Des Paroz

Landscape and astro photography enthusiast from Canberra, Australia

Travel

Black Sand and Sea Stacks

Famous for its black sands and sneaker waves, Iceland's Reynisfjara Beach is a photographer's dream. Basalt cliffs and sea stacks bookend the long stretch of black sands where Iceland meets the North Atlantic Ocean. It is coming up on three years since our Iceland Adventure, and

Sydney

Waterview Wharf Workshops

Around Christmas we had a walk around North Sydney, and I noticed in the distance these interesting looking and colourful sheds on the shores across Sydney Harbour. I had previously spied these as I was on a boat, and once we got home I did a search on Flickr to

Hiking

Charlotte's Snowgum

Charlotte's Pass in Australia's Snowy Mountains is a ski resort during the winter season, and a setting off point for several wonderful hikes during the rest of the year. On this day we completed the hike to the Blue Lake, and found this beautiful snow gum

Canberra

Something Old Something New

A sunrise image captured from Mt Ainslie of Australia's Old and New Parliament Houses in Canberra. On this morning I went hunting for a spot to capture low fog over Canberra from above. Didn't quite get what I was looking for, but was happy with the

Iceland

Gatklettur Rock Arch

Our epic journey to Iceland seems like so long ago—it was back in the before times. But it was just two years back that we visited this amazing country—just two years ago today that we took in this magical rock arch. Located on the spectacular southern coastline of

Iceland

Hiking Blahnukur

Two years ago today we had a wonderful private photo tour to Iceland's highlands, and in particular the Landmannalaugar area. This was very much a highlight of our two week Iceland adventure. In turn, a highlight of the highlands was the opportunity to hike a fair way up

Iceland

Kirkjufell Sunrise

Perhaps one of the most iconic mountain images in Iceland is Kirkjufell. I revisted the site on several occasions over our three days in Grundafjordur, and was rewarded with several beautiful variations. One of the key benefits of going at different times is that you can take more time to

Snowy Mountains

Snowshoeing Adventures

Being by myself over a weekend in Canberra during July 2021, I decided to take advantage of the great conditions, small crowds and cheap accommodation in the Australian Snowy Mountains and spend a long weekend the snow. My main intent was to capture some imagery, so I didn’t by

Canberra

Kingston Sunset

The Kingston Foreshore area is a popular cafe and restaurant area of Canberra, Australia. Situated on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin, winter is a great time for sunset images shooting over the bay, taking in the restaurant strip. Coming home from work I realised that this day would provide

Hiking

Older than Kosciuszko

The day after we hiked from Thredbo to the top of Mount Kosciuszko we drove to Charlotte Pass to check out an alternative trail to hike to the summit. Here we found a lookout where you can get a good view of the main range and of Australia's

New Zealand

Above and Below the Clouds

Nowhere in New Zealand is the nickname of the land of the long white cloud more apt that around Lake Wakatipu on the nation’s South Island. The long, thin strands of clouds at various altitudes provide many opportunities to get some interesting and unique images. These clouds and their

Japan

Layers of Tori

The hundreds of red tori gates at the Fushimi Inari Taisha near Kyoto is among the most popular and most photographed scenes near the former Japanese capital. Being so popular, there are two challenges: capturing unique images; and capturing images without people cluttering the scene. The second challenge is the

Iceland

Skogafoss Emerging

Skogafoss is a truly spectacular waterfall. Standing over 60m tall, it is easy to take in the magnificence of these falls from the base, and to walk up to the top. This view is taken from near the adjacent visitors centre, and I really liked the image of the falls

Iceland

Black Church in the Gloom

Another view of the Black Church of Budir. With the low clouds over the surrounding mountains I couldn't do much with the sky, so focused instead on the waterfalls around the church, emerging from the gloom. Along with the clouds, the crowds presented another compositional challenge. There weren&

Landscape Photography

The View from Fan's Horizon

When we visited Coonabarabran in northern NSW in November we wanted to do a hike in the Warrumbungle National Park, a fabulous location for both landscape photography and bushwalking. With only half a day for a walk, we didn't really have the time to do one of the

Canberra

Celebration of NAIDOC 2020

NAIDOC Week is an important annual celebration of the culture, history and achievements of indigenous Australians. Normally held in July, NAIDOC Week 2020 was deferred to November as a result of COVID-19. One key aspect of NAIDOC Week in Canberra is the illumination of the National Carillon with a display

Canberra

Fire in the Canberra Sky

Canberra's Mount Ainslie is a wonderful spot for great cityscapes over Australia's national capital. It is always a good place to take in a sunset over the city centre (to the right of the photo), or over Parliament House (across the bridge to the left). With

Iceland

Bláhylur Blue Crater

One of the many amazing sites we visited during our photo tour to Iceland's Highlands area, was the blue crater of Bláhylur. Formed in a crater, the magic blues of the lake and the green hills in the background provided 'pops of colour' in an otherwise

Iceland

The Hidden Canyon

Known as the Hidden Canyon, Fjadrargljufur Canyon is a gem of a canyon located just off the ring road not far from the southern township of Vik. We had first seen this location in a video by Mads Peter Iversen, and it immediately took a place high on our list

Iceland

Photo Gear for Iceland

Icelandic people seem to have a lot of sayings that involve the weather. This is entirely natural when you live in a place where the weather is very dramatic and very variable throughout the day—leading to one of my favourites: If you don’t like the weather, just wait

Iceland

Eystrahorn

Located near to the more famous Vestrahorn in Iceland's south-east, Eystrahorn is another stunning mountain range rising 756m over the adjacent coastline. Driving clockwise on Iceland's ring road, the jagged cliffs of Eystrahorn were a distinctive landmark as we did the relatively long drive from Seydisfjordur

Iceland

Haifoss

Haifoss is an amazingly tall waterfall cascading into the Fossa River below. With a 122m drop, Haifoss is the fourth largest waterfall in Iceland. Located next another fall called Granni, Haifoss is in Iceland's highland area, en route to Landmannalaugar and near to the amazing Valley of the

Hiking

Mt Kosciuszko Summit Hike

Last weekend we made the hike to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest peak. At 2,228m above sea level, Kosciuszko is quite a small mountain when compared to peaks of Europe, Japan, North America or even our neighbour, New Zealand. We commenced our hike at Eagles Nest,

Travel

Behind the Falls

Among the myriad of waterfalls in Iceland, Seljalandsfoss is unique in that you can easily walk behind the falls to gain a spectacular view through the water curtain over the adjacent plains. We visited this site on a (typically) overcast day, and got some good images. The following day was

Iceland

Skogafoss

While Iceland has countless amazing waterfalls, a handful really touched me, including Kirkjufellsfoss, Godafoss, the Valley of the Tears, and the majestic Skogafoss. Located in the south of the island, between Vik and Reykjavik, Skogafoss is special in that you can walk right up to the base of a fall