Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Cherry On Top

/ Christina B / 19 Comments

Snorkelling along the Ningaloo Reef in northwest Australia in the clear, unpolluted water is an unforgettable experience. Paddling is another way to enjoy this beautiful area and all it has to offer. Coming across a shy sea turtle when you’re snorkelling or paddling is an added bonus. These elusive creatures glide through the water, seemingly effortlessly, and can hold their breaths for long periods of time. I’ve been fortunate enough to swim alongside some a couple of times when we were out snorkelling.

They only pop their heads up to breathe when they feel safe. Before they do that they come up once to check that everything is ok, duck back down and then they’ll come up to breathe. I’ve seen them do this on a number of occasions when I’ve been out paddling but I didn’t have a camera with me. They’ll only have their heads above water for a few short seconds and you never know if, when or where another one will pop up. Last year when we were at Coral Bay (read more about the trip here) we did a glass bottom boat tour and saw lots of turtles. It was beautiful. I stood ready with my camera in hand, but with no idea where to look or focus. When one did pop up I literally had a second to turn, zoom in, focus and shoot. To be able to capture them was the absolute cherry on top.

Green sea turtle popping up for a look and then to take a breath. Taken on the glass bottom bout tour.
Green sea turtle, Coral Bay, Western Australia
Green sea turtle at Coral Bay, Western Australia

Weekly Photo Challenge: Look Up

/ Christina B / 16 Comments

This week’s photo challenge is to show what’s happening above us. Once again I couldn’t resist doing a little gallery (some of which photos I’ve used before). Looking up to the bird life, treetops, clouds, a lighthouse, a mountain top, The Giants at the Perth International Arts Festival in 2015 and the world’s biggest aeroplane coming in to land at Perth airport a while ago.

Cloud iridescence in Etosha National Park, Namibia
The Antonov 225 coming in to land at Perth airport
Cable Car going up Table Mountain
Eastern Ospreys at Rottnest Island
Nankeen Kestrel (juvenile) taken on Rottnest Island
Going on a helicopter ride north of Broome
Male Scarlet Robin, Donnelly River, WA
Red Wattlebird, Donnelly River, WA
Sacred Kingfisher, Woody Island, WA
Our local dog beach north of Perth, WA
Eucalyptus tree with some branches of a different colour and texture
Western Rosella, Donnelly River, WA
Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, the most south-westerly point of the Australian mainland
Karri trees near Denmark, WA
Full moon setting over the Indian Ocean at Hillarys Yacht Club
Measuring over 6 metres every movement of The Diver requires a legion of lilliputians
And some acrobatics as well

Weekly Photo Challenge: Opposites

/ Christina B / 26 Comments

This week’s photo challenge is to show opposites. Since it’s winter here at the moment and we have lots of rainy days I immediately thought of sunshine as opposed to clouds or rain. I love the drama of clouds rolling in, especially when the sun still partially shines on it, so I put together a little gallery of opposing sunshine and clouds/rain photos.

Sunny weather while a storm is rolling in
Sun bursting through the rainy clouds out at sea
Sun shining on the dark clouds
Dark clouds rolling in
Sunshine where I’m standing but clouds and rain over the ocean
Sunshine and rain fighting it out
More rainbows (a double one this time) on our way down Bluff Knoll
Clouds rolling in at Sorrento beach
Cloud iridescence in Etosha National Park, Namibia

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Partners

/ Christina B / 3 Comments

This week’s photo challenge is to show a partnership – subjects that are in sync and in tune with each other.

This photo of silver gulls was taken last summer one morning when I was out for a walk. The tide was exceptionally low and it was a beautiful and still morning. I went back home to get my camera and headed back down to the beach to get some photos. These gulls didn’t mind me snapping some pics. They were happy doing their own thing – all dozing off in tandem.

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Silver Gulls at Watermans Beach

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

/ Christina B / 12 Comments

Back in March I visited the annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibition at Cottesloe Beach near Perth. It’s a unique outdoor exhibition that showcased the work of 77 sculptors from 18 countries and attracted around 200 000 visitors.

The sculpture in the photo below is by Will Clift (USA) and is called “Enclosing Form Reaching Together”. The artist’s statement regarding the sculpture reads as follows: “Exploring the interaction of form with gravity and balance, the interplay between weight and weightlessness, and the creation of gesture within a static form.”

I think the curved lines of the sculpture fits this photo challenge well.

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Sculptures by the Sea, Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia, 2016

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

Weekly Photo Challenge: Numbers

/ Christina B / 17 Comments

The Rabbit Proof Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was constructed in Western Australia between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits and other agricultural pests from the eastern parts of the country out of the Western Australian pastoral areas.

There are three fences. The original No 1 fence crosses the state from south to north and when it was completed in 1907 the 1833 kilometre long fence was the longest unbroken fence in the world. It is visible from space.

The fence also features in the movie by the same name, that tells the story of three Aboriginal girls who were forcibly removed from their families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants as part of Australian government policy. They make a daring escape and embark on an epic 2400 kilometre journey to get back home – along the rabbit proof fence that bisects the Australian continent, with the authorities in pursuit.

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A part of the rabbit proof fence

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Numbers.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Earth

/ Christina B / 17 Comments

Great was my excitement when I saw the topic of this week’s photo challenge. I’m fascinated by and love the earth and, as Jen says, always feel at peace with my fingers in the dirt (in my garden) or capturing something about it on camera.

My first choice for my contribution fell on these two photos (I couldn’t pick only one) I took a few years ago on Denmark’s Ocean Beach. I was intrigued by the seaweed and the way it looked through the lens.

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Seaweed at Ocean Beach in Denmark, Western Australia

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Seaweed at Ocean Beach, Denmark, Western Australia

Weekly Photo Challenge: Admiration

/ Christina B / 10 Comments

There are many people that I admire. People who accomplish great things but more so those who have overcome adversity and are still positive and make the best of their circumstances. People who do it tough and don’t have the things I take for granted every day – good health, family and living in a safe and beautiful place – and yet they are still grateful for what they have.

It’s a tricky topic for me to pick for a photo challenge since I don’t really have photos like that to share so I chose instead to go with my admiration for people who do endurance sport. It takes incredible motivation, dedication, endless hours of training, perseverance, willpower and tenacity to complete what they set out to do.

My husband is one of those people who loves endurance sport and has completed 10 Comrades Marathons (a 90 kilometre ultra-marathon in South Africa), 16 Two Oceans Marathons (a 56 kilometre ultra-marathon in South Africa), more than 50 marathons,  2 Ironman, a few Half-Ironmans but the latest and arguably the most admirable in my mind is the Rottnest Channel Swim (a 19.7 kilometre swim from Cottesloe Beach near Perth to Rottnest Island). Last year when he did the solo swim, the conditions were very tough (one  swimmer’s support boat sunk) and it required pure strength of will to keep going and be able to step out on dry land on the other side after about 10 hours of swimming.

I only have pure admiration for people who step off the beach, not touch a boat or kayak at all during that time and get their own bodies across a 19.7 kilometre stretch of ocean to the finish line.

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Paddlers and support boats waiting for their swimmers with Rottnest Island in the background

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View of the swimmers and support boats and kayaks. The mainland is in the background.

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The swimmers, support boats and kayaks. Taken towards the island.

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The finishing channel

(This week’s photo challenge is to show someone or something we admire, and tell something about them too.)