What I did on my holidays

[slo crostic]

Anyone here ever seen Koyaanisqatsi or Powaqqatsi?

Possibly more the latter than former, both movies endevour to show the changes modern civilization has wrought on nature. Most of the images look almost unreal but at the same time utterly prosaic. I'm watching Koyaanisqatsi right now.

Beachgoers laying yards from a chemical plant (replace chemical plant with steel mill and you have Lake Michigan), desolate industrial complexes, a cityscape with cars as a circulatory system... and a movement from the natural valleys between mountains to the manmade centers of huge cities.

It's oddly enthralling.

Awesome films Merc, although I must say I like Koyaanisqatsi better than Powaqqatsi. I much prefer the destructive city scenes to the African tribal stuff. The scenes of the high rise buildings coming down in Koyaanisqatsi are just amazing, not to mention the time lapse footage in the cities.

Have you seen Baraka? If not you must get it. I believe it was done by the same people and is the more recent addition to the collection. Some great images in this one too. There's a scene with baby chickens on conveyor belts being piled on top of each other ready to be shuffled along, sexed and sorted, during which the scene changes back and forth to a packed subway station in Japan with people shuffling on and off trains and through turnstiles.
Such amazing imagery, it provokes thoughts in parts of your brain you didn't even know you had.

 

[slo crostic]

Aaah yes, the only problem with hemp, they can't make it iron-free..........yet.

 

[Mercutio]

slo, the DVDs I was watching have a trailer for the next movie in the "series", which will be called Naqoyqatsi - "Life as War". Since this will be the first of the movies since the advent of inexpensive computer animation, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the new one compares to the two I watched this weekend.

 

[slo crostic]

I thought it was about time they released another one. Sounds good, I'll have to keep my eye out for it.
Will be interesting to see how they deal with the topic of war.
Baraka came out about 4-5 years ago and there were no computer animations in that film, so I'd be surprised to see any animated scenes in Naqoyqatsi.

 

[Tea]

Well, I could tell you all where Tannin and I have been hiding these last few days, but seeing as Tannin already wrote this this time last year, I could just bump this thread instead. And, maybe, post a picture or two of the creatures we are doing it for. Hang on a tic, I'll see what I can drag out of the notebook. Where did I put that network cable?

 

[Tea]

It's not all about Regent Honeyeaters, there are lots of species that are in trouble. One of them is the Grey-crowned Babbler. Babblers are very social birds that live in family groups of between 4 and about 15 birds. They move about together, feeding and building nests (not just for laying eggs in, they like to sleep in nests just because they like sleeping in nests) and babble on to one another all the time: a cheery, bubbling, never-ceasing flow of banter. Wonderful birds.

They are really struggling becase of, in the main, fragmentation of habitat. Babblers spend most of their time on the ground and, like most ground-feeding birds are not strong fliers. This is no problem for them in undisturbed habitat: they are woodland birds and there is always shelter for them not too far away.

Now, however, the great expanses of woodland have been cleared for agriculture and the babblers must try to eke out a living in the remnant stands of trees by the sides of roads and places like that. When they travel from one stand of trees to another, they must cross large open areas, and are easy prey for raptors.

Anyway, here is another Grey-crowned Babbler fresh out of the shower ... er ... I mean ... shortly after bathing. There were about 5 of them, all busy shaking out their feathers and getting oorganised for the day. Obviously, they had all been dipping in the same puddle. They like doing things together, babblers do.

 

[Tea]

This fellow, a Common Brushtail Possum, is not in the slightest endangered. Indeed, they are bordering on being a pest in urban areas, and in New Zealand (where they were introduced about 150 years ago) they are seriously nasty vermin that has been responsible for untold amounts of damage to the ecosystem.

No matter: here in the bushland of Australia they are part of the natural scene. In touristy spots, they will come along to your camp site or your picnic table to beg and steal whatever they can get, and they become very tame. This one, however, is not tame: an entirely wild animal living in a tree hollow by the side of a seldom-used country road.

In fact, I was there looking for Grey-crowned Babblers, but nature photography is like that - you take whatever happens to turn up on the day. This particular morning (last Saturday) it was Choughs and possums. It is unusual to see possums out in the daytime like this: they are, like almost all marsupials, nocturnal creatures on the whole.

 

[Jake the Dog]

wonderful pics and information Tony. I look forward to more.

 

[Buck]

Indeed, the Ballarat duo has been busy photographing nature.

What sort of distance were you when snapping a portrait of the Brushtail Possum?

 

[Tea]

About 15 metres, Buck. It was very early in the morning and although the sky was clear the light was not great. They were very helpful though and didn't seem to mind me at all. Any closer than that and they'd have spooked, though.

 

[Tannin]

Just in case anyone notices, I'll be off the air till probably early January. Yup, it's time for another serious dose of outback. Or, in this case, of up north. Cape York Peninsula is first on the agenda (that's the pointy-up bit at the very northernmost part of Australia, as far north as you can go without getting your feet wet) then wherever seems like a good idea at the time. The weather will be utterly horrible - it's the wet season up there, monsoonal rains pretty much every day, and high summer heat to go with it, but there are migratory bird species that you just don't ever see at any other time of year.

I'll leave when I'm organised enough, which should only be another day or two. Talk to you all when I get back!

 

[Handruin]

Good luck with the trip Tannin! Takes some fantastic pictures for us if you have some time. We'll miss you while you're gone.

 

[ddrueding]

Have fun Tannin; I'll second the request for pictures, and I won't even pretend that I'm not jealous.

 

[LiamC]

Good luck Tony. Enjoy.

 

[paugie]

Well, we shall have to resign ourselves to the chimp while the owl is flitting somewhere else.

Well, I will not pretend. I say with conviction, I am dark green with envy.

Enjoy the holiday. And I hope you think of sending me the battered camera afterwards. I'd be very happy to be able to get the last few hundred shots out of it.

 

[Pradeep]

Can only imagine the notice stuck on the door at his PC store:

"Gone walkabout to Cape York, back in Jan. Cheers, Tony".

 

[Buck]

Have fun Tony! I look forward to the pictures too.

PS: What will you do with Tea?

 

[Bozo]

Have a great vacation :-D


Bozo :joker: