Invisible to the eye

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Mossy Path.Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, Apr 2026.

The rainforest sesequence in this post completes the last of the images from my recent trip to Tasmania’s/Lutruwita’s central highlands. I went there to photograph the golden turning of the fagus. (I found mostly green leaves and a bit of yellow. The fagus went a week late this year). But I walked through some incredible country, and took some photographs which I was happy with.

It was the first time I have shot with a lightmeter, courtesy of Geoff Murray who sold me his old Sekonic 408. It is a very accurate light meter (and also measures incident light, so good for studio photography). All but this shot on the three rolls of film I used on that trip were correctly exposed. (And there was at least one image (Bonzai Beech, featured in previous MB post) which I would have certainly overexposed had it not been for the lightmeter.) But I do wonder, what happened in this image?

The light reading for this scene I am pretty sure was correct, 1s/F22 for 400 grain film, and this is what I shot it at. I took at least four other rainforest shots that day in similar light, and this exposure was consistent with the others. But for some reason this photograph turned out at least five stops under exposed. The initial scan was basically black. I had to bring the shadows up to 95% just to get some detail. At one second the exposure wasn’t long enough to bring reciprocity failure.

Did my camera malfunction? (It would be the first time, I can’t believe it!) Or did the forest somehow not want to be photographed?

After all, the track in this image is just about forgotten, only used by climbers (and maybe some highliners) these days, trying their luck on arguably Tassie’s most dramatic dolerite mountain, the three headed monster. At the foot of that mountain grows this incredibly dense and beautiful and old rainforest. Which feature in this week’s posts.

Old Myrtle. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, Apr 2026.

Grotto, River-God Creek. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, Apr 2026.
This was a glorious little grotto, one of many along this creek. This little valley truly is one of the best examples of temperate rainforest in Lutruwita. Old king billies, pandanis, myrtles and fagus all live together, along with the mosses and fungi and darting pademelons.

If you liked this week’s post, please leaf back through the previous four week’s worth of Melting Billy posts. All the images from these five posts were shot on a solo five day bushwalking trip in April 2026.

All photographs posted in Melting Billy posts are available as prints, which I can mail in a tube around the world, or if you live locally I can get it printed and framed for you.

Also please note I still have a whole stack of Dombrovskis posters which was gifted to me by a friend that are in perfect condition (have not been exposed to UV so they haven’t turned blue!). These posters would like to get framed and hang on a wall.

-A.S.11.6.2026 Brushy Creek, Nipaluna/Hobart.

Approaching the Precipice

“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.”
-Pema Chodron, When things fall apart

Hazy Elysium. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Apr 2026.

Weathered Pencil Pines. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Apr 2026.

Water Detail. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Apr 2026.

Leatherwood seedling on carpet of moss. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Apr 2026.

Master of Reality

“If we are to live the good life we came for, we must stop allowing the world around us to be the reason for our thought selection and start choosing thoughts exclusively based on how they feel.”

”If you want your life to change or be different for the better, you must change your beliefs, and to change your beliefs you must change your thinking habits to thoughts that feel real, true and good.”

-Brian Withers: The Book of Life

Framed Snowgum. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

Ever since I was little, I’ve tried to live a balanced life. People often say to me, you seem to have found a good balance! This kind of comment always makes me happy and I feel flattered. But it hasn’t happened through an accident!

Being ‘balanced’ also means I approach new ideas that claim to be revolutionary, new and of course, correct with some caution, even when they seem to make sense. A balanced approach means trust and caution all in one. The quotes above are from a book I have just finished reading. The basic premise is that we can get everything we want in life simply by making sure we choose thoughts that make us feel good. As simple as that. We don’t need to thrive, to do, to labour endlessly, we just need to make sure we feel good and the universe will deliver our desires on a gold plate. Without any effort.

This idea is in stark contrast to popular belief that states hard work will bring rewards, and also in contrast to the previous book I had just finished reading, The Daily Stoic. This book consisted of a collection of quotes from the ancient greek stoic philosophers, like Epictetus, who cautioned against wishing for our desires to come true. Instead, Epictetus said “Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will- then your life will flow well.” In other words, don’t give in to your desires, but give up on your desires. Easier said than done! I wonder how Epictetus accomplished this, if at all!

Pencil Pine Silhouette. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

But let’s return to the premise of the Book of Life. Think positive thoughts and your life will flow well. There is a ring of truth to this.
I mean why is it that some people get their wish in life and others don’t? Surely we must be in control of our own destiny, at least to some point? If we think bad thoughts all the time, that will make us sick. If we think good thoughts all the time, we are likely to be healthy and live well. That premise I can accept.

But to say we can always choose positive thoughts, regardless of what life has to throw at us… I find that concept a bit far fetched. Sometimes, I can’t help but have a negative mood settle over me. When I think about the inevitable need of environmental vandalism I must undertake in order to simply earn a living (by driving a combustion vehicle for example), or think about the people who are suffering around the world due to the idiotic egotism of old powerful men who haven’t learnt how to control their childish impulses… Surely, reality affects our thoughts, should affect our thoughts!?

The three headed monster. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

On the other hand, I accept that we choose our response to situations that arise in life. And I know that if in the past I had chosen to react to certain situations differently, my life would probably look a bit different to how it looks now. I accept that some days I will feel regret, or sorrow or be in a dark mood. Other days I am joyful and grateful for everything I have gotten to experience and to have ended up exactly where I am now.

As I said earlier, to me, life is all about balance. I don’t wish to be happy all the time. How boring and one dimensional would that be? I think it is much better to experience the whole range of human emotions that we are capable of. I firmly belief that the deeper the suffering we have experienced, the deeper our capability for joy becomes. (This is why I love putting myself through a solid ordeal through outdoor adventure from time to time!)

Weathered Pencil Pines. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

There is no reason to dwell on the things that make us feel bad. No need to replay scenarios that have hurt us in the past, over and over. That simply makes us re-experience those events. It is possible to get stuck in a loop, to get stuck in a reality we have made up in our own head. It is possible to close ourselves off to the wonderful possibility that the universe would like to offer us, if only we were receptive to it. So let’s keep that in mind too! Each moment is an endless possibility, if only we believe that to be true.

-A.S. 27/52026, Brushy Creek.

Moments of Idleness

“A life confined to what is personal is likely, sooner or later, to become unbearably painful, it is only by windows into a larger and less fretful cosmos that the more tragic parts of life become endurable.”

“It is from large perceptions combined with impersonal emotion that wisdom most readily springs.”

-Bertrand Russell, In praise of Idleness

Pademelon on stage, Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

Boulder garden, young king billy detail. Double exposure. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

Spiral Stairs. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

-A.S. 23/5/2026

The Fool of Reveries

Nostalgia is the practice of taking comfort in something that happened in the past, which is no longer accessible to us. Nostalgia happens when we reminisce about something that has happened, usually a pleasant experience that we can no longer access. In a way, nostalgia is lamentation of what we no longer have.

The Fool of Reveries (left). Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

To enter a reverie is to relive the past with a certain fondness that brings back those pleasant memories. At the same time, these memories create longing, which can no longer be satisfied. The implication of nostalgia is that the past was in some way better than the current moment, and a lament is therefore required. Nostalgia implies a belief that we have lost something of value that can not be brought back.

The Fool of Reveries (right). Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

Nostalgia may be comforting but it is also a little foolish. It fails to acknowledge the possibility of the present moment. We can’t go back to the past, and even if we did, it wouldn’t be the same experience for us as it was back then. To think the past held something for us the present doesn’t may be true, but then it is also true that the present may hold something for us that the past didn’t. These two ideas go hand in hand, and if we acknowledge one, then we also need to acknowledge the other. And therein lies our path forward, out of The Fool’s Reverie.

The Fool of Reveries. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.

-A.S. Brushy Creek, 15/5/2026

The old tanglefoot

There is a tree in lutruwita that doesn’t mind the cold.

Decidious beech, Nothofagus gunnii. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, Apr 2026.

Some might insist that it is a cursed bush that goes by the name of tanglefoot. Others might declare it by its latin name: nothofagus gunnii. The common name for this tree is deciduous beech, or simply: fagus. The palawa name is tuyali.

The thing about tuyali is that each year, it turns. It drops its leaves for the winter. This is the tree’s adaptation to cold. But before this happens, the leaves turn magical colours as the leaves all slowly die and fall off the tree. From bright green to light yellow, to deep orange, then eventually brown. The leaves put on a theatrical display, then fall off the tree and accumulate in deep layers around the fagus groves.

Fagus, or tanglefoot. It started turning a little later this year. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, Apr 2026.

This tree doesn’t just grow in exposed areas, but also in rainforest. In the valley where it is sheltered, the tree may grow quite tall, but the myrtles and king billies still tower over them. So in the dim light of a rainforest understorey, the leaves have to grow bigger and flatter to obtain enough sunlight to grow and thrive. These leaves can be at least three times larger than the leaves that grow on trees that are in more exposed areas. In the rainforest, the leaves can be completely flat, with barely any grooves in them.

Rainforest light scene, pandanni protagonist. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, April 2026.

At higher altitudes and exposed to the wind, tiyuratina, the leaves get smaller and more crinkled, down as small as as person’s pinky nail. In exposed areas like mountain cols, and on tops of boulders, the tree may only come up to a person’s knees, and grow sideways for some distance, always away from the west and south-west, away from the prevailing winds of lutruwita. Up there where the tree is exposed to snow, ice, and a bitter wind, its leaves have shriveled up, and also have deeper groves in them. This must be to protect the leaf from getting damaged when it becomes frozen.

Bonzai beech. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 400, Apr 2026.

Even at knee height though, fagus is best appreciated from a safe distance. It is most advisable not to walk through a thicket of fagus. There is a reason its old name is tanglefoot.

-A.S. 9/5/2026

Integral Imperative

“We don’t know what it is like to be any creature other than ourselves- the bird, the dog, the person we love. The great triumph is to let the fantasy of understanding go and love anyway.” - Maria Popova

Navarre Plains Pano 3. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Feb 2026.

Navarre Plains Pano 2. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Feb 2026.

Navarre Plains Pano 1. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Feb 2026.

Navarre Plains Pano. Hasselblad 500CM, Cinestill XX, Feb 2026.

A.S.-2/5/2026, Brushy Creek, Lenah Valley

Paradoxical Existence

“In order to do
what we want to do,
we have to do,
what we don’t want to do.”

-A.S. Apr 2026

Leeawuleena/Lake St Clair, Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2025.

“Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”

-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Lake St Clair/Leeawuleena, Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2026.

“All truths wait in all things,
They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it.”

-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Sun setting behind Mt Olympus. Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2026.

-A.S. 25/4/2026, Brushy Creek.

Snowgums in the fading light...

“Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”

- King Shrewd, Assassin’s Apprentice, Farseer Trilogy #1 by Robin Hobb.

Fading light among snow peppermints. Pentax MX, Kodak Image Pro 100, Feb 2026.

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday, and the other is called tomorrow.”
-His Holiness, The Dalai Lama

Setting sun. Pentax MX, Kodak Image Pro 100, Feb 2026.

“I welcome everyone as a friend. In truth, we all share the same basic goals, we seek happiness and do not want suffering.”
-His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.

Snow peppermints silhouetted against sunset. Pentax MX, Kodak Image Pro 100, Feb 2026.

-A.S. 18/04/2026, Brushy Creek.

Whispers of the Pines

“One day,
I’d like to find
a deep, dark pond,
and drop my phone into it.”
-A.S. 21.6.2024

Alpine Tarn, Snow Peppermints and Pencil Pines. Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2026.

“The moment you are ready
to give up
Is the moment of a
great opportunity.”

-A.S. 14.12.25

Pandani in Pencil Pine Grove. Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2026.

“The bird flitted
The rat scuttled
The tree shook
The leaves rustled.”

-A.S. 14.12.25

Alpine Tarn and Pencil Pines. Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2026.

“Happy comes and goes, Tats. Loving someone isn’t that crazy infatuation that you feel at first. That passes. Well, not passes, but it calms down, and then sometimes, when you least expect it, you get a glimpse of the person and it all comes back again, in a big rush. But even that’s not what you’re looking for. What you’re looking for is the feeling that no matter what, being with that person is always going to be better than being without that person. Good times or bad. That having that person around makes whatever you’re going through better, or at least more tolerable.”

-Carson, City of Dragons (Robin Hobb)

Flowering Scoparia, Pencil Pine Bark Detail. Pentax MX, Kodak Gold 200, Feb 2026.