Who are the Bushpea Photographers?

Larry at work
Larry at work

Brothers, Vik and Larry Dunis, two of the earliest inhabitants of the island of Bushpea, originally used the Bushpea website to display their bird photographs in competition with each other.

Each developed a significant portfolio of birds, which when the two were examined together, started to look like a reasonably respectable collection of Australian bird images.

Thus, the bird photograph area on Bushpea took on a more collaborative appearance, but still retains its competitive nature in the background.

Larry, often out and about in the Brisbane region with camera in hand, bumping into trees, also managed on occasion to bump into Geoff Walker. Geoff, similarly handicapped by a camera, eventually followed Larry to Bushpea and thus it was that the number of Bushpea photographers increased to three.

Nikki Dunis, Larry's eldest daughter, has also taken up prowling about the bush with a camera and became Bushpea's youngest and first female bird photographer.

To prove he could bump into people too, Vik bumped into Kay Parkin on the remote Strzelecki Track. Kay was not only enthusiastically looking for birds, but she was doing it in the middle of nowhere in a two-wheel-drive vehicle smaller than the red Noddy car that Vik pedalled in his formative years. Twelve months later, Kay further proved her eccentricity by agreeing to join the Bushpea gang.

Bushpea photographers are hardy souls, willing to tolerate the odd bramble scratch, sunburn, soaking, animal attack, insect bite, sting, and other sundry hazards simply to enjoy the pleasure of watching birds, and also of course, to obtain photographs of the birds thereby improving both their own personal photo collections and the Bushpea Australian Bird Gallery.

Bird photography is a lot of fun. It is hunting without harming anything. Or at least it can be if we take care. Birds can be inadvertently harmed by being unduly stressed or exposed to predators, or if their nests, eggs, young or the vicinity of them are disturbed. Each of these outcomes must be carefully avoided.

Tribute to Larry
Tribute to Larry

The photographers of Bushpea promote Birdlife Australia's Ethical Birding Guidelines.

UPDATE: Bushpea sadly advises that, as a result of illness, Larry passed away on 11th September, 2010.

Whilst the Bushpea bird competition between Larry and Vik has now finished, Bushpea will continue displaying an ever-increasing collection of Australian bird photographs.

Larry won the Bushpea bird photo competition with a total of 452 bird species to Vik's 434. He is dearly missed by all who knew him. Please feel free to visit the Tribute to Larry pages by clicking on Larry's photo at left.

Bushpea Creatures