Stories
The waiting, the missed shots, and the occasional bit of luck behind the photographs.
One ant, one flower
A white bloom opening in deep shade, and the smallest visitor of the day walking its petals.
Read the story
Yellow in the green
A Black-crested Bulbul sat still in a wall of leaves just long enough.
Read the story
The sound comes first
A Great Hornbill in a tree at the viewpoint, and the whoosh of its wings a full second before it landed.
Read the story
Before the rain
The sky went the colour of wet slate and a Yellow-vented Bulbul climbed to the top of the tree to watch it come.
Read the story
Into the glare
A Brahminy Kite as a small dark mark against a sky too bright to look at.
Read the story
The quieter one
The male gets the metallic colours. The female Brown-throated Sunbird gets to be invisible, which is its own kind of skill.
Read the story
Roof with a view
A Common Myna on a green tin roof, the hills behind it, doing what mynas do: watching everything.
Read the story
Owner of the wall
A tabby on a dry-stone wall, entirely certain the wall belongs to it.
Read the story
In the passionfruit vine
An Olive-backed Sunbird working through a passionfruit vine, one flower at a time.
Read the story
A swallow that stays
A Pacific Swallow on a lamp post over the water, watching for insects nobody else can see.
Read the story
Between waves
Rock crabs on wet stone, holding their ground in the seconds between one wave and the next.
Read the story
Kite at rest
A Brahminy Kite perched in a tree, which is a rarer sight than one in the air.
Read the story
White on brown
A Large White butterfly among fallen leaves, the only clean thing on the forest floor.
Read the story
On top of the world
A goldfinch on the topmost twig, and a whole valley of pine behind it.
Read the story
Under the eaves
A House Sparrow on a beam under the roof, exactly where House Sparrows have lived for ten thousand years.
Read the story
Two on a branch
A pair of wood pigeons on a branch in the canopy, keeping exactly the distance pigeons keep.
Read the story
Lavender, and one bee
A honeybee on a lavender spike, one flower out of thousands in the field.
Read the story
Sunning
A pond slider on a rock in green water, doing the one thing turtles are best at.
Read the story
In the tall grass
A sika deer grazing in a meadow at the edge of the trees, most of it hidden.
Read the story
Something in the undergrowth
A wild boar in the sunlit scrub, half seen, which is how wild boar are usually seen.
Read the story
Crow among the frangipani
A Large-billed Crow in a flowering tree, black against white blossom and green leaf.
Read the story
White bird, painted wall
A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo on its perch, with a mural behind it louder than the bird.
Read the story
Looking down on a roof
A rooftop seen from above, and a pigeon that has made it home.
Read the story
Afternoon dog
A tan dog on a hot pavement, tongue out, halfway to a nap.
Read the story
Green lattice
An old painted lattice fence, a wooden crate behind it, and no animal anywhere.
Read the story
In the water spinach
A White-breasted Waterhen threading through a field of water spinach, mostly hidden and entirely at home.
Read the story
Eye contact, under the car
A cat in the cool dark under a parked car, and the moment it decided to look straight at me.
Read the story
Ginger, asleep
A ginger cat asleep on a blue cloth, which is all a photograph sometimes needs to be.
Read the storyA telephoto lens on the street
Everyone says street photography needs 35mm. I shot Asok at 300mm instead.
Read the story
Waiting for the kite
Four mornings on the same stretch of river before the Brahminy Kite finally turned into the light.
Read the story