Month: July 2021

Saturday Evening Post#146: Awareness

Posted in Saturday Evening PostTagged 10 Comments

Triptych: “A group of three photos displayed together. Usually with a common connection of feel, subject or meaning.”
—”the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”

I had a work colleague, many years ago, who specialised in in Triptytch. His field of work was, of all things, English countryside pubs.
As a young photographer, as he would tell the story, as he travelled about the ‘olde country’, he did stop at the pub for at least a quick pint. By the end of a day’s photoshoot, again, as the story was told, he was quite the merry, and the photography intent did suffer.

His little Austin van carried in the back, a selection of quite large potted plants. Usually colourful flowers and bushes, or the occasional small formal tree.
Once he had found a suitable location, the lighting was right and the best angle for the shot was selected, he would, ‘arrange the studio’ by tastefully placing, or replacing existing pots from his collection.

When he arrived in Australia, he started the same process, but, the sweeping expanse of Australia’s countryside meant it was a long dry drive between suitable pubs, and your average pub on the dusty road of the  Lachlan plain, while a useful metaphor in a Banjo poem, didn’t seem to take all that well to a few carefully arranged geraniums out the front.

He turned for awhile to making triptych of vast mountain ranges, and it was about the time I contributed several photos to his endeavors.
It is an interesting process to shuffle through a range of prints, looking for the special magic that connects them is a way the makes the whole so much greater than the strength of the individual elements.

From my previous “Little Journey’s” post you’ll know that #kneetoo and I had taken a run to the Treatment plant in the sunshine.

I’d also written the previous Saturday Evening Post #145  about mindfulness and being in the moment.
I had need earlier in the week to attend my local doctor’s clinic for a discussion with my GP.  Among the various topics discussed, he made an out of left-field suggestion that, “Perhaps you might like to try ‘mindfulness’.”
To which I was happy to respond, “Well I wrote a blog on that very subject at the weekend, and I incorporate it in my Tai Chi training and photography. What would you like to know?”
But,
As I discovered at the treatment plant working with a number of quite co-operative Brown Falcon, I’m a bit rusty on the reflexes and awareness of the subtle signals Brown sends just before it throws from the perch and is gone. Brown generally jumps down, and away.
Not great for infight, however it is possible to get a just-on-the-wing-unfurl and sometimes, the light, the angle and Cartier-Bresson, ‘decisive moment’ collude and a worthwhile result makes its way on to the memory card.

But when you’ve lectured, written, and extolled the virtues of “Awareness” for weeks without practice, the Karma is also going to be ready to bring me back to reality.
Such was the case with four Browns

They all were in no hurry to go anywhere, and we were quite happy to sit or stand with them. The joy of watching the bird at work in its environment soon sees the minutes melt away.

Then when the time to go occurs, and the camera better be more than ready. Arms ache, feet move to better balance, a step to include or exclude some background object, and waiting.
But sad to say, each bird slipped off the post without me even getting the shutter release halfway down.  Karma!

It once again reinforced to me how much of what observing these amazing birds reveals, and how much each is an individual.

More to learn.

Quick Triptych from a Lightroom printer Layout Style. All just moments before departure.

 

 

 

Little Journeys: A Morning at The Plant

Posted in "Western Treatment Plant", Blue-winged Parrot, Brown Falcon, Crested Tern, Swamp Harrier, Western Treatment Plant12 Comments

Now that Melbourne has emerged from its fifth covid lockdown its time for the Doona Hermit to shed his old worn doona and venture out in to the real, (no definitions please) world.

#kneetoo and I had a little local journey planned, with a stop off along the way to look at a pair of Black-shouldered Kites and their young(?)

But as I pulled back said doona and checked the weather app, it looked like a beaut, clear, cold morning.
We had planned to do our quick visit and then be home by mid-morning for a relaxing morning tea, so I was not planning to load Earl of Grey into the thermos or grab a bikkie or two for the journey.
But.

On a whim, we decided that a morning driving around part of the Werribee Treatment Plant birding area would make the most of the weather, and who knows when if, ever, we’d have such a chance.  Fix snacxks, load cameras, dress warmly and we were on the way.

As it turned out much of the area where we visited was pretty bereft of birds, but what we lacked in quantity we made up for in birds we’d not had the pleasure of seeing for quite awhile

Here’s a small selection.

The dancing fisherman.
The Little Egrets make such delicate moves as they follow the fish through the water
Where did that fish go?
Napping out of the wind. PIed Oystercatcher
A Swamp Harrier on patrol
Crested Tern rolling over for a fishing plunge
Swamp Harrier on a turn
A beaut find, Blue-winged Parrots feeding in the saltbush. We probably saw 15 or more
Blue-winged Parrot. One of the most delightful little parrots we photograph
Pied Oystercacther powering past
One of a number of white chested Brown Falcons we found during the morning/
This one was in no hurry to move and in the end, a Whistling Kite approaching finally put it to air.
When I first came across this bird, it didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave. At first I thought it was working out the moves for its next meal. Closer inspection shows it must have only recently eaten and was resting for digestion.

Saturday Evening Post#145: Where Ever You Are: Be There!

Posted in Australian Hobby, Saturday Evening PostTagged 9 Comments

Sure, the shops are all closed by government decree around here, so I’m really talking from past experiences.

Have you been in a shop, ready to part with the hard earned, find what you want, approach the ‘sales’ staff, and find the they are busily enthralled in their own world on their ‘phone’. Some Tik-tok, spacebook, istafalm or other thing that holds attention.  Not wanting to make eye-contact under any circumstances, they’ll try to get the whole customer interruption, (used to called making  profit), out of the way.

Or perhaps, there is a ongoing discussion among several about lunch possibilities, or last night’s gym session.
Walk into a store, and my local greengrocer is such, and it’s a hive of activity, each customer is welcomed, a small banter of conversation, admittedly just above, “Oh have a nice day”, but at least an interest in the person.
Refreshing.

I had a friend once who was forever telling people, “Where ever you are: Be There!”
The same concepts come across in many religions. I’m not into deep meditation, or discovering my inner-self, or even spirit-filled ether of nebulous thought.

Nearly 18 months back, we were so I remember being told, “All in this together”.
Now its down to arguing why vaccine support can’t be redirected to Sydney to help. (And, please, I do understand there is much packed into that simple sentence, and  pumping more arms tomorrow is not going to bring the numbers down the day after.)

If any, us Melbournians might want to have a little compassion given we were putting out numbers like 600 or more infections A DAY, this time last year.

Wherever you are be: Be There!

What my friend was advocating, these days,  carries a well-worn, and oft, misunderstood and misused term.
Mindfulness.
It crops up in all the ‘best’ websites, lectures, books and corner spruikers.

Lao Tzu defined it so much more simply.  “Focus”  Ahh good photographic term, something I can get my head around.

Poking my head up against the viewfinder, and carefully working the composition, at some point, I have determined which part of the image is to be:
1. The focus, and
2 the Point of Sharp focus.
Wherever you are: Be there.

Henri Cartier-Bresson said, “To take photographs is to hold one’s breath…. It is putting one’s head, eye and one’s heart on the same axis….
There is a creative fraction of a second when you are making the picture. That is the moment the photographer is creative
     Opp!  The Moment.
Once it is gone, it is gone—Forever.”

As bird watchers, counters, seekers or photographers we are acutely  aware of the around.  The calls of the birds across the paddock, the Magpie in pursuit of a raptor, the shrill call of a White-plumed Honeyeater’s warning, a pair of Magpie Lark bonding.

I’m taking to doing much more sitting and watching, listening and soaking up the winds, sounds smells and changes of season than previously.
What is around the next turn in the track is not as alluring as years gone by. I’m happy to be a little kid on the beach, looking intently at a grain or two of sand as being overwhelmed by the broad vista before me.

Where ever you are Be There.

Besties to all those locked down, all those who are struggling with the isolation and hats off to all those dedicated Heros who are working so hard for us.  You show us the way

From the Global Headquarters of the Doona Hermit.

You don’t get more focused than a hungry juvenile Australian Hobby lining up for lunch to arrive. 🙂

 

Outta the Kitchen Drawer

Posted in Black-shouldered KiteTagged , 6 Comments

I bet we’ve all got at least one.  If you’re a photographer, like collecting camera bags, it might be that you have more than one.
That drawer in the Kitchen that holds all the knickknacks, detritus, and otherwise never sorted collection of things that have no where else to be stored.

Oh, look, four rubber bands, an old shopping list, some faded receipts for something or other, a pair of blunt scissors, the battery from… I wonder what? And all sorts of other accumulated, but not discarded  items of dubious value.

Irish comedian Jimeoin even wrote a song about it, “The Third Draw Down”  careful about the words, but that is comedy these days.

Well, I’ve been collecting a little here and there for a blog but none of the topics are significant enough on their own to warrant a single blog.

So.

Let’s put them in the Kitchen Draw and rummage through.

#kneetoo is back in the bush.
A few days before out current Fifth Lockdown, #kneetoo made her first real venture out into the wide world with camera and patience both firmly attached.

Also a deckchair, carefully placed in the sunshine was an essential element.  Subject was a Black-shouldered Kite’s nesting.  So here is how the action unfolded.

What else is at the back of the draw.?
Talked at the weekend about the “Mapping” ability of the Brown Falcon.
A tv semi-doco over the weekend produced in England. Life in the Air: Masters of the Sky

Can’t find that much about it, but the graphics are really explanatory, and the short inflight shots really help show what each segment is about.  However there is a lack of any references to the research, and I suspect that many of the sequences have been strung together from unrelated events.

Of interest is the segment on the garden hunting of a Sparrowhawk.  The graphics show how the bird, from 50m out from a birdfeeder in a backyard is able to negotiate a convoluted track in to avoid detection from all the dozens of little eyes always on the alert.
Having established the track, the action then ‘follows’ the bird from strike launch until four seconds later when a dramatic ‘puff’ of feathers over the birdfeeder is supposed to indicate a strike.  It is interesting to see the path the bird takes, its twists and turns to keep hidden for as long as possible   There are quite a lot of slo-mo sequences of it flying under, through and skimming over a bush here, turning on a tree there and the through the railing in a gate.
A great story.

I’d have loved it to be a bit more referenced as it is a great example of what I believe about Brown Falcon.  I love to see Browns running wing height over the ground, through the bracken, and bushes, to arrive at its target. Or the considered attack on a Tiger snake. It is all mapped and planned.

Rumage, rumage rumage.

Here are a few more from the Red Wattlebird attack on Bronson as he delivers another few sticks to bolster the well hidden nest.

 

 

 

 

And not looking to happy about surveying the damage to his rump.

One more from under the receipts, and those old drink coasters, who knew we still had them.

Wanted to finish on a positive note with a big SHOUT OUT, to all the Heroes doing Heroic work on our behalves during this most stressful of times.

Had to get some blood tests the other day.  The nurse doing the work is taking a break after a 6 week shift at the Showgrounds taking Covid 19 tests.  7:30am to 11pm has been her workload for most of that time. Goodonya!

To all those who have one way or another provided support, helped with logistics, cleaned everything—I see you at my Woollies—and all the other amazing Heroic things that are being carried out, often in the background.

Our local Shik community who are working to provide meals and support for so many isolated. ‘Onya!’

Meanwhile the fearnews concentrates one more more ratbag element, when there are so many great stories, even in their simplicity being written by people who have dedicated themselves in so many ways.

And of course to all those whose one simple act of getting tested, and then isolating for the appropriate amount of time.  Thank you.  I dedicate this blog to your act of selflessness.

The list is long, and includes those who turn up at sites to provide some cheer, food, flowers, to all those front line workers, what a great way to say, “Thanks”.

May healing come rapidly on wings of peace.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Evening Post: #144 :Brown Falcon Dreaming

Posted in Brown Falcon, Saturday Evening PostTagged , 8 Comments

Hello all my felllow-lockdownees, and others.
The Doona Hermit has crawled out from under the covers here at the Global Headquarters of the Doona Hermit.

Not much to see in our street, so I’ll move on to other things.

Best wishes to all the Sydney-siders.  So many of them stood with us in solidarity last year as our lockdowns dragged on and on. We know your pain, we know how hard it is with just about everybody doing the right thing and then… what are those people doin!!!
Concentrate on the good ones.  Those who are working on the front-line, in the backrooms, calling, delivering, offering comfort, and all the other other genuine human things we are so capable of in crisis.
Goodonya

Meanwhile Victoria is again in the firing line with a nominal, “Five Day Circuit Breaker”, but I doubt if there is a single Victorian who even dares to image that come next Tuesday evening we’ll be relieved.  The smart money seems to be on an extension of some duration.

The ‘We allwannagotothefooty” mantra has meant that those few selfish (and this blog doesn’t usually call it a it is!) had their couple of hours of ‘pleasure’ and now we all suffer.
Years ago in the Sun New Pictorial newspaper, columnist  Keith Dunstan (OAM) established the Anti-Football League (AFL)
I’d be happy to be a subscribing member at the moment 🙂

Draw a line

I watched part of the David Attenborough series “LIFE IN COLOR“, can’t find much of a link anywhere, but will keep trying.  The part that is of interest here to your scribe was the segment on the Fiddler crab and its ability to use polarised light to find a mate, and to avoid predators.

As a photographer I’ve been interested in the use of polarised light and its characteristics for a long time.  Numerous polarising filters, filter sheet, and polarising materials laying around the work area will attest to the ongoing investigations.
Even helped me on several jobs, particularly when we were working for car mags, and also the excursion into interiors for home-improvement clients.

I wish I could find some details of how the production team worked with all this, how they determined it worked and how they then built the special gear to bring it to screen.  A few voice-over sentences hardly does it justice.

The interesting one for me was that if said crab turned its attentions and its special skills to the skies, what it would ‘see’ was a blank, white canvas. Any movement, say a predator gull, or large hungry seabird, would be picked up as a black shape against the white, no distractions, and as quick as you can say, disappear, it was down in its hole, safe and secure.

No doubt, and I hypothesize, (you get to do that a lot hidden under the doona), that the creature also had some shape recognition, much like the plane and boat recognition shapes that were used by spotters during WWII.
Which of course led to the next hypothesis.

If it works for your clever and well equipped Fiddler crab, might it not have some similar application in other creatures.

Long-term readers will know I have a theory. No, I didn’t borrow this one from Mr An Onymous, this is pure Doona Hermit land.

I’ve sat and watch Brown Falcon’s for many an hour.  Not your ‘Oh, there’s a Brown Falcon on the fence’ move on” sort of stuff, but sitting a respectful distance from Brown and watching it watch.

I’m convinced they have the area ‘mapped’. Somehow. Each scan of the scene reinforces the last scan, or reveals something new to be added to the ‘map’.  Such as.
That skink just came out from under the leaves.  There is a snake working through the bracken.  The crickets are gathering near the little water soak. Each can then be evaluated as to the risk-management of pursing the prey.  Once they know where the opportunities exist, they don’t have to immediately take off and chase, they can plan and take action at a time that suits them.

Flying there is usually, low and fast through the grasses and bushes not even being able to see where the quarry is, but knowing if they stick to the map, weave here, turn there, zig left, they will arrive, like a shopper in a supermarket, at the right aisle, for the prize.

Now if I combine that with the polarised light Attenborough segment, I am wondering if Brown’s have some similar ability.  Looking out they see a blank canvas, and anything that moves across that landscape is ‘red-hot’ in contrast, and easily mapped and evaluated.
Such is the theory.

In the meantime this Brown was sitting high on his territory.  It is a fav perch, right alongside a major, busy road, with wide open paddocks all around.
On this particular frosty morning, he’d taken the opportunity to warm up in the struggling sunlight and was in no hurry to move on.
The scanning process was obvious.

Tennis Stars Be Prepared to Be Amazed!

Posted in Brolga, Western Treatment PlantTagged , , 8 Comments

My friend Nina was down at the WTP last week.
She sent me a note of her adventures, and has kindly allowed me to share them here.

In a galaxy far, far, far, far, away, in another time, Nina and I both worked for a large multi-national. Her love of the environment and my natural history photography have kind of kept us in touch.

All the photos, words and story are Nina’s.  Obviously copyright, and intellectual property rights belong to her and should be honoured.

Here is what she sent me.
I had an extraordinary experience at the WTP with friends last Friday.

Where ever we went, we kept running into Brolgas.

On Kirks Point track we watched some Brolgas playing with a tennis ball for more than an hour. At first I thought they were trying to eat it, but after a while I realised they were just playing. One would drop it and the next one >would pick it up. They would also pass it to each other. I have many blurry photos because I was shaking with excitement. The memories of thisclose encounter will be with me for ever.

The images are linked to a larger version so just double click to see.  Be Amazed!

Thanks Nina.

If you would like to contact Nina drop me a note and I’ll pass on the details.

Be Amazed

Saturday Evening Post #143 : On Country

Posted in Saturday Night PostTagged , 6 Comments

I was pleasantly pleased to see the other day that Australia Post is encouraging people to add the First Nation’s Traditional Place name to their address fields in letters and parcels.  Here is a map that is a start on the journey

I had the fortune I guess as a small lad to grow up in a Murray River community and was friends with a several of the local young boys.  Now to my memory there never was much talk about being ‘on’ or ‘in’ Country, but truth be told I might have missed it anyway.

What is memorable now, with some much older and better pondered hindsight is that the lads, whether hunting, swimming or messing about in the bush weren’t all that fussed about being ‘in or on’.  It came to me later that they, ‘were’ country.  Moving with an ease and confidence that was as eternal as the trees, rocks, bushes and animals.

It is more than just an acceptance of the area, it was a spiritual connection, not so much in the mystic, but rather in embracing they were part of the environment. No doubt more wiser heads than mine can explain all the elements, but I’ve noted over the years the same kind of ‘spiritual connection’ among many cultures and religions.  Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Dao, Buddhist and many others. The clear connection between themselves and the land around abound. Not only at some higher form, but the simple integration of action with belief.

#Kneetoo’s family worked the Hay Plain and Lachlan River areas, and Bill, my Father-in-Law had developed a very respectful relationship with the Dadi Dadi and Mari Mari traditional owners of the area. The family stories of their connection and how the locals would turn up at one of Bill’s camps, says much about both.

Did any of it rub off on to me?   Well a quick story.  When I was around 17 or 18, one of our city relatives came to visit over the summer holidays.  We decided to go for a bit of an exploration along the Murray River bank near home,  a place I have to say that I did know quite well.   It didn’t take me long to pick up a kangaroo pad, or slip through the riverside scrub, but my city born and bred relative found the going quite difficult.   We also waded across the River at a point where during summer the shallow water ran over a long clay secure bottom.  I didn’t stop to look but simply crossed.  He, hesitated. Lookrd, and then gingerly took each step as if it might be his last. But by the end of the day, his grin from being in the grove with the around was as wide as the flowing river.

Full disclosure.  When I first moved to the “Big Smoke” I stayed with them for about a year and he was able to do the same thing for me among the backstreets and parkways around his home.  A learning experience.

When we walk the Eynesbury forest with the award winning Chris Lunardi, he won’t let me lead a walk.
“I’ve watched you walk off the track and then disappear before my eyes,” he’ll say.  “Then twenty minutes later, about a kilometer down the track you’ll suddenly re-appear on the side of the track.  It’s eerie!”
But then again.  I like Grey Box forest. It’s been said, kindly and not so kindly that I have Grey Box sap in my veins. 🙂

My first few seasons at Woodlands Historic Park were not years of bird photography.  I walked the paddocks and the hillsides as a Landscape Photographer.  Even had the kit. The header image while taken on a digital camera, is in fact firmly attached to a whacking great tripod that I used to use with a 4×5 inch Linhoff Super Tecknika camera.  Standard fare of my early trade.

This one was in the early mists of mid-winter.  One of my fav times for those moody landscapes.
The creekline is Moonee Ponds Creek, –Woiworung Country—and the rich red sand in the foreground was much prized by the builders in Melbourne during the building boom around 1880-1900s.  The locals would fill drays from the creek and transport them to the building sites.  So I didn’t have to do much work on the image to keep that richness intact.

I’m guessing I don’t roam as much as I used to, much preferring these days to have a Jon Young ‘Sit Spot’ and watch the interactions of the trees, birds, animals, clouds and winds on a much more macro level.  Each. To his own.

Wathaurong Country

 

Saturday Evening Post# 142 Design in Tone

Posted in Uncategorized7 Comments

The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.
~ Brene Brown

There are two major ways of defining “Tone” in photography.

Pity is they seem to get mixed up by under or over use.

Tone 1. The scientific measurement of the range of dark to light values in a photograph. Formally known as the Characteristic Curve.
The bane of photostudents in the days of filum, as it required astounding numbers of tests, peering through densitometers and calculations from log tables. Never a topic that people qued up to be the first in the door.

Tone 2.  The pictorial use of dark through light to help establish mood and emotion.  Light areas attract the eye, darker areas hold mystery.

Ms Brown, was no photographer, but out of her writings its possible to distill some fine photo-enhancing thoughts.

One of my fav photoshoppie, tool is the Circular Grad Tool. As best I can recall it didn’t make a Photoshop appearance until Photoshop 5 in 1998.
Highlight my subject.  Lighten for emphasis, Darken for mystery.   Use two, one for the subject and one for the backdrop and the eye of the viewer is both drawn and surrounded by the environment without losing the subject.  At least that’s the theory.

Funny how, even having taught the use of the tool, there is always just one more trick up its sleeve.
I was browsing the awesome book, THE DIGITAL NEGATIVE  by the equally awesome Jeff Schewe, (my copy is dog-eared and bursting with postalnotes.) and noticed a technique of resizing each individual side of the Grad Tool when it’s been drawn.  Oh, dear, how come I didn’t know that already.  Big grins.

As a lot of my current softer feel technique is based around the use of the tool, I was somewhat taken back that I hadn’t noticed this small technique.
For the interested, draw the grad as normal, hold down the Alt key and each of the ‘handles’ is independently moveable to match the need of the subject.
Simples.

I’d chosen this image sometime ago to match the good Ms Brown’s quote, so decided that it fitted well with the tonal series.  Bring out the best of the red and orange in her dress and keep the green behind muted and job is done.

Enjoy.

Scarlet Robin, Petroica boodang
. 
She does work hard all summer long, and now the cold weather has set in, its time to throw off the old, and take a new sparkling feather set for the season.

Little Visits: The Power of Wings

Posted in Black-shouldered KiteTagged 4 Comments

Somethings happen so fast that it defeats the human eye to follow.  Sometimes a short sequence of photos can reveal not only fine details of an event but also an understanding of the forces at work.

Such, is the case of a pair of Black-shouldered Kites at work on their current nesting duties.
Our blog friend David Nice gave me the headsup that the Kites were back at work on the Sneydes Road area. Time for a looksee.

And indeed they were. The nest is quite a new site for the pair, and built in such a position that its a little hard to fly in nesting sticks directly, and the male has been ‘drifting’ them in at an angle to get the larger longer sticks in just the right position.

I normally don’t shoot multi-burst, but, well you know how it is, the first pair of kites we’ve worked with in quite awhile. So I was happy to begin to fillup the memory card.

Where the magic happened however was when I began to curate the images and found the various changes in wing angle and feather application that he was using to ‘drift’ into the right position.
So the series here are simply to show how he has used wing angle and wing lift to get the right momentum, direction and control. With one wing carrying the movement while the other wing lets air cascade away to ‘fall’ in that direction.
Hope you find in interesting.

 

His second problem is that the locals are not too impressed to have the new home renovators at work in their area, and each trip in and out was a to run the gauntlet of ravens, Red-wattle birds and magpies.  A bit costly on feather contacts on a number of occasions.