Callocephalon Photography's photostream  

Welcome to the corner of a 20-year old Nature Photographer.

First of all the boring bits. Please DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I work very hard for my photos and I don't do so so that people can just take them without either paying or even doing me the basic courtesy of asking.

For me, what started more than 10 years ago has gradually morphed, changing ways as it went, until now it is what I am. Around the age of 8 or 9, in a moment of boredom, I took myself out to the front yard and produced a drawing of some of the local Rainbow Lorikeets. From then on, I would often sit on the driveway observing and recording some of the many birds to pass outer suburban Brisbane. I still have some of those notebooks: records of how many Torresian Crows or Rainbow Lorikeets there were in a couple of hours. Or trying to work out (without a camera, mind you) the exact underwing pattern of those flighty lorikeets. Or just picking out the few Scaly-breasted Lorikeets from amongst the many Rainbow.
Birding for me continued very much in that way until we moved down to Canberra. Soon after, at the age of 13, I bought my first (film) SLR with the little pocket money that I had. Due to the relative expensive nature of taking and developing film, photography was not something that really took off at the time. But it had announced itself on the scene.
Later, at around the age of 15, on a trip to Japan, I was given my first digital SLR, the venerable EOS 20D by my grandparents. However, the cheap 300mm zoom that I bought after did little to improve the quality of my images, and again photography did not take off for me.
But when my grandparents visited Australia, almost 2 years later, and I received the good ol' 'Bigma' (Sigma 50-500) things really took off. Now I had a kit capable of producing results that looked good. Now photography was a major player.
During the course of the next 2 years my photography improved in leaps and bounds as I got more practice, grew to realise many of the fundamental rules and elements in nature photography. Since then, cameras and lenses have been added in increments, serving only to improve the quality of images that I have succeeded in taking. A 40D, was added ostensibly for a trip back up to Brisbane, before a year in Japan added some heavy guns: first a 300/2.8 and then a EOS 1D (MKIV). Again, those two professional-level pieces of equipment allow me to take my photography to another level.
And recently, my photography has taken another twist. Whilst 'bird-on-stick' portraits are impressive, they have become something increasingly boring for me. I feel that unless my images express something, they are worth relatively little to me. I have also started branching out to other parts of nature photography as an exploration of this. I guess my emphasis is now more on my photography as a form of art.
One of the great things I love about flickr is that, on my photostream there are photos right back from when I was really starting about 3 years ago. Just by browsing through my pages I can get a feel for where I was then, where I am now and how much my photography has improved and how my emphasis has changed. I hope, for those of you who do follow my 'stream that you can see some of the improvement that has occurred and hopefully will continue to improve. I have no idea what role photography will play in my life, but I have no doubt that it will be huge. Enjoy!

Tobias Hayashi

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Please do not use my images publicly without my permission.