Photographing Flowers in Kakadu National Park, Australia
Striking sunset light provides a brilliant backdrop for these flowers in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia.
Here’s some lovely nature based photos I made in the garden at Cooinda Lodge in Kakadu. I was working on a commercial assignment photographing stills for a TV documentary on the environment and Kakadu National Park was one of a variety of fabulous locations featured in that series.
When Lightroom Was Rubbish
I’d been a serious photographer for many years. However, back when this photo was made, I was relatively new to a full digital workflow.
I was using my first DSLR camera, a Canon 5D, and Lightroom Version 1.0 which had been on the market for less than 5 months. It wasn’t all that stable back then.
In fact I was never able to download more than 13 images before it crashed causing me to have to continually restart my laptop computer.
As a result a prolific day's photography was followed with a very late night importing and backing up the images, no more than 13 at a time.
It was a tough ten day job, but great fun just the same. Thankfully workflow has improved dramatically since those days.
Know Your Limitations
This particular image was made in the grounds of the Cooinda Lodge in Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory.
I returned to the lodge earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised with the room I'd booked, which had been updated significantly since my last stay. The restaurant is also excellent as is the service from the very friendly and accommodating staff.
Kakadu is a Beautiful and Wild Environment
I’ve had the good fortune to have visited and photographed Kakadu National Park on three occasions and, each time, I was very conscious of all the things there that could kill me.
Nonetheless, it’s a great place to visit so long as you exercise basic common sense. This is Australia, after all.
I simply cannot understand while certain tourists choose to swim in waterholes and rivers ignoring the signs warning of the potential of crocodile attack. That’s just nuts!
A beautiful flowering bush in the gardens of Cooinda Lodge in Kakadu, Australia.
Photography And The Choices You Make
I remember waiting with other members of the crew to show up for our evening meal at Cooinda Lodge. We were all outside sitting around picnic tables cooling off after a very hard day working on location.
Despite my fatigue, the warm end of day light got me up and moving, looking for a photo opportunity.
Other folks jumped at the sight of water being propelled upwards. World Champion swimmer, Ian Thorpe, had decided to take a quick dip in the resorts swimming pool and, once he gets that famous kick going, water begins to fly.
But I was more interested in exploring the lush gardens at Cooinda Lodge and, at that time of day, the transforming and transcendental nature of the light was something to behold.
I was rewarded with these intimate views of flowers in the hotel garden. Such simple images, yet some of my favorites from the trip and a nice reward after such a long and hard days work.
I guess the lesson here is that, no matter how tired you feel, the day’s not over for the landscape photographer until the light is well and truly gone.
And even then flash and night photography possibilities come to the fore. Though, perhaps, such endeavors are best explored in environments less wild than Kakadu.