Magic Hour

Every day there is somewhere in the world where without fail there is a phenomenon photographers like to call "magic hour" or "golden hour" (I like to use the term magic hour because golden hour just sounds too much like golden shower...) This is basically where the sun gets ready to set and the afternoon light gives off a golden hue, which also happens in the morning at sunrise - it's a great time for photos but can be as cheesy as sepia if it isn't done well. 

This continues on my unashamed obsession with light - I love it!

Good spots in Sydney for magic hour:

- Spit Bridge, Mosman - yeah just ridiculously good. 

- Parramatta Road, Camperdown-you can position the sun in a way where all the traffic goes into silhouette - try a fast shutter for this one.


- Kent St side of the city - really interesting shadows cast on buildings


- The old bridge at Northbridge - I don't know how good that is yet, dying to do a fashion 
shoot there though!


- The airport?? I haven't tried yet but I reckon you'd get something cool there... 

Try mixing some flashes in for interesting results! 

Hunter Valley sunset

You frustrate me because...

I did say at the very beginning of writing this blog that I would share with you the ups and downs of my experiences in being a photographer, today's will be a downer - so if you're not into getting depressed I suggest you look away and wait till the next blog which will be much happier haha.

Today I took a breather. I wanted to have a look around at what's going on around me, who's doing what etc etc. It just makes me think though how many others are doing the same thing as me. Sitting on youtube, watching tutorials, listening to other people's opinions, reading other people's blogs.

Photography is an immensely popular past time. So I guess for me it feels like sometimes photography is something we ALL do and love - as much as I love producing images I feel like there are literally thousands of others who have been there before or are experiencing what I am doing now.

So what makes me different from the rest of you? Nothing. I get so insanely jealous and critical of other people's work that it totally does my head in. What is that? Why can't I just be happy holding my camera and making the images that I see? What is this incessant need I have that I have to do something no one has ever seen - and when does that outweigh who I really am as a photographer? When do my images that are 'iconically' me stop being me and when do they start being photos for the sake of exploring new boundaries or pushing new limits. I know that most of my ideas and thoughts have been done before, I just mean the inner struggle of what it means to be a good photographer that has his/her own style/brand.

My honest feelings are that I am no where near where I want to be. I also honestly feel like I am hindered by my gear - I am shooting on a D300s with 50mm 1.8's and 35mm 1.8's when I should be shooting on full frame bodies with 35mm and 85mm 1.4's and a nice 14-24 2.8. But then I read the pro's blogs and they say that equipment is bullshit… Here we have a society driven by consumerism telling everyone you need the best gear to make the best images (Even Nikon said it last week on facebook - "a photographer is only as good as the equipment he uses" ?!? Who says that?!?)  - then you have the pros saying all you need is an iPhone.

So what is it? I was supposed to have a day of relaxation and all it has ended up in is frustration. I'm frustrated by the thousands of different views by so many people, professional, amateur, beginner. I'm frustrated by the overflow of online forums and galleries where people post hundreds of photos per minute in a hope that we get a lucky break somewhere. I'm VERY frustrated by the camera companies who mislead people into believing that anyone can be a photographer if you buy their gear. I myself find this very blog disheartening because I only have 3 people subscribing to it and actually wonder whether anyone reads this at all. I'm not looking for a guilt trip, I'm just venting! ;)

What I find terribly frustrating is a very clear line in the sand between professional and amateur. The pros are more than ever so guarded about their profession because of the overflow of amateurs now entering the arena to take on the older boys and girls. I don't know what it's like for the rest of the world but in Sydney, well, Australia, I have no pros to aspire to, no one is as willing to talk and share like people like Chase Jarvis or Zack Arias or Jasmine Star. There is no one like that here in Australia.

With all of these people, pro, amateur, popular, unkown, where do I fit into all of this? Where do I sit? Pro? Amateur? I don't know. No professional recognises what I do - I have no status in the pro photographer's world yet. So when do I stop pushing my shameless self-promotion in people's faces just to get recognised? Where does all the noise stop and my photography is about me and no one else? That is probably my greatest frustration. The amount of crap I hear from all sides and not enough ENCOURAGEMENT. Too much biased opinion and not enough critical thinking. You cannot even begin to understand the amount of loneliness I feel from my peers. That alone makes me wonder if it's all worthwhile - it's all good when friends tell you great things, and I appreciate that so much, but other people who are photographers telling you that you are or you aren't on the right track - it helps so immsensly…

Ok vent/winge over. Sorry I put everyone through that!


And in celebration of taking shit images, here is one from my plethora of shit stock. Enjoy... or not. 

this was 3 months ago - crappy, grainy, random focus, badly composed, badly lit shot.
Dont worry I slapped myself after...

A couple mates, bbq, beer, and a wading pool…

Today I got together with a bunch of very talented mates who have a band called the sax summit, who needed some press photos, check out their site:

http://www.thesaxsummit.com

These guys are serious about having a good time, and they have been gracious enough to let me show you a few images from the shoot, so here's a tiny sneak peek!! Many thanks to the boys for their creative and bold input, and thanks to Gin for being an amazing assistant! 

These are just very quick and rough lightroom/photoshop edits so excuse the quality for now, I'll publish the finished product next week, enjoy! 

Things I suck at Part III - telling a story - Chaos at the Carousel

One thing I suck at is trying to add depth to my photography. Trying to tell a story from 1 image seems to be a rather difficult for me - I love seeing interesting things but trying to make a story out of them is what I feel seems to be lacking.... anyway, so I found an interesting topic to cover last night.

Last night Gin and I were flying back to Sydney from Melbourne, amidst all of the Qantas debacle that was. Strikes from ground crew, wet weather unseen for Melbourne this time of month for almost 100 years. All of it was a mixture for disaster, Gin and I were lucky to even be on a flight as many were turned away being told to come back in the morning for a connecting flight. The result was chaos at the carousel - 4 Qantas flights landing late, along with 2 flights grounded with returning luggage and over 1,500 people searching for answers, I hope at least some of these images convey some kind of reflection on last night...

Nikon releases "NIKON 1" Intelligent camera system

So nikon have just announced their new range of cameras to go up against the interchangeable likes of the Sony NEX range, Panasonic GF's etc etc. As exciting as this is for NO ONE (except all the people that think this type of camera will make them better photographers because you can change the lens on a point and shoot) there is a silver lining…

- It comes with an EXPEED 3 processor
- It can shoot at 60fps (electronically) and 5fps motor-driven (yeah no biggie my d300s does 8fps) but the electronic fps is interesting…
- A new 73-point focus system
- HEAPS of different movie modes with full HD
- The claim to have the world's fastest auto focus (not sure about that one… I guess so if you say so!)


These are major advances for Nikon and things could be looking very good for the next range of Nikon pro dslr's which are going to be released in the next 6 months or so… fingers crossed!

I just wish Nikon would bring out an electronic rangefinder that competes with the Fuji X100 pictured below - THAT I would buy!

Insomnia

Recently I've been having sleepless nights, and I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm thinking that maybe I should take advantage of this... Once again tonight was a sleepless night, and with a plethora of work to do I got out of bed and ended up where I am now, doing work at Maisey's cafe in Neutral Bay.

I had an idea last night that whenever I get into bouts of, well, for lack of a better word, insomnia, I should take advantage of this moment and go out on little night time adventures with my camera, see what I can find at 4am in the morning during the week. I am indeed a creature of the night at the moment, so why not document something out of it instead of loathing about the shit fact I can't sleep?

Have you had any weird notions or delusions of grandeur? I do, all the time, sad thing is 90% of the time they remain in my head, and never eventuate, like many of you I guess... sometimes I wish I had an off switch for my brain!

Peace. Out.

Who needs a DSLR? Part II

Only 4 days ago I discovered the wonderful world of Instagram, of course I am not the first - it has become such a cult following and I fought against the urge for so long, but now I'm hooked. It further solidifies the argument that you don't need an expensive camera to make good photos. It's a good way to "practice" things like composition without the need for lugging heavy cameras around, since instagram I am taking more photos and getting my photography practice in without having to make such a big deal of it. WIN I think...

Here are some links to great professional photographers who use their iPhones and instagram to produce some really cool work:

Chase Jarvis
Zack Arias (click on the "Instagram" link)
Sion Fullana

Here's some of mine from last weekend: