Sally R

Hi Betty, I'm no help at all with the plant ID (coming from Australia), but I love the butterfly and bee photos above! I momentarily thought the bee was caught in a spiders web, before realising it was part of the Alamy watermark 🤔🐝

I agree! Once people are no longer seen as human beings and are just commodities, this really isn't ok. It's definitely a case of intruder rather than observer. Harry didn't ask to be born a royal and then receive all the attention that goes along with that. I don't blame he and Megan wanting to protect their son and family life. I imagine things might be a bit better in Canada than in the UK, but unfortunate they still have to deal with those things.

Many thanks Alex! The spot where I photographed the flowers of this jarrah tree appears it may have been burnt out by a recent fire in the Stirling Range National Park. It is an area of amazing ecological diversity. There once was a vast inland sea and the peaks of what are now mountain ranges were islands, and so each peak has it's own unique flora and fauna from when they were separated off from one another. It's a fascinating area to visit in the spring when things are flowering. Hopefully things can recover ok from the recent fire. The ranges, especially the tallest mountain Bluff Knoll, are some of the very few places that occasionally get snow in Western Australia.

Had my first ever sale on Alamy on 16th January. Yipee! Low $$ Country: Worldwide Usage: Commercial electronic, Websites, apps, social media and blogs (excludes advertising). Worldwide for 5 years. Media: Website, app and social media preview

P.S. I think it is important to capture everyday life, because it is so fantastic to look back on past decades through photography, so I think it is important to document 2020!

Sorry that last sentence was meant say 'No wonder they were scared of me carry my wildlife lens'. I can't seem to write properly today!

I am trying to do more editorial type shots capturing everyday life in my city. Late Friday afternoon I was in the central city where there were lots of mobile food stalls and people coming into the city for Friday evening. I found myself trying to be inconspicuous with my DSLR to some extent, but probably most people thought I was a tourist anyway. I think for me it comes down to respecting other peoples' space. I think if taking a shot of a general scene with people in it then that is ok, but I think it's also being down to being humanly attuned to the situation, so if people look uncomfortable being photographed, it is good to respect their personal space. I don't identify with a 'press pack', because that's not really what I've been doing with photography. I also do wildlife photography, and I think I have a similar approach to birds and animals. If they are not comfortable with my presence and having a lens pointed at them, I let them be. A few years ago I was at a reserve where I kept disturbing a bunch of kangaroos without meaning to, as I was concentrating on photographing birds. About the fourth time it happened, as they bounded off a huge alpha male stopped, turned and rose to full height and flexed his biceps clearly telling me to back off. I got the message pretty quick and walked fast in the opposite direction! I later learned that the kangaroos in this reserve are culled from time to time when they build up in numbers. No wonder they were scared of carrying my wildlife lens!

Thanks David. Yes I thought it might be a glitch. Also, I thought it was a bit early be notified about images in QC as it is usually happens a bit more after the weekend (UK time). Cheers, Sally

Hi, just wondering if anyone else is currently unable to annotate images that have passed QC? I received the email that they have passed several hours ago, but when I go in to keyword them it shows them as still in QC. I wasn't sure if this is just me or a system-wide thing?

Here in Australia we currently have a conservative government, the members of which have largely sought to thwart any meaningful action on climate change for years, and all of a sudden some of them are grudgingly now saying we might need more action on climate change. They've always pitted action on climate change against the economy, when now it is obvious the Australian economy is taking a huge hit because of the climate change situation. No doubt the visuals that have gone around the world are having an impact. To me it is like an individual human ignoring a sign their health isn't good, perhaps only a small sign to start with, and then one day they get a diagnosis of something really bad because they ignored it for too long. In early 2014 I was up in the Perth hills (in Western Australia) and I was shocked to see places I had known since a child where large numbers of trees and plants were dead or dying, especially north and west facing areas that get the most sun. What told me something was wrong was not just what I saw. It was a strange sound that I realised was the sound of dead leaves rustling in the wind, quite different to the sound of living leaves. It was also the lack of oxygen in the air, like the air was stifling. It just felt wrong, and the reality of climate change hit me so hard that I couldn't sleep that night. Australia is a dry continent to start with, but it is now bone dry and in severe drought over much of the country. The plants here are extremely hardy, so when they start dying you know something is wrong. As photographers we are engaging people through their senses and their feeling selves, and I think photography can communicate by how it makes people feel. This is different to just reading about something. I guess the most amazing photos communicate and tell a story. Quoting facts and figures at people can quickly disengage them, but when they sense and feel something there is a different kind of understanding.

Do you get a message along with the spinning blue ball that says something like 'processing'? I had something like this a little while ago where I uploaded images but they seemed to stay stuck in processing mode. I thought they were not uploaded. Can't quite remember if I had to log out and back into Alamy Image Manager first, but I remember I clicked on the left in the column where submissions are listed, on the submission I'd just done, and then they appeared as now sitting in Quality Control awaiting review. So I'm just wondering if it is a glitch where it looks like they haven't uploaded, but they actually have? Anyway, hopefully Alamy can resolve it for you soon.

I really enjoyed looking at your NZ pics. I was not doing stock photography yet when I went there, so would love to go there again with that in mind. I love the kakas and tuis. Tuis must be some of the funniest birds I have met. Yes they do sound like pinball machines. Someone I met in NZ suggested R2D2. Apparently they have two voice boxes. I discovered a clip that shows how well they can imitate human speech which I found amazing:

Hi Space Cadet, I'm looking at a small book that belongs to my Mum on NZ trees, and the photo of a red matipo shows leaves that do resemble the leaf shape in your photo. If looking for confirmation, you might even be able to send it to someone at Zealandia for definitive ID. I was in NZ in December 2018. I was in Wellington for 5 days for a conference and went to Zealandia too and really enjoyed it. I also went down to Stewart Island for a week and enjoyed being in such a remote place so far south. I loved the unique birds. I got a number of bird images, but I found the forests are dark there and I had to up my ISO to a point that I think most of those images aren't good enough for Alamy because of excessive noise. Just two Tui photos have made it into my portfolio.

Congratulations Crowing Hen! Great you have your first couple of sales. I really like your image and the way it tells a story. Best of luck for many more! Thanks for your kind comments Alex. I have no sales yet but a zoom the other day, so hoping a sale might be not too far away. I love wildlife, nature and landscapes, but planning to diversify a bit and trying to think practically what buyers might want/need. I would like this year to focus on capturing life in and around my city, looking at street scenes, architecture, local events etc. I really like your portfolio. It has a lot of colour and variety. Best of luck for future sales!

I love to see snow images. It never snows where I live, but occasionally in the far south of the state. Right now sadly alpine areas of eastern Australia where it does snow are on fire. The scale and severity of the fires are hard to comprehend. Really concerned for the people, animals and ecosystems that are being impacted. I did once see snow on a visit to Canada years ago. I was amazed how sound is muffled by snow. That was a new experience for me. Would love to see some snow again with my camera in hand! I'm guessing it presents some challenges with reflection, contrast and exposure, just as the extremely bright light here can sometimes be an issue.