Today Photo Rangers hosted the Melbourne Photography Excursion (MPE) group onboard the Wildlife Coast Cruises whale cruise around the island.
Although we did not see any whales we had a great time in perfect weather and saw lots of seals, albatross and dolphins.
These were shot with a Fujifilm XT3, 100-400mm
We were very proud to participate in this year's Island Whale Festival. We shot event photos, gave a lecture on telling the Whale's story in photos and conducted a Wildlife and Whale photography workshop out on Cape Woolamai.
We had a blast promoting our little island, promoting a better environmental understanding, hanging out with friends and locals and celebrating our seasonal visitors the Whales.
If you missed the event this year I would highly recommend you go ahead and mark it on your 2020 calendar as a weekend to spend on the island!
Today we held the Wildlife and Whale Photography as part of the Island Whale Festival workshop on the Cape Woolamai Track. We had perfect conditions and we found numerous wildlife to photograph and even three whales who came close to the cliff side to give us a nice view of them travelling North to their breeding grounds in warmer waters. Here are a few select shots from this afternoon.
It's the Island Whale Festival and we started off with a bang! TWO Southern Right's were water dancing off the Summerlands Beach yesterday. Southern Right whales are much rarer than the migrating Humpbacks.
They were amazing to watch and one of these photos shows one of them pushing the tail of the other out of the water using its head. Amazing to behold these two playing around in the water just off the beach!
Another photo shows the classic V-shaped blow of Southern Rights.
These photos were taken from just behind the Penguin Parade on the cliff top overlook.
Tomorrow Cecilia will be presenting "The whale in focus: Constructing cetacean subjectivity in photo essays". This is a FREE event at 4pm in Cowes but you must register beforehand on this link: https://www.trybooking.com/BDUOM
On Sunday we'll be leading a Wildlife and Whale Photography tour ($80) along the Cape Woolamai Track. If you want to join us, here's the registration link: https://www.trybooking.com/BCOOS
Here I am at age 10 wearing a "Save the Whale" badge in of all places my Aunty's house in Japan. I was a pretty political kid and held strong views about protecting whales at a time when they were being killed all over the world by the thousands, particularly in Japan. So it is incredibly sad that after 40 years, Japan is still doing the same thing and has also just resumed commercial whaling.
I will be talking about this photograph and how to use photographs like it to create photo essays during the Island Whale Festival. Photography has the power to create change by telling stories. You can use your photography to create change too. Session details can be found on the Island Whale Festival website. The session is called "The whale in focus: Constructing cetacean subjectivity in photo essays" See details at the Island Whale Festival Program page: http://islandwhales.com.au/program/saturday/
Windy and Cold this afternoon on the island but that didn't seem to bother these critters.
Shot on a Fujifilm XT3 and 100-400mm lens
I've just added am Astro Workshop for this Saturday evening. I have 4 people already coming and thought I would open it up for anyone else who's interested. I can only take a couple more so if you want to join us Saturday evening, see the event details under Events and contact me asap.
This was taken from Cadillac Canyon where we will be Saturday evening.
We are well into whale season and Phillip Island has had a bumper week with whale sightings. But it's also a time to be mindful about how we shoot and represent whales on social media, especially in relation to drone photography. Drones are fantastic and they are used for a number of benevolent purposes, including research. But flying a drone under a height of 500m above a whale is illegal. In fact, flying a drone anywhere above Phillip Island Nature Park managed areas is illegal on Phillip Island. The regulations can be found here: https://www.penguins.org.au/conse…/conservation/regulations/
If you see someone flying a drone over a whale during whale season, please call Phillip Island Nature Parks.
Whales communicate by echo location. They are sensitive to certain frequencies of sound. While drones may not be loud, it may emit a sound that is distressful to whales.
If you do see a post of a whale shot by drone on social media, avoid sharing it. People who are ignorant of the law will go out and use their drone to shoot whales, thinking they too can get an "instagrammable" shot. Sometimes you can be an influencer by staying silent. We almost killed off the whales once. Let's not do it again.
If the incredible number of whales around the island is not enough to get you excited about our two day workshop in July, watch our mate and host and for the weekend Randall from The Sheltered Glamping Co. talk about the great things around the island including his awesome accommodation.
Only 4 spaces remaining, this workshop will sell out. Contact Benjamin Eriksson Photography or I if you want more info or want to reserve your spot.
Amazing promo Randall!
Mark Hill from South Australia completely restored and added custom Photo Ranger red leathers to this 43 year old Olympus Trip 35 for me. It does not have a nick, scratch or speck of dust on it anywhere. It looks the same (except for the red leather) as it did when was manufactured in July of 1976.
Mark did an excellent job on this beauty. Thanks Mark!
In a few weeks, I will publish a comparison of several ultra-compact rangefinder 35mm film cameras. Stay tuned :-)
More froth than a hipster coffee bar.
Button up your coats and hang on to your hats boys and girls, it's gonna be wild.
No workshops this weekend but we are heading up for the next Mega photography Weekend in July.
I shared a sunset with a small flock of endangered Hooded Plovers on Sunday night.
They were doing the hoodie hustle all along the beach. Have you ever seen how fast these critters can move their legs? Taking photos in the low light was a challenge with them going half the speed of light down the beach but I got lucky with this one.
It was so nice to see so many healthy birds hanging out on our beach.
Yep, that's right, it was a perfect afternoon for a One 2 One Workshop.
Mega Photography Weekend #7 almost fully booked!! If you want to join Benjamin Eriksson Photography and Photo Rangers on a weekend of awesome workshops, breathtaking accommodation and a big whale cruise, check out 'Events' on Facebook or our website for details and registration info.
This will be an awesome experience!
With
Wildlifecoast Cruises Phillip Island
Samyang Optics Australia
MeFoto Australia
PROtog - Athabasca Filters
The Sheltered Glamping Co.
"The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit and freedom." ~ Sharon Ralls Lemon
We had no scheduled workshops today so I hung out with these guys this beautiful crisp morning.
Shot with a Fujifilm X Series AU XT3 and 100-400mm lens
Its Wednesday and it's downhill to the weekend from here. Have a great week!
Taken during a recent workshop with a Fujifilm XT3 and 10-24mm lens.
We had a perfect afternoon for our Smartphone workshop. Big waves and sunshine were the order of the day. We shot in 'Live View' mode, black and white and Pro Camera RAW formats. After spending the afternoon shooting, we edited our photos in Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile.
This Saturday we'll be holding our Smartphone photography workshop on Bore Beach, San Remo. Join us and learn how to push your phone and your photography to greater levels.
Here are a few recent shots I have taken on my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and edited using apps installed on the phone.
I'll be sending out an email in the next couple of days to those attending on recommended Apps to download and install before Saturday's workshop.
If you are interested in attending, let me know ASAP.
We were literally blown away in today's One 2 Once workshop with Joanna. The wind picked up to roof ripping proportions as we were walking the Cape track. Regardless of the wind, the Wallabies were enjoying the day and we got some pretty epic shots of the rugged Cape Woolamai coastline.
Remember that on Saturday we have the Astro Workshop, places are almost all taken. If you want to join along, contact me ASAP.
Next Saturday, 1 June 2019. I have a couple of places left. If you are interested in attending, contact me asap.
