Back in January I visited my sister and on my last night there was treated to this fiery sunset over the ocean. on Cottesloe Beach looking south to Freemantle.

 

I stayed at Tuckers Rock cottage in Bongil Bongil National Park, which is a 45 minute walk up the beach to Bundagen Headland. Saturday was rainy but it cleared up enough for sunrise, and the rain stayed away for next mornings sunrise.

Sunrise with waves spilling over the rocks. The light was moody and subdued but there was energy in the waves spilling over the rocks. It was worth the effort.

 

 

I really feared losing seascape photography from my life after the stroke. I saw my life priorities more clearly and photograph was highest on the list.

I was in hospital for 19 days, and couldn’t drive for six weeks. It was a dry winter so I wasn’t missing any stunning sunrises and sunsets. |Not being able to drive a car was very limiting. The first likely looking light was in early August, and I walked down to the marina with my gear. It was worth the walk.

 

Next I made it to Gallows for some understated sunset light. I drove down. Good light was rare during the usual peak sunrise season. I patiently looked out my window before dawn but was more often than not disappointed.

 

jetty sunrise

Finally some good light looking west over Coffs Creek.

 

 

The last week has felt like a lifetime  OnFriday the 7th june I had a stroke

After an uncomfortable nights sleep tossing and turning, I awoke to find ààa1 on my phone was hard, my phone kept falling out of my hand  when I got up I found  I was ubable to finger chords on my guitar.

When i went shopping I was dragging my left leg  I made it back to my car I noticed nmymouth had slouched down too the l eft.

I drove home parked my car in the visitors spot. I decided to  walk to the base of muttobbird island. I was shuffling mo re and more, veering off the p ath ..

I walked up past the high school leaning left. On the hill towards the united service station i almost fell over as 3 workmen stood nearby oblivious.

I walked  up the very steep hill on jarrett hoping to make the top. I knew I was in trouble when I went to walk down my sreep driveway; I broke into a run as I couldn’t control my quads, putting my hands up to prevent a fall  i made it inside, lay on my bed, and decided to call ab ambulance. 1

I made it downstairs and outside until the ambulance arrived. Isat in the ambulance. I spent the rest of the day in  er I had a neck ultrasound, and a Ct scan, which was clear. The emergency doctor was hopeful it was a tia. A mini stroke which has the synp toms of a stroke bute clear up after 24 hours. The er was a younge fellow with dark hair and american accent.I saw th irish doctor whop ulled the insect wing out of my eye. There was nurse with a tatoo down his arm.

The Ct scan and ulta sound was clear, but the mri would confirm the disgnosis. It wa a claustrophobic affair. Jackhammer like sound, whirring and thumping sounds for 25 minutes. I could see the  operator in the control room through mirrors. They didn’t have any of the music i asked for the cure or thomas n ewnan. So i had headphones on i co unted 1000…  200 0 and did some deep breathing.

It was about 5:00pm when igot back to er. It was dark, and I wheeked to a bed in the stroke unit

 

This is what I want see. A great sunrise and sunset in one day.

 

 

 

 

What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.

That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.”

Vincent Van Gogh

Last weekend there was a great sunset over the Sawtell Baths. I was setting up to take photos and realised the battery wasn’t in my camera. A sunset that got away.

Not tonight. Battery was charged and I was out the door about 40 minutes before sunset. The clouds were clearing to north, no clouds over Sawtell, and the best sunset would be north of Coffs. So I hit the freeway thinking the clouds facing west would put on good light over Coffs Creek.

A crowd had gathered at the pedestrian bridge. They were looking at a stingray below in the shallow water. It was a dark colour with white spots.

The tide was quite low and I walked along the smooth pebbles at the edge of the creek. I had to crawl under the tree overhanging. Then it was open going along the sand, The clouds were thinning towards sunset.

I went out to where the rocks were being washed by the incoming tide. And hoped to get a shot with the last sun light touching the rocks. I found a rock to perch on, and there was a hint of light on the foreground rocks and clouds that went up high.

The light went from orange to purple, and then the higher clouds began to lose light so I zoomed in closer.

An enjoyable evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the results of my first use of a new Sigma 100-400mm zoom lens. I went chasing Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos down at Christmas Bells Road. I could hear a few calling in the distance, down towards the railway line.

I looked at the plants by the side of the road for a while, and then I heard the Cockatoos calling closer. And about 30 cockatoos crossed the road where I parked my car. They are very big birds when you see them up close, the yellow panel in the flight feather showing brightly.

The second photo I got was best. The opportunity for close ups near the road quickly ended, as they move further into the low heath. They perched in paperbarks and on grass trees spikes.

I parked my car on the road near the RSPCA and tried to sneak up on the cockies in the bush. A sentry cockatoo was perched high in senescing Black She-Oak.

I noticed that some Cockatoos had red rims around their eyes, and other had dark rims. I wondered if the cockies with the red-rims were mature adults of breeding age? The cockies where eating grass tree spikes and possibly the cones of Banksia oblongifolia. Holding the food item in one claw as they perched in Paperbark and other trees. I dragged myself around in shorts trying to get closer for a photos, it was hard going. And they kept moving further away, only slightly perturbed by my presence.

Eventually as it became dark, they started calling loudly to each other, and the cockatoos all flew off in the directions of the Pine Trees near the race course. I got back into my car to see if they were roosting in the Pines near the race course but they were nowhere to be seen.

 

 

Without lenses at present. So I’ve been fiddling around with photoshop, placing embedded images, and using the quick selection tool, to create layer masks, so that two images appear as one.

So this images is actually 3 images. The seascape of Green Bluff and two embedded images of cockatoos.

I get two things I like together in one image.

A these two are off the back catalogue from 2014.

So I have been going through folders looking for plant photos. I have almost 700 species photographed in over a 1000 photos, a pretty big achievement.

At the same time I looked at some of my seascapes and other landscapes photos, and found some I like a lot, like this one at Gibson Steps in Port Campbell National Park. I posted it on 500px and it is going off, 80 likes and 100 views. By far my most popular for ages.

I also resurrected one from Apollo Bay, Rutledge Creek and Hopeton falls.