Bill Hatcher Photography

Possum on a Wire

Possums might be a common thing in Australia, but like so much of the wildlife I've seen on my travels around the country I find them to be a strange and delightful sight. On a walk last night I saw a couple running on a power line. I ran home to get my camera and the little guys were still up there when I got back.

On a technical aside I would never have thought of making this photo in the film days.For this I used a Nikon D3s ISO 10,000 1/20 sec f 2.8, the lens was a 70-200 VRII shot at 92mm handheld. The focus is set for the nearrest possum. The possum are illuminated by a sodium vapour street light. The clouds are illuminated by a bright moon.

River Sign

A quiet morning paddling on the Lane Cove River near Sydney with a traffic sign warning boaters the water will be ending soon.

 

Bridge City Cycle

It's an urban jungle out there and I've discovered there is no better way of exploring the concrete trails and roads of Sydney than on my bike. I am especially impressed with Sydney's many bridges. Maybe Sydney should be renamed the bridge city. Below are photos riding around Sydney's two largest bridges the ANZAC and the Harbour Bridge from a view you won't see in a car. My thanks to riders Kath Bicknell and Mike Blewit of the Subaru/MarathonMTB team.

 

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: Little Blue stock Car

Unlike many photographers out there who have given up on stock agencies I still send images into my stock agency at National Geographic Images. Yep my return on investment with stock photography is down from what it was a few years ago, but my photo stock is still making money.

Today I am reviewing the file naming for a batch of photos NG Images has selected. Included are some photos from Iceland I shot a year and a half ago.

I saw this scene while on a hike to photograph volcanic vents near Lake Myvatn in Iceland.  I just love the tiny blue car on a lonely strip of road in this unlikely setting. This is what a family vacation might be if you decided to go to Iceland instead of Paris. 

Photo(s) of the Week: shooting with a 35 mm focal length lens

I am thinking about getting the new Fuji X100 compact camera that is being released this month. One possible issue with the camera is it has a fixed lens. I wondered if this fixed 22 mm (35 mm equivilent) lens would work for me or if it would be a big limitation.

I found the answer to this qustion by looking at images I am editing for my stock agency. I checked the metadata from those images to see what focal length I used. It turns out I use the classic street photography focal length of 35 mm quite often.  Here is a selection of the photos that I took using my Nikon D300s at the 35 mm focal length. The 35mm focal length does seem to have a timeless street style look. I guess this means I'll have to place my order.

     

All these these images are taken in either mainland Australia or Tasmania.