B N Sullivan Photography: March 2008

Looking South On a Windy Day

Location: Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii

If you stand in my back garden and face south, you can look across Kawaihae Bay to the South Kohala coast. The prevailing winds in Hawaii are tradewinds that blow from the northeast. The fronds on the coconut trees in this image are telling us that those tradewinds were blowing on the day the photo was taken. You can see that the surface of the ocean is a bit frothy, too, and glistening in the midday sunshine.

Early Morning Rainbow

Location: Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii

Often after an early morning rain, we see rainbows over our garden. The garden faces west, toward the Pacific Ocean, so the sun rises behind us -- perfectly situated to refract the light through any moisture that remains in the air after a rain.

The bird perched on top of the Bougainvillea hedge is a Gray Francolin, waiting for its breakfast.
You can't see it in this shot, but there is a bird feeder near the base of this hedge.

Painted Lady Hibiscus

'Painted Lady' Hibiscus

Location: Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii

We have many varieties of Hibiscus in our garden. This one, called Painted Lady, is a particular favorite. In our climate, they bloom all year round, but each blossom lasts only a day. This is the first of many macro/close-up photos of flowers that I will be posting.

Gray Francolin

Grey Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus)

Gray Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus)

Location: Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii

This is the Gray Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus), a partridge-like ground bird that is very common in open grassy and shrubby areas on our island. In fact, they are frequently seen on golf courses. They are sometimes referred to locally as 'Kohala Chickens' because there are so many of them in our district.

These birds are not native to Hawaii, but they have flourished here for a long time. They were introduced as a game bird more than a century ago, and they are still hunted (but not by us). The natural provenance of the species is India. The male and female are virtually identical, except that the male has leg spurs. They stand about a foot tall.

Gray Francolins are daily visitors to our back garden. They are creatures of habit. We can practically set our watches by their appearance at our ground feeder each morning. We have fed and watched many generations of these birds.

New Zealand: Boats at Akaroa Harbor

Location: Akaroa, South Island, New Zealand

We were fortunate enough to have spent a month in New Zealand last year. In that time we got to see quite a bit of the country. One of the places I liked best was a picturesque town called Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula, not far from Christchurch. Situated on a lovely sheltered harbor, Akaroa had been a French settlement at one point in history.

Introducing Buster the Cat

Buster, our cat

Location: Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii
Follow Buster on Twitter and Pinterest!

Meet our cat, Buster. Born in Puako, Hawaii in July of 1996, he's a middle aged kitty now, but he has been with us ever since he was weaned.

Buster is one of my favorite photography subjects, but I also have to say, he's a lousy model! He's a photogenic animal, but it seems that whenever I catch him in an appealing pose, either he looks away just as I press the shutter release, or he decides to just get up and leave while I'm still fiddling with my camera settings. Getting a decent picture of Buster can be more of a challenge than photographing wild things.

I call him "our" cat, but in fact Buster is devoted to my husband, and they are constant companions. They especially like to spend time together outdoors in the garden, where Buster supervises every activity. Unfortunately Buster also seems to think it's necessary to roll in the red dirt at least once a day when he's in the garden. As a result, his white fur usually has a slightly orange tinge to it.

2010 Update: Buster, now fourteen years old, is on Twitter, passing along interesting and useful tidbits about cats and other animals, and sometimes chatting with other kitties. If you are on Twitter and you like animals, follow @BusterSays

2011 Update: In April of 2011, Buster moved with the family to Colorado. He did very well on the long plane ride, and settled into his new home without a hitch. Buster now lives indoors full time; if he misses the garden in Hawaii, he doesn't show it. At his new house, he enjoys looking out the windows, watching the birds and squirrels that visit the feeders.

2013 Update: Buster is now on Pinterest, too! If you're on Pinterest and you like kitties and cat art, follow Buster.

Photography, Nature, and Travel Blogs

Here is a list of some photography, nature, and travel blogs I enjoy and visit regularly (arranged alphabetically). The list will be updated from time to time.

Page last updated Dec 12, 2010

Welcome to My Photo Blog

Who I Am, and What You'll Find Here

I'm B. N. Sullivan -- also known as Bobbie. I like to take pictures, and I enjoy sharing them. All of the photos on this blog are my own work.

I'm what the photography magazines call a 'serious amateur' photographer. I don't make my living as a photographer, but I do take my photography seriously. My favorite subjects to photograph are things in nature - flowers, animals, birds, insects, and natural landscapes. I also love travel photography. These are the subjects of the photos displayed in this blog.

You will see a preponderance of images from Hawaii on this blog, because that is where I live. My home is on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, and my back garden has a view to the Pacific Ocean. Both the garden and that ocean view are among my favorite photo subjects.

The garden is extensive, thanks to my husband's efforts, and many of the flower photos on this blog were shot right here at home. The overseer of the garden is our cat, Buster. Images of Buster will appear here regularly as well.

2011 Update: We now have a house in Colorado, too, so expect to see more photos from the mainland US, especially the Rocky Mountain area.

Some Background and Photography Geek Stuff

I came to serious photography rather late, and in a peculiar way. Until the late 1980s, I had never taken any photos except the usual family stuff -- holidays, birthday parties, trips -- and always with a point-and-shoot camera. Then, I decided I'd like to try underwater photography. I had been a diver for years, so this seemed like a logical thing to do.

I bought a proper submersible camera, a Nikonos V, and began learning how to use it. Over time, I became fairly accomplished at underwater photography. My underwater photos are displayed in my other blog, The Right Blue.

On land, I continued to use a point-and-shoot camera exclusively until about 10 years ago when I got my first SLR camera -- a Nikon N90s. At first I had a bit of trouble adapting what I had learned about taking photographs underwater to shooting on dry land, but little by little the quality of my images improved. There are some images I took on film with the N90s on this blog. Originally captured as transparencies, those images have been digitized using a Nikon Super COOLSCAN 5000 ED scanner.

Currently I am using a Nikon D40x (10.2-MP) camera body, with assorted Nikon lenses. [2010 Update: I now own a Nikon D5000 (12.3-MP) as well.] I still use a point-and-shoot camera, too. (Yes, really!) The one I use -- a Kodak DX4530 Zoom (5-MP) -- is not new, but it never ceases to amaze me with the quality of the images it can produce at times. Most of the images on this blog have been captured with one or the other of these digital cameras.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy my photos.

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