The Last Light Kite

The Last Light Kite

 

This is a case of so close, yet so so far. A strikingly handsome bird, captured in the stunning light of the last few minutes of the sun. I dare not call the Black-shouldered Kite a beautiful bird, for it is a raptor, and I’m sure it would appreciate being called beautiful about as much as teenage boy being called gorgeous. Call it what you will, the Black-shouldered Kite is one of Australia’s best looking raptors; there is never a feather out of place. In my field guide there is a Black-shouldered Kite perched resplendently on a branch, scanning the page with lethal intent. Beneath it sits a bedraggled Osprey complete with a scrap of fish left dangling messily from its beak, do I need to say more? The kite has a stunning white chest and neck, black wings and grey back, but the real attraction is the fiery orange eyes. I feel for any small creature caught in the kite’s seeming x-ray vision, for surely it will soon become dinner.

 

However I digress, for this image is not as good as I would like. The bird, as most birds are, was too far away, so it is too small in the frame and the final image has been cropped heavily. It is also not as sharp as I would have liked, as such it is a great picture for the web but not really for print. I’ll just have to keep trying. Thankfully this image was taken not too far from my home; in fact I must have driven past this location at least 100 times in search of birds in other places. Yet another lesson for me to learn. Also in the last week or so I was riding my mountain bike near home and happened to find a Tawny Frogmouth sitting on its nest! I don’t have any pictures yet, as I am hesitant to get too close and disturb the parent, this can result in chicks being left by the parents. There is also the slight matter of the nest being up a tree.

 

Here in Perth the weather is attempting to turn towards summer, and all of you who love summer may rejoice. I am consoling myself with the fact that summer means there are birds everywhere, (except in front of my lens it seems) and that there is a lot more daylight to photograph them in.

 

Til next time,

Love Wes

Photographs as Memories

Mukinbudin Cow

 

This image is not the kind I normally take or upload, but when I look at it I don’t see a cow behind a fence, in front of a white building. I see a weekend away with close friends, I see a clear night sky with every galaxy seemingly visible, I taste fresh cow’s milk, I feel the sunburn, I hear my wife out of control on a dirt bike, I remember being charged by an emu! To me the sum of the image is so much greater than its parts.

 

Sometimes the photographer needs to not think about the photograph as art, but as a tool to record special people and times in our lives. Some might say it is a more humble use of the photograph, but what can be nobler than recording the cherished people in our lives to share with future generations? I have taken many “artistic” photos in my life, but on reflection I have to say the photographs that mean the most to me are the “snapshots” of life. It is amazing the feeling you get when you look at an image of a lost loved one, or a family holiday, it all comes flooding back. That, my friends, is the joy of photography.

 

Just a reminder that my first Photoshop course is running very soon, it is specifically tailored to photographers, not graphic designers etc. It is a two night course running on Tuesday 6^th October and Tuesday 13^th October, classes are strictly limited in size to 6 people. Cost is $225 for the two nights, if you’re interested please email me at wes.cooper@gmail.com and I’ll send you a flyer with more information.

 

I hope you’re all enjoying the last of this wintery weather and the AFL finals, hopefully we get a ripper grand final on Saturday. Of course, it can’t be that good if the Eagles aren’t playing in it!

 

Til next time,

Love Wes

Albatross

Soaring Yellow-nosed Albatross

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing albatrosses, surely one of the most graceful and elegant birds that there is. Their mastery of flight is actually quite hard for me to comprehend, their heart rate while flying is only slightly higher than when resting, and it is even thought they can sleep while flying. This is a Yellow-nosed Albatross which are common off the coast of Perth; it is actually one of the smaller species of Albatross, with a wingspan of up to 2 metres. The Wandering Albatross and the Royal Albatross both grow to have wingspans of up to 3.5m.

I shot this image last Sunday on a pelagic seabird trip organised by Birds Australia, I had an absolute ball. The weather wasn’t too bad, a bit of rain, not too windy and quite a bit of cloud cover, which is handy when photographing black and white birds. I met some lovely people on board, including Simon Nevill, photographer and author. He has released many books such as Guide to the Wildlife of the Perth Region and Birds of the Greater South West, I can highly recommend these books as fantastic sources of knowledge. Simon is an absolute gentleman and his knowledge of Australian birds and the Australian environment is outstanding.

It has been a busy week as then on Wednesday night I did a presentation to the Ellenbrook Photography Group on Photoshop. It was a real honour for me to be able to share and hopefully I was able to help people learn. My Photoshop course preparation is coming along well and I will be starting my first course at the end of the month, it is going to run one night a week over two weeks. In order to facilitate learning and provide an intimate environment class sizes are limited to six people, the cost is $225.

Hope you are well and enjoying the stunning floral displays in bloom around at the moment.

Til next time,

Love Wes

 

EDIT: I should have mentioned that anyone who wants to contact me regarding information on the courses can contact me at wes.cooper@gmail.com. Apologies.

Pacific Gull

Pacific Gull

This is a Pacific Gull, the bigger more sophisticated cousin of the common seagull. As you can see it is a much more noble looking bird, it is not the type to frequent empty fish and chip wrappers in the hope of a free feed. They are not too common in the Perth area, and the ones that are seen around Perth are generally immature birds, just like this one. They are really quite an attractive bird, especially in their mature adult plumage, the contrasting black wings and back and the white chest, neck and head combine beautifully with the red tipped yellow beak. In fact in an earlier blog of mine, The Early Bird, there are two adult Pacific Gulls that give a perfect example of their attractiveness.

The thing I like best about this picture is the drop of water right on the end of the bird’s beak. This was not a case of lucky timing, but it is actually an important part of the physiology of seabirds. When you are out at sea it is awfully hard to find fresh water to drink, so what do the birds do? They drink seawater. If you or I were to drink sea water, we would need to drink 1.5x as much freshwater again for our kidneys to flush the salt. Now clearly this is impossible for a seabird, so what to do? The drop of water on the beak is actually a highly concentrated salt solution excreted by glands at the top of the beak. These glands are basically miniature de-salination plants that allow the birds to survive by drinking sea water. Absolutely amazing. And to teach you something else about Pacific Gulls, this bird has a dark iris which tells us it is from Western Australia. Pacific Gulls from the eastern states have light irises. If you ever win a quiz night from this information I want a share of the prize!

I actually stumbled across this picture the other day as I was sorting through my archive. This picture is nearly 3 years old; I shot this in November 2006 at Ocean Reef Marina. I really love this place; you never know what you’re going to see. This is also where I shot my Boy in Spray shot a month or so ago. A few years ago I was fishing with a friend there one night, when the whole place was basically taken over by the SAS for a military training exercise! Their cargo planes were flying low without lights dropping troops into the ocean, who then came into the marina in their Zodiacs. Then some other larger high speed boats came in and moored also, this lasted for a while and then they all left for their barracks about some 20 or 30km south. It was all very exciting!

Anyway, enough of my waffle, I’ve nearly written a whole essay here. Hope you are all well and enjoying the Eagles winning as much as I am! Make sure you look after yourself and tell your family how much you love them.

Til next time,

Love Wes

Kayak Chaos

Kayak chaos

Well the Avon Descent was sensational. Alex and I went to a place called Emu Falls in Avon Valley National Park, I can’t believe I have never been there before. Perth continues to surprise me, I just keep exploring and keep finding amazing new places. People say they need to travel to get good photos, not true! You just need to try harder where you are already, the trouble is we get complacent and comfortable where we live so we think we need to go somewhere else. When all we need is a new attitude. I used to think that I needed to travel overseas to be a wildlife photographer, because that’s where “everyone” else is doing it. Then I had an epiphany, Australia has some of the most stunning wildlife in the world and I don’t need to go anywhere. I just need to stop thinking I need something I don’t have, and make use of what is in front of me. (equipment included)

The thing that stood out to me at the Avon Descent was the camaraderie and the encouragement. It was so refreshing to see people helping each other out and cheering on all the racers, not even knowing who they are. It makes me think why can’t we be like this all the time? Why does it take an event as such to do this? I guess it’s kind of like the Olympics, where for two weeks out of every four years everyone unites in peace and harmony. I don’t see the point if when it’s over people will just go back to their old ways. Anyway, I’ll stop my ranting now!

Hope you are all well and enjoying this fine winter weather here in Perth, I don’t think it’s going to last much longer.

Til next time,

Love Wes

Bridge over Bells

Bridge over Bells

First of all I must apologise to the thousands and thousands of you who have been tentatively waiting with baited breath for the next instalment of my award winning blog! (Just joking) I knew I had to write a new blog entry but I didn’t realise it had been pretty much a month since the last entry, my bad. I will endeavour to keep them coming more often; however as of this morning I am now back at uni for my last semester. So while I am very excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel in regards to uni, I still have 3 units to get through. This is as well as working part-time, and running my business. Speaking of which, I am running training courses on Photoshop and digital SLRs to start with, so if you or someone you know is interested please let me know. I have a venue sorted and I am just writing up all the content at the moment. I will let you know all the details as soon as they are confirmed.

Back to the blog, this picture is quite appropriate for this time of the year as it is of the bridge over Bells Rapids on the Swan/Avon River. This is of course the river that is travelled on in the famous Avon Descent, a 133km boat race from Northam to Bayswater. There are powerboats and paddle powered craft allowed, and it has grown into a large event since its inception in 1973. The Avon Descent runs on the first weekend in August which happens to be this weekend, hence the picture being appropriate.

The shot looks like it was taken early on a foggy morning, however it was actually around 10:30pm, and the lighting is courtesy of the moon. My friend Alex and I went out for a night shoot but the weather was a bit rainy and inconsistent, and we basically had not got any decent shots, well I hadn’t anyway. So we decided we might as well go check out Bells Rapids on the way home, and it was stunning, and stunningly cold! Clouds of mist rolled through the valley shrouding the trees and the stars, while the full moon illuminated the scene in a white glow. Shooting was a challenge to say the least, the fog was causing the condensation on the lens, and both autofocus and auto-exposure were not possible, calling for guesswork.  My cable release was very handy as shutter speeds were in the minutes to let enough light in. This shot was easily the best that I got.

Well I promise to try and not leave the next blog for so long. I hopefully will have some bird shots to show you, I am completely focusing on birds (pun intended) with no landscape shooting to distract me.

Til next time;

Love Wes

Boy in spray

Boy in spray

I now know what Antarctica feels like. I know this from my visit to the Perth Antarctic Climate Simulation Centre this afternoon, also known as Ocean Reef Marina. Huge swells surged back and forth ceaselessly pounding the shore, sending huge plumes of white surf cascading spectacularly into the sky, not to mention the pieces of seaweed that were mercilessly flung skyward. One particular thunderous breaker even unceremoniously dumped an unsuspecting Darter resting on the rocks into the marina. The seemingly gale force wind whipped the spray and the rain into horizontally flying, miniature frozen daggers threatening to pierce my skin.

Now to the average person this may sound like disgusting weather, but the whole entire time I had this stupid grin on my face, and I don’t think I was alone. This marina is not exactly a tourist attraction, in spite of what the signs may say, but it was like peak hour. Cars, cyclists, walkers, surfers all streamed in and out of the marina, all enjoying the wild weather. Next to the marina is a large car park that overlooks it, people lined the edge of the car park letting out oohs and aahs with every huge crash of surf. It was quite amazing. The guy in the picture I think had been surfing as he was in a wetsuit, he went right into one of the main “dropzones” and just stood and I suppose enjoyed getting soaked! If I wasn’t so impartial to water below 30 degrees, it might have even been fun, but alas I’m a wuss and just I photographed him.

Hope you are all well, I’ve got a ripper story to tell in my next blog, so make sure you stay tuned in.

Til next time,

Love Wes

A Beautiful Thing

King George Sound

It is a beautiful thing to walk a sandy path where before you there are no footprints. The world opens up before you; you are an intrepid explorer bound by nothing bar the sky and the land. This was my experience walking the track to the delightfully named Bald Head, in Albany’s Torndirrup National Park.

Setting out before the sun had struggled above the horizon, the deep threatening blue of the Southern Ocean roared to my right, while the smooth quiet waters of King George Sound lay still to my left. The wind, chilled by Antarctica itself, hammered any bare skin, quickly revealing any gaps in my many layers of clothes. Climbing the first ridge, seen in the right of the picture, was like climbing onto the roof of Albany itself. High above sea level the various bays spread out before me, in a multitude of shades of blue, navy and sapphire, while seemingly ever present rainbows pierced the constant grey.

Squinting into the wind I saw large bright birds braving the untamed seas, soon realising they are squadrons of gannets launching aerial assaults on unsuspecting fish, plunging headlong into the icy waters. A little further up the ridge a Peregrine Falcon plummets past with murderous intent, as only Peregrines can. This must be Peregrine heaven. Higher up still and the environment changes, sheltered from the oceanic gale many plants thrive and smaller birds thrive. It is here that I am graced by the company of a delightful bird. It is the intricate, delicate, delightful Southern Emu-wren. It is not a product of genetic engineering, combining Australia’s largest bird with one of its smallest, but a wonderful little wren whose six long tail feathers look remarkably like emu feathers. Alas, I had the wrong lens on so there are no pictures.

I could wax lyrical about the beauty of this area, however time is running out. I will tell you that further along the track I also saw a White-bellied Sea-Eagle and a Collared Sparrowhawk, but unfortunately did not see any whales. I think it is slightly too early in the season. I did also manage to completely exhaust myself as it was a 16km hike, and due to a sore muscle I was struggling to walk that evening!

I should add that the reason I did this hike was because the boat trip to see the seabirds was postponed because of the weather, however I will not be able to go on the postponed trip. So although it was very disappointing, I stayed positive and enjoyed an incredible time hiking. Hope you are all well and enjoying this great winter weather, I sure am!

Til next time,

Love Wes

More Carnaby’s

Flying Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo

My dream is to be a wildlife photographer. One of the hardest things in life is to follow your dreams. We are surrounded by naysayers and critics who only see the negatives in every situation. There is the fear that grips and strangles us, it has choked the life out of many a dream. There is fear of failure, fear of ridicule, fear of the unknown; but for me there was a greater fear. Fear of the what if. What if I never try? What if I had only gone for it? I can think of nothing worse than getting old and being full of regret of the things I never did. I heard someone say recently that people generally don’t regret the things they did do, but the things they didn’t do.

Following a dream can be lonely at first, as the people around you may not see the future like you can. I am so ridiculously blessed with the family and friends that I have, but even then the self doubt still creeps in and causes me to question what I’m doing. Sometimes you just need reminders of why you have the dream you do.

Standing in the pale, cool sunlight amongst the banksias, surrounded by a symphony of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos, I was reminded of why I want to be a wildlife photographer. It was one those moments that I can’t really do justice to with words, or probably pictures for that matter. I stood there and felt like my batteries were literally being recharged.

My blog is beginning to sound like a motivational book! That’s not really the aim at all, I guess I just find myself writing about what’s going on in my life, and this is what’s been happening. Sorry for the delay between entries, I’ll try and make them more frequent. I am super excited as this weekend we’re going down to Albany and I am going out on a charter to boat to see pelagic seabirds. I’m hoping to see a Wandering Albatross, watch this space! Hopefully I can also get some other shots while we’re down there.

Til next time,

Love Wes

Swamphen Scramble

Swamphen Scramble

The Purple Swamphen is hardly an elegant bird. Perhaps elegant only in the same way an elephant taking a bath is elegant. Caught in a world between water and land, it has to survive in and on both environments. Perhaps it is a jack of all trades and master of none. This was the second bird to cross this stretch of water, the first bird swam. I don’t want to be too mean, but let’s just say it looked like the first bird could have done with a lifejacket, after that performance every other Swamphen realised flying was a far superior option.

I went to Yanchep National Park last Friday morning with my friend Alex to try and photograph birds or anything else we could for that matter. Just after I took the above shot I saw something in the water close to my left, and here I made the ultimate photographic mistake. Instead of shooting first and thinking later, I thought first, then nothing happened!  What was in the water was a native water rat swimming across the surface, I had never seen one before so I was very excited. But I didn’t get any pictures, so on the other hand I was pretty annoyed with myself. Just remember, when it comes to photography, shoot first and ask questions later.

Walking through Yanchep National Park revealed how much of it was burnt by bushfire a few months back, so much of the landscape looked completely different. It makes me sad to see the land like that, especially if the fire was deliberately lit, however fire is an essential part of bush regeneration. Many plants have to have fire to open their seeds and be able to reproduce, it seems very strange to us, but that’s the way it goes. It reminds me of life, often you have to go through what feels like an excrutiating painful fire, in order to see the fruit in your life later. I don’t know why this is, but I do know that when you have been through great hardship, the great triumphs later in your life are so much sweeter. As Winston Churchill said, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Til next time,

Love Wes