(Not-so-)-Daily Photographs - Spring Butterfly

Today, I went hunting butterflies. Here's one getting ready to fly:

Butterfly photograph for November 22, 2015

Daily Photograph: August 7, 2015

After two months of putting out seed, I finally coaxed four of these to come visit my backyard - I was so excited! It's a king parrot.

Daily Photograph: August 3, 2015

From yesterday. On the 2nd it was ducks, yesterday it was an obliging pigeon, who stayed in spite of its paranoid.

Daily Photograph: August 02, 2015

And one for the birds - it's amazing what you can find just outside your back door.

02 August 2014: A pair of wood ducks in Canberra's north.

These two were just as surprised to see me as I was to see them, but the food was too good, and I was too far away for them to worry about.

Daily Photograph - July6, 2015: Collared Sparrowhawk

An uncommon bird, this delightful chap came to visit our backyard. It's a collared sparrowhawk, and the magpies were not pleased!

Daily Photograph - July 5, 2015: Galah on a Wet Morning

Today, there was mist right up to nine a.m. The galahs were foraging in my back yard, but this is the only one who stayed when I came out to take pictures. He did not like having his breakfast disturbed.

Daily Photograph - July 3, 2015: Currawong on Alert

It was a toss up between a cute picture of a cockatoo fitting itself into a bird feeder designed for rosellas, or this currawong. The currawong won out, because I couldn't resist its brilliant yellow eyes.

Daily Photograph - July 2, 2015: Young Scarlet Rosella at Dawn

This morning I had quite a selection of birds, but this is my favourite photograph of the morning.

Daily Photograph - July 1, 2015: Cold Crimson Rosellas

It was officially 0.2 degrees Celsius when I took these shots at 9:45 this morning. These little guys and gals have been coming to the garden for a few weeks now, and they've finally settled down enough to let me within 10 metres. Today, they looked more than a little cold.

Daily Photograph, April 17, 2015 - Dinner

Tonight, I played with photographing food. I'll put the recipe up on the writer's blog. Here's a shot of what we had.

Creamy pumpkin, chicken and pine-nut pasta

Daily Photograph, April 16, 2015 - Australian orb weaver

Today's photograph - this little lady was weaving her web in the evening light. She was around four centimeters long, but that's just a guess. I didn't get closer than three metres.

Daily Photograph, April 15, 2015 - Art I Admire from a Long-Dead Card Game

I have this poster hanging on my wall. I don't even know who the artist was, but I enjoyed the game, loved the world and its story-telling potential, and of all the things I could photograph inside, it was the thing that drew me.

So, thank you, Unknown Artist, for this piece of work - and may you have had many more successes beyond it.

Unknown Artist - partial image from promotional poster

Daily Photograph, April 14, 2015 - Crimson Rosella (aka Crimson Lorikeet)

And here is a photograph from yesterday, taken during a sunny patch:

Photography: People and Action - Lessons Learned on the First Attempt (Part 2)

With thanks to the Ancient Arts Fellowship of Canberra for both letting me train with them, and then take photographs.

 As well as learning that there is a difference in the type and quality of photographs taken using the short lens and the close-up lens (which has a filter), I also noted the following from my first time out photographing groups of people:

Sports setting is good for getting a series of continuous shots of movement, which provide good references for drawing. Take note of the two left-most fighters in the first three photos and observe how the sports setting has provided a good sequence of movement for the same people. This will provide a good sketch reference in future.

Shot 1 of 6

Shot 2 of 6

Shot 3 of 6

Shot 4 of 6

Shot 5 of 6

Shot 6 of 6

 

CROSS-POST: Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo

Cross-posted from my writer's blog:

The trees in our backyard are very popular with the local birdlife - for which I'm very grateful, although I didn't expect to see these big fellows just outside my backdoor.

And I guess they didn't expect to see me, either.

But this one didn't let the camera clicking interrupt his dinner.

Although, he did keep a good eye on me.

Probably, thinking bad cocky thoughts about paparazzi spoiling lunch.

CROSS-POST: The Australian Galah (Eolophus roseicapillus)

Cross-posted from my writer's blog, these are shots taken in April, our mid-autumn. The leaves hadn't started to turn. Now that it's Spring, they're just starting to shoot again, from bare branches.

Cross-Post:

In addition to the sulphur-crested cockatoos, we had a flock of galahs come to enjoy the fruit on the backyard trees. It makes a change from seeing them grazing on grass seeds.

Of course, not everyone had the hang of landing.

Those trees can be tricky to perch on, don't ya know?

Even when you manage to get set down, there's still the delicate balancing act.

Before the serious business of feeding and grooming can be undertaken.

CROSS-POST: Australian Bird - Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)

From my writer's blog - I should have some more photographs of these soon.

This little guy is about as paranoid as it comes. I'm thinking if I wasn't hanging over a fence to photograph it, it would have been gone. The bird-finder on Birds in Backyards identifies it as a Crested Pigeon.

You can find out more about crested pigeons at the following site:

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ocyphaps-lophotes

CROSS-POST: Australian Birds: Superb Fairy Wren (Malurus cyaneus)

From my writing blog;

This little lady came to visit. She and her friends pop by on occasion, but they always flee before I can get them all on camera. This is a superb fairy wren.

You can find more information on the superb fairy wren at:

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Malurus-cyaneus

CROSS-POST: Australian Leaf-Curl Spider (Phonognatha graeffei)

I see them when the weather warms, and then they go away again. Autumn was when this shot was taken, and now it's winter and they are gone. I will celebrate them again in spring when they re-emerge from wherever it is they have gone.

You can find out more about the Australian leaf-curling spider here:

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Leaf-curling-Spider

CROSS-POST: Australian Wolf Spider

We keep getting these little guys and gals coming inside. I don't know what particular species this one is, but it is some kind of wolf spider. I can't tell if it's a Lycosidae or a Venatrix (and if that sounds like some vampire clan, it's not my fault).

More information on wolf spiders can be found at the following sites:

http://www.lycosidae.info/identification/australia/
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/pchew_brisbane/index.html
http://www.findaspider.org.au/index.htm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/australianspiders/collections/72157622669463297/
http://www.australasian-arachnology.org/arachnologists/framenau/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Wolf-Spiders