Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts from the ‘Flora and Fauna’ category

canna lilies, Farm Cove, New South Wales, Royal Botanic Garden, RTW10, Sydney, Australia, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, forty

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

30 September 2012.

Near Farm Cove in Sydney, Australia, flower bed number 150 on the grounds of the Royal Botanic Garden contains these red canna lilies. The bright new springtime bloom appears in front of the famous Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (known also as the “Coathanger”).

I made the image on 30 Sep 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and these settings: 1/1600-sec, f/5, ISO200, 50mm focal length (80mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-mwC.

Eremophila splendens, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, thirty-eight

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

15 September 2012.

In Perth, the sun, warmth, and visitors are in great abundance on this late-winter afternoon in Kings Park. One of the plants highlighted in the park is “eremophila splendens” which thrives in the area around Perth in western Australia. A full bloom in spring, the plant’s distinguishing features are the very “hairy” green leaves and red tubular flowers. The etymology for the plant name is provided by the Australian Native Plants Society:

•   Eremophila: from Greek eremos, “desert”; and phileo, “to love”; that is, “desert loving”, referring to the habitat.
•   splendens: Latin meaning “shining or splendid”, referring to the plant’s appearance.

I made the image on 15 Sep 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and these settings: 1/50-sec, f/5, ISO400, 50mm focal length (80mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-mu1.

Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Australia

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, thirty-four

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

25 August 2012.

The Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary lies in the southwest corner of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia (SA). The sanctuary is home to a lot of mammalian marsupials, including kangaroos and koalas. With a long lens, the image above shows a koala mum in the trees. Her “joey” is just visible and tucked underneath at the 9-o’clock position (relative to the viewer). Emanating from the mammalian bipeds below are excited whispers of “look there!” and “awwwwwww!”

I made the image on 25 Aug 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and these settings: 1/500-sec, f/5.6, ISO200, and 250mm focal length (400mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-moz.

New Zealand fur seal, seal pup, Admirals Arch, Cape du Couedic, Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Australia, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, thirty-three

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

25 August 2012.

We’ve hopped on a ferry from mainland South Australia to Kangaroo Island. In the island’s southwest corner is an arch-shaped formation called Admiral’s Arch; from here, it’s over 3000 kilometres of open water to the Antarctic coast. Although rocks here are pounded by wave-action from the waters of the South Pacific, New Zealand fur seals and their pups are present in an out-of-bounds area set aside as a safe breeding area. This is where long-glass (zoom-lens) is handy, but from a very safe distance.

I made the image on 25 Aug 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and these settings: 1/160-sec, f/5.6, ISO100, and 300mm focal length (480mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-mkR.

Tule elk, Point Reyes, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, San Francisco, California, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, one

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

1 Jan 2012, day trip from San Francisco.

On a beautiful breezy New Year’s Day afternoon in the Point Reyes National Seashore, we saw a group of free-range tule elk roaming in meadows of high grass in the southlands near Drakes Beach. The tule elk had been hunted to near extinction at the end of the 19th-century, but a program to increase numbers in the early-1980s means the population has now grown to a few hundred in total. A elk bull with a missing horn appears in the image above. The male bull has lost a fight to the “alpha” bull surrounded by a group of females. I feel kinda bad for “stumpy”, alone and half in exile …

Tule elk, Point Reyes, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, San Francisco, California, USA, fotoeins.com

Alpha bull surrounded by females.

I made the photos above on 1 Jan 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi). Both images were made at 300mm focal length (480mm full-frame equivalent), f/8, and ISO100; exposure times are 1/125- and 1/200-sec, respectively. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lvw.

Ruta 5, Carretera Panamericana, Panamerican Highway, Region de Antofagasta, Chile, fotoeins.com

Under the desert sun

Above/featured: Ruta 5 (highway 5), a ribbon-like cut through the desert in Región de Atacama, Chile – 24 Nov 2009 (450D).

It’s an interesting question: how does one consider, view, or photograph what’s under the sun? There’s a lot of room for interpretation. Modifying the theme for the desert sun, I examine the “quality of sunlight” within the Atacama Desert in northern and north-central Chile, and within the Sonoran Desert in southwest United States.

( Click here for images and more )

Georgengarten, Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, Gartenreich, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, fotoeins.com

Dessau: George Gardens, Garden Kingdom UNESCO WHS

Above/featured: Guided Bauhaus tour stopping momentarily in the Georgengarten.

How times have changed: I wouldn’t have given Dessau a second thought a time ago. But after speaking with representatives from Saxony-Anhalt and after spending a few days in the city, I’ve better understood the historical and cultural significance, and those who feel strongly about culture and history should give Dessau a chance.

Dessau is a German city of about 80-thousand people in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, and is known as the second capital of Bauhaus in the early 20th-century movement of modernism for design and architecture which has been given inscription as World Heritage Site.

If you’re in town to check out various Bauhaus sites, there’s a 2nd heritage setting over a vast green space. East of the Bauhaus Masters’ Houses are a set of Roman ruins marking the edge of Georgengarten (George Gardens); further in the park is the Schloss Georgium (Georgium Palace). Since 2000, both Georgengarten and Schloss Georgium are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s shared with the neighbouring city of Wörlitz.

( Click here for more )

Grouse Mountain, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, BC Day, fotoeins.com

The Nature of Living Things

Above/featured: A warm summer afternoon on Grouse Mountain: North Vancouver, BC – 1 August 2016 (450D).

It’s a play on the title of a long-running documentary series on science and technology: “The Nature of Things” airs on Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC. “Nature” can mean different things to different people, but I’ve three words in mind: flora, fauna, and mountains. Having begun photography as an active interest relatively late from 2005, it’s been a wondrous journey of non-stop discovery. Between 2007 and 2018, the following locations provided backdrops and venues to photographs about “nature.”

  • Argentina: Buenos Aires
  • Australia: Kangaroo Island, SA
  • Australia: Rottnest Island, WA
  • Austria: Alpbach
  • Canada: North Vancouver, BC
  • Canada: Vancouver, BC
  • Chile: Región de Coquimbo
  • Germany: Karlsruhe
  • Germany: Kassel
  • New Zealand: Akaroa
  • New Zealand: Homer Tunnel
  • South Africa: Cape Town
  • USA: Mount Vernon, WA
  • USA: Point Reyes National Seashore, CA
  • USA: Tucson, AZ

( Click here for images and more )

Mountain goats, fauna, Alpine fauna, Karwendel, Alpinewelt Karwendel, Bergwelt Karwendel, Mittenwald, Bavaria, Bayern, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: mountain goats on Austria’s Karwendel

I see movement at the corner of my eye: two little dark blips move slowly against a field of loose rock, boulders, and patches of snow.

At the mountain station of the Karwendel cable car, few venture through the 430-metre (1411 feet) “under rock” tunnel to Dammkar. On the other side is a predominantly east-facing view of the Karwendel mountains along the border ridge between Germany and Austria.

I install the 70-300 glass, and my first guess is that they’re mountain goats. Google Maps tells me later they were at a distance of over 500 metres (550 yards). Even with full-frame and maximum 300mm focal length, I don’t have enough spatial resolution to determine whether the quadrupeds are Alpine ibex (Alpensteinbock) or chamois (Gams). My best guess is that they’re the latter.

Mountain goats, fauna, Alpine fauna, Karwendel, Alpinewelt Karwendel, Bergwelt Karwendel, Mittenwald, Bavaria, Bayern, Germany, fotoeins.com

A pair of mountain goats, most likely Alpine chamois.

I made the above photo on 30 May 2018 with the Canon 6D, 70-300 glass, and the following settings: 1/1000-sec, f/8, ISO1000, and 300mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie on fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bUD.

Sonnenblumen, Bienen, sunflowers, bees, Park Weinberg, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, fotoeins.com

Awake the Giant

Before visiting the Grimmwelt museum in Kassel, Germany, I spent some time in the neighbouring park on Weinberg hill. Among many flowers, various bees and insects were in orbit-, launch-, and landing manoeuvres. I watched a bee land, and there was a composition of yellow sunflowers with dark centres surrounded by green leaves and trees against a backlit clear blue sky.

A larger bumblebee landed on the same flower, and I expected a “bumblin’ tumblin’ battle royale.” But it went quick, as the bumblebee first nudged then pushed its smaller cousin off the yard. Presumably satisfied with its sip, the bumblebee flew off shortly thereafter. I waited a few more minutes, but neither bee returned.

Gathering pollen is tough work for a tough crowd. The real truth is the world needs bees to remain healthy, thrive, and flourish.

Sonnenblumen, Bienen, sunflowers, bees, Park Weinberg, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, fotoeins.com
Sonnenblumen, Bienen, sunflowers, bees, Park Weinberg, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, fotoeins.com

“Move aside, and let the bee go through …”

Sonnenblumen, Bienen, sunflowers, bees, Park Weinberg, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, fotoeins.com
Sonnenblumen, Bienen, sunflowers, bees, Park Weinberg, Kassel, Hesse, Hessen, Germany, fotoeins.com

Sonnenblumen und Bienen

As I’m product of the 1980s, the post title is a nod to Lawrence Gowan’s “Awake the Giant” (1987). I made the photos above on 1 October 2017. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bIt.

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