Comet McNaught has been in the news lately, not surprisingly as it is the brightest comet to be seen in 40 years (see ABC news story and Spaceweather photo gallery). Last night I visited Perth’s City Beach to get a clear view of it, and of course some photos.

It became visible to the naked eye as soon as the sun dipped into the Indian Ocean - although at that point it was easily missed if you weren’t looking at exactly the right spot. Gradually it revealed its full glory, looking brighter as the sky darkened, but disappearing beneath the horizon before the sky was fully dark. A strong sea breeze made photography difficult: even with a tripod most of my long exposures were blurred. However I was pleased to get one reasonable photo, as shown here. It was an eight second exposure which I have not enhanced or modified in any way - it shows realistically how the comet looked to the naked eye.

It was one of those things I’d been meaning to get around to for a year or two, but kept putting off because I thought it would take a long time. Well, I have finally done it, and it didn’t take as long as I thought.  What I’m talking about is updating my website with some new photos.

The two old pages of West Australian photos have been removed, and replaced with six new pages organised according to location (see links under Photography on left, for “Albany”, “Southern Forests”,etc).  It feels good to have some of my better photos on display, though some of the best are on slides which haven’t been scanned yet.  Hopefully now I will feel motivated to start my New Zealand collection.

Well, I finally got around to putting some of my holiday photos from Tasmania onto their own web page. The holiday was six years ago … but I don’t like to rush!

What struck me most when sorting through my scanned images was not the photos I took, but all the fantastic scenes I could have captured but didn’t (due to miserable weather, disappointing negatives, or failure to visit many scenic spots). The much-desirable remedy is a longer trip to Tasmania with an SLR, tripod, and professional slide film.

I realise I should be grateful just for having had the pleasure of visiting an island as gorgeous as Tasmania, and I am. Many don’t get that opportunity. But the thought of going back and taking better pictures is very appealing.