Purple Beauty

Also known as “houseleek” or sempervivum, this is a succulent plant that tends to grow in clusters, with a beautiful yellow flower.

Budding

A micro flower blooms at the end of a stalk at Mt Annan Botanic Garden.

Birds

This scene of birds perched up on a tree near St. John’s Anglican Church in Parramatta eerily reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Birds.”

Shooting through glass with the sun at a low angle in the sky

Kulinda the cheetah, prowling in the early sunshine. She helps me demonstrate one of the problems with shooting into morning sunshine through glass. No, she wasn’t being showered in rays of light by Hollywood SFX – that’s flare compounded by shooting through thick glass.

You can see where the sun was, and how low it was, by looking at her shadow.

This isn’t a great photo, but I thought it was a good example of the problems we can face when the sun is low in the sky and we’re forced to shoot through glass into it. At the same time, I was quite happy with how sharp the image came out, and I rather like rim lighting.

This image was shot at ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1000 on the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II at 72mm.

Hippos playing follow-the-leader

Three hippos leave their night quarters, plunge into cold water, and head out for a spot of quiet grazing. Given that it’s before breakfast, two of them are not particularly interested in thinking about where they are going, so they just follow in single file. You can see the shine of their wet hides.

This image was shot at ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1000 on the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II at 200mm.

Hello Human

This kangaroo and her joey were very interested in us, and hopped to check us out. Captured in the morning at the former deer park at University of New England.

Kangaroo Pilates

This kangaroo appears to be doing her morning exercises, but the joey doesn’t quite know what to do.