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Today we went to see the Koalas at the conservation centre on Phillip Island, Australia.
Koalas are an arboreal marsupial who feed on eucalyptus leaves. Many people refer to Koalas as a “Koala Bear” but this is considered incorrect as bears are of no relation to the cuddly looking tree climbers. Contrary to their cuddly appearance can be devastatingly vicious when cornered, a few of the locals will tell stories of farm dogs coming off worse in an altercation!
I was amazed at how much the population of Koalas has fluctuated in recent years and how close these fascinating creatures came to extinction.
It was an awesome visit and I shot far too many photographs, like on a portrait sitting that you are getting too many great shots to stop. It has been incredibly hard to whittle them down to a select few but here they are for your viewing pleasure!
Dec 27, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: adventure, arboreal, Australia, centre, conservation, extinction, Koala, koala bear, marsupial, phillip island, populations, travel, visit | Comments Off on Koalas at the conservation park – Phillip Island
Recently I popped in at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart Tasmania. Apart from the historically rich and exciting exhibition about Tasmania’s intriguing history the art gallery upstairs held some treasures. Skipping the stuffed animals part of the exhibition allowed me enough time to browse around the fantastic art exhibits, oil paintings of a young Hobart thriving in an excited and young way bursting into an important port. I was struck by the age and the detail of the images before me, splendid in their majestic wooden frames. Images documenting a period of time hundreds of years ago protected full time by the gentleman curator, sat in the corner suspiciously eyeing the white lines running before the paintings, waiting for any sort of breach of boundary that would spell a warning of impending doom for these protected arts. Fascinated I wondered whether our images would be treasured, the simplicity of multiple reprints and being able to view images of the whole world from your living room anytime of day or night. Limited edition reprints are about as exclusive it has got over the last century, in-fact since the birth of photography, but what about one off originals, will we ever shoot an image and print it once and frame it in a huge 10 foot long frame and delete the file. Would this be enough to make a curator from the future sit in a protected room away from harsh sunlight and be enough to make people insist on whispering in awe. I can’t ever see any photographer decide to do this but sometimes I wonder what will happen to our great works of art, forever present on the world wide web for all to see, will they be immortal or drift off into oblivion, syphoned from the cyber world when our photographic kin decides there is too much data on the internet or whatever global network may exist.
Dec 26, 2010 | Categories: General, Photography Inspiration | Tags: Art, art gallery, digital images, future, future of photography, gallery, History, Hobart, inspiration, museum, originals, photography, reprints, Tasman Museum, Tasmania | Comments Off on Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery – when was the last time you visited a museum?
The other afternoon Emily and I wandered down to Blackmans Bay in Kingston and played around with Emily’s waterproof camera on the beach! For a fun little point and shoot I was impressed with the quality of the images we could get.
Dec 26, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Blackmans Bay, camera, Kingston, photography, photos, Tasmania, waterproof camera | Comments Off on Blackmans Bay – Kinston – Tasmania
Packing for travelling Australia for a year is a challenge for anyone especially when your financing the trip yourself and want to take your DSLR kit with you. I looked online before the trip and it seemed the internet was saturated with flight information for travelling from America to Australia. Flying from the UK it was going to be different. Checking on my carrier’s website I saw that I could add camera gear to my hold space at an extra cost, much like you add ski equipment or bicycles. Being weary of having my gear put in the hold, especially as we had a change in China, I really wanted to keep it all where I could keep my hands on it.
After rooting around on the internet I realised there was a loophole with a lot of carriers that (for ladies mostly!) they are able to take in addition to their hand luggage, a small handbag. After investigating this further on my airline’s website I noticed this applied also (perhaps obviously) with duty free carrier bags and “small cameras”
Granted a Canon 5D mk2 cannot be called a “small camera” but I was willing to push my luck. With my camera on my shoulder, all the batteries emptied out my flashgun and any small accessories, chargers and cables that could be replaced at a small cost in the hold, my hand luggage passed the 7kg check even with my Macbook Pro and a paperback inside!
Please note this is just my experience and I advise everyone to read the information on their airline’s website before travelling and as I was, be prepared to pay the extra should it come to it. Arguing with check in staff is definitely not advised as they can make things even more difficult for you!
Photo Credit:
Bag photo from Chicago Mike’s Photoblog
Dec 26, 2010 | Categories: General | Tags: Australia, baggage limit, carrier, DSLR, England, flight, flying, Gap Year, gear, how to pack, luggage, packing, personal account, photography, travel, UK | Comments Off on Carrying DSLR kit through the airport
It has been a big surprise for me over the last couple of weeks being in Australia how much I have missed my tripod. It was a decision I didn’t give much thought to whist packing as trying to carry my metal tripod would have taken far too much weight but I am beginning to miss it!
When I first started taking photographs I never used to shoot using a tripod and even when I went to college to do my National Diploma in Photography I would prefer to hold the camera myself even in the studio. Professionally the only time I saw a tripod being used was during weddings in dark churches from the top of the isle. Being an assistant at the time I thought a tripod was an inconvenience that I had to dash to the car to fetch in between shooting candid photographs of people entering the church and the end of the first song. Setting it up in silence ready for the photographer to take ‘the kiss’
It wasn’t until I was shooting in a portrait studios and had use of a boom tripod that I began to see the merits of using it. It allowed me to not have to carry or hold the camera whilst posing or trying to cajole that all important smile from a toddler and shooting using a remote release.
When I got my latest camera I decided I would take it everywhere with my despite its bulk and that included my tripod. It was a burden to begin with but soon it was soon rare that I would take any photos without it. I was shooting perhaps less then half the photos I would normally shoot but the quality of them were so much better. Even on the days I would go out hill walking without the tripod I would find myself wishing I had it.
Now being out in Australia I have been trying to concentrate on shooting as if I was using a tripod keeping my number of frames down and quality high. Even so one things definitely for sure I have been straightening up a lot more horizon lines in post production now I don’t have a tripod!
There is no prize for guessing what I will be spending my pocket money on next!
Image credit:
prozac1 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Dec 26, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, do I need a tripod, gear, packing, photography, travel, Tripod, tripod uses | Comments Off on How much I miss my tripod
While we were in Tasmania we headed down to Southport to see the Ida Bay Railway. A small independantly owned railway which meanders around 14km from the Lune River Station, along the banks of Ida Bay and Lune River Estuary to Southport Lagoon. It was originally set up by a 10 Bob pom criminal who after gaining his freedom in the 1800s then decided to forrest the Tasmanian hardwood found in the area. After several enterprises including brick building he and his family then replaced the wooden railway with metal rails in order to quarry the limestone found in the area.
Tourists are able to visit the area and camp out in the bush at the end of the line overnight and get the train back the next day.
The Ida Bay Railway, with a new owner and management and a lot of hard work has turned into a fantastic day out. We travelled along the tracks marvelling at the views and stopping in places to jump off the train to listen to the history behind the railway. We had lots of time at the end of the line to see the beautiful beach and scenery before jumping back on for the return journey to the station.
A wonderful lesser known tourist attraction well worth a visit.
Dec 26, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: attraction, australaisia, bush, bushland, forestry, ida bay, limestone, rails, railway, southport, Tasmania, tourist, travel, visit | Comments Off on Ida Bay Railway – Australias southern-most railway – Tasmania
While we were in Hobart there was a lot in the news about the Sea Shepard crew who were docked in the harbour carrying out maintenance and restocking their supplies before heading out to rage a war against the whaling boats out at sea. While they were docked they were doing a lot of promotion with local and national news crews promoting their cause.
The crew are certainly dedicated and it is considered and honour to be able to serve as crew upon the ships owned by Sea Shepard. When I went down they were carrying out repairs to their high speed catamaran, Gojira. Gojira, although the smallest of their fleet is by far one of the most effective.
The Sea Shepard has recently registered their fleet in Australia after a rubbing paint with whaling vessels in the hope that they can get support from the Australian millitary. Sea Shepard has always been after the backing of the Australian Government to stop the barbaric whaling by the Japanese in Australian waters.
Dec 26, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Australian, boats, catamaran, Gojira, high speed, Hobart, Japanese, maintenance, Sea Shepard, Tasmania, whaling | Comments Off on Sea Shepard – Gojira – Greenpeace on steroids!
Well for those of you who don’t know I have packed up my bags and along with my enduring partner Emily we have embarked on a new adventure. The thomasjupe.com blog has moved to
Australia! We will be travelling around Australia for the next year and I hope to keep this blog going although content updates will depend on wifi access so blog articles may be posted in clumps!
The Journey
With a past history of some truly eventful journeys under our belts, Emily and I approached the idea of travelling all the way round the world with unease. Our history includes some of the worst possible hiccups from writing off my car in the french alps, forgetting my credit card in Paris North Station, Emily getting stuck on the tarmac of manchester airport for 10 hours before the flight being cancelled and so on!
This trip fortunately passed without so many calamities, of course there were a few set backs, being stuck for an extra 2 hours in
Shanghai Airport with not a clue as to when they would open the flight or cancel it completely being my favourite and of course we must be the only people able to land at the start of summer in
Melbourne with rain coming down!
Of course in keeping with my “photography blog” genre I have my
Canon 5D Mark 2 with me and over the course of the journey have documented small fragments of it using the impressive
HD video recording capabilities. With over 10GB of raw video chilling out on my hard-drive waiting to be processed into a watchable movie, it may take a while but watch this space for my first venture into the
DSLR HD video world.
Dec 06, 2010 | Categories: General | Tags: Australia, Aviation, Business, Digital single-lens reflex camera, Melbourne, Recreation, travel, Travelogues | Comments Off on Australia – The journey across!
The Prime Minister has bowed to intense public pressure regarding his ‘personal’ photographer. Andrew Parsons will no longer be paid for by the British Public now but by the Conservative Party instead.
David Cameron has originally argued that Andrew Parsons would not just be working for the Prime Minister in Downing Street but would have a “cross-departmental role across Whitehall.” but he now admits that it probably sent out the “wrong signal”
This decision will also affect Ms Woodhouse who was employed by the government to be a videographer for the PM’s WebCameron website.
See More :
Nov 16, 2010 | Categories: Photography In The News | Tags: Andrew Parsons, Cabinet Office, Civil service, Conservative, David Cameron, Downing Street, Photography News, WebCameron, Whitehall | Comments Off on Photography in the news – Cameron’s ‘Personal’ Photographer NO LONGER Paid For By The Tax Payer
Win a Ipad 16GB with the MedGadget photography competition. They are accepting all types of medical photography and illustrations from anyone. Check out their MedGadget Photography & Photoshop Competition webpage for more details.
I have had a browse of my hardrive and come up with a couple of images, all you have to do is add it to your flickr stream and tag it with “imaginemedicine” and “medgadget” keywords. All entries to be in for 11:59pm ET on December 5, 2010. The winner will be announced on December 10th and the prize is a brand new 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi.
View my Cat Scan Pics at Flickr
Nov 16, 2010 | Categories: Photography Competitions, Photography In The News, Photography Inspiration, Uncategorized | Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Arts and Entertainment, Cat Scan, competition, IPad, Medgadget, opportunist, Photo, photography, photography stock, stock, Win | Comments Off on MedGadget Photography Competition!
Today we went to see the Koalas at the conservation centre on Phillip Island, Australia. 
