Rae Martens Photography

26/11/2025

Spending time with a pack of wild dogs in Khwai Conservancy in Botswana was such a privilege. We watched as the pack returned home to the den after a successful hunt. The puppies and adult babysitters alike begging for food.

17/06/2025

I bless the rains down in Africa 🌧️🌈💕

A beautiful sight one evening in Botswana as the storm rolled in. Only one week to go before we head back to this incredible land.

(By the way, the scene was photobombed by a Southern Ground Hornbill 😊)

15/11/2024

Tomorrow I'm heading to the encore, and final, Tuxedo Junction for the Cancer Council ball at the magnificent Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne.

Having a long history with this fabulous event I am pleased to donate these two flamingo portraits (a Lesser and Greater) and "Serenity" printed on canvas for the Silent Auction.

Organised and run by my dear friends Kate & Brett Bonser, Tuxedo has raised more than $1.4 million for cancer research over its 13 year history. COVID put a stop to the event since 2020 but they wanted to do one last big gig to honour friends, family and colleagues who have been affected by cancer.

Here's cheers to a successful and celebratory event and to raising funds to research and support those affected by cancer 🥂💛

.junction.charity.ball

23/10/2024

Apart from being a wonderful citizen science project the was a great excuse to get out and about photographing birds.

Here is a collection of some of the birds. None of them are (thankfully) rare or endangered but beautiful nonetheless. The best sightings were by the Plenty River where I witnessed two Wedge-tailed eagles tending to their nest (with young) and a Sacred Kingfisher diving repeatedly for dinner.

1. Chestnut Teal
2. Sacred Kingfisher on his riverside perch
3. Sacred Kingfisher
4. Australasian Swamphen (or Purple Swamphen)
5. Australian Wood Duck (male)
6. Australian Wood Duck (female)
7. Wedge-tailed Eagle (female)
8. Superb Fairy Wren (male)
9. Red Wattlebird
10. Black Swan
11. Australian Magpie
12. Masked Lapwing
13. Australasian Swamphen (or Purple Swamphen)
14. Black Swan
15. Red-browed Finch

13/10/2024

Excited to be participating in the for the first time. It begins tomorrow and I hope to spot a variety of birds in my neighborhood and not just noisy miners 😎

Here's a small selection of birds I've spotted here in Victoria over the last little while 🧡

05/10/2024

Salisbury Plain in South Georgia 🩵. A spectacular location that lies between the Grace and Lucas glaciers and where up to 60,000 King Penguins breed 🐧.

The first few photos here are some of my favourite from South Georgia 👉🏼

09/09/2024

09/09/2024

Grey crowned cranes are some of the most exotic and beautiful birds I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in real life 🩶💛❤️

05/09/2024

Flashback to a beautiful - if cold - morning in September 2022 when we boarded a heli to take in the wilderness that surrounds Fox Glacier. The early morning sun shone through the mist that shrouded Lake Gault and presented us with this beautiful sight, looking towards Aoraki / Mt Cook.

30/08/2024

Rüppell's Starling 💙

I took so many bird photos on our trip to Africa that I really must start posting some! I couldn't believe how exquisitely beautiful the starlings were in SW and SE Africa. This one was photographed while we were watching a large pride of lions devour a kill and the birds all came in to watch.

26/08/2024

24/08/2024

I just love it when all the stars (moon) align ✨🌖✨

Taken on a beautiful morning on the west coast of NZ, just outside a sleepy little town called Haast.