Old house

“I was in Costerfield for the “Back to Costerfield” day on 28 November, 2009, at the publich hall for a reunion for the pioneer families in the area,” says John. “After the official part of the day was over, I went for a walk around the area near the hall. The old house across the street looked like it would make a interesting photo. I converted the photograph to black and white as it brought out the texture in the house nicely.”

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Curious

“The photo was taken a week ago on our family trip to Gold Coast,” says Tim. “It was a hot day at the theme park, Dreamworld, then we went into the Australian Outback section where I wanted to take some shots of Kangaroos – until I saw this little lizard resting under the tree. I then quickly set up my camera to get the shot I wanted because I knew Ididn’t have much time to play with my camera when I got near it. I snuck up near it and lying down low to the ground and SNAP SNAP SNAP. Three shots and off it went.”

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Rockpool

“I was very excited to have a weeks’ holiday staying on the edge of Noosa National Park,” says Janet. “Every morning I would get up at 4 am and hike into the park, mostly to be greeted by a grey dawn. I wanted to capture the beauty of the Australian coastline, so I could return to Ireland, where I’m from, with a shot to remind me of home. On this morning I decided to make the most of the cloud formations by capturing the reflections in the rock pools Tea Tree Bay is famous for. I used a Cokin Graduated ND filter to balance out the slightly overexposed sky.”

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“I now run a photography group, ‘Photography Talk in Facebook along with my friends and colleagues to share ideas and techniques. I found that lots of beginner photographers hesitate to buy costly macro lenses and interested to learn reverse macro techniques, which is much cheaper. Unfortunately, for lack of resources and clear idea, they never really bother to try it. So I decided to do some experiments on reverse macro and share my experience with others.

I collected an old Canon 50mm F/1.8 FD mount lens for $45, a reverse ring and an extension tube for $20. After setting up everything, I went out for some experimental shots and found it extremely difficult to get sharp images. This dandelion seed head image is the one of the best and interesting outcomes from my experiment that I have decided to share with my fellow hobbyist photographers.”

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“Over the last couple of years I have been learning to use my Nikon D90 in Kiama, a gorgeous town on the South Coast of Nsw with plenty of opportunities for enthusiastic photographers to take shots of seascapes and bird life. I have watched this particular pelican several times, in recent months, as it presides above the ocean rock pool where my family swims regularly. I managed to get quite close last weekend when it then performed the most amazing ‘yawn’ for a few brief seconds. I have never observed a pelican do anything like this before.”

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“This image was taken of the Purlingbrooke Falls in the Springbrook National Park on the Border Ranges between New South Wales and Queensland,” Kevin says. “I took the photo about midday to get the light on the face right.”

“I took this in April at about 7.30 in the morning at Duranbah Beach, NSW on the Tweed Coast,” Jeff says.”The mornings are really crisp in autumn and the surf is usually groomed from the night before. The clouds are pushed out to the horizon so once the sun comes up and past them it’s a really intense first light.”

Kosciuszko National Park. “To come across brumbies was definitely a welcome bonus,” says Daniel. “This photo was taken on the morning of our last day of the walk. I spent about 20 minutes slowly getting as close to the brumbies as possible without scaring them off.”

“While there is a multitude of magnificent scenery to photograph I was really taken with Kata Tjuta,” says Jim. “There are rich colours and a diversity of plant and fauna in the park which ensures that the keen amateur photographer always has something to photograph.”

“I took this photo whilst on a photo walk with a group of photography friends in Waterfall Gully, South Australia,” says Paula. “The photo walking group meet on the first Saturday of every month and we usually choose a location that is within 30 minutes’ travelling distance of the Adelaide CBD.”

“There are several boat boat sheds on the Maroochy River in south-east Queensland, this one having the most rustic character,” says Wayne. “I waited for the sun be behind the shed for the picture.”

“I had shot whole series of photos at the lookout of Turimetta Head, Warriewood on Sydney’s Northern Beaches at the beginning of March 2011. The subject is a juvenile white-bellied sea eagle, which will eventually mature into the black and white apperance of the adults. Some of its wing feathers are still not fully developed.”

“The photo came by chance, really, as I was driving across the Nullarbor,” says Rolando. “My car’s alternator had started dying about 100 km outside of Norseman – at about 1 am I didn’t want to take any chances, so I pulled over at the next campsite and tried to fix the problem. Strangely enough, the battery would only charge when the car was stopped, so I had to sit around and wait until it recharged enough to turn my lights back on. By chance, there was a storm approaching and a few flashes briefly illuminated a path to a small salt lake not far away. With nothing better to do, I whipped out the tripod and wide-angle lens and started snapping away.”

Pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata). “

I started in photography with a Nikonos V in the late 90s,” says Tony. “I loved the images I saw in dive magazines and tried to capture images from the NSW south coast, predominantly from Jervis Bay, Ulladulla to Montague Island.”

“My grandad and I had driven from Marree, SA, to a little-known point at Lake Eyre South to see if much water had flowed into the lake about a week after heavy rains from ex-cyclone Yasi moved though the north of South Australia,” says Kyle. “Eventually, the sun started to set, lighting up the area with an orange tone and just as the sun fell below the horizon, it lit up some distant clouds.”

“My camera is never far away and when we were touring around the Mornington Peninsula we stopped to look at Rye Back Beach from the car park in the late afternoon,” says Mark. “There was a fabulous dramatic sky and I ran down the beach to grab some shots in the allocated five minutes.”

“One weekend, while sitting by a waterfall about an hour from home, my mate and I decided to follow the flowing water downstream and away from the track,” says Ronnie. “We found this cave with sheets of water cascading over. It was vast, and was one of those places that so absorbed me that I just forgot about everything.”

Birdwood to Werrikimbee it is part of a series of images I have taken along the Oxley Highway between Wauchope and Walcha in New South Wales,” says Brett. “The road through Birdwood to Werrikimbee is free range cattle land, with rambling streams, creeks and old farm buildings dotted along the way.

“The photo was taken while I was on a cross country ski trip heading towards White Rivers Hut in the Snowy Mountains,” says David. “I saw the mother and baby walking along beside the creek and as I didn’t have a zoom lens I slowly edged my way closer. The wombats didn’t seem concerned about my presence at all though the baby did climb up on its mothers back.

“‘The Nut’ is an ancient volcanic formation,” says Aaron. “I was in Tasmania for the shooting my next fine art photography series and decided to visit Stanley. While I was there I took several of the common sunset shots of the Nut but wanted a different perspective. I had done some research and decided that the Nut at night featuring star trails had not been done before so I wanted to capture this as a world first.

“I took this in April at about 7.30am at Duranbah beach,” says Jeff. “The mornings are really crisp in autumn and the surf is usually groomed from the night before. The clouds are pushed out to the horizon so once the sun comes up and past them it’s a really intense first light. The water is still fairly warm so taking photos in the surf and swimming among the waves is really enjoyable.