6th January 2020

At the end of 2018 I promised myself and my wife that I would take more time off. For many decades now I have been taking photos of jewellery so I intended to take that camera gear and get out at least one day a week to take photos of anything other than jewellery.

My first challenge to myself was to try to learn how to take photos of things that moved (jewellery sits still for me) and my son playing football was a great opportunity. I spent most of the Rugby Union season at matches taking photos.

Regardless of the weather when it was time to have a break taking photos I went. On this day I had walked to the base of the North Johnstone River lookout and the weather turned quite inclement whilst I was at the base. I was already wet from being in the water taking photos, so the rain heading towards me was not a problem :)

During a visit to Murray Falls with my wife a Cassowary entered the carpark just as we were about to leave. Just before that trip we were talking about how we had never seen a Cassowary in the wild. 2019 would also be the first year that my wife and I would see a Tree Kangaroo in the wild.

When I do not have the time to travel very far I have a couple of favourite spots close to work that I can go to and just sit. Centenary Lakes is one of those spots.

On the day I took the above photo the reflection of the colourful Zhanjiang Friendship Garden Shelter was like a rainbow on the water.

When I do have time to drive I usually head up to the Tablelands. This photo of Emerald Creek falls was taken hand held with an exposure long enough to smooth the water just a touch. The challenge was to hold the camera steady to keep the rocks from blurring due to camera movement.

Not sure if I am more pleased with how the technique worked or how the photo looks. One things is for sure, my wife was not very impressed with where I stood to take the photo :)

Sometimes my wife comes with me on my photo walks. On this day I took her to Lake Eacham which much to my surprise she had never visited despite living in Far North Queensland for quite a few decades.

We have been back several times since and she loves to do the walk around the Lake.

Speaking of living in an area and not visiting nearby attractions, my wife and I visited Chillagoe for the first time in 2019. Amazing place and if you have never been you should go!

She did not get up at 4.30am with me to watch the moon set behind the balancing rock but she did spend the rest of the day with me at the caves in nearby Mungana.

When my wife and I visited Jourama Falls we were a little disappointed with the falls. This was mainly due to the walk up to the them, along the water and under the tree canopy, being so stunning!

If you love sunsets then the Tablelands is the place to go. I visit there at least once a month for work and when I can try to take in a sunset. Probably my favourite photo of 2019.

Keeping with the theme of taking time off, 2019 saw me return to Japan for the first time in 17 years. 2019 also saw my niece visit us from Japan.

When she visited she did the busy Japanese tourist thing and in my opinion missed out on so much. I just wanted her to slow down.

I showed her the above photo before she left to go home and asked her if she wanted me to take her there next time she visited. She replied “yes please, that is beautiful!”.

She grew up in Japan less than 2 kilometres from where I took that photo in 2019. She can visit there next time she goes back to her parents house.

We went to the top of Mount Komagatake during our visit to Japan to see some amazing views. However when the cable car arrived at the top we were unable to walk around the top of the mountain.

The weather was so bad with lightning that we had to stay at the cable car building. I was disappointed at the time but was really happy with the photo I took as a reminder to go back there on a day with better weather.

By the end of the 2019 Rugby season I was getting happier with the sports photos I was taking. This photo was taken mid season but JCU and Barron would meet again later in the year at the Grand Final. JCU was the victor in 2019.

Photographing sports is a challenge but animals, especially birds I find the hardest. This was one of the last photos I took of 2019 at my local go to spot, Centenary Lakes. At the start of 2019 I would have never been able to capture this moment.