The Photo Journey

I hope that everyone has had a great Christmas and that they have been enjoying some time off with their families.

Well the year is nearly over and its time to announce that in 2010 I will be doing a 365 day photo project. Whats a 365 project I hear you say. Well basically the idea is to take at least 1 photo every day of 2010. Some people limit themselves to Self Portraits, black and whites or strobist style shots. I won’t be limiting myself like this however. I want to in the next year take more landscapes, portraits and strobist shots.

I will uploaded the photos as close as possible to daily to my flickr stream and once a week blog about my weeks photos here. There are are numerous groups on flickr that are dedicated to these projects.

• Project 365
• 365: The 2010 edition

The success rates with these projects isn’t particularly high. Hopefully this blog can keep me honest and motivated.

All the best to everyone for the year ahead.

Tags: 365, 50mm, DOF

After a massive weekend of photographing babies one day and a formal themed Christmas party the next, I finally had time late on Sunday afternoon to do a few test shots of Hats. A Queensland clothing company has approached me to shoot their hats and shirts for advertising and online sales. I needed to present them an idea of what we can do for them.

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Tags: clothing, lighting, Photoshop, Product, setup, strobist, umbrella

15 years ago I was spellbind by the cover of my year 7 science book.  I didn’t care too much for the words inside, but the cover was amazing. It was a star trail above an observatory dome. It was the first star trail photo I had ever seen and I remember asking the teacher how it was taken. Ever since that day I have dreamt of taking such a shot.

Well I have been doing some research into this style of photography for the last year or so and I finally got myself organised to give it a go here in Brisbane before I head back to the Mid North Coast of NSW next weekend where there will be a nice black night thanks to the new moon. The perfect conditions for star trails.

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Tags: goals, landscape, startrail

Well its that time of the year again. Canon’s Photo 5 competition. So this years competition is a little different. Not only have we got new items but we also have briefs. The first item I decided to attack was the Bokeh star hoods they supplied.

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Tags: 70-200mm, Bokeh, Canon, lighting, Photo5, self portrait, setup, strobist, umbrella

Last week I shot, processed and delivered my first ever maternity shoot. It was partly due to a friend recommending me and the other part a kick in the bum from Zack Arias and his recent post – Call to Action. Zack has been inspiring us photographers that have been sitting on the dock to make the jump and push ourselves photographically.

Our friends Jayne and Simon are expecting the birth of their first child this Friday, September 11th 2009.  And before its a little too late we headed out for a maternity shoot.  Not only was it my first maternity shoot but it was also my first non family shoot and well my first ever outdoor strobist attempt.

Zack Arias has challenged us to Serve someone with our cameras, in such a way that we as photographers will break free from our self criticism of “ I’m not good enough yet.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 17-85mm, 70-200mm, Botanic Gardens, Joe McNally, lighting, Maternity, monopod, strobist, Vivitar, Zack Arias

I’m a big fan of Chase Jarvis and he is a massive advocate of photographers doing their own self funded projects.  Projects like these are great for learning new techniques and pushing our boundaries. They also will look great in a portfolio. Who knows these projects may get you a gig some day. I for one won’t be saying no to Football Australia if they asked me to do a similar shoot for the A-League or W-League.

I’m also a massive fan of Zack Arias. Zack is very much all about pushing yourself and making sure you enjoy doing what we do. What better may to make homage to his ideals then to make the photo project a white background shoot. Zack has some amazing seamless white shots on his site and has even got a tutorial on how to setup yourself with one. Something I will do one day.

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Tags: Chase Jarvis, lighting, Project, self portrait, setup, Sport, strobist, Zack Arias

We headed off to Tamborine Mountain here is Queensland for a wine and distillery tour about 2 weeks ago. We sampled plenty and bought a fair share also. But before I let Anna open these bottles I wanted to get some photos of them.

This is the International Award Winning Wattle Toffee Liqueur. The bottle is hand painted by the owner of the  Tamborine Mountain Distillery Alla.

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Tags: 70-200mm, flash, lighting, Product, setup, strobist, umbrella, Vivitar

Well one of my favorite blogs DIYPhotography.net has just launched a competition series about setting yourself up a cheap but professional studio at home. DIYPhotography.net has been bringing interesting projects to us hacks for years now and Udi has decided its time for us to make a background and take a photo that will remind us the photographer of the things we love.

Its been a month of late nights for me watching the Tour De France. So I wanted to pay tribute to the great race. Bike in the pictures is actually my brothers GT single speed that we are looking after currently. Its not a light bike I would like to add.

Canon 40D,17-85mm, ISO 800, 17mm, f5, 1/200th

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There is no data for this image.Tags: 17-85mm, 50mm, Canon, light mod, lighting, Photoshop, self portrait, setup, Sport, strobist, Zack Arias

One of my favorite blogers, David Hobby that runs strobist.com is well know for running free assignment based workshops every now and then. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to participate in the past but last month he announced Strobist Boot Camp II. The idea of Boot Camp is for people to put the knowledge gained from his site about off camera lighting into action. The assignments are sort based off real world situations.

The first assignment for this year was to take a nice headshot of someone unemployed or similar that they could use on their resumé so as to stand out from other applicants.

So my subject for the shoot was my wife Anna who is just about to finish a Masters of Environment – Education for Sustainability. She has been applying for relevant jobs like crazy and has had a few interviews of late that she has finished up 2nd best even though the relevant HR Departments couldn’t give her a decent reason why she was just overlooked for the position considering she fulfilled all requirements well. I nice headshot on her resumé may be just what she needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 50mm, boot camp, Canon, light mod, lighting, setup, strobist

In the last week I have had a few people ask me how I photography and process my smoke photography. So I have recorded a tutorial on how I process the images. Some of the audio is a little messy in parts, its the first time I have tried the software and will be working on better results next time.

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Tags: 17-85mm, Photoshop, setup, Smoke, strobist, Tutorial, Video, Vivitar