kearney (please checkout his work).

This time there was no studio or planned props (pun unintended). No control over the light or positioning of the subject. No imagined runway to land on.

I just looked and happened to notice this little plane safely landed at the Brighton Sunday Market.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 837, Safely Landed', 1/2500s f3.2 ISO100 200mm

With an ocean so golden in the dying hours it is easy to imagine being on a planet like Mustafar where volcanic lava flows instead of water.

The birds however look out of place, too calm, too gentle and I am brought back to the Earth's oceans again.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 836, Lava Birds', 1/200s f11 ISO1000 400mm

I have always been fascinated by Port Adelaide's Birkenhead Bridge.

The idea that a bridge can decide to not be a bridge anymore, open up to let tall ships through and then transform back into a bridge again seemed to me to be a marvel of engineering.

To be fair I was only a child at the time and up until that realisation a bridge was a bridge, was a bridge, was a bridge!

My experience of a transforming bridge must seem so naive in this day of mechanical transformers such as Optimus Prime, Megatron and Bumblebee.

To me however, Port Adelaide's Birkenhead Bridge will always be the original transformer!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 835, Birkenhead Bridge', 1/8000s f16 ISO100 130mm

Who is this mysterious merwoman who adorns 'The One And All' as her figurehead?

I have search high and low for her name but alas I am left none the wiser.

In all the texts I have found she is simply referred to as 'the figurehead'.

I even found one reference to the artist who carved her, Ainsley Pine, however a search for more information on Ainsley was even more obscure leading me nowhere.

So who is this mysterious merwoman who adorns 'The One And All' as her figurehead?


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 834, Mystery Merwoman', 1/640s f2.8 ISO400 200mm

Even in the murkiest of conditions the spell of the Leafy Sea Dragon completely dissipates the gloom leaving us to marvel in wonder.

All the effort, the preparation of the gear, the long drive, the poor visibility, the current and the strong surge seem just a distant memory down here.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 833, DragonSpell', 1/100s f8 ISO320 15mm

Most of my environmental portraits have a connection with the ocean and the experience of being immersed in something we love to do; dive!

I jokingly named this diver 'Dives With Sponges' after an old Kevin Costner movie but his real name is Herbert, a German friend come to Adelaide and Rapid Bay specifically to dive with and photograph our Leafy Sea Dragons.

The visibility for Herbet's dives here was very poor ranging from 1-3m over the dives we did. However we we not disappointed with the Leafys we found.

As for this image, it was nearly called 'Dives In Sponges' instead.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 832, Dives With Sponges', 1/100s f11 ISO320 15mm

How small and alone our star seems in the daytime sky. Yet light enough it has for all.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 831, Lone Star', 1/800s f10 ISO100 15mm

How many times have you heard the expression, 'I don't do selfies!'.

Well I didn't use to but once I got the idea that it's all about sharing context I decided selfies are not so bad after all.

Especially when it's what I love doing!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 830, Selfie', 1/200s f11 ISO640 15mm

Seeing 'Red' is always much better when it's a beautiful Adelaide sunset.

You might think such a sight would lift the stress from the day and ease the mind into a relaxed evening.

For me the experience is very different. The width of the sun in the sky is around 0.5 degrees of arc and of course we all know that the earth rotates 360 degrees in a day so that means that the total time it takes for the sun to move from its radius above the horizon to fully disappear is only 3 minutes. That's 3 minutes of stress for me creating the image or images I feel best conveys the the uniqueness of the sunset.

Sometimes depending on the atmospheric conditions the sunset can linger on for a little longer as the suns rays are curved around the earth through refraction.

This time it just dipped below the horizon leaving me simply sea'ing red.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 829, I Sea Red', 1/800s f14 ISO100 310mm

Today I went to the Oaklands Park train station to pick up my daughter at a pre-determined time.

Arriving early I decided to capture a few images.

It seemed odd there was no one around.
It seemed odd I had not been chased from the tracks by trains.
It seemed all too quiet when suddenly my daughter tapped me on the shoulder from behind.

The train station was closed today ...


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 828, Train Station Closed', 1/40s f8 ISO100 40mm

As I stood gazing into yet another magical Adelaide sunset a lady came up to me exclaiming about how beautiful the sky was and how it reminded her of a sermon her priest gave about being grateful for God's sunsets.

As we stood there together I pointed out the amazingly delicate nuances of light and colour and then the transit of a jet whose trails twisted into a spiral of cloud and ice. 'Oh' she said, 'you have better eyes than mine' and her disinterest in what was actually unfolding in front of us was cast into palpable relief.

At that moment I understood how different our experience of this sunset really was.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 827, Twisted', 1/30s f8 ISO400 400mm

This magical mushroom appeared at the end of a wonderful evening with fantastic friends at Tiros Restaurant; Tafe's training restaurant at their Regency Park campus.

Full as we were, the saying holds true, there is always room for dessert!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 826, Magic Mushroom', 1/25s f5.6 ISO1600 40mm

It would have been nice if we could have seen the full lunar eclipse here in Adelaide tonight.

It was absolutely awesome that the moon was just beginning to re-emerge as it peeped above the eastern horizon of the Adelaide Hills flanked by the white tower of Mount Lofty Summit and it's adjacent peaks.

What am amazingly surreal moonrise. Made me feel like we were on someone else's planet.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 825, Whose Planet Is This?', 1/1000s f3.5 ISO100 200mm

I never grow tired of messages on t-shirts.

When I see a frivolous remark, a bawdy comment, a nerdish in-joke or a deep insight brazenly displayed by someone in public I am reminded how important our diversity really is.

I am also reminded how important it is to celebrate my own.

... Now, what to wear tomorrow?!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 824, Wise Words', 1/1000s f3.5 ISO100 200mm

I'm not sure whether to cite the smooth vocals of Elizabeth Rallis of local band 'Liquified Grooves' or the challenges of shooting into a bad light open window as a backdrop.

Frustration turned to play as I realised there's more than one way to deal with difficult light.

In the end I abandoned the bad light, settled back with a drink and enjoyed the music instead.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 823, Rallis', 1/1250s f2.8 ISO640 200mm

Has the DJ gone AWOL or just having a break?

In either case the Mac's queue is deep and should keep us going for as long as the DJ is offline.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 822, Offline DJ', 1/10s f2.8 ISO3200 200mm

An incoming wave starts to build giving every clue it will deliver something more.

I time the moment, click, another few seconds then the shutter opens.

The surge rushes towards were I am standing and I jump back leaving the camera amid a swirl of salty white streaked water; shutter open.

As the water recedes I follow it back, camera high and dry above a drowned tripod.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 821, Risky Business', 8s f14 ISO160 15mm

Why does Action Man have such a grin on his face?

Why are his mates looking up laughing?
What are the Lady's prayers for?
Does anyone remember 'Tab'?

Some questions should be left unanswered ...


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 820, Action Man' 1/250s f4 ISO1250 200mm

Henley Square is one of the most universally inviting beach side public spaces along the Adelaide suburban coastline.

Sure there other others with more sand, more lawn, more sports, more nature or more space.

However, when it comes to putting a diverse variety of restaurants, bars, sports facilities, lawn and other public amenities as close to the water as possible without spoiling the feel of the beach then this space wins hands down.

Of course I'm going to make a claim like this. I am a local after all!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 819, The Square Part II' 8s f11 ISO800 15mm

The streets were full of youths with green tops.

Every now and then they would form words, disperse and form new words again.

I've never seen scrabble played like this before.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 818, Street Scrabble' 1/30s f2.8 ISO1600 200mm

From here I see a scene of serenity; three children paddling in a calm sea.

I wonder how serene they really are? Perhaps there is also a good mix of excitement at the risk of all falling in a tumble into the the ocean. After all, there is not much supporting them out there.

Serene, excited or both; regardless the are all having fun.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 817, Serenity' 1/1600s f11 ISO500 200mm

As I gazed out to the distant shipping channel I noticed something a little odd.

There between two large shipping containers was the ‘One and All’, a classic brigantine of mid-nineteenth century design.

Although based on the original rig of an 1850’s brigantine, the ‘One and All’ was built here in South Australia and launched in 1985.

Perhaps I'll get a little closer next time.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 816, Between Two Ships' 1/3200s f/2.8 ISO500 200mm

Your a prisoner of the dark sky
The propeller blades are still
And the evil eye of the hurricane's
Coming in now for the kill
...

Five miles out
Just hold your heading true
Got to get your finest out
Climbing Climbing
...

These lyrics from Mike Oldfield and the dulcet Scottish tones of Maggie Reilly have bee in my head for 32 years now.

I hear them every time I see a small plane in a tumultuous sky.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 815, 5 Miles Out' 1/2500s f/2.8 ISO1000 200mm

Not all Lamborghinis growl, squeal and do 0-100Km/h in 3 seconds.

Ferruccio Lamborghini's dream of producing the worlds most coveted sports cars became a reality back in 1963 with his first masterpiece the 350 GTV. This is not one of them.

Fortunately Lamborghini never forgot it's agricultural heritage and to this day still makes the worlds most awesome tractors.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 814, Lamborghini' 1/160s f/5.6 ISO640 70mm

For centuries the railway has been a symbol of industrialisation, wealth and progress.

It seems fitting then that the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is being constructed alongside the railyard exiting from Adelaide's train station.

I am reminded of the debate some years back of whether to refurbish the old Royal Adelaide Hospital or build a shiny new one.

I am glad progress prevailed.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 813, Progress' 15s f/10 ISO400 15mm

Amazing evenings with sunset after sunset after sunset.

It's great to be living near the sea. Especially if you like seascape sunsets!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 812, Sea Shell' 1s f/18 ISO160 15mm

Well perhaps not exactly water babies at all seeing how water shy these guys actually seemed to be.

If this was supposed to be a refreshing respite after a hard training session I'm sure they did not seem to think so as none of them wanted to get wet above the waist.

Water babies ... perhaps not.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 811, Water Babies' 1/60s f/2.8 ISO100 70mm

Once I noticed this unlikely scene in a local Adelaide bar I was caught up in the unspoken story lurking there.

Who are those two new Teletubbies dressed in suits and whispering to themselves?
What unseemly event has left the tux attired M.C. crestfallen?
And, what story do they all have in common.

It could have simply been the way they were all placed together on that high shelf behind the bar.

Somehow I am convinced there's more to this than meets the eye!


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 810, Tele Who? ' 1/10s f/2.8 3200 200mm