A Day With My Scaley Mates

Did goe to the Reptile Expo yesterdaye and was greatley entertained.

It was held at Bogan Central - otherwise known as the Cannington Agricultural Hall. The reason for the nickname is instantly evident, but so many fun things happen at this venue - the toy car expo next weekend and the collector's fairs, etc. - that the occasional flannel shirt and uggs is a small price to pay for the pleasures. Even if you are the one wearing them...

So - yesterday was reptiles, and it was a typical Perth experience - and eye-opener as to just how many people are interested in a subject, how sophisticated their knowledge is, and how much trade and commerce there is out there to support it. It is the same with quilt sewing, hot rods, iron ore mining, and Lithuanian ferret racing - give them a day out and there are a million people there.

We took a stand of goodies that might interest a reptilian - DGK grey cards, Adobe image programs, Datacolor Spyder - and a some magic Nikon cameras and a coupla Cullmann products.

Well, the 10:00 lecture from me on wildlife photography was attended by me. And after ten minutes even I left. Everyone was having too much fun with the rest of the snakes to want to listen. In the event, they did come and ask sensible questions at the stand.

They ran a photographic competition that was won by three suitable shooters - first and second prize were a father and son team and son beat father. I should advise him to guard his prize - a Cullmann 525 tripod and big carrying bag - well as there was a predatory gleam in Dad's eye...reptiles do that to you.

One thing was impressive - everyone from the pure enthusiast all the way up to the two wandering officers from the Conservation Department had the interests of the animals at heart - none of the reptiles were ill-housed or ill-treated. Some of the pythons seemed to be exercising a wicked sense of humour when they were allowed to climb over pretty girls. The frogs looked nonplussed and none of them elected to turn back into princesses no matter who kissed them. The bobtail goanna in the terrarium next to our table was prosperous - his keeper obviously knew exactly the right diet for him.

The day was a success - next Sunday is toy cars and I am looking out my tracky daks and Jackie Howe shirt in preparation. I wonder if I have time to grow a mullet before then...

Slither Along To Cannington

If you want to see some venomous reptiles with aggressive attitudes but are tired of watching the current affairs segments on the television news...may I suggest that you visit the Cannington Exhibition Center on Albany Highway this Sunday. They are running a fabulous reptile exhibition all day.

Of course it is not all snakes - there will be lizards and frogs and newspaper journalists and everything. With a bit of luck you might find something cute and cuddly.

It won't be me, I hasten to add. I'm to give a little talk on photographing reptiles. Which will be an exercise in pure imagination ...errr...I mean careful scientific conjecture. I don't photograph reptiles. They don't photograph me. The closest we come is a brief nod across the room at a cocktail party.

I'm going to recommend two approaches - the careful/scientific and the joyous/artistic. In the one case I will be showing a Nikon DSLR equipped with a long macro lens and a flash on the end of a coiled cord. I will also advocate the use of a standardised colour card and image-correcting software so that the budding Darwin will be able to present the images with some accuracy.

The artistic will be with the new Nikon P7700 Coolpix, and an armful of construction paper. The former will render most close-up scenes beautifully and the latter will spice up the backdrops. The animals that need to be photographed from a distance - venomous ones - can also be captured pretty well with the camera and as it features the standard TTL hot shoe assembly the coiled cord and the SB 700 can also be brought into play.

Okay, folks, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, and I suspect I won't be telling the herpetologists anything THEY don't know, but at least I can help them to organise their outfits.

I wonder if they will applaud me or just hissssssss?

PS: The top image is Chelsea Bunz as a salamander...

Slither Your Way To Fame With the WA Herpetological Society

I am going to have to rein in the editorial horses for this one, as the temptation to use expressions like " Snakes Alive!" and " Hissing Syd" is nearly irresistible. Once you start to introduce reptiles into a conversation dignity flies out the window - much as when you introduce them at the dining table...

In any event, the Western Australian Herpetological Society would like you to go to the Reptile Expo 2013 at the Cannington Exhibition Center on Sunday, the 19th of May. The exhibition will run between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM but the bit that interests photographers is between 10:00 and 4:00.

You see they are running a photo competition and we are amongst the sponsors who are providing prizes. There is a proper set of rules to be seen at the following website:

http://wahs-expo.wix.com/2013

But I can give you a précis here:

Must be a picture of an Australian reptile. Not a newspaper proprietor, a real reptile...

Must be mounted on matt board - max dimension of the matt board is 40cm x 50 cm

Must be submitted for judging and exhibition at the center on the day - entries close at 10:00 AM.
There will be announcement of he winners and presentation of prizes at 12:00 and you can collect your pictures back again between 4:00 and 5:00. If you don't collect them after some long time they will donate them to a school.

You must be an amateur photographer. Not a professional photographer - they even say in the rules that you can never have been a professional...I'm not entirely sure how that idea will go if someone somewhere once paid you for a picture... any rate be careful. Remember what happened to Jim Thorpe.

The WAHS says they intend to reserve the right... to reproduce any of your photos for future publications but promise to give you accreditation. I am not quite certain how this works if you are going to collect them at the end of the day, but I'm sure they will work this out.

The prizes for the winners of the competition are:

1. 1st prize is your art work reproduced on a 12 x 18 canvas and a Cullmann tripod and bag.
2. 2nd prize is a photographic session with Houndstooth Studios.
3. 3rd prize is a Cullmann monopod - very valuable if your next wild reptile encounter is conducted in thick undergrowth...

Alex Cearns, wildlife photographer extraordinaire, will be doing the judging. Saul Frank, camera salesman extraordinaire will be presenting the Cullmann prizes.

Apparently I, Uncle Dick, hack writer extraordinaire will be doing some form of a little talk on photographing reptiles. If they put me near the frogs and lizards I will be using English and if they put me near the poisonous snakes I will be using Anglo-Saxon. That'll be me - perched on the top of a step ladder with a forked stick and a Colt .45.