Week 27 – 695

Up and over 11 minutes we go! This morning was.. pretty damn miserable ill have to admit. The colour to the left didnt really do anything with the passing cloud as I had hoped… and the big black clouds looming on the right rained on Sydney for the rest of the day (yay…)

Still this morning was to meetup with another photographer who was up in Sydney on a business trip and could sneak out for a sunrise. He liked the location, but still .. the elements didnt really work with him here. In fact the last 2 or 3 sunrises I have been on has been mainly about meeting other photographers to catchup, shoot the breeze and shoot some film (which I did on this morning). For me the social side of photography is a big motivatator.. and I really hope to get out shooting with some more of my buddies in the near future.

What is hard though is I have made so many buddies abroad! Many in the US & Canada which hopefully.. one day ill be able to do a road trip over there and meet a few of them 🙂

Only around 8 weeks behind now.. so as the rest get published it will move back down to one per week.. like it was intended!

Till next time..

Week 26 – Mahon Clouds

Another morning at the Mahon Pool.. I say ill get sick of this place but I dont think I ever will.. soo much possibility..

The problem with sunrise/seascape photography is that it is always a battle against the elements.. and you have to go time and time again until everything is just right. This morning was actually a bore.. it was cloudy.. it was cold.. it was wet and it wasnt very inspiring at all. Its actually the same morning from Week 16 of my project… but that is OK they are totally their own images.. and you probably wouldnt have put 2 and 2 together without me anyway 🙂

One thing I have noticed as a photographer is that as your style & tastes change that you see locations in a new light. I am starting to see some places I have shot a few times in a completely different way.. but in other ways I have also identified that I have somewhat tunnel visioned myself into a few key locations, rather than trying some spots on the spur of the moment.

All areas of improvement.. really been missing my chances to shoot seascapes.. I am thinking about adopting my Friday pre-work sunrise again. When this post goes live ill in fact ill be driving down to Melbourne (hopefully just arriving) to shoot a wedding. I have a few things queued but will do my best to stay vocal with you all.

Till next time..

Week 25 – Circular Quay Panorama

I have been looking forward to sharing this shot from the project as it was a lot of fun to put together and whilst I think I can make improvements.. I was happy with the first try. This is my first long exposure panorama, with 8 shots which were shot at f8 @ 60seconds (or there abouts) on the Cahill Expressway looking over Circular Quay in Sydney.

It is quite a tricky task, with light changing and camera angle/direction meaning light fall off is different but I think it works well. I tried to capture the range of shots as the boats came/left and moved about in the quay. For an added bonus of difficulty.. the expressway moves a tiny bit with all the traffic (+ trains underneath) so there is a chance you will get some slight shake or softness introduced to the photo.. but I couldnt see any.

I would love to do a few more panoramas such as this over the summer months.. as the sunsets get longer and it gives me some more time to execute them the way I want. In the end it will come down to location, and whilst I love Sydney I find it quite hard to find any really great panorama locations of different subject matter.. since these pivotal landmarks always seem to be featured in one way or another. Another challenge perhaps?

Definitely view this large! (Just click the image and the lightbox will do the rest for you).

Till next time..

Week 24 – Red Turimetta

There was an amazing blood red orange colour on the horizon this morning.. not many clouds but still got some shots to work with. This is actually a long exposure.. hence the lost detail in the shadows as I cut it short to move locations. I infact have blogged about this morning more in detail before. The Green Rocks of Turimetta talked about it in fairly close detail. I still havent gone back to shoot what I had originally intended.. I think I have been a bit put off now to be honest after noticing the big drain in all the other photos I had seen of the ‘zig zag’ rock cut. But .. there is always your imagination and stepping up to a challenge… and the pies.. oh my god I havent eaten pies from The Upper Crust for so long….

Pies Sunrise this weekend anyone? 🙂

Till next time..

Week 23 – 10 Soft Light Stops

I grabbed this shot on a revisit to Whale Beach on the northern beaches in Sydney. This is actually still 1 of only 2 shots I have edited from that morning. I absolutely love the light and the colour in this shot (and processed with grey blacks to match). Technically I think it can be improved, and I might look at it again when I finish off that sunrise itself.

Just a short one today.

Till next time..

Week 22 – Mona at 10 Stops

Finally week 22 comes around and I can share this photo from Mona Vale again. I love this photo, so much so when my friend Rob Gjessing offered me a 1m x 0.5m canvas print for free last month I couldnt say no. At the time if you follow my social media circles you would have seen a photo floating around of it hanging in my gf’s parents house. Well it looks great.. and they are going to take good care of it for me until I either have a wall to hang it on or sell it 🙂

At just over 5 minutes this exposure is a memorable one for me. It is still the only time I have been to the Mona Vale pool and I look forward to heading back soon to do some shots up against the pool at a slightly lower tide. As usual I must thank my partner in crime Toan.. we had a good run there buddy.. looking forward to getting out there for some more sunrises again soon.

Till next time..

Week 21 – Maroubra Light

This was a new location for me which I have blogged before! South Maroubra Beach.. I am normally over on the headland in the distance shooting at the Mahon Pool (been there many times). On this morning I had tried a few new things. Shooting a stick with water movement, long exposures without much cloud and trying things at a new location which I wasnt quite happy with. This was up until about 5mins before sunrise.. where I found a nice rock formation with water flowing through. I shot there until the sun came up became way too harsh (Ze Flaring Burns Ze Eyes) and I moved my framing to the north so I could shoot partially across the harsh rising sun. I loved the way the light was picked up by the rocks here, and with the tide coming through even a shortish 30 second exposure was enough to capture what I wanted.

This was Week 21, I should technically be on about Week 38 at the moment but I have caught up a little in the past couple of weeks (am now looking at shot 36). Some of my newest long exposures I am very excited about but that would be sharing before that week has come by.. dammit!

I have also completed my first 10 stop photo on film.. very exciting that one and I am looking forward to doing many more in this ongoing project.

A few posts scheduled for this week and next, discussing different films I have shot and some of my first fashion styled shoots I have completed. I am also planning and working on my next Guide to Film Development.. this time c41 colour negative. Feels like an eternity since I have been able to find some time to put my thoughts into words, I was a little inspired by words shared on flickr by a fellow photographer Jack Strutz this week.. and it got me thinking that I really need to lift my game and get my thoughts blogged whilst they are fresh in the mind (P.S – Check out his work he has some fantastic shots).

Till next time..

Week 20 – All The Small Things

Not the usual type of shot I would normally consider with a 10 stop filter, but once I saw this shot in my lightroom catalog I just knew it had to be part of the project. This shot, even though it is short in exposure time is possible purely because of the 10 stopper. The sun is just breaching the cloud mass on the horizon point which usually results in a bright and undefinable mess. Thankfully with a little bit of diffusion from the cloud, and the trusty 10 stopper on the lens I was able to get some definition in the sun as it peaked over, as well as some smooth flow to the ocean and sand below me. It was a wild morning this, with the tide too large for us to venture out towards the ocean pool we went all the way to Mona Vale for specifically. What I love about this shot is the light, and the glow on the sand and the water.. I also like the transition from the sand to the water as it churns around.

All the small things refers to the small shell/rock in the bottom right 1/3 of the image. Its resistance against the heavy swell and churning conditions was impressive. I thought about calling it .. resistance is futile since essentially, with enough time the ocean will always win.. and one day it just might.

I hope you have all been following my flickr of late, if not book mark it now! I have been flat out shooting, with lots in store to share with the blog readers.. it is best to view my ongoing efforts on flickr.

Thank you for your ongoing support and I hope you are enjoying the photos.

Till next time..

Week 19 – Drifter

I picked up and carried this bit of wood around 50m from further down the beach. I dont think it quite worked this morning as the sky didnt really come to the party (and I was using a borrowed D700 and didnt have my filters). None the less you can see the effect I was aiming for with the wood.

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Week 18 – F8 @ 61 seconds

One of my first visits of a few this winter.. looking forward to getting back there again on the next low tide. The green moss has hung around this year, which is great to hear. There have been some large amounts of sand movement as well which has opened up the beach to some new rocks I have never seen before. I took a number of different shots this morning, but for me it was a bit of a disappointing sunrise compared to some others. I have a couple of good sunrise shots from this winter at Turimetta but I am still after something I am truly proud of.

I also took the opportunity to shoot some film on this morning… but I have yet to finish all the stitches from the day! So much film, so little time.. I think I need to improve the process 🙂

Looking forward to some more sharing.. I hope you have been following my flickr as you will see I have done a lot of shooting lately.

Till next time..

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