Photo memories – South Australia

Today, I have started the mammoth task of slowly working through my catalogue of nearly 20,000 image files from the road-trip, in an attempt to feature a few memories each week, as well as find a few of my favourite images.  I took quite a bit of kit with me in the end including my Canon 5DM3 and 5 lenses, my new Olympus OMD10 with 2 lenses as well as an old infrared camera and of course my IPhone.  It would be fair to say that they didn’t all get used as frequently as each other.  The Olympus, mainly due to weight was my camera of choice on walks or when we were mobile and travelling.  It was a fantastic travel camera and the kit lenses were pretty good for coverage.  I will be planning some upgrades in the future now doubt.  My main camera, the Canon I used for all the low light shoots, sunsets and sunrises and I also tried out my last lens purchase, just prior to the trip, which is a 100-400.  It was mainly purchased for wildlife, for opportunities on the trip but also beyond.  Needless to say it was perfect for that but I also discovered it to be an excellent wave lense when the location was right.  I will always remember standing atop the cliffs on the Nullarbor  or on the beaches, trying to capture that perfect curl in the wave.

But back to the wildlife, this image was the very first trial of the lense at Seal Bay in Kangaroo Island.  It was a lovely spot, where in guided groups we could go down on to the beach and actually get pretty close to some of the seals basking, but the longer lens meant I could try and focus on a few of the ones a bit further away and witness some of their natural behaviours just a little closer.  I have wanted to process one of my images from Seal Bay right from the start, but decided to keep all the processing until I returned.  I have a few favourites, but this one reflects the sense of family as we saw lots of mothers and cubs together on the beach, chilling out and watching the waves.