Bill Hatcher Photography

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

Street Art Show, Sydney

It's unique living in a city where you can paddle your sea kayak over to a big art show. That happened today when Melanie and I crossed the Sydney Harbour to check out the work by over 150 street artist, including Banksy, being exhibited on Cockatoo Island. These are photos of the art.

  

    
           

 
 Also a tee shirt exhibit.

Much of the street art was exhibited an authentic manner and could be found in and on warehouse buildings.  but some works, like these by Banksy, were framed and hanging gallery-style.

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

Photo of the week: Murrumbidgee River

Sea kayaking upstream on the Murrimbigee River past a big red gum tree lining the bank near Gundagai, New South Wales. In places the strong river currents would grab the bow of the boat. Going upstream was a practice of eddy hopping to avoid fighting the strong currents in the main stream. Paddling down stream was much easier, you just needed to watchful and not wrap the boat on submerged logs. Photo was made using my Nikon D-3s with the 24-70 2.8 at 24 mm.

 

 

Weather and Photography

Next Week I am loading up the sea kayaks for a trip down south. I'll be spending five days on the Murray River. I am excited to spend time on this river which is Australia's longest river. Plans while exploring the Murray include a chance to paddle through the recently declared Barmah National Park, located 40 kilometers upstream from the river town of Echuca. This park protects a remarkable forest of river red gum trees that are the iconic tree of the Murray River. These red gums require periodic floods as part of their life cycle. Currently the Barmah is in flood and a boat will be the best way to view the forest.

Of course before leaving on any trip I check the seven day weather forecast and I am pleased with the report. The chance of rain is 90% during my entire week on the river and in the Barmah forest! I am excited for this weather because it means there is a higher liklihood of good storm light and better saturated colors in the rain soaked forest.

Being on a river during a storm is a great photo opportunity since storms often follow river basins and can be the catalyst for dramatic and quick changing light conditions. My last experience with river storm light was just last month while packrafting down the Huon River in Tasmania. I've included two photos I took during that trip. 

As we paddled down the Huon River I would try to position myself  between my two packrafting mates, Roman and Cody Dial. This position allowed me to shoot a boater both downstream and back upstream. That was the perfect place to be when I saw this remarakable rainbow form above Cody downstream. I stopped paddling and was able to shoot a few frames of Cody as he continued downriver. 

Then I waited for Roman to appear. As I sat in my packraft the rain moved upstream, the rainbow faded and I was soon getting drenched as the cloud passed over me. The cloud continued upriver and just then the sun broke through as Roman came in sight. The sun illuminated the rain drops perfectly against the dark forest.

I was able to frame Roman in the corner and fill the rest of the photo with the falling rain drops. I guess that is what's called getting lucky with the weather. My fingers are crossed that I'll have the same opportunities on the Murray.

Photo of the Week

When I started this blog a couple of years ago my intention was simple to post stories from my photography adventures downunder. Originally I planned to post something from an adventure once every couple of weeks or so. I am changing that focus a little by adding the "Photo of the Week". This might be a photo taken during the week or a photo I've pulled while editing images from a recent assignment or filling a stock request. "Photo of the Week" is a chance for me to share something cool that I saw or photographed during the week-look for it on Monday or if you live on the other side of the dateline Sunday. 

I will also continue posting my regular adventure stories.

The photo below is my first in the "Photo of the Week" series. This is a photo I made yesterday in Marramarra National Park. Melanie and I were paddling home after an overnight kayak trip to explore the Marramarra Creek that flows into the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney. To get this shot I climbed a tree to find the right composition for this unique stand of mangrove trees at the entrance to Big Bay. The trees are about to be submerged by the rising ocean tide.

camera Nikon D-300s lens 16-85 3.5-5.6 @ 16 mm   settings: 1/80 sec.  f7 iso 200