The Narrows Bridge
Definitely need to go back and take some more photos of this structure again! Another one from this morning’s sunrise…
Sunrise at the South Perth foreshore
It’s always a risk when you get up early, but this morning paid off I think. After the rain from last night, there was a nice big puddle right in front of the river in the car park on the south perth foreshore and I set up there at about 6am and watched the sky light up. There were a couple of enthusiastic fishermen under the narrows that had been chasing mulloway but with no luck (what’s new!)… and as soon as they packed up and drove home, something came barrelling underneath the bridge driving the bait fish up and out of the water. I bet it was a dolphin though 
The Fog – Crawley Boathouse
I had in mind a sky alight with colour….but it wasn’t to be! It’s really hard to know what you’re in for when you leave the house in the dark on your way to your chosen photography destination… things like, “Is there cloud?”, “Will there be colour?” and “Have I chosen the best spot to see the sunrise?” – the last question is usually the biggest risk and the second the biggest disappointment.
I got the last two wrong. There was, however plenty of cloud. Too much cloud – fog, in fact. I wanted to head to the little jetty that overlooks the swan river… I had plenty of lovely mornings there last winter and I’m determined to better my shots from that location. Didn’t really like what it gave, so headed to the South Perth foreshore to see the city – but could barely see my hand in front of my face let alone any lights across the river. Decided to give the elusive Matilda bay boathouse a try. There was another photographer there when I arrived (couldn’t believe it!) but he generously shared the spot and here’s what I came back with:
Colour at Matilda Bay
Finally, a great sunrise!!!
Went to Matilda Bay yesterday morning, and this is my favourite shot so far in the editing process. It’s not really as good as it could be – I didn’t end up blending exposures as I had planned…and I still may do this in the future, but I really just wanted to get this shot up, and now the little puppy is loping around, there’s very limited time for processing!
30″ second exposures, ISO 100, f/16.
Got to love that colour in the cloud!
Matilda Bay Sunrise – Perth
I left the house at 5.30am this morning in order to be in position for what I hoped to be a beautiful sunrise. Whilst there are much nicer images with much better colour (pink! yay!), this one was shot in jpeg so I could do a quick saturation and contrast and get it up straight away! It was a beautiful still morning- this photo is a 30 second exposure from the Canon 6D and the 24-105mm.
Will post more from this series soon when they’re processed 
Dobermann Puppy
Our latest addition to the family….meet Scarlet. She is a purebred Dobermann puppy that we have eagerly welcomed into our family. She was bred by Bravadobe Dobermanns, who in our opinion, is the best Dobermann breeder in WA.
This little one is full of character- she’s playful, curious and has endless amounts of energy. Amongst her millions of toys, her favourites consist of a) a string of plastic sausages held together with rope and b) one of my old socks. She enjoys terrorising our greyhound Tess and eating Vegemite.
Kitty & Tim Preview
Hi Guys- here’s a very quick preview of what’s to come… there are so, so many more to post up, but these are a few favourites of mine. I hope you enjoy!
It was such a fun wedding to shoot, I had a blast! Have a great time on your honeymoon, and I’ll be in touch when you get back xx
Dani & Rick
Friday the 22nd was Dani & Ricks wedding, held at Little Beach, Two Peoples bay, Albany WA. It was cloudy and overcast which was very lucky as it had rained heaps the day before! I hope you enjoy the preview guys
Gooseberry Hill Sunset
The Gooseberry Hill lookout, which is at the start of the famous scenic drive called the Zig Zag is one of my favourite places in Perth to see the sunset. It can look really magic when the sun hits a certain point on the horizon and last night was no exception. Though there wasn’t any spectacular colour, it was a beautiful sunset. There were plenty of birds about, parrots and kookaburras calling out in the dusk and I spotted a couple of rabbits too. Luckily I didn’t have Tess (my greyhound) with me otherwise I would’ve never seen her again! The only nature I didn’t appreciate last night was being ambushed and then set upon by a giant horde of bull-ants. I hate those things. They are nasty, vicious creatures. The last time I was here was Australia Day in 2012- have a look at those photos here.
Enjoy!
Perth Sunsets
Perth has some amazing sunsets… and it always seems to happen when I’m at home! Why is that!?
Anyway… the 3 of us (my sister and my boyfriend) decided to go out the front and watch the amazing sunset from our driveway as it was too late to go anywhere by that stage. The colours were appearing quickly and soon exploded.
My sister gave me the great idea of using the roof of my car as a reflection and it came out awesome looking like a large body of water. This is also the first time I’ve appreciated the many large palm trees on our street!! haha
Fremantle Boat Harbour
After witnessing Monday night’s spectacular sunset from my front lawn I promised myself I would take the camera down to Fremantle on Tuesday night in case it was similar conditions. It wasn’t as amazing, but it was still very pleasant.
Seasick
This is an old photo from Kalbarri, WA. We had decided to go out fishing in the morning and woke up to the town drenched in fog. I really like this image because at a first glance it looks like it could be the moon… but it’s the sun . It also brings back very very vivid memories of seasickness and petrol fumes…as you can see it was extremely choppy and due to the low visibility on the water, we were going excruciatingly slowly!
My 10 favourite pictures of 2012… a year in review
2012 is now over. I had a great year photographically… took a trip to New Zealand’s South island in November and also saw some beautiful sunsets and sunrises in Perth, Western Australia, my beautiful home town. I’m so lucky to live in such a naturally beautiful place.
2012′s gear comprised of my Canon 550D, my wideangle Canon 10-22mm, Canon 50 f/1.4, Canon 85 f/1.8 and the Canon macro 100mm f/2.8.
There are big changes ahead photographically in 2013 as January saw the purchase of my new full frame camera, the Canon 6D. I’m sure that 2013 will also see some new lenses join the fray, and perhaps even say goodbye to some old ones too.
With a few more weddings in the mix and lots of happy occasions ahead such as photographing a beautiful Albany wedding in February and my little cousin Maddie getting married in June, it’s going to be a fun year. Hopefully there will be some holidays somewhere in there, too!
These are my favourite shots from 2012:
Cottesloe Beach Vertical
In my last post I put up 2 pictures from the shoot at Cottesloe the other night, but I missed this one. A little different and also had a longer shutter speed than the other two.
Cottesloe Beach Sunset
This location has been top of the list for quite some time; you know how it is when you see fellow photographer’s blogs pop up with the one location, and they’re all stunning photos? I would say at least 4 blogs that I follow in Perth featured a sunrise or sunset photo of Cottesloe beach within about 10 days of eachother – and it was a done deal, I had to go.
I kept an eye on the sky, waiting for a good opportunity to catch a sunset and with the weather we’ve been having lately, there’s been a lot of cloud around for 40 degree heat! The fateful afternoon arrived and my sister and I headed to Cottesloe and watched an absolutely beautiful colour formation appear. We shot with the sun behind us and you can see from the two photos below how much the colour changed as the sun went down.
Glenorchy moment
Ahhh… Glenorchy. How I love you.
This photo is another from the one good sunrise Glenorchy put out- Glenorchy is about 45 minutes’ drive from Queenstown in New Zealand’s South Island. The spot this photo is taken from is on the pier, looking back towards the boathouse. Sadly, I didn’t get any good photos of the boathouse- I assume it would need a nice sunset to get lit from the front rather than from the side. Here’s my take on the jetty:
The Church of the Good Shepherd
Ahhh….the Church. How many times I subjected people to hear about this site before I went to NZ I’m not sure (I’m so sorry!!). I have seen this iconic Church in so many photography blogs and portfolios of photographers world wide, that I just couldn’t wait to go, and Tekapo was an absolute must stop. I even made sure that we had 3 nights there so that I could make sure I captured it in the right light. Crazy, I know. The lengths we go to….
Anyway, didn’t get any ‘magical’ light on sunsets or sunrises, but I was happy with a couple of them. Also, how cool is the tussock grass?
#1. Sunset shot (see the moon?) #2. Another sunset photo, minimal sky colour. #3 – sunrise photo, little sky colour and quite flat light.
Also- this was another crazy destination like the Tree at Wanaka where one had to fight for a position and not leave one’s post in order to get the photo required!
Lupins!!!!!!
I’m not sure if anyone else is as obsessed with these so-called weeds as I am, but when I realised the NZ Lupins flower from late October through to December depending on the weather, and our trip was planned for November, a stop in Tekapo was seeming more and more exciting! I have seen many photos of the Church of the Good Shepherd with the lupins in full display, and it is truly breathtaking- I couldn’t wait to see them.
Luckily, they were in flower when we got there- so, so beautiful. The photos don’t quite capture the rolling colour with the blue hues of the mountains and Lake Tekapo in the background there, but this is one scene I won’t forget.
This was taken after a sunrise stop at the Church.
A battle at the Wanaka Tree
The “Wanaka Tree” was one of the reasons I so desperately wanted to go to Wanaka in New Zealand’s South Island. I just need to say… I was surprised by how tiny it was! I guess when you’ve been looking at photos of a certain place, your mind builds a picture of what you think it should look like… weird. When we got to the bay, there were 2 very ‘pro’ looking photographers set up with their tripods and had even brought down laptops! (I have never done this, though I suppose if I was in the business of photography, this may be quite common? I don’t know)… I labelled them as ‘snooty photography types’ immediately. They had the best spots on the bay too! Imagine having to fight for a spot to shoot the Wanaka Tree!
The sunset was not promising, and although providing a pleasant pink above the mountains, was very underwhelming. I packed up my tripod and headed for the car and get this – the pros snickered to each other and said (loudly I might add!) “Isn’t it funny how amateurs always pack up when the sun is gone? Who would be dumb enough to go home and miss the afterglow?” It seemed my label was correct. With dinner plans looming, I wasn’t really keen to hang around in the cold for the afterglow which looked to be as underwhelming as the sky! I watched it from the restaurant instead and am happy to say that I was right…
The next morning, I set my alarm a little earlier than usual to make sure I would be guaranteed a good vantage point for the tree- but when I got down there at 5.45am, I was the only one there! I must admit I felt rather smug whilst remembering the pros of the night before (“Isn’t it funny how people say they’re professionals, but won’t get up at 5am to shoot the sunrise!? ha,ha.”) when the most beautiful pink hit the snow on the mountains. The sunrise, compared with the sunset of the night before, was magic.
Stirling Falls, NZ
This is yet another photo from my trip to NZ… Stirling Falls in Milford Sound New Zealand. A beautiful place, i’d love to go back. This waterfall is twice the height of Niagra… and taking this photo, yet, I got pretty wet!
A Tekapo Sunrise
This is a panorama (7 image stitch) of the sunrise over Lake Tekapo in New Zealand. Easily one of my favourite places, and probably the most abundant colours for sunrise/sunset that I was given by NZ during the trip. Lake Tekapo is the most amazing blue (in daylight hours) and is also the home to the Church of the Good Shepherd – if you have a chance to go, I would definitely recommend it! I believe these shots were not long exposures, it was a very very still morning.
Glenorchy, New Zealand
This sunrise wasn’t too colourful in terms of cloud and sky colour, but it was a beautiful still morning from our trip in November 2012.
The last tulip post of the year :(
So I took one last visit to Araluen and I can’t say I was disappointed. The weather had been good to us, and the tulips were still standing and showing good form and colour- it was amazing. It was also a nice sunny day and so I was given the opportunity to add that lens flare I like so much (I know some of you hate it! Just look away!).
Hamelin Bay, Margaret River
I had heard this place is amazing. It’s also a popular gathering place for large stingrays (though we didn’t see any there that day). We stopped past this bay on our way back to Perth and it was breathtaking. I love Australia!!!
Harvey Dam
Took a drive out to Harvey dam to do some trout fishing (no fish unfortunately) which was disappointing, and also missed the sunrise. Stalked this spoonbill along the banks until I accidentally scared it up into a tree. I quite like the shots though.
Busselton Jetty..second in the series
This is another picture from the dawn/sunrise captured at Busselton Jetty on Friday 15th September, on a roadtrip down to Margaret River in Perth. I prefer this one to the other, just because I love the green that came out in the water. It’s a really beautiful place. To see the earlier image of the jetty’s sunrise, click here. Oh, and a big big happy birthday to my big bro!!! xxxx
Busselton Jetty
I once saw a truly beautiful sunrise here, and at the time I did have my DSLR but I was new to the hobby and would have done things much differently given another go. Ever since then, I have dreamed of capturing a shot of this jetty, which is famously the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere.
We left Perth at 3.15am to make it to the jetty before sunrise and arrived at around 5.40am – the sun due to rise at 6.20am. the light was beautiful; only required the shutter open for 45 seconds to get this photo. The colours weren’t amazing, but I really like how clean this image is (and I like the moon too!)
Beautiful Poppy
Araluen is not just full of Tulips, but all sorts of beauty.. you’ve simply got to look around.
Araluen Magic
After my previous post from Araluen, I had to include some more!!
Photos from last year’s Tulips can be found here.
The wonders of Araluen
Araluen is a Botanical park that is nestled in the depths of Roleystone. An amazing place that is definitely worth a visit at any time of year. But it is DEFINITELY a must during tulip season.
Tulips are my favourite flower and they never cease to amaze me. The different shapes and colours and the sheer vibrance of them is just astounding.
I forced myself to use all my lenses yesterday and flicked between the 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8 macro and the 10-22mm wide-angle. I have to say that the 85mm was probably the most useless of the day and amazingly I used the macro the most often. The 50mm always impresses me but sometimes the focal length can be limiting.
Here are some of my favourites:
