NEWS: a late start to 2012!

I've just returned to Exmouth after a fabulous two month visit with friends and family back in the USA.

My sister had a gorgeous baby boy, Beau, in December, and I was so happy to get to meet him right away and spend some time (not enough!) with them.

Now I'm back here, enjoying the summer (when I left the US it was -25c!!) and getting everything ready for a wonderful 2012 of photography.

I am again taking bookings for weddings and family, maternity, newborn & baby sessions. Please email me to check on availability for your date and to receive all of my new 2012 package offerings.

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #25

I love that some of the best stuff underwater is tucked up underneath ledges. It's another great reason to slow down and enjoy every inch of the reef!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #24

Batfish are simply irresistible - especially when they are swimming around in gorgeously clear blue water!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #23

Another Not Fish Sunday :)

It's turtle mating season here on the Ningaloo Reef and they are out in force this year.

I've been seeing them up on the reef at low tide, in the shallows,

on the dives, resting on the beach and during all of my snorkels.

A few days we've had 100s in a small area - it's amazing!
A small area - all those black spots are turtles, sometimes two turtles stacked!

The males can be quite pesky as they aren't terribly fussy about who or what they mate with. This guy was dogged in his pursuit of me and ended up right on top of my legs despite me trying to push him off with my fins (and a little head slap!)

All of the beaches are covered in turtle tracks and it won't be long before we have lots of little baby turtles hatching and running the gauntlet to the sea.


apologies for some of the less than fabulous shots - I had to use my baby Olympus 720SW and it's just not great.

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #22

Visited one of my favourite sites today out at the Muiron Islands and was rewarded with a trio of grey reef sharks cruising through the cleaning stations. Unfortunately, one of them was being a bit of a pain and looked like he was bullying the others so none spent any time getting scrubbed.

Two of them did circle around the area a few times and I was able to grab a couple of frames.

I love these guys!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #21

I just adore nudibranchs in all their myriad shapes, colours, patterns and even personality. These brightly coloured clownish looking guys (Gymnodoris rubropapillosa) are quite common on certain dive sites at various times of the year - think I saw nine on this dive! - but I can rarely swim past one without stopping.

I just love their bright orange markings and the way they often seem to sit up all perky-like if you're patient and watch them motor over stuff long enough!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #20

Not a fish tonight, but still an ocean goer! I've been out a couple of times in the last few weeks to hang with the migrating humpback whales and each time we've had excellent breaches and playful calves. I'm awed every time I see them.


Oh, and I just happened to also be snorkeling today when a mom & bub swam by! I was so totally engrossed in watching them that I only popped off one frame with the baby Canon camera I take snorkeling.

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #19

It was an itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polk-a-dot...boxfish!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #18

I love a challenge when photographing underwater and can spend hours squinting into tiny crevices and deep into the arms of corals, contorting myself into all sorts of shapes and orientations just to get a shot of a cool crab.

But every once in a while it's nice to come across a big red funky looking crab perched out in the open on a yellow sponge!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #17

I love when a bright orange-red fish sits quietly under a pink soft coral with a gorgeous blue water background. I can assure you it doesn't happen all the time - those pesky fish really don't do the whole sitting still thing very well most dives!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics - #7

Love when solid schools of huge trevally zoom past you as they hunt!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics #5

I can never swim past our beautiful pink anemonefish without stopping and when their host magnificent anemone is curling up showing off its purple underneath, well, you just know I'm going to come back with a card full!

Sunday Night Fish n Pics

Welcome to a new weekly feature - Sunday Night Fish n Pics. I'm trialling the name - right now, I kinda like it, but time will tell if it evolves to something else. What do you think of it? I'm open to suggestions!

Each week I'm going to pop up one or more of my underwater images for your viewing pleasure. I might include a little note about the creature in the picture or about the dive. Or maybe I'll just leave the picture on its own. Who knows what I'll do, it'll be a surprise for us all!

Enough chatter, let's get to the photo. This small white tip reef shark was fascinating to watch and I stayed with her for a good fifteen minutes. She was circling a small patch of reef, beating up the coral & rankin cods and generally staking out some territory by pushing all the other fish around. Several times she came in too close to me to even focus on her. It was a unique encounter that put a smile on my face for days!

My new turtle friend

Under the sea today and I had a truly amazing turtle encounter. This guy couldn't stay away from me and kept pestering me for belly, flipper and neck scratches - every time I'd try to stop he'd swim closer to me, push on me with his flipper and/or try to nip me!

We spent over 15 minutes together languidly swimming through the blue.

It was a slice of heaven, I think.

Crazy February!

This month has been nutso and once again my blogging agenda has gone out the window!

We've had terrible weather with several cyclones including TC Carlos that came right over the top of us.

It kept us on Red Alert for over 30 hours & took out power to over 250 homes. We were OK through the cyclone, if a bit bored. And when the serious winds on the back side of TC Carlos hit, my youngest Ridgeback MatildaLily decided that she didn't like cyclones anymore - she gave me the very worried puppy look "Mama, I don't like the noisy storm, please make it stop!" after she hustled into my office, snugged up against me and just shook.

Happily, there was very little damage, just a bit of mess to clean up!

I've been busy with shoots of all kinds and hope to get photos up to share with you all ASAP. This guy will keep an eye on me to make sure I get it done!

Red dust cloud over Exmouth

I went out for a relaxing snorkel yesterday afternoon and as I was heading back to shore I got to watch a thick band of red dust move in and form a huge pillar. It was pretty amazing to see!



While I'm glad I had my trusty compact Canon with me, it would have been super awesome to have my Big Girl Camera in my hands at the right time! Oh well, maybe next time :)

Lobo

Lobo was feeling jealous as I was taking photos of the other furkids today so put on a pose (and little attitude).

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011! I'm hoping for a fantastic year and I'm starting by being thankful for the small things - like having an internet connection that works consistently after a couple of weeks of frustrating service! I'm told things will be back to normal tomorrow. Here's hoping.

I said at the start of 2010 that I was hoping for a special year. Just goes to prove the old saying "be careful what you wish for". It was indeed special, just not in the ways I was hoping for! Which means that last year's goals are rolling over into 2011 :)

I spent the day working today, but took time out to do one of my favourite things - hang out on the beach with my two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Dora & MatildaLily. This is us:

Pretty much a perfect way to start the new year!

Kristin Anderson Photography is set to be busier and provide even more great things for my clients and I can't wait to share it all with you!

I hope your 2011 brings you great joy, happiness, peace and pleasure. Love, Kristin

Merriest Christmas 2010!

I hope you all have an absolutely fabulous Christmas this year! May your festive season be filled with happiness, joy, love and peace.

My little furry elves love this time of year because they know they get to pose extra special just to bring you some holiday cheer!

Left to Right top row: Boof (you should see how excited he was about the tinsel), Lobo (mellow kitteh), Harry (yes, he is sticking his tongue out!)
Left to Right bottom row: MatildaLily (super jolly beach goggie), Dora (refined & resigned to her fate)

Merry Merry Christmas &
Happy Holidays!

Thanks to you all

I want to thank all of you who took the time to offer condolences to me and to my family, especially those who have reached out to my Dad. It's meant a lot to know there are so many of you thinking of us.

I also want to double thank those of you who have gone out of your way to check in with me after the initial condolences - grief is ongoing and your continuing show of friendship and support has been invaluable.

And thanks to my fabulous clients for being patient as my processing and communication timelines have been pushed back over the past few weeks. I am back in the swing now and expect to clear my backlog of all those things you are waiting on by the end of next weekend. Thank you guys, too, for your hugs, emails, messages and phone calls - makes me love you even more!

My Grandmother brought such joy to me, I am truly lucky to have her as such a big part of my life.