Shutterbug Walkabouts Tasmania

21/10/2026

Happy International Wombat Day! 🐾

With so much to be adored and each with its own personality, what's not to love about wombats?

Never mind watching grass grow - I'd happily spend hours watching and photographing a wombat graze or a joey stick its nose out of its mumma's back end! 😂

What about you?

20/10/2026

Orchids can be surprisingly hard to spot, even when they're right beneath our feet!

Roy has quite an eye for finding orchids in their natural habitat and often spots them growing on our property. Meanwhile, I'm often looking up into the trees for birds and can easily miss what's growing on the ground. It's a reminder that there's so much to discover when we take the time to look around us.

Actually, just the other day, we joined the Tasmanian Land Conservancy on one of their reserves and learnt so much more about the orchids growing there and the work being done to protect them. It was a wonderful opportunity to deepen our understanding of these fascinating plants and their habitats - knowledge that helps us approach our photography with greater awareness and care.

That's why this message from the Landscape Recovery Foundation is so important for all nature photographers.

The more we learn about what we're photographing - or hoping to photograph - including its habitat and the surrounding environment, the better we understand how to photograph it responsibly.

We don't need to be scientific experts. We just need a healthy respect for nature, a willingness to learn and an awareness that our actions can have consequences, even when our intentions are good.

'Take only photographs, leave only footprints' - do your best to ensure those footprints aren't on the orchids themselves and consider how you can minimise your impact on the sensitive habitats where they grow.

Respect for nature should always come before getting the shot.

19/10/2026

An echidna on walkabout, foraging for ants… and a delightful photographic opportunity! 📷

Sometimes the best wildlife photo opportunities come from simply taking the time to watch.

I spent quite some time with this little echidna as he wandered about, snout to the ground, foraging for ants.

He was thoroughly absorbed in his search for food, which gave me a wonderful opportunity to observe his movements and behaviour.

Rather than rushing to capture a photograph, I watched where he was heading, anticipated what he might do next and repositioned myself when the opportunity arose.

Sometimes it was a matter of changing my angle or recomposing the photo, always being mindful not to disturb his natural behaviour. After all, he had far more important things on his mind – finding as many ants as possible!

And this is one of the things I love about wildlife photography.... the longer you spend observing, the more you get to discover, experience and photograph.

Little details, changing perspectives and photographic possibilities that might otherwise pass you by.

Even after taking photos, there's an opportunity to look again, explore different compositions and discover something you hadn't noticed at the time.

It's all part of the pleasure of photographing wildlife – observing, learning and discovering different ways of seeing.

And it's very much the approach we explore during our guided Wildlife Photography Walkabouts at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

📅 Next Walkabout – Saturday 24 October
📍 Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
🕤 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
📷 $95 per person + sanctuary entry
👥 Maximum 6 participants

Come along and build your wildlife photography toolkit! 📷

15/10/2026

What on earth do gentoo penguins have to do with Shutterbug Walkabouts? 🐧 📷

Well, you can find out in our latest edition of In The Picture!

If you're a subscriber, an email from us should be in your inbox soon - perhaps you've already spotted it and know what I'm talking about.

If you're not subscribed - or for some reason it hasn't landed in your inbox - you can enjoy a read right here:

👉 https://www.shutterbugwalkabouts.com.au/so/4bQ4zuNeO?languageTag=en

So, do you know what the answer is?
Comment below 👇

Gentoo penguins A trip down memory lane revisiting photographs I took in 2010

30/09/2026

Bird photography... it's such a wonderful way to spend time with your camera. But by crikey, it can keep you on your toes! 📷🐦

One moment you can be watching a bird perched quietly in beautiful light, the next it’s disappeared into the trees – or another has arrived somewhere you weren’t expecting.

Different birds, behaviour, movement, distance, surroundings and changing conditions all bring their own photographic challenges and possibilities. Camera settings to consider, positions and perspectives to explore, creative choices to make – and sometimes figuring out why something isn’t quite working the way you envisage.

If this resonates with you and you’re keen to develop your skills for the many different circumstances bird photography can throw your way, come along to one of my Bird Photography Walkabouts. As we photograph, I’ll share my experience and approach, what I’m noticing and the choices I’m making along the way.

Our next guided Bird Photography Walkabout is coming up very soon (Saturday 10 October), with more to follow throughout spring and summer.

Who knows which of our feathered friends might put in an appearance – or what photographic opportunities they’ll give us when they do?

Let’s do bird photography! 📷🐦

27/09/2026

Look who came out to play last weekend at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary… 📷 🦘

One of the things I love about teaching wildlife photography in a quality wildlife sanctuary environment like Bonorong is that we’re guaranteed wildlife sightings – but we never quite know what photographic opportunities the day will bring.

Last weekend we had wombats, echidnas, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos and Blue-tongue Lizards in front of our cameras – with a kookaburra and rosella dropping in as wild visitors to the sanctuary grounds too.

And with all that variety comes plenty to explore photographically.

Different animals, light and conditions naturally bring different challenges and possibilities – camera settings to consider, positions and perspectives to explore, creative choices to make and sometimes simply figuring out why something isn’t quite working the way you envisage.

That’s what my Wildlife Photography Walkabouts are about – getting out there with our cameras, photographing wildlife and learning from what unfolds along the way.

Who knows which critters will be happy to have their photo taken on our next Walkabout? 🦎 🦘 🦜 🦔

Let’s do wildlife photography!
Next Wildlife Photography Walkabout - Saturday 24 October

21/09/2026

Sitting by the birdbath, camera at the ready… and sometimes, you realise you’re the one being watched.

It’s not always about the splash. Sometimes, it’s this… a quiet moment of curiosity, a glance that lingers just a little longer than expected.

While waiting for these moments in stillness, you begin to notice the subtle things – the tilt of a head, the way they look back at you, the feeling of being part of the moment rather than chasing it.

It’s a different kind of reward and one I love sharing with others as we learn to slow down and see what’s already there.

🦜 Crescent Honeyeater

16/09/2026

Spring is such a wonderful time for wildlife photography! 📷🌿

With wildlife becoming more active, there are so many opportunities to observe behaviour, practise different techniques and capture those moments that make wildlife photography so rewarding.

I’ve shared a handful of my Tassie wildlife photos over on Google, along with a little more about our Wildlife Photography Walkabouts. Take a peek 👇

Wildlife Photography Walkabout at Bonorong

14/09/2026

If bird photography is your thing, March 2028 might just be the time to take flight to Tassie…

The BirdLife Photography Biennial Conference is coming to Hobart from 9–13 March 2028 and I’m feeling very excited – and incredibly honoured – to have been selected as one of the presenters.

Now March 2028 might sound a long way away with plenty of life to live and photography to enjoy between now and then, but I suspect it will be here before we know it!

The conference theme is Boosting Your Creativity with a fabulous line-up of presenters who'll be sharing different perspectives on the theme. As time progresses I'll fill you in more about the conference and what I'll be talking about but for now, you may like to pencil 9–13 March 2028 in your calendar for the conference. Perhaps you might like to also join me before or after the conference for additional bird photography activities - let me know if are.😃

And one more reason to linger a little longer in Tassie beyond the Bird Photography Conference is the Bruny Island Bird Festival which will be happening the following weekend!

03/07/2026

Watching and listening to the way this story is unfolding makes my heart sink. 🥲🦭 LIke many others, I genuinely worry about where all this might lead.

Wildlife photography is so much more meaningful and rewarding when our presence doesn’t change an animal’s natural behaviour.

Neil is a wild seal, not a tourist attraction. He deserves the opportunity to rest, moult and simply be, without people crowding his space or influencing his behaviour.

If we truly love wildlife, respect has to come before the photograph.

❤️ Please give Neil the space he deserves.