After the Bernard Park fiasco a couple of days previously I was determined to get out and have a successful photo trip. This time I thought I’d stay local and photograph orchids – they don’t fly off as you try to photograph them. The chosen destination was the Oswald Sargent Reserve at the back of the York Golf Club. A reliable location known for it’s prolific displays of orchids. I was expecting to go home with a memory card full of photos. Walking up the rough between two fairways I was expecting to see Chapman’s Spider Orchids, Scented Sun Orchids, and Custard Orchids amongst others. Eventually I found a shrivelled Green Spider Orchid. On hitting the Wandoo forest of the reserve I found after an hour of looking I found two more plants, an intact Green Spider Orchid and a Pink Enamel Orchid. In a normal year I’d find at least eight species and anything up to thirty individual plants. I don’t think it is a case of “The girls have picked them everyone.”. More a case of we’ve had a dry warm winter.
Oh dear! That’s not looking good. Green Spider Orchid aka Fringed Mantis Orchid (Caladenia falcata). Oswald Sargent reserve, Western Australia.
A more healthy looking Green Spider Orchid aka Fringed Mantis Orchid (Caladenia falcata). Oswald Sargent reserve, Western Australia.
You can rely on a Pink Enamel Orchid, Elythranthera emarginata, to provide a spot of colour. Oswald Sargent reserve, Western Australia.
Newly mobile, I had such high hopes for this trip to Bernard Park in the Wheatbelt metropolis of Northam. I walked the dog through the park the day before and saw plenty of bird activity. Everything was checked and packed carefully the night before and the car had a full tank of petrol. What could go wrong? I pulled up in the carpark just after dawn and the conditions were looking perfect. I could see and hear plenty of birds. Then I found out what could go wrong. Me! I just couldn’t do anything right. It was as if I’d never picked up a camera before. Forty years of photographic knowledge and experience had evaporated. A lot of the birds got so bored sitting around waiting for me to get my act together that they took off in search of a better photographer. I missed lots of sitters because I was just so slow in sorting out focus, exposure and composition. After an hour and a half of abject failure I threw in the towel and called it a day.
I’ve put the two best photos below and they are quite frankly very, very pedestrian.
Three Little Birds. Kanamit or Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxxena). Bernard Park, Northam, Western Australia.
A female Choonya or Long-necked turtle aka oblong turtle (Chelodina oblonga) having laid its eggs slowly makes its way back to the safety of the river. Bernard park, Northam, Western Australia.
The only upside to the day was that I saw two of the Long-necked Turtles. It’s egg laying season for them and they come up from the river – no mean feet as the bank is very high and steep at this point – and lay their eggs. They will have hatched out at this spot and every year they will lay their eggs there. Their offspring will do the same. Thirty years ago I used to see turtles quite regularly, but now they are very rare so to see 2 within five minutes of each other was something rather special. This time of year sees the turtles try to cross busy roads to get to their nesting sites, so if you live in these areas please be careful as you drive. A word to the wise. If you ever feel the need to help one not get run over by picking it up and moving it to a safe location a word of caution. Make sure that the rear end is pointing away from your body. Long-necked Turtles void as a defence mechanism – it is an incredibly foul smelling mess that is very difficult to wash off yourself and out of your clothes. Once smelt never forgotten.
The issues regarding my blog that I spoke about a couple of weeks ago have not resolved. I still can’t link images from my account at 500px to my pages here at WordPress. I had extensive communications with both companies and each is blaming the other and I’m the meat in the sandwich. I hope in another couple of weeks to find a permanent solution.
Our poor old car started to sound as if it had a terminal condition. It produced an incredible range of noises from the engine and gearbox. With over 200,000 km on the clock it wasn’t surprising in someways. I took it into the mechanics and it came back with even more strange noises. So while we sorted out a replacement I’ve been somewhat grounded and most of the recent photography has taken place within the constrains of the garden. Most of it macro of various bugs that I’ve found, some of it shots of Bertie, our Miniature Bull Terrier puppy, as he plays. It’s been great fun.
Bertie playing with his ring in the garden.
Bertie with his first marrow bone.
Green Lacewing, Mallada signatus. York, Western Australia.
Red Tiger Assassin Bug, Havinthus rufovarius. York, Western Australia.
Dunno what sort of spider this is.
A male Yellow flower wasp feeding on the corriander.
Last week I posted a photo of a mystery insect that I didn’t know what it was. Well it turns out it was a female Yellow Flower Wasp, which are flightless.
“Stay sill damn it!” Common garden snail, Cornu aspersum.
The recent orchid expeditionmade me get my macro lenses and flash out of the cupboard and consequently I’ve been playing around with it in the garden. I had this brilliant idea to improve my focus stacking technique by taking photos of snails. I mistakenly thought that they’d be a good subject as they don’t move much. I was very much mistaken. The little beggars move around quite a lot. The tentacles that their eyes are mounted on are in a constant state of motion and so my attempts at focus stacking failed. Not to be deterred I just stopped the lens down to f11 or f16 (well into diffraction territory on Micro Four Thirds) and just carried on taking picture of little critters in the garden.
Another fidgety snail.
The focus stack even failed on this. Dunno what I’m doing wrong.
Yikes! Don’t know what this was amongst the coriander.
Looks better in profile.
Oh dear! The Beloved Significant Other is not going to be happy with these aphids.
Things have taken a dire turn at Paul Amyes Photography. For some reason the links to the images are all of a sudden broken. I’m not sure what has happened, but it does mean that I’m having to go through all 616 pages and re-link the photos. It is a mammoth undertaking and will keep me occupied for some while.
I saw the accompanying image when we went to Beverley for the Spring Equinox Flower Festival. I couldn’t resist the red and the blue. It was taken with one of my everyday cameras. I did take some photos of the flower exhibits, but, they were a bit meh when compared to this one.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary to say someone is as “high as a kite” is to say they are either intoxicated or extremely happy. Currently I’m in the extremely happy category as we have been having regular visits from a juvenile Black-shouldered Kite. It spends mosts of its time perched on the TV aerial and can often be heard chattering away – sort of a cross between a chirp and a squawk. We had a bit of a mouse plague earlier and this bird is probably the result of that. Normally Black-shouldered kites breed only once a year in the period August to January, but when there is an abundance of food they will breed twice.
A juvenile Black Shouldered Kite, Boorh-ga in Nyoongar, perching on our TV areial. (Elanus axillaris). York, Western australia. Olympus EM1x with OM System 100-400mm lens.
The photos are the best I’ve managed to get so far, but the up the chuff view point (a bird photography technical term) is never a good look. I’ve seen it hunting over the open fields in front of us so hopefully I’ll manage to get some birds in flight shots soon.
The morning mist on the Avon River. Western Australia. Panasonic G9 with Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f2.8-4 lens.
I like the pass of the seasons. I like how everything changes and provides different experiences. I like going out down the Avon River on a cold winters morning with thick mist. The experience is very different – vision is limited to around 5-10m and sounds are strangely muted. When looking for wildlife you think that nothing is near and then suddenly it looms out of mist. Sometimes I wonder who is more surprised at the encounter, me or the animal.
A femaleAustralian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata) and her twenty one ducklings swiming in the Avon River. Two weeks later I saw her and had just five remaining ducklings. Panasonic Lumix G9 mk ii with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4.5-6.3 lens.
Kakak or Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos).
A male Bambon or Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris). Panasonic Lumix G9 mk ii with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens.
A female Bambon or Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris). Panasonic Lumix G9 mk ii with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens.
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The sun making an effort to break through the mist creates a warm haze. Doornart or Ring-necked Parrot (Barnardius zonarius subspecies semitorquatus). Panasonic Lumix G9 mk ii with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens.
Doolor or Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) waiting for the sun to break through. Panasonic Lumix G9 mk ii with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens.
Living in a farming community the topic of conversation often turns to the weather. Right now people are talking about how little rain there has been, how cold it is, how they’re looking forward to summer, and how they’re worried about the forthcoming mother of all El Niño’s is coming with forecast temperatures for the Wheatbelt being in the mid to high 40sºC. The local farmers I’ve spoken with are all saying that crop yields will be severely impacted. Generally El Niños don’t effect us in Western Australia like they do in the Eastern States so hopefully this summer won’t too much of a feat of endurance.
I must confess that since we got our new puppy – Bertie – I’ve been rather busy. Time just seems to have slipped away. So the other morning when I was reading the news on ABC I came across a story about how the orchid season in the Wheatbelt had kicked off early. It caught me completely unawares. Normally what I do is draw up a list of what I want to see with when and where and then see where there is an overlap so I can get the most bang for my buck. Then I get my orchid kit together and make sure that everything works and is ready to go. That hasn’t happened this year. A mad whirlwind of frenetic activity saw me pack my bag and find an old list that for some reason I didn’t enact. So quickly organised I headed out on my first orchid hunt of the season.
Eastern Curly-locks. Wandoo National Park, Western Australia. Olympus EM1 mk ii with Olympus M.40-150mm F2.8 + MC-14 teleconverter.
The target species was the Eastern Curly Locks (Thelymitra maculata). I know of two places where they occur. One location, Wandoo National Park, is easy to get to and the plants are easily found near the road. That means orchid poachers often dig them up for selling illegally.The other spot I know (I won’t divulge its location) has more flowers, but,is harder to get to and involves a lot of walking and careful searching. Wandoo National Park was chosen as this was all a bit of a last minute decision.
Dwarf Pink Fairy Orchid, Caladenia reptans subspecies reptans. Olympus EM1 mk ii with Olympus M.40-150mm F2.8 + MC-14 teleconverter.
Dwarf Pink Fairy Orchid. Olympus EM1 mk ii with Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro lens.
Hare Orchid, Leporella fimbriata. Olympus EM1 mk ii with Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro lens
Banded Greenhood, Pterostylis vittata. Olympus EM1 mk ii with Olympus 30mm f/3.5 macro lens
From the description in the ABC article I was expecting to see quite a show as the areas has other species of orchid that should be in flower as well. As I walked through the bush I saw very little orchid activity. Out of the 8 species that should be flowering I saw 3 and there were only a few of those. At one point I wished I’d had my birding kit as I managed to flush several quail as I walked around. The irony being when I’ve gone birding there I didn’t see any. I zig zagged through the bush and didn’t find any Eastern Curly Locks. Dejected I settled for photographing some Dwarf Pink Fairy Orchids (Caladenia reptans subspecies reptans) and some Banded Greenhoods (Pterostylis vittata). I’d promised my partner I’d only be a couple of hours so I packed my kit away and headed back to the car. I took a slightly different route back as I didn’t want to go back through the tangle of sheaoak that had slowed me down while on the outward journey. I stopped to look at some carnivorous Red Ink Sundews (Drosera erythrorhiza) when out of the corner of my eye I spied 2 Eastern Curly Locks. So I had ticked the first orchid off of this years list.
Eastern Curly-locks aka Spotted Curly-locks, Thelymitra maculata. Olympus EM1 mk ii with Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro lens
The best Every Day Camera I’ve ever had. If only some one could make a digital version with a full frame sensor. Stuff it just make it with a Micro Four Thirds sensor and I’d buy 2!
If you were to take a browse through photography social media sites you will see the proliferation of the acronym “EDC” which apparently stands for “Every Day Carry”. I particularly dislike the phrase – its origins lie in American military and survivalist culture where it meant a concealed weapon such as a gun or a knife. I particularly dislike how American culture has become part of photographic culture. We hear terms like “shooting”, “pull the pin”, or “pull the trigger”. But, having said that if we change the acronym EDC to mean Every Day Camera then I think it has a lot of merit.
My Leica D-Lux pimped out with its accessory grip, tripod adapter and Peak Designs Anchor Link.
Our recent trip to Cairns made me appreciate a small fully featured camera with a large sensor that could be carried around everywhere unobtrusively. For that trip I took my Leica D-Lux Type 109 and it did a fantastic job. But, it is getting long in the tooth and it has started to develop a few annoying little faults. Initially I just thought about getting it repaired, but when I found out that it would have to be shipped back to Leica’s factory in Germany at considerable cost even though it is a Panasonic Lumix from Japan in Leica fancy dress I decided to look for a replacement.
The Leica D-Lux compared with its predecessor the Panasonic Lunix LX5. Looking from the front there is not a lot of difference in the size despite the D_Lux having a sensor much larger than the LX5. Both are excellent Every Day Cameras.
At one point every camera manufacturer made such a camera, but then with the ubiquity of mobile phones with “reasonably” good cameras (but with lousy ergonomics and controls) they went out of fashion and if you wanted to buy one they were like hens teeth. Oh sure a few manufacturers continued to make them – Ricoh’s GR IV, Fuji’s X100vi, Sony’s RX1R Mark III , Panasonic’s L10, Leica’s Q3 and D-Lux 8 – but have you seen the price? Well in the consumer paradise that is Australia the price range is roughly $2000 – $12600. Definitely not for the financially embarrassed.On looking at the secondhand market I discovered a curious paradox. For cameras that nobody wanted just a few years ago they are now selling for a lot of money. For example a 12 year Leica D-Lux Type 109 camera is going for north of $2000. A lot of money to pay for an older second hand camera which will just as likely develop the same faults as mine just has. Another strategy is clearly needed.
Perhaps I didn’t need a built in zoom lens. Perhaps I could use a small camera body with a small interchangeable prime lens. Ideally I want a flat topped rangefinder styled camera with a viewfinder. If so I have a couple of likely candidates in the camera cupboard. So the other day when I had to go into Perth for the day I took three (yes three!) Small cameras fitted with a 35mm equivalent prime lens. It’s not important at this stage to say what I took, but it was quite interesting to see how much time I spent with each camera and lens combination and how much I enjoyed using them. What I discovered was that the specs aren’t that important. For this type of photography a central single AF point is perfectly adequate. In terms of the sensor, well anything more than 12Mp is overkill for my uses. The pictures either get shared with friends and family or put on social media. If I do want to print well 12Mp is good for a nice A3 print. Burst speed doesn’t have to be great – 4 fps is perfectly adequate if I need continuous shooting. Start up time is fairly important, but usually I wander around with the camera always on and have a spare battery in my pocket.
And whose truth would that be?
A chilly winters morning cycle ride.
A giant blue alien puts the local kangaroos to flight on St. George’s Terrace in Perth.
Perth’s street art is getting more interesting.
Another giant alien walking through Perth.
A pigeon flash mob in Forest Place.
Tweety Pie gangsta.
Everyday Cameras are also great for recording those special spontaneous moments that happen so the user interface needs to be intuitive to allow quick use such as when your new puppy does something really cute. They should also be able to be used single handed. I’m not a great advocate of doing that, but, sometimes situations present and you’ve only got one hand free.
Bertie posing in the garden
Cuteness overload
I’ve yet to make a decision on which one I shall use as the EDC – or I may just keep using all three on a rotation basis and possibly add other combinations to the mix.
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