Skywatch Friday: Bridge to Nowhere

Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday: Desolation

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday: Rowing training

Autumn on the Brisbane River.

Skywatch Friday.

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Skywatch Friday: Freddo

A hot-air balloon over a wool store in Teneriffe, Brisbane.

Skywatch Friday.

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Skywatch Friday: Bulimba sunrise

Dark clouds and the morning sun combine to form this rich red sunrise over the suburb of Bulimba, on the Brisbane River, at 5:30 this morning. Click on the photo to see a larger image.

Like skies? Visit Skywatch Friday for skies from around the world.

tff

Your Brisbane: Past & Present

Thanks to images sourced from the archives of the Queensland State Library and the John Oxley library, I have begun a photographic project that compares old photographs of Brisbane with current photographs taken at the same location.

Where possible, I am replicating the viewpoint of the original image, although sometimes this is impossible. Over time things tend to change, and buildings and trees mushroom where none stood before, or once quiet roads are now too busy with traffic.

As a preview, I can show you what I mean. Below is a photograph printed in the Brisbane's daily newspaper, The Courier-Mail, in 1913. It shows the Winchcombe Carson wool store that was completed in 1911, and gives an idea of the size of the building, which takes up a whole block. It was used, of course, to store bales of wool prior to them being loaded onto ships at the nearby Teneriffe Wharves.
(Photo: courtesy State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library)

The building still stands; now converted to much sought after (and expensive!) New York-style apartments.

(Photo: the foto fanatic)

It was not possible to provide exactly the same perspective. This photo had to be taken from the middle of a busy road using a wide angle lens. I suspect that the original was taken from a higher position, and probably using what we now call a view camera, where the lens can be moved independently of the camera body. This prevents the distortion that arises from having to angle the camera upwards to capture the entire building. My image has been adjusted in Photoshop to reduce this distortion as much as possible. If this isn't done, the buiding looks like it is falling over backwards.

TFF
See my new blog here: http://yourbrisbanepastandpresent.blogspot.com/

Taronga Zoo

On a recent lightning visit to Sydney, I went to Taronga Zoo for the first time in many years. The magnificent site of this zoo, with its great views back across the harbour to Sydney, is worth the admission price alone. Someone told me that the giraffe pen had the best views in Sydney:

And by the way, this goat also has luxury accommodation in one of the most expensive cities of the world:

Generally, the animals seem to be well treated and healthy. It is always a shame to see wild animals in captivity, but these days the zoos have valuable breeding programs and research departments that contribute to animal welfare. According to Taronga Zoo, their Asian elephants were saved from a life of begging in the streets of Thailand, and so I would prefer to see them interacting with the public at the zoo, rather than continuing to live in those circumstances:
However, this Burmese tiger seemed really distressed, and was continually pacing backwards and forwards inside its glass-walled enclosure:
I guess zoos are neither good nor bad, but necessary. Animals in the wild are still poached for meat or killed for profit, and their natural habitat is continually shrinking. At least at a zoo, they are treated humanely and have the best food and medical attention available. Because of this, and because they are separated from their natural predators (including man), many animals have longer lifespans in captivity than they would experience in the wild.

But you can't help but feel some sort of empathy for them as they sometimes look so forlorn:

I certainly wish we had better communication with the animals - I'd love to know their thoughts.

TFF

Witches Falls National Park

This is Queensland's oldest national park, having been declared in 1908. It is situated on Mt Tamborine, to the south of Brisbane. Mt Tamborine is just west of the Gold Coast, and over recent years has developed its own tourist persona for those people who prefer mountains to beaches.

As part of photographing the wedding of some friends, I stayed on Mt Tamborine for a few nights and had the opportunity to explore the park. The park has views west to the Great Dividing Range, and the sunset at the end of the afternoon was sublime:


During the day in the park, the sunlight filters through tall trees to provide dappled light on the rainforest floor:




As well as trees and other rainforest vegetation, there are an enormous number of large boulders in this park. It looks like giants played marbles there back in the dreamtime:

As you can see, the boulders have become covered with liken over thousands of years. Sometimes they are taken over completely by the root system of trees, showing how hardy these rainforest specimens are:

Naturally, the rainforest is home to many birds and animals The song of the whipbird and the peacock are never too far away, and even the ravens get a look in:

Changes

After reviewing its initial six months existence, I am changing the structure of The Foto Fanatic. Posts will now be less frequent, but hopefully more meaningful. Rather than posting every weekday, I will now post only when there is a new topic or image to discuss; thus avoiding repititious subjects and less interesting topics.

The blog is certainly continuing, so keep a lookout for us!

TFF

Home builders

This spoonbill pair is busy tending to a nest in a Brisbane wetlands. Like many bird species, the male spoonbill is slightly brighter in plumage than his female mate. The elaborate plumage at the back of his head (it stands erect when he is courting) and the yellow splash on his breast have helped him attract his mate, and now they are a breeding pair. The male seems happy to stand and watch while the female does the housework - where have I heard that before?

Nature photography is quite difficult, but very rewarding. It is a challenge for the photographer to find the habitat containing the subjects to be photographed, and then to find a vantage point that will allow a reasonable opportunity to see and photograph the birds or animals. It is of paramount importance is not to harm them or disturb their environment, and the photographer has to be short on the creature comforts and long on patience to obtain usable images. Most animals and birds in the wild are easily disturbed, and unlikely to stay around for a clumsy photographer thrashing through the bush.

Balance

This ibis seems to be balancing quite precariously on a tree stump, but probably has its eye on something in the way of food somewhere below. But the balance I wanted to talk about today has more to do with the balance of the image within the frame, rather than the balance of the subject. This picture is fairly unusual, in that there is an isolated vertical subject within the frame, which itself is in portrait format.

For a couple of reasons, the subject should not be placed centrally within the frame. It is recognised that the human eye tends to focus on certain places within the frame first. If you were to draw two imaginary lines parallel with the vertical edges of the frame, so as to divide the image into three parts; together with two more lines, this time parallel to the horizontal edges so that the image was divided into thirds along that axis, then where the vertical lines and horizontal lines intersect are the parts of the image to which the eye is drawn. This is commonly known as "the rule of thirds", but rather than a rule, it is a guide to help with composition. If the subject can be placed accordingly, it is generally more pleasing to the eye than if it was just plonked in the centre of the frame.

TFF

What's in the bag?

Now we need to think about how to transport your valuable equipment around, and there are many choices to consider here. The first point to think about is whether to select a hard case or a soft case. Hard cases are more secure and provide better protection (some are even waterproof), but weigh more and are more difficult to transport, although you can find ones with wheels. On the other hand, soft cases are easier to carry, but may not hold as much or provide as much protection for your gear.

I would hazard a guess to say that most photographers, most of the time, need a camera and a couple of lenses; possibly a flash; and the usual accessories such as extra batteries and flash cards. Many manufacturers make bags of different sizes and configurations to suit. The one pictured easily holds the equipment mentioned above, and has movable soft partitioning to allow for the best protection for each item. Bags like this can be carried as a back-pack or as a shoulder bag.

TFF