I’ve recently returned from almost 2 weeks visiting Singapore & Borneo, two places that I love to visit for the wonderful food, welcoming people, but mainly for the wildlife.

Whilst I was there I spent a little time with what is without doubt my absolute favourite creatures to photograph, the Orangutans. I first encountered Orangutans at the Perth Zoo where a few years ago I was asked to photograph then several times, I have had a passion for them ever since.

I was fortunate enough to again visit the sanctuary at Kota Kinabalu & meet young Ten Ten, so named for the year & month that she was rescued as a baby.  She is a very agile & active two year old, infact she rarely stops moving which made her quite hard to photograph, but it is certainly a privilege to be allowed to photograph, close up, such a a beautiful young animal. I hope that you like the results.  Ten Ten & many other Orangutan shots can be found in my nature gallery. I’ve also posted a few Singapore Orchids & some birdlife.

Whilst in Singapore I spent several hours at the Singapore Zoo which like our own Zoo here in Perth has a great Orangutan breeding program. The large male Orangutan at Singapore always facinates me, he is such a charismatic creature. I was fortunate in seeing something I had not seen before, a young mother with twins babies. I only manged one shot as I didn’t realise that there were in fact 2 babies until she left her position high in a tree where she was feeding one of them. It wasnt evident until she swung across to another position that the 2nd baby became visible clinging to her right side,  but I’m very happy with the result. Another mother also had a young baby, at a guess probably around a year or slighly older. She was in constant contact with her mum hardly letting go of her fur & so I was very surprise when the baby suddely took off on her own & began climbing trees, quite the adventurous little charachter. Certainly entertaining & she kept me busy for several hours watching & capturing her antics.

I also managed to pick up what I feel are a couple of exceptional shots of the Singapore landscape from almost cloud level & during an afternoon thunderstorm, they & a couple of night shots can be found posted in both my Landscape & Panorama galleries.

If you aren’t following me on Facebook as yet, it makes a great place to keep up with my work as I often post my images there before I manage to get to posting on my own web page. You can find me there under Bob Litchfield – Photographer.    It’s also a good place it you would like to give me feed back on my images.

Hope to see you there.

Regards,

Bob

Perth was inundated with several amazing lightening storms throughout January 2012 & I was fortunate enought to be able to get out & amongst it on 3 occasions, capturing some images, the like of which I haven’t taken for several years.

As I’ve said in previous posts, both here & on my Facebook Page, which can be found under Bob Litchfield – Photographer, I love a good storm & twice was out all night shooting the lightening. I’ve posted several of the captures to my Landscape page & am in the process of pricing up some large prints, as I have already had several enquiries. If you are interested in obtaining a print of any of the recent lightening shots, or indeed any of my images, please email me at: bob@boblitchfield.com for the latest pricing information & sizing.

I normally only post my work related images on my front page, but I love a good thunder storm &  I managed to capture some extraodinary images recently, so I thought I’d share.

I can hear you all wondering what the Open award is, well the Open category is for images that may not fit in any other area, they may be something innovative or just simply something that doesn’t have it’s own category, like nature photography for instance.  So whilst the title open may not sound particularly creative, this is precicely where the creative images fit & I’m very happy to have won the award.

My awards for the past 3 years….as someone suggested, great doorstops…;)

I suggested to the team that we take a chance & produce a Black & White calendar as something a little different this time. Happily the board also liked the idea & allowed us to run with it & the results couldn’t be better.

My cohorts on the project Holly, Karen & Sharon did a fantastic job of coordinating the kids & parents for 2 days of shooting down at Sorrento Quay & in bringing the concept together. I’d like to thank them, they were a great team to work with.

I’d also like to thank Colliers, the Sorrento Quay managers for their permission & allowing us to shoot at such a great facility.

The kids were kids & didn’t always quite cooperate, but they had a lot of fun, as did I in trying to capture the special moments. They also deserve some recognition for their particpation & patience.

From the feedback I’ve had so far the parents are over the moon & I’m already looking forward to working on the project again for 2013.

It’s great to be able to donate my time & experience towards raising not only awareness of Down Syndrome, but also some much needed funds for such a great cause.

If you would like to purchase a calendar, or maybe a few to give as Xmas gifts, I’m sure the folks at DSWA would be only too happy to hear from you. It’s only $15, which really is great value.

So why not contact them via the web site, http://www.dsawa.asn.au ,  just follow the link & find the shopping page, or give them a call. Phone: (08) 9368 4002

After an initial meeting, they arranged for some local families to participate in a shoot of kids having swimming lessons and made sure the staff were primed for a day of shooting

I spend a few hours running around the pool trying to keep the water out of my gear & my lenses from fogging in the warm moist atmosphere of an indoor heated pool. Every situation has its challenges but with my philosopy of “no problem is insurmountable”, we got some great images of not only the kids, but also of the staff who were a great team of people to work with.

The shots are already in use on the State Swim web site http://www.stateswim.com.au/ & new brochures are in the process of being designed & printed.

Always great to see a happy client using my images.

Well the posty arrived a few minutes ago with 2 copies of the book for my portfolio. Congratulations should go to the Author & production team for a job well done, it looks great, my images of the kids came up well & I’m sure the information is going to help a lot of people.

For anyone reading this post who may need this information, or have family or friends who do. The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has posted the publication as a PDF on their site, so just follow the link :

http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/research/highlights/disability

Real Estate Portraits (REP’s)

I’ve been doing the rep’s shots for a local real estate agency now for a couple of years. They are mainly used on business cards & signage. I get to meet some nice people, make new business contacts & it’s always a bit of fun.

Last week I got to shoot a husband & wife team, Andrew & Kathryn Fender, who as a team wanted something a little different to the run of the mill head shots. Kathryn commented that Andrew was always on the phone, so I had them ham it up for the camera. The secret to a good portrait session I find is getting your subjects to relax, allowing them to play a little isn’t the easiest thing when you have only just met, but once they get into the swing, it certainly makes for some great results.

I’ve been working on a re-signing project with my good friend & graphic designer Kristy from Ladybird design print & media (www.ladybirddesign.com.au). Our client is Sushi Blue, an Asian eatery in the Kingsway Shopping centre in Perth’s Northern Suburbs.

I have always enjoyed working with food, for me it’s all about the colour, shape, texture & form, trying to capture the essence of the dish in an image. The range of dishes produced for the shoot was amazing, owner Bruce & his staff created some beautiful food, Sushi, Sushimi, Teppanyaki, Teriyaki, Tempura, the food just kept on coming. Seafood, chicken, pork, fish & beef, with some lovely sauces & a scattering of sesame seeds, it sure had my mouth watering all afternoon. The highlight for me  though was overhearing Bruce comment whilst he was watching me work; “he makes my food come to life”, feedback from a client doesn’t get much better than that.

The ceremony was held in the Tea pavilion ay Kings Park overlooking the city, and photography was arranged around their 3 favourite locations of Kings Park, The Old Swan Brewery where the reception was held & a twilight shoot at Cottesloe beach followed by drinks at the Cottesloe beach hotel. It was a very warm & busy day for the photographer, but despite the heat we managed some lovely images.

Aleta & her parents picked up the proof book this morning & could not be happier with the results….always great to have a happy client.