Photographing a Namadgi National Park Ranger

22 Sept

Gus Macfarlane, one of the fantastic Namadgi rangers who helps conserve and manage the park’s dingo population
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM [ISO 200, 70mm, f/4.0 and 1/160] with a Godox AD300Pro II flash and variable ND filter)

A very big thank you to Gus Macfarlane, one of the team of wonderful rangers at Namadgi National Park. I reached out to the park to ask for assistance with my dingo project as part of my Photography Diploma at CIT. If possible, I wanted to photograph a ranger because of the key role they play in conserving and managing the park’s dingo population. That was how I met Gus on a Tuesday morning at the Namadgi Visitors Centre. We had already emailed a number of times, with Gus, even sending me photos of possible sites for the shoot.

After we met in person, we headed into the park for the actual shoot, where he was very patient while I played around with different lens and settings to get the shot that I wanted. I also really enjoyed chatting to him about the park and how the rangers conserve and manage the dingo population. Of course, his day to day work is wider than just dingoes, and I was surprised to hear that Namadgi only has five rangers and five support staff. Considering the wonderful walks and other facilities in this large park, I thought that the team was much larger. Talking to Gus was very interesting, and he was such a nice person, who was more than happy to assist me. It was a fantastic morning, and, again, a really massive thanks to him for being so helpful.

Disclaimer - Participation of staff doesn’t imply ACT Parks and Conservation Service endorsement of any views expressed in this project or project conclusions.

Jon Steinbeck https://www.jonsteinbecknaturephotography.com.au

Photographing a Namadgi National Park Ranger

22 September 2026

21 September 2026

Photographing a dingo ecology researcher

A big thanks to James Vandersteen, a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), who came out early on a Monday morning to Namadgi National Park so that I could photograph him. I didn’t know James prior to this, and I had reached out to him because he is currently researching the dingoes in the park, so I wanted to include him in my final project for the CIT Photography Diploma. He was absolutely fantastic, and nothing was a bother for him. We met at the Yankee Hat Walk Carpark and took some photographs nearby. He was such a genuine person with a real passion for his research. He can also see all points of view in the discussions about how to manage dingoes in Namadgi National Park, and his research is there to us understand the ecological role of dingoes in Namadgi. The ACT government is funding his research and James is now about to spend a year, analysing all the data and writing up his research. The policy makers in the ACT government will be the ones ultimately balancing up various interests but James will ensure that they have the best data and research to base their decisions on. I had a fascinating morning chatting with him, and I had to remind myself a few times that I was actually there to take photographs of him for my CIT assignment.

19 September 2026

Sooty Oystercatchers together

In late August, I was down at 1080 Beach on the south coast of NSW, and starting to get worried if the H5N1 bird virus had already impacted some of the seabirds there because I had not seen many around, despite there normally being plenty. However, walking along the rocks, I came across these four Sooty Oystercatchers (Haematopus fuliginosus) together. They were standing on the rocks while the tide was ebbing. Sooty Oystercatchers normally prefer this type of rocky shoreline, while the Pied Oystercatchers are generally on sandy shores.