New Zealand

Wanaka Blue

It’s almost seven years since I visited Wanaka in New Zealand, and photographed the famous Wanaka Tree at sunrise. Growing in Lake Wanaka, this Willow is a popular subject for sunrise photography, and has suffered over the years from human impact. There was a crowd there at sunrise on

Canberra

Rural Colours. Rural Moods

I love the saturated colours in rural Australia, especially before or after a storm. On this I came across this old railway crossing near Captain’s Flat and was quite taken by the rich colours and the looming weather. No train on the way Rural colours, rural moods A storm

Canberra

Full Moon Chasing in Canberra

A full moon begins its climb over Canberra, peeking out from the horizon behind the National Carillon. View this image in my Photo Gallery, on Vero, Flickr or on Glass. A full moon seems to haunt astro photographers, but when I try to get an image of the full moon,

Astro

Orion Deep Skies

My main form of Astrophotography is Nightscape photography, also known as Landscape Astrophotography. I have, however, been experimenting with some deep sky imagery, especially in the Australian summer months, when the Milky Way Core is out of sight, and constellations like Orion are in the sky. This image shows the

Nightscape

Crux and the Carina Nebula over Tharwa

This image is a perspective of the western sky from near Tharwa, ACT, showing Crux (the Southern Cross), the Coalsack Nebula and the Carina Nebula. The Coalsack Nebula is the dark nebula behind Crux, and is the ‘head’ of the Celestial Emu in Indigenous astronomy legends. At the time of

Landscape Photography

Foggy Reflections

A foggy morning provided some wonderful scenes at the pond in Mulligan's Flat. This image was created the morning after a good evening of astro shooting at the same spot. Mulligan’s Flat is a brilliant wildlife sanctuary with regular foggy mornings, and clear nights, as well as

Nightscape

Strathnairn Nights

Strathnairn lies on the western edge of Canberra 🇦🇺, making it a great spot for astro photography in the mid-to-late Milky Way Core Season (Mar-Nov). In June 2024 I visited on a very cold, moonless early morning. Temperatures were -5C or so. The early morning after the moon had set provided

Nightscape

Mulligans Flat Vertorama

Mulligans Flat is a wildlife sanctuary that lies on the northern edge of Canberra, Australia’s national capital. Due to the suburban lights to the south, west and east, the sanctuary’s pond needs to be shot at night with a northerly aspect, making it somewhat challenging to get great

Astro

The Emu In the Sky

Known as Gawarrgay to the Australian First Nations Kamilaroi people, the Celestial Emu describes how many First Nations people viewed the Milky Way.

Hiking

Bob’s Ridge

One of the many hikes around the Snowy Mountains region of NSW is the Cascade Trail trail, which starts and finishes at Dead Horse Gap, near Thredbo. On this day we did the 10km return hike out to Bob's Ridge. There was a pretty heavy fog up on

Canberra

The Aurora Tree

Just south of Canberra is a famous tree by the side of a country lane just off the Monaro Highway. This tree has a fabulous vantage point looking to the south, providing a great place to observe aurora australis (the Southern Lights) when the conditions are just right. On this

Photography

Heian Shrine

The Heian Shrine is one of the iconic sites of significance in Kyoto. To get an image without large crowds requires an early rise or a bit of luck. Or some editing, as in this image, which had a number of people removed using Lightroom’s Generative Remove tool to

Photography

Gundaroo Star Trails

A single image star trail captured over a historic building near Gundaroo in Canberra’s north.

Canberra

Lake Burley Griffin Sunset

I have enjoyed some amazing sunsets around Canberra, and one of my favourite spots to photograph these events is this wharf on Lake Burley Griffin. This night in September did not disappoint with wonderful colours in the sky, and reflected on the surface of the lake. Image Data * C: Fujifilm

Photography

Ready Cut Night

Ready Cut Cottage in the ACT's Namadgi National Park is a wonderfully isolated spot in a Class 2 Bortle area close to Australia’s national capital. The skies here are stunning, and with a great perspective to the south there are great vistas of the Milky Way, with

Photography

Snowy Spencers Creek

A picturesque creek off the side of the road to Charlotte’s Pass in the NSW Snowy Mountains. Captured on a dramatic day a couple of years ago, I love the remnants of winter mixed with the freshness of spring. Image Data * C: Fujifilm X-T3 * L: Fujinon XF 70-300mm f/

Photography

Gondwana Nights

The Gondwana Observatory is a feature of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs near Winton, Qld, and one of four certified Dark Sky places in Australia. We had a visit there in September 2023, and really enjoyed the clear dark skies that can be found in outback Queensland. The Gondwana Observatory

Hiking

The Hike to Dead Horse Gap

The hike to Dead Horse Gap is a circuit from the Kosciuszko Express top station back to Thredbo. We did this walk at the end of May 2022, and it was the last chance that season with a big snow dump the following day. The hike is a little challenging,

Astro

Winton Machinations

Winton in Outback Queensland is a great place for nightscape images. The obvious place to shoot is the Jump Up at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, but there are a number of places you can shoot right on the edge of the town. This image was captured in a park

Astro

Crux and Aurora

This past weekend provided an interesting night sky opportunity with clear summer skies and a chance of spotting some aurora australis. So I headed to the Williamsdale Road vantage point on the southern side of Canberra and set up two cameras—one shooting star trails and the other doing tracked

Astro

The Road to Burra

This oft-photographed tree lies on the southern outskirts of Canberra. With the city lights behind you, and a clear view to the south, this can be a great spot for shooting the Milky Way, star trails and perhaps aurora australis. The Milky Way was brilliant on this night, and the

Canberra

The Bush Capital

Australia’s capital city, Canberra, is colloquially known as the Bush Capital. Not only is it an inland capital in a land famously girt by sea, Canberra is also surrounded by the rugged bushland the country is known for. Much of that bushland weaves its way in from the fringes

Astro

Tangmangaroo Milky Way

The old Tangmangaroo Church is located in an isolated spot along the Lachlan Valley Way between Yass and Boorowa, NSW. A Bortle Class 2 location, this old church and graveyard have a south-westerly aspect making for a great Milky Way shoot late in the MW Core season. I like that

Canberra

Gibraltar Falls

Gibraltar Falls is a beautiful waterfall near Canberra in the Namadgi National Park. Namadgi makes up almost half of the total land of the Australian Capital Territory, and is a great national park with many great hikes, stunning scenery and some great dark skies for nightscapes. These beautiful falls are

Astro

Clouds on a Cloudless Night

On a relatively cloudless night on the southern side of Canberra, the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud were prominent in the night sky. With the double star Canopus also clearly visible, these celestial features were features in the south. While the Milky Was brilliant in the Western Sky,