Since this is a travel and photography blog I thought I’d highlight a few of my favourite 2011 photos rather than write about the year. Visit my Flickr profile to see more photos.

My Xmas/New Year Tasmanian family road trip holiday covered Hobart, Freycinet, Bicheno, Bay of Fires and Cradle Mountain.

Wombats in the Wild – Cradle Mountain, Tasmania.

2011 was a very busy period for work so I only had limited opportunities for random photo walks exploring my local area.

During the year I travelled for photography/journalism work to New Zealand’s South Island, the remote North West Kimberley region of Western Australia, Osaka and Tokyo Japan, the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, Darwin, Northern Territory, Bali, Indonesia and Canberra to report on President Obama’s trip as well as my visit to the NASA Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.

My interest in street art and street photography increased throughout 2011.

Outpost Project – Street Art Exhibition Cockatoo Island, Sydney

Although I don’t drink I found myself in pubs many times this year for pub trivia competitions and other social events.

Other Favourite Photos

It’s been unseasonably cool and rainy for Sydney summertime this December.

Last night there was a full lunar eclipse, where the Earth blocked the Sun’s rays of light from hitting the moon and I like many photographers around the world was awake trying to take photos of it. Many articles on the internet still give advice about how to take Lunar Eclipse photos with a film camera so here are some general tips for more modern digital cameras!

photo credit: Neerav Bhatt – Lunar Eclipse 10/11 December 2011 – Viewed from Sydney Australia (Canon 60D with 70-300mm L lens @ 480mm (35mm equiv)

photo credit: Neerav Bhatt – Lunar Eclipse 28th August 2007 – Viewed from Sydney Australia (Panasonic FZ30 420mm @ 35mm equivalent)

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun’s rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a full moon. This NASA video explains the science in an easy to understand way.

Best Camera Settings & Tips for Great Lunar Eclipse Photos

There are lots of articles out there telling you to use very specific camera settings to take lunar eclipse photos but I think they’re wrong to be so exact because people are using so many different types of cameras/lenses and taking photos from such diverse places around the world with different weather and atmospheric conditions in the sky above them that any single set of camera settings won’t work for everyone.

In general though:

• Use a tripod if possible – though it is possible to take eclipse photos with a handheld camera like my 11 Dec Eclipse photo at top of this page if you have a *very* steady grip and use a high enough ISO setting
• A medium/high end digital SLR with a quality telephoto/zoom lense is a lot more likely to get you an eclipse photo with a visible moon large enough to see details.
• If you don’t have a big zoom lense you can take wide angle photos of the moon as it moves across the sky and becomes more eclipsed, totality (fully covered), then less eclipsed. If you stack these photos together it can look very creative.
• If your camera is set up on a tripod use a remote/cable trigger to take photos as this will keep the camera steady compared to you pressing the photo button with a finger.

More technically:

• Turn off the flash! The moon is far far away. All your flash will do is light up a few metres around you and totally spoil the eclipse photo as well as your night vision ability to see the eclipse with your eyes.
• Using spot focus and spot metering with the camera focused right on the moon will help you get a photo of the moon with detail and colour rather than an overexposed white blob
• Don’t use a fixed shutter speed all night. The apparent brightness of the moon will change a lot depending on how much of it is covered by the Earth’s shadow. Set the shutter manually and experiment or set it to Auto if your camera is good enough.
• Don’t use a long shutter speed like 1 second or more because the moon moves across the sky and a long camera exposure will make the photo look blurred.
• Use +- bracketing if possible and experiment with different ISO settings to see which setting yields good detail and colour at any given moment
• Don’t be afraid to use a higher ISO (make the camera more sensitive to light) if your first few photos are blurry due to shakiness on your part. I took the photo at the top of this page at ISO Speed: 1250 handheld.
• If taking eclipse photos with your camera on a tripod you’ll be able to close down the Aperture (F stop) to whatever the optimal setting aka sweet spot is for your lens eg: F8 whcih will result in a sharper photo with better details. Every lens is different so you will need to experiment to find the sweet spot.
• If hand holding the camera without a tripod it’s going to be very hard for you to take a sharp photo with shutter speed slower than 1/30th second (amateur photographers) or 1/6th second (professional photographers)

Good Examples of Creative Lunar Eclipse Photography

Photos of an eclipse with dark sky or clouds are very good but the best photos have something else in the background like a bridge, building, mountain landscape etc or if you’re really lucky a plane flying across the moon.

photo credit: a total eclipse of the cold moon by yellow_bird_woodstock, on Flickr

photo credit: Lunar Eclipse by puzzlescript, on Flickr

I created a Flickr Group Pool called Lunar Eclipse 10th/11th December 2011 (10-11/12/2011) where I invited creative photographers to add their eclipse photos. EDITED: Unfortunately you cannot view them as a slideshow because that would breach copyright.

I recently visited Darwin, the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory during the Buildup season in late October as a guest of Tourism NT, along with several other journalists. I’ve visited Darwin before on holiday so was able to plan ahead and decided that I wanted to focus my photography on the outdoor markets and wildlife. As with all trips I go on, I have total control over deciding what and how much I write about and photograph of the places I visit.

By coincidence I was just reading ABC News online and saw a story that announced “The travellers’ guidebook Lonely Planet has named Darwin as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit in 2012.”

Well known ABC cricket commentator Kerry O’Keefe sometimes mentions that in his view the easiest job in the world is the Darwin weather forecaster. You don’t have to get out of bed its 32°, 32°, and 32°!. The only difference is whether it’s dry or wet.

In reality while it’s true that during the day a temperature of 30C +-5 is common in Darwin there are actually 6 seasons: Monsoon, Knock em Down, Cooler but humid, Cold, Hot dry and Pre-monsoon (Buildup). Temperatures and weather patterns in the Northern Territory have become more unpredictable than usual, possibly due to the effects of global warming/climate change.

Keeping cool and hydrated is serious business in the Top End. If you walked a few kilometres without a hat or water you would quickly get dehydrated and dizzy.

Mindil Beach Markets

Mindil Beach markets are open for the more calm 3 seasons of the year – from the last Thursday in April until the last Thursday in October each year. They open Thurs 5-10pm and Sat 4pm-9pm and stalls offer a wide range of food, arts and crafts. Since they’re located next to the beach you can buy a cool drink or dinner and sit on the sand watching the blood red Sun set over the Timor Sea.

Crocodiles

The only newspaper in the Northern Territory is the NT News and it is famous for regularly featuring Crocodiles on the front cover. I say why not? They certainly make for attention grabbing front pages.

I’ve taken several photos of crocodiles in the Northern Territory during previous holidays, you can see examples of these photos below:

(Featured as Photo of the Week on Qantas Travel Insider)

During this trip I got to visit the relatively new Crocosaurus Cove where we got to see a variety of crocodiles and reptiles. I tested some underwater cameras for an article in GEARE magazine by swimming in a tank in a croc tank with a glass wall separating me from them.

Darwin Birdlife

The Northern Territory as a whole is in my opinion the best place to visit if you want to see many raptor (predator) birds. Hawks, falcons and eagles can be seen quite often, especially hovering over main highways waiting to eat roadkill.

This 48 hour trip was far too short to do any serious bird watching but my local NT photojournalist friend Bob Gosford drove me around for 2 hours and we managed to spot 2 Whistling Kites fighting for food scraps and some Terns. Later on I found a dead Rainbow Lorikeet which was sad but enabled me to take macro (closeup) photos of its feathers which show an interesting green pattern.

Parap Village Markets

Parap Village Markets run all year round every Saturday of the year between 8am and 2pm. I visited at breakfast time and found it had a very Asian smell and feel to it, with lots of stalls selling all kinds of food and drink as well as beautiful flowers.

Darwin Swimming Options

You shouldn’t swim in the sea around Darwin during October to May as box jellyfish “stingers” are common. Saltwater crocodiles are also very common in all waterways surrounding Darwin and are even occasionally found swimming in Darwin Harbour and on local beaches.

Tourism NT suggests that tourists take advantage of the Wave Lagoon (fee for use) and/or the Recreation Lagoon (free) which should be stinging jellyfish free and much safer to swim in than the open sea because it has mesh screens and nets to keep “stinger” jellyfish out.

Both Lagoons are handily located alongside the Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront where Tourism NT had booked our group in to stay. They are literally less than a minutes walk from the hotel’s breakfast cafe area.

Buildup – Lightning Storm Season

Darwin has more lightning strikes than any other city in the world, especially during October/November/November during the Buildup to the Monsoon. This attracts storm chasers and photographers from around Australia and the world to visit and marvel at the power of nature.

I was lucky enough to watch a massive storm on the horizon from the Deckchair Cinema area with so many simultaneous lightning strikes that the photo looks like it was taken during the day, rather than late in the evening as it actually was.

The Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront hotel I stayed at is located on the shore and offers “Stormchaser” packages in the wet season for photographers. As you can see in the photo below taken by one of the hotel staff you can’t get much closer to the storm action!

48 hours in Darwin Photo Highlights

Some of my highlights photos have been displayed in this article but you can view all of them here or in a slideshow below:

DISCLAIMER: Almost all expenses for this trip were covered by Tourism NT (Tourism Northern Territory), and accomodation by Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront. I have full editorial control over the topics I want to write about on this trip and what I say.

Photography is about recording light. Light painting, also known as light drawing/light graffiti is a photographic technique that usually involves moving hand held light sources around in a dark place. However careful movement of a camera up/down at the time the shutter is pressed can also result in interesting light painting effects

1. The first step is to point the camera at a bright light source at night, preferably a colourful building or organisational logo.
2. Set your shutter speed to 1/4 second. An SLR camera may need a different, probably faster shutter speed depending on the lens used.
3. Set your ISO to 800 if using a compact camera. Your camera may need this to be set lower if using an SLR.
4. Focus the camera on the logo or other most colourful part of the building
5. Press the camera shutter while moving the camera either up or down using your wrists only. Keep the rest of your arms still.

I don’t know about you but being trapped inside for a week due to rainy weather has made me extremely restless and stir crazy. I took this photo focused on a big raindrop on my window with a blue filter effect to reflect my mood.

Trapped inside, by Stormy Weather, Makes me Blue

According to my local newspaper: “Over the past three days alone some eastern parts of Sydney have recorded over 200mm of rain, more than double the average for the entire month … making it Sydney’s wettest July in 61 years”.

The song “Rain” by Dragon seems perfectly suited to this situation. Listen to it while you’re shaking your fist at the rain.

Lyrics for Rain by Dragon

Well it’s a happenin’ thing
And it’s happenin’ to you
Full moon and thunder
Ribbons of blue
Ice on the window
Ice in my heart
Foolin’ with thunder
Every time we start

It’s been rainin’ for so long
It’s been rainin’ for so long

Well isn’t it a wonder
The streets are dark
Isn’t it a wonder
We fall apart
Day after day straight rain falls down
All over town, rain comin’

It’s been rainin’ for so long
It’s been rainin’ for so long

Don’t you go out in the rain
Don’t go out in the pourin’ rain
If you go out in the rain
You never have that time again

Isn’t it a wonder
Streets are dark
Isn’t it a wonder
We fall apart

All these feelings they seem so wrong
Remember, we were so strong
It’s been rainin’ for so long
It’s been rainin’ I can’t go on

Don’t you go out in the rain
Don’t go out in the pourin’ rain
If you go out in the rain
You never have that time again

Don’t you go out in the rain
Don’t go out in the pourin’ rain
If you go out in the rain
You never get that time again

Australia is a land of parrots. They live across the country in a variety of climates and over 2 dozen of them by my count are shown in this excellent Australia Land of Parrots documentary narrated by famous actor Colin Friels, co-produced by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and PBS TV in the USA.

The aerial shots of giant flocks flying across the dusty red heart of Australia’s outback, descending onto the edge of water sources and wheeling across the deep blue sky were nothing less than brilliant. Since I’ve traveled through many parts of the Australian Outback I recognised the scenery around several areas featured such as Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar and the Macdonnell Ranges.

Australia Land of Parrots was filmed in high definition which means if you watch it on Bluray you’ll be able to see the parrots as the director intended with “exquisite detail and very saturated and beautiful colours”. Since ABC Shop charges the same amount for the DVD or Bluray if you have a Bluray player the optimal choice is obvious.

I love to take photos of birds (see example photos above/below) so watching the documentary made me wish I too could spend months traveling across Australia with a camera and long zoom lens to photograph them with.

According to the AFI:

“When Australia Land of the Parrots was broadcast on the ABC in May, it was a ratings winner. 1.2 million viewers tuned in to the wildlife documentary – a number that actually beat the Logies broadcast that Sunday night.”

This isn’t surprising when you consider that the raucous cries and striking plumage of parrots like Rainbow Lorikeets, Cockatoos, Corellas and Galahs are familiar and welcome sounds and sights to people living in Australian cities.

David Parer and Elizabeth Parer Cook who are credited as the documentary’s producers were also the principal cameraman and sound-recordist respectively. They’ve had their documentaries broadcast by the BBC, National Geographic and Discovery. In all their films have won over 120 Australian and international awards for program achievement, cinematography, sound and editing

On a sad note Australia: Land of Parrots is the last documentary to be made by the ABC’s in-house Natural History Unit, which was responsible for the ABC’s nature documentary output from the 1970’s until 2008. During this time it won many awards in Australia and Overseas.

David Parer told the AFI:

“Well, the NHU was closed down in September 2008 and now the ABC is concentrating its documentary output on the independent filmmakers around Australia. Natural History programs are being bought from independent producers in Australia. So it’s a change of direction. There’s pressure – they’re trying to do a lot more with basically the same ABC budget. It’s part of that whole move to actually outsource a lot more of the TV production to the independent sector”

You can buy Australia Land of Parrots on DVD or Bluray from ABC Shops or any DVD/Bluray store. The Single disk includes the main 52min documentary which was shown on TV as well as 56min of Extra Features.