San Diego

One of the most fun places to visit in the USA would have to be San Diego. It's warm sunny days allow for the visitor to see and do so much. There's the massive and world famous San Diego Zoo, which you need to allow a full day for but probably still wont see everything, Walk to a MLB game at the San Diego Padres stadium (Petco Park) which is right in the middle of town. Wander the historic Gaslight Quarter, Visit the beach, make the short trip to Anaheim to visit Disneyland or one of the other theme parks or head the other way down to Mexico. I couldn't list all the attractions in and around San Diego because there's so many but needless t say there's something for absolutely everyone. San Diego is my first stop when I visit the states. It's a relaxing 3 hour train trip from LA's union station along the coast. San Diego is well worth the visit. Here are a couple of my photographs from San Diego. Enjoy.

The Gaslight Quarter

Santa Fe Depot

A Flamingo at the San Diego Zoo

iPhone Photography

On of my favorite things to photograph when I'm out and about are panorama scenes. There's nothing better than capturing the big picture that one shot doesn't do justice to. 

Not only do I take photos with my camera and stitch them in Photoshop, I also utalised my iphone and a app called Autostitch to create panoramas. Here are two of the panoramas I took in the USA from a couple of years ago on my iphone. 

Enjoy and I'll see you next week.

Petco Park San Diego

Banff, Canada

New York City Wildlife

New York's Central Park is an oasis of wildlife right in the middle of one of the worlds biggest cities. The massive park area has a wide variety of bird and wildlife that is completely unexpected. There are bald eagles, owls, squirrels, racoons, about 270 varieties of birds, and various other mammals that call the park home. Recent stories have also placed a coyote there. 

It's a great location for photographers because what ever you're into photographing, whether it's scenery, animals, birds, people....it's all here!

Below are some of the birds and animals I photographed when in Central Park last year.

Central Park, New York City

A blue bird

Northern Cardinal

A squirrel enjoying the sun

More Reptiles...

Here are some more photos of reptiles that I have taken from my visits to the Melbourne Zoo and Australia Zoo in Queensland.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a great fun place to visit, it's one of my favorite spots in the USA.  It's old school meets new age, which makes it a great spot to break out the camera. 

There's plenty so do such as walking the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge, visit the intriguing Alcatraz (...just a foot note to that if your planning on visiting Alcatraz book your tickets before you get there as they sell out and if you're there in summer try and do the night tour, but rug up!), Head to the California Academy of Science (also get there early to get you free tickets to the shows), wander along the San Francisco Bay Trail and up to Filmore Street and much more. 

Be aware if you do alot of walking like I do, it's very very hilly.  The variety of food is also impressive and the massive size of the meals won't leave you hungry.

A Town car in Downtown San Francisco

Downtown San Francisco

Downtown San Francisco

The Exploratorium

Hong Kong

Just when I thought I could never see a more dynamic, crowded and non-stop city having visiting New York city...I was wrong...then there's Hong Kong.

The mix of the old and the new building, the crowded streets, the never ending shopping and street food stalls are total enthralling. The funny thing about a lot of Asian cities and Hong Kong is no exception is that nothing much is open or nothing really starts until around lunch time time then it springs to life and the beauty of this is that every thing remains open until well into the late night night. If you hate being surrounded by people 24/7 Hong Kong is not the place for you...but if you like seeing something new and interesting on every corner then this is the place.

Hong Kong is a photographers paradise there's so much to see and do and it's even better at night when it becomes a sea of lights and signs. Most photography equipment (in fact most things such as clothing, books ect) are so much cheaper in Hong Kong than anywhere else. My advise is if you are planning on buying camera equipment in Hong Kong check to see if the warranty is vaild in your own country, if that doesn't faze you then make sure you buy from a reputable store such as Fortress Electrical.

Downtown Mongkok

The view from the Peak

Downtown Mongkok

Hong Kong Skyline

The Peninsula Hotel

Pelicans

Today I've posted a couple of different photographs of pelicans.

The first photo is taken in Mentone, Victoria and shows a few pelicans resting on a wall. The area the pelicans are found in is behind a yacht club and a regular resting place for the birds which makes it a great place to photograph them...not to mention the giant water rats that live there as well.

   

The next two photographs were taken of a pelican as it came into land at Merimbula, NSW. 

These were both shot using the Canon 5D Mk2 and a 100-400mm Canon Lens.