Where I’ve Been.. What I’ve Done.. What You See

It kind of feels like there should be an Echo in here… 3 weeks since my last blog.. shock horror.. its been smashingly busy this past month or so! But I have been busy.. and doing a lot.. and uploading to Flickr.. so I apologise blog.. very sorry.. it is just sometimes easier to edit and upload than edit and blog. Although I do have a lot to share.. im thinking my schedules should be spread out a bit more.

So what have I been shooting? Well people.. and not just wedding people (although there have been some beautiful brides and very manly grooms) I have been branching out.. varying my style.. and taking myself out of my comfort zone. What’s that? No beaches? Nope.. well also my car stopped working.. which kinda sucks.. but I havent done a sunrise for about 6 weeks now.. maybe more.. its kind of.. odd.. almost alien and I do really really miss it. Ill get there again, to be perfectly honest.. with my weekends busy with client meets, weddings, pre-weddings and other assorted photography shenanigans I really cant afford to get up and bare the brunt of the tiredness.. so im working with it.

So to save more of a ramble.. here is a mix of what I’ve been up too..

Some brain eating..

Girls in Parks..

A collaboration shoot..

A trip to Melbourne!

Girls in Abandoned Factories..

Some film scanning..

Maybe the odd long exposure as well.. on film of course..

But it didnt turn out THAT great..

But I still had fun.. so lots to share.. cant wait 🙂

Till next time..

New Location.. North Coogee Headland

Sydney is an amazing city to live in.. as is any city that you grow up in and have a fondness for. Unlike many Sydneysiders I have actually explored a lot of the greater area due to my job and willingness to explore/scout. Adding locations for working on concepts (whether it is pre-wedding photos, bridal photos, fashion shoots or even seascapes) can add a change and variety to your work which keeps things fresh. More importantly, as a photographer it also keeps it interesting and fun to try new locations and have them ‘just work’.

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The Churning Waters of Turimetta Beach

I took this photo all the way back in June! And I havent shared…

I know I know why not? Well I was stuck in a bit of a rut back in June and July.. feeling that my processing was being undone. Not a sense of laziness.. not a sense of unhappiness but a feeling that I could get ‘more’ out of my photos. Two good friends of mine, Alex Wise and Toan got me onto the right track by giving me a friendly push in the right direction.

Alex video’d himself editing a picture from this same spot, giving me a comprehensive view of things I could ‘do’ to help get my photos to where I want them to be. This was a massive help for someone like myself, who always enjoyed bolstering shots with editing, but never detracting away from the natural feel or essence of what you are looking at.

One of the trickiest things to describe to people about shooting in the morning is the changing light. The light changes so rapidly that you have shifts in colour, white balance, luminosity and reflections. This isnt even taking into account the effect the equipment you use can have.. including colour casts from filters, abnormalities in lenses and bodies used and how the image data is collected and reproduced into a digital image by your camera.

Toan helped by putting into perspective for me that processing is a personal feel, and only you will really know once the image is complete. Sometimes it will work,  sometimes it wont.. but editing each image based on it’s own merit will get you as close to being happy with your work as possible.

Pretty smart words, pretty smart friends.. glad they helped me out. Since then I have been much happier with my processing style.. even adding some new elements I had not previously been using in my work. I have then been able to take some of these skills over to my new film shots.. and this is helping me in many ways. SO how do I process? Well I hope too add snippets as guides to this blog over time. On average however I would say I would spend between 20mins to 1 hour per shot.. and even then sometimes they dont make the cut.

Till next time..

I will be back soon.. I promise.

A frustrating couple of weeks for me with the phone line at home getting disconnected and a massive circle jerk causing me excessive downtime with no net! So I am still here.. I just have no time to blog the way I want too. There are advantages of having no internet… it actually reminds me of a book I read whilst growing up called ‘What No TV?!’

As a child who has grown up with the digital/technical revolution the reliance on internet for not only entertainment but social interaction, personal development, creative exploring and also sharing your photography is something  that takes up a large part of your life. Kind of like the attachment many make with their own phones, take it away and they have lost a communication channel and a valuable part of their ‘self’.

Never fear.. I am not a tragic who is crying themselves to sleep in the corner each night waiting for the modem to flash ‘sync’ once more. I have been using the time to re-archive all my film negatives, send my new completed rolls off for development, teach B&W development to a fellow photographer and generally process through some of the back log I have at home.

So hopefully ill get another post up early next week before I get the net back on in over a week’s time from today…

Till next time..

Avalon Sunrise in July

I touched on Avalon with a preview of a sunrise in late May, which in fact inspired me to head out later that week back to Avalon to capture another sunrise. Now I havent actually finished editing that sunrise! I am bad no? 🙂 Well I think you would agree that me being out shooting gives me a bit of leeway when it comes to blogging eh? 2 for 2 thus far with fairly nice sunrises on both visits to Avalon allowing for a full and enjoyable morning of shooting. With some nice sprawling cloud this morning really snapped, crackled and popped.

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The Green Moss of Turimetta

The moss at Turimetta Beach is a sight to see every winter and the colours and textures it creates are nothing short of phenomenal. I have been heading to Turimetta beach for almost 2 years now; the beach is wild and windy and when the surf kicks up there is so much water movement and power it is a sight to see. Unfortunately my luck at this beach hasnt been so great.. up until last month I hadn’t had a great sky at Turimetta.. ever! I went two weeks in a row (one by chance) and the skies came to play. I have yet to blog that morning yet but I will get to that soon.. this post is all about the moss.

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Avalon Sunrise Preview

I dont normally do this.. but have been working on my post processing techniques this past couple of weeks in an attempt to get ‘more’ out of my images.. and simply love this one I finished last night. I always try and bring the natural look to my images I process, as I like to share what I see. Unfortunately there are some other factors that get in the way of this such as filters (colour cast), exposure differences (sky is brighter than the earth!) and white balance (but wait, its not that colour?!).

This shot is a blend of a slightly underexposed sky (to get the colour) and an overexposed foreground (to get the lightness and the detail). I have also done some selective highlighting to bring out the shapes and sharpening to crisp up areas in the image. I was able to overcome the colour changes with some curve adjustments to the sky and there is very little extra colour added.

So I hope you like, I hope it doesnt take me another 4 weeks to finishing editing the other shots from Avalon. I am thinking I might get some prints made up of this shot, and some others from the morning. If you are interested please email me at info@outsideinpixels.com or contact me through the contact page.

A big thank you my friend Alex Wise for his help with my processing and also to Toan for putting up with my rambling questions and giving me honest feedback.

Till next time..

A Windy Mona Vale Sunrise

Back in mid May when scouting for a new spot to try myself and my friend Toan stumbled across Mona Vale Ocean Pool. I had seen shots from there before, but hadn’t really put it high on my priority list.. I certainly wish I had though! We arrived to a very cold and windy morning at Mona Vale.. with a high tide and a big swell it was actually impossible for us to get out to the pool itself. Greeted by churning waters we setup camp and got started well before dawn.

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White Bay Power Station Panorama

This great old powerstation is located on the border of Rozelle/Balmain in Sydney, NSW. Just as you get off the Anzac Bridge it is located on the western side of the road and is now heritage listed. A trust that looks after these historical sites have been running open days, and we had access for a Photographer’s day at the plant.. which allowed you to get in there and with restricted access check out the many areas of the power station. Myself and my good friend Toan actually headed here straight after a sunrise.. we have been indeed busy bees!

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Newtown Street Photography

Street photography is a very interesting yet difficult medium to master. You need to (as the photographer) find a way to engage subjects… either by being bold and snapping people without care.. or by mastering other techniques (like shooting from the hip). I am not very good at either of these.. I sort of fumble along the way but I still like what I like and when my friend Josh asked to go for some Street Shooting in Newtown on his birthday.. well how could I resist?

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