G'day! Welcome to my first blog post! I'm hoping to use these posts as a means of recording my journey as an amateur nature photographer here in Perth. I hope you enjoy my ramblings as I share my failures, success, lessons learnt and of course PHOTOGRAPHS!
To start things off, I'm thinking of posting weekly wrap ups of my photography outings - so introducing.....the Weekly Wildlife Wrap!!
In these posts, I will be sharing where I have been shooting, what species I have seen and my favourite photographs I have taken for that week - that's if I was happy with any! I will also try to discuss things I did well and of course, the things that didn't go so well - that's where the learning happens.
So without further ado....let's get into it!
Weekly Wildlife Wrap: 20th-21st March, 2021
Saturday 20th March, 2021
Now that summer is officially over, sunrise is finally happening at an appropriate time. I have always struggled with waking up early for sunrise, as I am typically not a morning person by any means. I know this is pretty blasphemous behaviour for a wildlife photographer, as wildlife are generally more active in the mornings compared to the evenings and the quality of light and colour that is available around dawn is stunning!
In a bid to break my habits of staying up late and sleeping in on weekends, I decided I was going to commit today - and oh boy was I glad I did!
I woke up at 5:00am and after getting dressed, jumping in the car and of course, grabbing a coffee from Maccas - I was on my way. It only took around 35mins to reach my first destination: Samphire Cove Reserve (location below.)
After pulling up in the car park, I quickly sprayed on some insect repellent and entered the reserve, which is fully fenced off in order to keep pesky pests out. It only takes about 3mins to walk through a small patch of bushland before you find yourself on a long, narrow boardwalk which sits only 30cm above the ground. The boardwalk meanders through a nice patch of samphire wetlands in which are often inundated at high tide. Throughout this wetland are a number of dead trees which make for fantastic bird perches! It was on one of these trees where I found my first subject.
I spotted what I could definitely tell was a small-ish bird of prey. With the bright orange hues in the sky behind caused by the rising sun, the bird was fully silhouetted which made immediate identification difficult. It sat on an old branch overlooking the wetlands around it. I knew immediately that I wanted my first shot to be a nice and simple silhouette of the mystery bird against the rich golden skies behind - easy! In order to achieve this, I under-exposed by about 2 stops in order to properly expose for the sky without blowing out the highlights, whilst keeping the bird a deep black. I rattled of a few shots, trying to capture a nice pose and I am really pleased with the way it turned out.
If the caption above hasn't ruined the 'mystery' already - the bird ended up being an Australian Hobby. It ended up being chased off it's perch by two dive bombing Caspian Terns, sending the Hobby flying straight past me allowing me to see it's distinctive markings. Satisfied with the shot, I continued on my way to the bird hide at the end of the boardwalk.
By the time we arrived at the bird hide, dawn had broke and sent its golden light across the landscape. Activity at the hide was pretty quiet, a few Black Swans, Egrets and even a suspected Bull Shark made an appearance, but I didn't manage to pull off any decent shots. I decided to go for a bit of a wander to try and spot some Sacred Kingfishers which I know frequent the area. I ended up spotting 3 individuals in which were flying around hunting small crabs and insects. I managed to rattle off a few shots of the Kingfisher's with their breakfast, but since the birds are so small and always so far away (as they are notoriously skittish,) I didn't manage to take any images I was happy with. I decided to leave them to it and move on to my next location of the day.
As I was walking back to the car, my wife suddenly pointed out that a Kingfisher had landed on a perch right next to where I was walking. It was so close, the closest I have ever really been to a Kingfisher, which is so bizarre considering they are normally really shy! It was a tricky photographic situation however. The sun had well and truly risen, so the light was harsh, leaving much of the bird in deep shadow. In order to compensate for this, I over-exposed the shot by 2 stops, which yes, would blow out the background, but would allow me to recover some detail on the birds body.
The resulting image was....okay I guess? Trying to bring out the details in the deep shadow meant a lot of noise showed up. I used Topaz DeNoise (which is honestly God's gift to humanity) in order to clean up the noise, but it created some weird artefacts and almost 'smudged' the image a bit. Not overly happy with this image but a nice moment nonetheless.
Eventually, the Kingfisher flew off and I headed off to the car. Next up on the agenda: explore the Dawesville foreshore - an area I haven't really checked out before.
We drove along the road that runs adjacent to the waterline in search of subjects, mainly Osprey. Osprey are by far one of my favourite photographic subjects. Their stunning appearance, unique fishing behaviour and close proximity to urban areas makes them a joy to photograph. My ultimate photographic goal is to get shots of an Osprey in it's hunting dive - with the 'bucket list' shot being of the bird with it's talons fully extended out just before it hits the water to snatch a fish! And so, I am always searching for Osprey hunting grounds in hopes of making that shot a reality.
After driving for a few minutes we suddenly spotted a pair of Osprey in a large eucalypt tree over looking the water. A stunning male and female were perched roughly 10m or so above the water, however when viewing from the path, they were concealed by quite a few branches - not ideal for a clean shot. Instead I decided to hop in the water and walk in front of the birds so that there were no visual obstructions. So I ditched my shoes, rolled up my pants and waded into the water up to about knee depth. The pair were really chill and didn't seem to mind my presence, but I still kept my distance so I didn't disturb them. I snapped off a few shots of the pair, with my favourite being a shot of the birds looking straight at me - I must have interrupted their breakfast date!
The reason why I used such as high shutter speed, was because I was anticipating an 'Osprey dive' to occur at any moment. As history as taught me, they can be sitting on a perch for one moment and in the blink of an eye, they plunge into the water - I needed to be prepared for anything!
After standing in the water for some time (and trying to scare away the Blowfish that were nibbling at my toes,) the female took off - probably to find some breakfast. I waited with the male for some time after that, he seemed very relaxed really, just kind of sitting there looking around. It didn't look as if he was scoping out any fish, so I decided to jump out the water and move on in hopes of seeing where the female went. I hopped out and dried my feet with an old t-shirt that has been in the boot of the car for ages - I knew I left it in there for a reason. Just as I was walking back to the car I suddenly hear a huge SPLASH! I quickly looked over to see that the male Osprey had plunged into the water and grabbed a Flounder RIGHT IN FRONT OF WHERE I WAS JUST STANDING!! Either my timing could not have been worse or perhaps the Osprey was waiting for me to move along before he pounced on the unsuspecting fish. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bummed but that's nature! Lesson learnt: stay with your subject until they decide to move on!
We drove a further 5 mins or so up the road, stopping here and there to check out some Black Swans and such - until we reached Warrungup Spring Reserve. We hopped out of the car to find a
small board walk that arcs out into shallows of the estuary. A group of around 20 Black Swans were feeding along the shore, but a apart from that, it was pretty quiet. Suddenly I heard the cry of an Osprey and I turned around to see an individual soaring over the estuary about 200m away. Before I could even react, the Osprey plunged into the water and after a short struggle to take flight, it pulled a pretty decent sized Flounder out of the water. In the rush, I took a few super out of focus shots, but eventually I tracked the Osprey as it approached. - spraying and praying!
Again, I had missed the hunting shot - but I honestly had no idea an Osprey was even around. It must have been perched in a tree out of my line of sight. The images reveal it was a female - perhaps even the one that I had seen earlier that day.
With the harsh and hot mid-morning sun beaming down, we decided it was time to call it a day. I feel that although I failed to capture my hunting shot today, I learnt a few lessons about patience with Osprey's on a perch. Overall, I was quite happy to head home with the shots I had taken, but I was excited to head back and do it all again tomorrow.
Sunday 21st March, 2021
Like yesterday, I awoke at 5am and left the house as quickly as I could - I was filled with excitement and anticipation. After picking up a drive-through coffee, I raced down the freeway towards Mandurah. Today, I went straight back to Warrungup Spring Reserve in hopes of witnessing some more Osprey hunting. This area is great as you can shoot from the boardwalk and have a vast, uninterrupted view of the surrounding estuary.
I arrived about 20mins before sunrise and entered the boardwalk section in the dark, only a faint orange glow lingered on the horizon. I immediately started to systematically check the trees that surrounded the shores of the estuary in search of any Osprey - none to be seen.
I turned my attention to the dozens of Black Swans that were silently feeding on the still waters. As the sun started to rise, I had an idea in mind of a shot with a silhouetted Black Swan in front of the sun just as it crested the horizon. So in order to prepare, I set my camera up so that I was under exposed by 3 stops I think? I wanted to ensure the swan and details of the water were pitch black, leaving only the sun and its glow in colour. In order to ensure that both the swan and the sun were in the frame, I had to lay down on the boardwalk, this also allowed me to get to eye level with the potential subject. So I lay down on the bird poo covered planks - which smelled horrible haha! I noticed that a group of 3 swans started to swim in the direction of where the sun was rising - this is it! The sun finally peaks over the horizon, filling the sky with a vibrant, golden light and just in time, the swans cross into my frame - click! I managed to take two different shots, one with 3 swans and the other with just one that was trailing behind. I love the silhouettes and interest of the shot with multiple swans, but then again, I also really enjoy the minimalism of the shot with the single swan - which one do you prefer? I cant decide!
Once the swans moved on and the sun has rose I simply stood on the boardwalk and waited to see if an Osprey would show itself. After 30mins or so I suddenly noticed a flash of bright blue in the corner of my eye. I turn to see a Sacred Kingfisher had landed on the railing some 15m away from me. Illuminated by the morning sun, its colours were stunning and the golden hues of the reeds behind only emphasised the beauty of this bird.
Eventually, a woman enjoying her morning walk entered the boardwalk behind the Kingfisher and scared it away. With no sign of any Osprey, I decided to continue my search and maybe check out the location where I saw the pair the day before.
I jumped in the car and drove 10mins up the road where I spotted a male Osprey in a tree close to a small sandbar. I pulled up and slowly set myself up on the sandbar - the Osprey was only about 20m away from me. I knew from yesterday that he could dive in at any moment, so I setup my camera ready for action with a fast shutter speed and a slightly narrow aperture to ensure I had the best chance of keeping a fast moving bird in focus. As I waited, I suddenly spotted an Osprey approaching - it was the female. I tracked her approach and fired off a few shots just as she was about to perch. I managed to get a few nice shots of her just about to land with her talons fully extended. Unfortunately, she was a bit too far away so I had to crop in quite heavily, but I still think it turned out quite nice. I decided to process it as a monochrome shot as there already wasn't much colour in the frame and the removal of colour encourages an appreciation for texture and details.
The pair sat in the tree for some 30mins - not doing a heck of a lot. The male eventually flew off leaving the female all on her lonesome. In preparation for a hunt, I set my camera up so that I was focused on the water in front of the Osprey, learning from my mistakes of the day before. I noticed she was looking around and bobbing her head from side to side, almost as if she was tracking fish from above. I knew at any moment she was about to strike. Suddenly she took off and I started to rattle off as many shots as I could. However, much to my disappointment, she impacted the water just outside my frame where I was pre-focussing - bugger! She emerged from the still water with a flounder and took off - I just sat and enjoyed the moment. I think maybe next time I should try and track the Osprey itself as it dives, instead of the potential impact zone. This will be quite difficult as they move incredibly fast, so I will need to be focussed in order to keep up. With both Ospreys out of sight, I decided to call it a day and head home.
I was happy with the shots I had managed to take and I definitely learnt a few lessons for my next Osprey hunt. Hopefully some time soon I can have a bit more success.
Well, that's it for my first post! If you've read up to this point, THANK YOU! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and the images I have taken. I know this post was a bit of a long one, but a lot happened - I will try make these as concise as I can in future. Please send me a message on Instagram @aaronbrown_shoots if you did read this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what image is your favourite and I hope you come back to join me on my future adventures.
Make sure to keep an eye on my Instagram @aaronbrown_shoots for updates on new posts and new images.
Thanks again and I'll see ya next time!
Aaron
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