It is yet again a grey and rainy day in Sydney, Australia. Winter officially began a few days ago but the weather has been like this for much of the last 3 weeks. So I thought I’d feature a rainbow photo that is colourful and cheerful.

Refracted Rainbow From Mirror photo credit: Neerav Bhatt

Earlier this year while reviewing a media loan Nikon D90 digital SLR I took a great photo of a rainbow refracted from a car park mirror onto the otherwise grey and lifeless carpark floor.

The colours of the rainbow standout more because I had a polarising filter on the camera at the time.

• Camera: Nikon D90
• Lense: Nikon 18-200 VR II Lens
• Size: JPG 6.43 MB in size
• F stop: 5.0
• Exposure time: 1/50th second
• ISO: 1600 (accidentally set too high but the D90 still took a great shot)
• Focal Length: 80 mm
• Original Resolution: 12.3 Megapixel (4288px x 2848px) photo

I regularly publish new Free Desktop Wallpapers for your computer by a Guest Photographer or from the archives of photos I’ve taken, subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you get the next one.

Other photos I’ve taken can be viewed at Neerav Bhatt’s Flickr Photo collection

The wind-blown sand dunes of Stockton Beach comprise the largest continuous mobile sand mass in New South Wales, Australia and provide a great location for taking photos within 2 1/2 hours drive north of Sydney.

The grains of sand on Stockton Beach have been washed in from the sea and blown ashore to form dunes up to thirty metres high. Most of the sand was deposited about six thousand years ago.

Download this 1680×1050 resolution desktop wallpaper photo of Footprints and Journeys in Stockton Sand Dunes.

You can view more photos I took at Stockton Sand Dunes

Stockton Sand Dunes – Driving & Photography tips

Take a real 4WD vehicle and make sure you buy a beach permit from the petrol station before you drive into the dunes. I went in a friends little SUV and it got stuck several times through lack of power and ground clearance. Make sure you deflate your tyres for sand driving in the car park, when you buy the beach permit they may be able to advise what PSI to set to.

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If you have an SLR camera, take a polarising filter and nuetral density filter if you’ve got one as well as lens hood, lens cleaning cloth and cleaning water/fluid to remove salt spray from your lens.

Each year I return to the new summer exhibition at the Australian Museum and marvel at the skill of the photographers whose work is displayed in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year photography exhibition.

In 2003 I lived for a year in the UK and saw that years Wildlife Photographer exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum.

That was the year I first became really interested in photography, particularly of wildlife and natural landscapes and I think my photography has improved a lot since then.

From vivid, colourful landscapes to intimate portraits of animal behaviour, the exhibition offers an extraordinary insight into the beauty and diversity of the natural world.

Enjoy captivating wildlife images from the world’s largest and most prestigious photography competition when this popular exhibition returns each year to the Australian Museum during Summer.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Now in its 45th year, this exhibition showcases incredible stories and evocative images which capture the diversity and wonder of the natural world such as the 3 photos shown below: 46. Ethiopian mountain king, Joe McDonald (USA), 56. Eyes in the oasis, Lee Slabber (South Africa) and 51. Puffin in the snow, Jan Vermeer (The Netherlands).

The 2009 winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year “The storybook wolf” by José Luis Rodríguez (Spain) was controversially disqualified and stripped of his status as the judges suspected the wolf in the photo was tame and trained to create the photo.

The competition rules clearly state that photographs of animal models may not be entered into the competition and that images will be disqualified if they are entered in breach of this rule.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world’s most prestigious photography competition of its kind. Any transgression of the competition rules is taken very seriously and if entries are suspected of breaching the rules they are disqualified. José Luis Rodríguez’s image will be removed from the exhibition and tour.

Mr Rodriguez strongly denies that the wolf in the image is a model wolf.

Wildlife, photography and travel enthusiasts of all ages will enjoy the stunning display which is FREE with general Museum entry.

Starts: 24 December 2009
Ends: 26 April 2010

Where: Level 2, Australian Museum, 6 College Street (opposite Hyde Park), Sydney
Cost: Free with Museum entry ticket

If you can’t go there you can view the Wildlife Photographer of the Year online at the Natural History Museum website although the photos are only done true justice when seen as large prints in the exhibition

2008 Competition

An image of a jewel-like leaf drop glistening in the far north Queensland sun has earned Australian photographer, Darran Leal, a highly commended in the prestigious 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

• The image, ‘Leaf drop,’ is one of 83 chosen from a record 32,351 entries and is included in the montage below (top left) with 3 other images from the exhibition
• Deadlock, David Maitland, United Kingdom (top right)
• Daddy long legs, Jordi Chias, Spain (bottom left)
• Troublemaker, Stefano Unterthiner, Italy (bottom right)

credit: 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year – Australian Museum

2007 Competition

2007 Highlights included the winning image by UK photographer Ben Osborne “Elephant Creation” which features a large bull elephant kicking and spraying mud in a waterhole. This reminded me of an underwater photo on the December 2004 National Geographic website of an Elephant swimming in the Okavango Delta.

Rajan, the 60-year-old Asian elephant in Jeff’s winning picture, was rescued from the banned Andaman Islands logging trade. Today he takes daily swims in the ocean with his handler and Jeff was privileged to join them in the water for a dip.

When asked about his experience Jeff said: “Swimming under water with such a massive land animal was one of those unforgettable life experiences“

Many people who live in Sydney aren’t aware of the wide range of short, half-day and day walks spread across the city along the harbour and coastline.

You could visit lots of websites to find out about these walks or simply buy the Sydney’s Best Harbour and Coastal Walks guidebook by Katrina O’Brien which lists each walk including directions, basic maps and a bit of information about the history of the area each walk passes through.

In fact when I mentioned that I was reviewing this book, my friend Catriona Pollard told me:

That is the book we use for our coastal walks. Its EXCELLENT! We are on a mission to do all of them!

I would suggest starting with the very popular and quite easy Spit Bridge to Manly Walk which includes several different landscapes along the way including rocky harbour steps, a forested section, small beaches where you can swim and finally a concrete sidewalk at the end when you’re approaching Manly Beach

The photos in the following Spit Bridge to Manly Walk Photo Gallery slideshow were taken using different cameras and camera phones across several different times I’ve done this walk.

More serious walkers will love the 2 day 26km Bundeena to Otford walk which is partially covered in Sydney’s Best Harbour and Coastal Walks upto the 40% mark at Marley Beach.

I did that walk in 2007 and while it was tiring I had a lot of fun and unlike many other easier Sydney walking tracks there were few other people on the Bundeena to Otford walk track besides myself and my friends. The full details for that walk are included in Sydney’s Best Bush, Park and City Walks by Veechi Stuart.

NOTE: A copy of this book was sent to me for review by the publishers Woodslane after they found the Spit Bridge to Manly Walk guide on this site.

The Sydney Harbour YHA rooftop balcony provided me with the best vantage point I’ve had for Sydney’s New Years Eve Fireworks shows at 9pm and Midnight including a panoramic view of Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge

A handful of my photos are displayed below, along with a bigger slideshow selection of some of the better fireworks photos. Read my Tips To Take Best Fireworks Photos: Location, Camera Equipment and Settings if you want to improve your photos.

The photos were taken by me with a Canon 500D digital SLR using a 15-85 EFS USM lense kept steady by a Velbon Sherpa 750R tripod.

Photo Slideshow – Sydney Fireworks Midnight New Years Eve 2009

Disclosure: The camera and tripod were on media loan to me so I could review them. YHA Sydney Harbour gave me accommodation for the night of NYE in exchange for being able to use my photos in their marketing materials.

Download free 1680×1050 resolution desktop wallpaper of a Snowman in Charlotte Pass, Snowy Mountains.

At 1760 metres, Charlotte Pass Village, NSW is the highest resort in Australia and is snowbound for most of the ski season. I visited Charlotte Pass for a week in mid-2009 as a mid year holiday.

Download this 1680×1050 resolution desktop wallpaper photo of a Snowman in Charlotte Pass, Snowy Mountains.

You can view more photos I took at Charlotte Pass in the Snowy Mountains

I regularly publish new Free Desktop Wallpapers for your computer by a Guest Photographer or from the archives of photos I’ve taken, subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you get the next one.

Other photos I’ve taken can be viewed at my Flickr Photo collection