12th December 2010 Wellington Park

We were sitting for lunch on some ledge overlooking Hobart and the Huon Valley when this Currawong turned up hopeful for a feed.

Currawongs always make me laugh; they make comical sounds and leap about like Zulus and seem to crash through trees when they are flying. When they do stand still they have an unfathomable look like an emu.

Popularity: 4% [?]

21st November 2009, Sullivans Cove

Sea gulls are one of the lucky animals that coexist  reasonably well with people, sometimes profitably. Although I’m guessing the quality of their diet isn’t too good especially in these fast food areas.

In the busy streets of Hobart you can see them flying along just above the traffic. If you stop and watch them, they are pretty amazing. Sea gulls and sparrows seem to go unnoticed by most of us, so they get more comfortable in our presence. I have seen the same with cows, willy wag tails sitting on their backs, sometimes even trying to pluck out hair for their nests. Or standing attentively by the cow’s nose while it eats in the hope that some insects might get stirred up in the process.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Top: 4th December 2009, Boat Harbour Beach

Middle: Stanley

Bottom: The Nut

Stanley is an interesting place. It reminds me of Wyndham on the Kimberly coast which is squeezed between the Bastion range and the sea. Stanley is the same, it is squeezed between the Nut and the sea.

The Nut protects Stanley from the Westerlies; the prevailing strong winds. Views from the top of the Nut are pretty good. There’s also a track around the top with look out points so that you can see the coast to the East and West and 180 degrees of sea when you look North.

There’s a steep concrete path up to the top and a chairlift; I took both.

In the middle of town is a seafood cafe with lots of interesting photos plastered around the walls. They look like snapshots from one family and their friends mostly from the 70′s and earlier. Snapshots of them working on fishing boats or in the Cafe. From them you get a great idea of life in Stanley and what it would be like to live there. In most of them the sky looks overcast and grey. You also get an understanding that people have to work at several occupations to make an income – like the inhabitants of Lord Howe Island.

Fishing is still a significant industry – for a little town there are a lot of fishing boats. You can still see some of the infrastructure left over from when they used Stanley as the port to ship out iron ore from the Savage River mine.

Popularity: 52% [?]

3rd December 2009, Boat Harbour

I’ve often tried to take photos of birds in flight. At full zoom (400mm at 35mm slr equivalent) it is hard to even track a bird if it is flying and reasonably close. This is the first camera I’ve owned that can lock focus quickly enough on a moving object – I still shot a lot of photos to get a few good ones. It also took me a while to begin to figure out how to do it best with this relatively new camera – the Panasonic G1.

Rather than read and research the camera, I’ve just been using it, then trying to find out how I can do what I want with it. I have discovered a few things:

• The hood! I’ve never used one before and didn’t think I would start; now I try to use it all the time. An obvious reason is sun glare, although I find it really useful around water. It keeps spray, splashes and rain drops off the lens. Water on the lens seems to happen frequently with me, and it ruins the shot.
• High speed shooting. This is something that I’ve never used much before. Action shots aren’t really the forte of compact digitals – my previous cameras. Although the G1 isn’t an SLR, it is a big improvement on what I’ve had. There is also a switch to change to high speed, or single or timer release – this makes it quick and easy to change.
• Focus tracking is good for slow moving things – walking speed only. Great for trying to photograph a walking bird or person.
• Focus lock – I often use this for stationary subjects. I leave the focus point in the middle of the view finder, lock focus with the AF/AE button (set to focus lock only in the setup menu), then take my time shooting while playing with things like composition and depth of field.

Popularity: 34% [?]

“Two parrots have been eating the little fruits on this tree since yesterday. I tried to approach a them a couple of times and they took off fairly quickly. Then I started talking to them; this seemed to put them at ease and I was able to get closer.”

(c) Andrew Calder

Popularity: 26% [?]

Popularity: 16% [?]