Watch the birdie /  by Mario Mirabile

Birds in the wild are very hard to get close enough to in order to get a frame-filling shot. Small birds in particular are very skittish and will tend retreat from any close approach. My usual method when I see a likely specimen is to advance slowly with the camera raised and avoid any sudden movement. Even so, I can rarely get within 10 meters, and they won't return to the same spot as long as I'm there. I've tried to sit and wait quietly in the hope they’ll get used to the idea of me being there, but I either haven't sat long enough or perhaps I need to devise a camouflage suit and work on my patience.

I was therefore quite surprised when this male Superb Fairywren (one of my favourite birds to photograph) allowed me to approach as close as I've ever been to one. He was foraging on the ground and would move away from me, but didn't fly off, staying about three to four meters ahead of me. He finally popped into a bush where he posed for a minute or so before finally flying off about his business. He's not the finest specimen I've seen, with his vibrant blue breeding plumage far from its best. I suspect he's a juvenile, which may account for his relative lack of caution, which I'm sure will develop as he matures. Curiously (or perhaps not...) the far less showy females are braver than their mates and have allowed me more close approaches than the males.

I shot all these with my 50-200mm SWD zoom with the 1.4x tele-converter attached. I think it's the first time I've take photos of a superb without the zoom cranked out to its maximum length.

 

The birds and the bees /  by Mario Mirabile

We're going to have a chat about the birds and the bees. Settle down now - I'm talking about the kind with wings. For the other sort, you really need to have a heart to heart with your parents.

I've always enjoyed chasing winged beasties, but I've never been one to disappear into the wilderness for days at a time. If you have the opportunity and patience, you can be rewarded with images like this one, captured by award winning photographer David Rennie. However if you don't have the wherewithal or time to trek into the wilderness, there's plenty wildlife to be found in our own back yards, our metropolitan parks and gardens, and the areas surrounding our cities.

I've always had trouble with crimson rosellas. The ones I've seen in Melbourne parks have been extremely timid and haven't let me approach within 20 metres. This one (and his friends) had been conditioned to humans by regular feeding, and although still wary let me get close enough to nearly fill the frame. I'd rather he had been sitting on a branch for a more natural feel to the shot, but it's still the best crimson I've had to date. Bees on the other hand are everywhere. They don't mind how close you get, but being extremely busy little creatures, they're not inclined to sit and pose. They're also surprisingly quick and I've had lots of images where all I've ended up with is a blurry bee bum disappearing out of the frame. It helps if you can find them gathering on a bigger flowers as there's enough nectar to keep them on the one bloom for more than a few seconds. I like the shape and variety of textures on his everlasting daisy as well.

Interestingly, both these shots were taken with the same lens. The Olympus 50-200mm SWD zoom is fast and super sharp - a great birding lens with or without the 1.4x tele-converter used for the bird shot. Add a 25mm extension tube and it becomes a really useful not-quite macro lens with nice long working distance - great for nervous bugs.

A bit random /  by Mario Mirabile

I took a walk into the city centre today. I had some banking to do, but other than that I had no particular project or goal in mind. Nevertheless I shoved my little Olympus XZ-1 into my pocket hoping something would catch my eye.

The Oly XZ-1 is a remarkable piece of kit for something that fits comfortably into a jacket or trouser pocket. It's three or four years old (a dinosaur by digital camera standards), but there still wouldn't be much that can touch it for image quality in its size class. This in no small part due to its superb lens, possibly the best on any compact not sporting the name Zeiss or Leica. It's not without its issues though. JPEG output is soft (mainly due to the non-configurable noise reduction), so shooting RAW is a must, and it lacks any sort of built-in viewfinder leading to the usual LCD visibility issues in bright light. But once you get used to its quirks, it's a superb walk-around imaging device.

Heeding the advice that the best camera is the one that you have with you, here are few random snaps from my walk today with the XZ-1.

Quiet please..... /  by Mario Mirabile

Charles La Trobe was Administrator of the Port Philip district of New South Wales before it became the separate colony of Victoria, at which time he became Lieutenant Governor. He was, in fact, in charge of the new colony, but due to the legal niceties of the times he was subordinate to the Governor of New South Wales, hence the Lieutenancy. A scholarly man and capable administrator, his tenure saw great improvement in the streets and sanitation of the capital. He also had the foresight to put aside large tracts of land close to the city centre for parks, gardens and reserves.

His legacy is commemorated by having a university, streets and numerous geographical features named in his honor. Perhaps the most stunning architectural tribute is the La Trobe Reading Room of the State Library of Victoria. The huge domed room was opened in 1913 and designed to hold 1,000,000 volumes and 500 readers. Open daily, it is a fitting tribute to a man of scholarship and foresight

Final flight /  by Mario Mirabile

A few last images from the RAAF Centenary of Military Aviation Airshow. Nimble Harvard trainers, the tail rotor of an Apache gunship, the engine of a C-17 Globemaster transport and the brooding menace of an F-111.

Australian Roulette /  by Mario Mirabile

The Roulettes are the Royal Australian Air Force aerobatic display team. After briefly operating two other aerobatic teams during the 1960s, the Roulettes were formed in 1970 as part of the RAAF's 50th anniversary and have been in continuous operation ever since. They tour Australia and overseas putting on around 150 flying displays per year showcasing Air Force flying skills. Originally flying Aermacchi MB 326H jet trainers, their current aircraft is the Pilatus PC-9/A trainer. 

Up, up and away /  by Mario Mirabile

On March 1, 1914, Lieutenant Eric Harrison took to the air in a Bristol Boxkite at Point Cook, south west of Melbourne. It was the first military flight in Australia, and to celebrate the centenary the Royal Australian Air Force staged an air show at Point Cook. There were static displays covering both historical and current military equipment and operations, and you could even apply to be the temporary guardian of a Belgian Shepherd puppy who might one day grow up to be a guard dog. But what everyone really came to see were the aerial displays.

Some fine examples of military flying machines spanning the whole hundred years put on a spectacular display throughout the day. Never having shot an airshow before, I found the learning curve to be quite steep. I got a bit over-confident early, but that was with pre-WWII planes. As the planes got faster, it progressively got harder to capture a good shot.  As a general rule, I found it was much easier to shoot hovering helicopters than F-18 Hornets on afterburner. Heat haze also became a factor as the day got warmer, but I found the effect can be quite interesting.

All in all the RAAF put on a good day and even managed to schedule near perfect weather. Happy birthday to the RAAF.

Not for the faint hearted.... /  by Mario Mirabile

The Block Arcade is a heritage listed shopping arcade connecting Collins and Elizabeth Streets in central Melbourne. L-shaped with a domed central atrium, it is lined with beautifully restored retail spaces, and at the Collins Street end you'll find one of the best places to get a sugar fix - the Hopetoun Tea Rooms.

Opened in 1891 for the Victorian Ladies Work Association and named for the founder Lady Hopetoun, it has become a Melbourne institution. It's not unusual to see a queue of eager customers lined up along the arcade waiting patiently for their chance to take a seat and sample the fare in an atmosphere of refined elegance. Although you can get a proper meal there, it has become justly famous for its high tea and remarkable selection of cakes and pastries. The window display, seen here early in the morning before hungry customers take their toll, is breathtaking in its decadence and an attraction in itself. 

It's certainly not something you'd attempt every day, but as a special treat, tackling the window display would be a noble effort. Just make sure you're not on a diet.

People of the night /  by Mario Mirabile

White Night Melbourne is a dusk-to-dawn cultural festival that, in its second year, attracted half a million people to the city centre for a feast of light shows, performances and artistic displays. It's been hailed as a great success - but call me a philistine if you like - I didn't particularly enjoy it once it got into full swing. It was virtually impossible to move around anything but the periphery or to see and enjoy anything other than the light shows projected onto buildings. Mind you, I've never been a fan of huge crowds at anything other than football matches, where at least the vast majority are seated with a common focus most of the time.

What I did enjoy was getting into the city early, having a bite to eat with friends and doing a bit of people watching.

Two hours before the scheduled start at 7:00 PM, the crowds were starting to build in Swanston street, but the elderly street portraitist didn't allow it to distract him as he studied his subject. Ernie was happy to have a chat as he sold his trinkets at the corner of Flinders Lane. The guitarist busking on the bridge gave a virtuoso performance with what looked to be not much more than a toy instrument. And the charming Leonie found time to smile for me as she sat across the communal table we shared at dinner.

Much better than seething crowds - for me at least.

Working class education /  by Mario Mirabile

RMIT University opened its doors in 1887 as the Working Men's College of Melbourne. Funded by pastoralist, politician and philanthropist Francis Ormond, it offered technical education to 320 men to support the industrialization of Melbourne in the late 19th century. From this modest beginning it has grown into the largest tertiary institution in Australia with more than 80,000 vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in a wide variety of business, technology and design disciplines.

The foundation campus - now one of many - is located in central Melbourne and has grown dramatically in recent years in an effort to keep up with the increasing demand for tertiary education places. The original site in La Trobe Street with its many heritage buildings is surrounded by newer constructions in a bewildering array of architectural styles. As they compete for the limited space available, they begin blending into one another in ways that are sometimes harmonious and sometimes jarring. It has appropriated parts of the Old Melbourne Gaol and Magistrate's Court as the justice system abandoned them in search of more modern accommodation and even taken over the derelict Capitol Theatre building to make room for its ongoing expansion. When you add suburban, country and even international campuses, the expansion shows no sign of slowing down.

Not too bad for a humble working man's college.

Not guilty, Your Honour /  by Mario Mirabile

The somewhat dilapidated sandstone building at the corner of LaTrobe and Russell Streets served as Melbourne's Magistrate' Court from 1914 to 1995, when it moved to more spacious and salubrious quarters in William Street. Before that it housed the Victorian Supreme Court where Sir Redmond Barry sentenced Ned Kelly to hang. Dear Ned, of course, went on to become a folk hero, lauded in song, film and literature. For his trouble, Sir Redmond was commemorated with a grand statue in front of the State Library and a rather dull building at the University of Melbourne.

Conveniently located next to the Old Melbourne Gaol (where Ned was dispatched) and across the road from the old Russel Street police complex, the court hosted an endless steam of Melbourne's law breakers, from the notorious Squizzy Taylor to those who had neglected to pay their parking fines. The decoratively arched main entrance was a regular feature of the evening news, instantly recognizable unlike its successor which could pass for any city office building were it not for the nervous looking accused and occasional bewigged barrister gathered around the entrance. Even the holding cells with their ornately barred ground level windows speak of an era when the majesty of the law was put on show for all to see.

Today, it's seriously in need of  restoration. The sandstone is weathered, and having been built to withstand the fumes of the horse and buggy era, is badly stained by  more than 100 years of exhaust fumes. It serves as a tourist attraction and an administrative facility for RMIT University, so there's hope that someone will find the money to restore it to its former glory.

Into the blue /  by Mario Mirabile

Blue is a colour associated with prestige, harmony, clarity and curiously, both happiness and sadness. Surveys tell us it's the most popular colour in western culture, but in other cultures it can indicate mourning or villainy. It's currently considered the colour which typifies boys but in earlier time was considered more appropriate for girls. It's the traditional colour of jeans, the most universally recognizable item of clothing. It's used by some animals to attract mates and by others to ward off predators. And it's the colour of the sky.

On a clear day it's everywhere we look. So rich and untouchable, its hues are unmatched by anything in our terrestrial experience. The shade of blue may vary according to the season and time of day, but as a sign of fair weather and fair winds, a blue sky is unambiguous in any culture and era.