Bill Hatcher Photography

Oman: Water in the Desert

This sink hole North of Sur, Oman looks inviting, but because it's near the coastline of the Indian Ocean it's brackish water. During my visit I was told that a few years ago a tourist drove his car into this sink hole and that event prompted Oman's Ministry of Tourism to build a fence around the sinkhole.

Photography in hot stinking deserts

My bags are packed today for a four week trip into the deserts of Oman and Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter. I am looking forward to a hot dusty month of photography in Oman, but don't get me wrong I like traveling and photographing in desert country. above is a photo I took a few years back while hiking the Boucher Trail in the Grand Canyon. For me the appeal of deserts is they are often unpopulated, remote and quiet. Also the people you come across who have spent their entire lives in deserts are always a tough interesting and bunch. I'll share a few of my Oman adventure in upcoming entries.

Gear failure on assignment

 I was back in Western Australia this week on assignment for Australia Geographic magazine and I had a gear failure incident. The odd thing is is the gear was what I would consider a solid piece of equipment, my firewire 800 cable. I guess I just take simple things like computer cords for granted when I connect

Sea Kayaking on the Shoalhaven River, NSW Australia

This weekend Melanie and I had two free days and the weather called for rain. We decided the best avenue for exploration was to see some new country from our sea kayaks.  Melanie and I headed south from Sydney 2 hours to paddle the Shoalhaven River Gorge in Morton  National Park.

Paddling a kayak on the quiet reservoir waters of Lake Yarrunga past stands of dead trees is not normally my idea of high adventure, but we have wanted to check this place out since last year when we paddled the Kangaroo river, the major tributary to the Shoalhaven. This was an overnight trip, but it took only a

No Teeth

Australia has a well deserved reputation for vicious and poisonous creatures. While I was walking on the Cape to Cape track on  Cape Naturaliste I came across this little guy, the Western blue-tongued lizard actually he's really a skink.

I am happy to report this species has no teeth and is non-poisonous, but I still wouldn't try to pet him. This one had a bad attitude and didn't enjoy the attention of a photographer.

Calgardup Cave, Western Australia

Driving north along the Caves Road, in Western Australia there are dozens of commercial caves. Guided tours are usually not my cup of tea, but when I saw the sign for "self-guided cave" I knew that was the one for me. This is Calgardup Cave located 250 kilometers south of Perth. This limestone cave isn't especially big or spectacular, but I had the whole cave to myself for close to two hours and that's worth the entry fee that also comes with a loan of a helmet and a couple of lights.

All I can say about cave photography is the light is always the same, total darkness.

Shooting Me Landscapes

When I am out alone shooting photography and there is no one around to photograph I just plug my Pocket Wizard wireless unit on my camera, put the camera on a tripod and shoot me. This is a series of photos from the Canal Rocks in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, Western Australia.

I think placing someone in a landscape just adds more drama to the shot. But I don't get too close to these wave washed rocks. While observing this sunset and sunrise from the rocks I watched intently for the so-called King waves. This location is just south of Yallingup a surfing destination known for it's epic waves. On the OZ coast these massive maverick waves regularly wash fishermen and the unwary out to sea. The evening I was shooting at Canal Rocks there there was a strong Westerly wind blowing off the

Warren National Park, WA

On my second day exploring WA I saw this view of a Karri forest with the iconic red dirt road. Most of the old growth Karri forest of WA has been cut down, but a few big stands still remain in a few National Parks and some isolated trees in state forest. In the later part of the 1800's when the trees were being felled the wood was shipped back to the European markets and used as paving blocks for roads in London and other cities. I heard that they still dig this wood up in the streets of London. 

This impressive stand is just above the Warren River along a one way road through the park.

Sydneys First Mountain Bike Park

Sydney has a new mountain bike park, it's first. I went there yesterday with riders Nic Learmonth, Kath Bicknell and Melanie Bell to check it out.

It's located on Sydney's North Shore at the Golden Jubilee Sports Field in North Wahroonga and borders Kuringai National Park. You couldn't find a more spectacular setting for a bike park. The new park has three trails with a XC trail on the steep west facing hillside and on the hilltop there is the pump track and bike skills trail.

My vote of the coolest trail goes to the XC- flow track and it makes for some nice photos as well.

The park was built in a short few months by World Trail an outfit based in Queensland. These pro's from the far north know about trail building in wet country and how to build a sustainable trail in a place like Sydney where it rains hard, I have no doubts this trail is built to last. The park's official opening isn't until next month, but the trails were open and already busy with riders this weekend. The bike park links

Cockatoo Island

Are adventure photographers inherently selfish people? Maybe we are. For the last few weeks I have been enjoying climbing, hiking, paddling and biking all over New South Wales, Australia, but you don't see any photographic proof of that here. Did I make any photos while I was out, a few, but most of the time my hands were full of sweaty bike bars or trying to