Beginning a long journey
Green Turtle hatchling, crosses the reef flat, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
You can purchase an Open Edition print of this photograph at my main site.
The instinctual and relentless paddling of a sea-turtle hatchling could have you looking for a battery compartment. Emerging from their eggs, sometimes as far as a metre below the sand's surface, their over-sized flippers start to paddle, upward 'til they break the surface. Once free of the sand, flippers now paddling alternately, determined, it's down the beach, to run the gauntlet of predatory seabirds that gather at the rookeries every summer. Now the first touch of seawater - its body suspended - flippers paddling in unison now, big strokes, less resistance. More predators await, as it crosses the reef flat, still the birds above and now hungry fish below. Still paddling, surfacing for a breath, submerged again, determined to get clear of the busy reef. It's been a frantic start to what will hopefully be a long life at sea.
Nikonos V w/15mm UW Nikkor, Fuji Velvia 50 ISO
THE STORIES BEHIND THE PICTURES
Here you'll find an insight into the making of some of my pictures.
Each story can be downloaded as a pdf that you can print and keep.
River of Gold
Canyon walls reflect an afternoon glow into the lower chute of the Mitchell Falls, the Kimberley, Western Australia, May 2003
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The isolation of the Mitchell Plateau keeps it off the itinerary of all but the more adventurous Kimberley travellers (some make it in by 4WD; others choose to come by air).
Once Upon an Oryx
Namib Desert, on the south-west coast of Africa, July 1999
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A couple of hours before dawn, I have woken my friends, taken a cup of thick coffee and set off toward the dunes of my dreams. My first morning on the ground in Namibia, and I have vivid images of warm light, long shadows, and towering dunes etched in my mind.