This post is a review-of-sorts of the Zeiss 100mm f2 Makro-Planar, although in actual fact its more like an answer to my own question: is the Zeiss worth it for macro photography?
Read MoreSwainsona the Pea
Do you think I am too orchid-obsessed in my photography? Well, you’re undoubtedly right. But I’m going to use Swainsona, a wonderful genus of native peas, as proof that I can also point a camera at other flowers too…
Read MoreThe Inhabitants of the Banks courtyard
I used to study and work in the Banks building at the ANU. In the middle of the building, enclosed and hidden away from the rest of the world, there was a wonderful courtyard - an oasis.
Read MoreOrchid treasures from New Zealand
I was lucky enough to find 10 species of orchid while I was in New Zealand, some on the South Island and some on the sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands.
Read MoreMegaherbs: botanical curiosities
The name gives it away. Megaherbs are particularly large herbs. 'Carrots', 'cabbages' and giant diasies up to 1.5 meters tall with big, colourful flowerheads and leaves the size of dinner plates. They are only found on a handful of islands south of New Zealand in the middle of the Southern Ocean, in a zone between the temperate and the Antarctic. The sub-Antarctic. Here, extreme temperatures are not the main problem: rather, the near-constant wind, rain and general cloudiness make it challenging for both the plants and their pollinators.
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