Backwards, Forwards

Digital imaging has brought so many capabilities we never dreamed of in the film era. Today I used Lightroom's metadata filter to bring up all of the images I made in 2016. The total is 5,789. Could I select just one as my favorite of 2016?

I took time to scroll through all of them, for a couple of reasons. First, some images look much better when I haven't seen them for a while. (Why is that? Maybe because I recover the "first impression" that made me shoot it originally but which can get lost when working too long on an image. Or maybe because the additional inspection increases the chance I'll see something I missed before, not that each of five thousand will get many seconds of review.) I found several to fiddle with, including two that wanted to be black and white:

Milford Sound Sydney lamppost The second reason for looking through all of them is, of course, the chance to remember where I've been and what I've seen this past year; to re-visualize 2016. Susan and I traveled to Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. There is much to recall and review, beyond the photos I've already posted from those trips. But one shot from close to home at one of my favorite locations, the Great Falls of the Potomac, seemed worth a second look: Kayaker at Great Falls of the Potomac So the look backwards was worthwhile. Truth be told, though, I knew all along which image I like best from 2016. This shot of Kata Tjuta in central Australia still makes me happiest. Kata Tjuta Looking forward, I wish you and yours much happiness in 2017.

Landscapes of Central Australia

Central Australia is justifiably famous for its landscapes. We visited Alice Springs and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, located near the southern border of the Northern Territory. The area is very dry, not quite desert, but visually engaging with unique geology and complex ecology. Uluru (formerly called Ayers Rock) is likely the most photographed hill in Australia, if not the world. Throngs of tourists gather every evening and morning, as did we, to watch and record the changing light on the red rock. It is unique and spectacular.

Uluru, sunset

Uluru, sunrise

Famous Uluru overshadows an equally photogenic range of hills named Kata Tjuta. With strata less steeply tilted than Uluru (15 degrees versus almost 90 degrees) and composed of a coarse conglomerate instead of Uluru's arkose, Kata Tjuta presents a more rounded profile and more distinct segments. I found it gorgeous.

Kata Tjuta

It's a remarkable park that has such sights in rather close proximity, let alone the many significant cultural and biological features. No surprise that it is a World Heritage area.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta at sunrise

At Alice Springs Desert Park we watched a great bird show and also marveled at the ancient landscape.

Ridge, Alice Springs Desert Park

Birds in Australia

Not being "birders" Susan and I just enjoyed seeing species we'd not seen before. These pictures come from Cleland Wildlife Park near Adelaide, the Alice Springs Desert Park (where trained birds take turns swooping through an open-air theater), a national park near Melbourne, and the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve. Apologies for not being able to identify each of these. If you know them, please add a comment. Thanks!

Magpie

Rainbow Lorikeet

Australian Bustard

Barn Owl

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Emu

Galah

Sydney Opera House

If kangaroos and koala are the most recognizable fauna of Australia, surely the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are that city's architectural icons. We first came upon the opera house after dark and were wowed. In the daylight it is equally stunning. I had planned to have a single post about art and architecture, but the opera house is too photogenic for that. It deserves its own post, and here it is.

There's so much to love about this building. Its site on a point of land in sparkling Sydney Harbor shows it off beautifully. The design is unlike anything else. I was surprised to learn that the distinctive curved forms are all segments of a sphere, the choice of which (according to the information video) greatly simplified design and construction. And the appearance of those shapes vary endlessly as the point of view changes. It is a masterpiece.

Sydney Opera House, from Sydney Harbor

Sydney Opera House, from Circular Quay

Detail of exterior, from east

Detail of exterior, from west

Interior detail of precast ribs and windows

Fauna of Australia

Susan and I spent March 2016 in Australia and New Zealand. We had never traveled south of the equator. It's about as far away from our home in Maryland as you can get. Given the distance and logistics, we opted for a tour with Overseas Adventure Travel and were very pleased with the tour, the tour leaders, and the wonderful group with which we traveled.

In spite of an ominous email from Nikon, I took my D750, Tamron 24-70mm, and Nikkor 70-200mm. I had a few glitches with the D750 but no show-stoppers. In fact I needed to buy more memory cards and came home with an absurd 3,400 images.

But I have no regrets. Both countries are fascinating, diverse, splendid...how could I not shoot lavishly in such places? And though we'd love to return someday, one never knows. So I shot a helluva lot.

The downside, of course, is that it all must be reviewed and edited. I'm eager to see and share the shots I like but not that keen on spending hours in front of the desktop. I've decided to add images to this blog in topical groups, beginning with some of the animals we saw in Australia. That is a huge topic by itself. There are scads of iconic and unique animals, and the country is about the size of the lower 48 US states. In other words, this is but a tiny sample of what's there.

Koala are among the iconic Australian fauna. We were fortunate not only to see several, but also to witness a territorial dispute between two males. Our guide told us at the start of our walk that we'd probably see a koala, but we'd be lucky to see one, say, scratch its ear. They are normally quite lethargic and solitary. Viewing the dispute was therefore an extremely lucky occurrence...our guide was ecstatic.

Young male Koala

Young and older males disputing territory

Koala are normally solitary

In the same national park were Eastern Grey kangaroo. We stalked them quietly, our guide explaining that they become more relaxed after they have eyed us for a while. We were surprised at how large the males are: over six feet tall when standing and quite muscular in appearance. And we again were lucky that a mob of about 20 came into view.

Mob of 'roos

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

I'll post some bird photos in the the next installment. As always, your comments are most welcome.