Pokies Politics

Last week I had to photograph Andrew Wilkie for the Australian Financial Review. It was a pretty busy day being sandwiched between a shoot for the launch of the Blunstone Arena Bellerive and some work for the Mercury.
We only had about 1 1/2 hours to shoot Andrew in between him talking to the public out in Northgate shopping centre. I was amazing to see him in action, everyone wanted to have their 5 minutes with Andrew Wilkie, and he was more than happy to oblige. As expected getting his away from the crowd to get a portrait was more than a little difficult so Katie (my assistant) and I set up a small studio shoot in a back alley and bided our time.
After a couple of false starts we eventually coaxed Andrew away for about 4 minutes to grap a couple of images.

Andrew Wilkie was amazingly giving with his time and genuinely interested in everyone that he met, I was left with a great impression of him as a committed federal representative.. if only there were a couple more out there!

More awesome..ness from Aussie Sports stars, Congraulations Sam

Congraulations to Samantha Stosur for taking out the US open womens single championship. Absolutly amazing. I met her last year during the Moorilla International, and apart from being an obviously excellent player, she was so friendly, happy to help and open. True Aussie!




Sam Stosur at The Moorilla International Feb, 2011, Photo: Richard Jupe


From The Mercury's Website...
SAMANTHA Stosur has produced the performance of a lifetime to break Australia's Grand Slam drought and win this morning's US Open final over Serena Williams in straight sets this morning.
Written of by all but her closest supporters against the raging tournament favourite, Stosur never flinched before a capacity 23,000-strong crowd and completed the 6-2 6-3 victory in just 73 minutes.
Read the whole article and see a video here..
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/09/12/260695_sport-news.html

13 hours 457km 5 lenses, 1700 images and 2 football matches

Sunday saw the A-League come to Tassie, It also saw 6300 people cram (read fit easily) into Aurora Stadium in Launceston. The Mercury was down a photographer in the north so I was sent up from Hobart to shoot the Melbourne Victory verses the Brisbane Roar for a pre-season friendly and the Premier League Grand Final with The New Town Eagles going up against South Hobart. I packed the ridiculously heavy 400mm 2.8L and a bunch of other lenses in the Toyota Aurion and headed off.

I was hoping for the same kind of attention that the media get afforded when the cricket comes to Bellerive Oval, a buffet selection of savoury and sweet lunches, free wireless and comfortable surrounds. Unfortunately the A-League in Launceston doesn't warrant such attention and I shovelled a small salad roll into my mouth before hitting the ground for the start of the proceeding.
The next 5 hours was a blur of shooting, downloading, uploading, grappling with mobile internet, shooting, downloading etc. Victory got up easily over Roar 2-0 and that’s without the goal that the umpire seemed to miss in the first half.. see below

The first goal for Victory that was disallowed, or at least the umpire missed as the ball bounced out.





Roar's Ivan Franjic is tackled by Melbourne Victory's Fabio Alves Macedo



The Premier league final was a pretty exciting afair, going into extra time with South Hobart ending up scoring 2 goals in the 30 minutes of extra time to end 3-1 up.

New Town's Adam McKeown, and South Hobart's Loic Feral, both attempt to head the ball

South Hobart's Jonathan Lo and New Town's Alex Gordon fight for control of the ball

Another problem you have with shooting a sport like football is that there are lots of players and unless it's a sport that you follow closely, you need to get numbers so that you can identify the players later. I usually track players after I know I've got a great shot until I can get their shirt number and then record in audio against that file. This technique also allows me the have the 'keepers' tagged so that hungry picture desks get their images quickly after a game. Over the two games I shot around 1700 images, so if the selections aren't already marked, editing becomes a nightmare.
Back to the little media centre to download, select, upload and battle with mobile internet before hitting the asphalt to get back to the Mercury in Hobart at 11pm. Thanks to my mate Chris in Launceston who dosed me up on coffee before I hit the road making the return voyage much easier!

Roars Mitch Nichols and Victorys Grant Brebner

When I was a little kid I use to go to the cricket with Dad. This was before the days of instant replays and big screens, after 2 hours of sitting around, I'd get bored and start looking around for other things to do. The moment I took my eyes off the game, sure enough there'd be a wicket, a six or some other pivotal moment. Shooting sport is exactly the same, and that’s why it's especially tiring, you are concentrating on the action while trying to predict the next move constantly for the entire game. Added to that you'll always miss some moments where an umpire or player gets in the way of an otherwise great shot, so you just can't afford to miss any other moment.

The excellent adventure, part 3

It was a great Lasagne last night at the end of a very tiring day, big thanks to Scottie and Suzy for their hospitality especially that of the youngest member of the family, the unstoppable 1 1/2 year old Harrison. It was great to have a little bit more of a chilled out day today, enabling me to get some retouching done in the morning and have a look at the results of the shoot yesterday. As I mentioned the images of the model are going to be cut out and dropped into a background image so the retouching that I did was specifically to get them to fit as best they can, they don't look amazing at the moment, but I think they'll drop in really well and it should all polish up nicely.

(warning- boring tech talk ahead)
As I was working at Scottie's place I had the opportunity to get my hands dirty with the mac only program 'Aperture'. Got to say that while it's really cheap, relative to PS and Capture One Pro, it seems to lack a fair bit of functionality. No availability to export contact sheets (except as straight to print) and a relatively slow processing speed were my two main quibbles. After saying that C1Pro does eat up ram like a press shooter eats canapes at a free lunch event. It does the job that Bridge and ACR do together or C1 Pro, but just not as natively, quite a surprise to me as I've heard so many good things about it. If you're strapped and want a retouching and raw processing tool (can't believe that I'm saying this) go for lightroom.
Caught up with Sam and Renate for lunch and checked out the old Dainty Szechuan, which is right where the old Dainty used to be and is exactly the same (and just as good) at the old Dainty! “Hoorahhh" the chilli fans shout. So if you're in Melbourne CBD and looking for a great chilli fix, head to the end of Corrs lane (off china town) and check out the old Dainty, ( it's just like Dainty used to be!)
Enough.
I've since then worked out why it's so cheap to fly out of Avalon airport, I had to leave the city 2 1/2 hours before the plane left, overkill, yes I think so. On the flip side it's given me time to sit done and have a little rant, so I guess that's a good thing. As Avalon airport would only be beaten in plainness and lack of inspiration by LAX I have no more to report. Next stop Sydney and the SOCAP conference tomorrow.

JPEG from Avalon airport, straight from EOS 1D III with a bit of in camera preference tweaking! Yes I'm bored!

The excellent, part 2

Shoot went well, The whole gang from Bike Victoria turn out to lend a hand and some great ideas and the got through the list of images really quickly.  The main shot was a cover for the next issue of "Ride On" magazine which will be cut out and dropped into another background. This meant that we had a lot of discussion about how the image that we were creating was going to sit with the existing images. The original image is below, but will look completely different. We are actually to "flatten" out the background and drop a sky in so the riders appear to be riding along a flat road. The main rider will be replaced with the image that we shot today, leaving the out of focus riders to complete the group.

As per usual De and the guys at Aperture studios were a fantastic help, it's a great studio to work out of. After packing up, I made the dash across town (PT again, thanks baggage, sooo comfortable) to Williamstown to meet up with a mate Scottie McNaughton, a very talented photojournalist who was just finishing his day for Community News, papers.Scottie had had a great day racing around Calder park doing hot laps in an EVO for the ARC launch. Man life is really tough as a photographer sometimes!, got to go Aparently Scotts wife Suzy is making Lasange for dinner! Yumm, I'll be downloading tonight and try and get a couple of images up asap.

The excellent, part 1

Travelling for work is something that I've got pretty used to since moving to tassie 3 years ago. But when I started thinking about it (and on advice from a great mate wassa) it started to,seem slightly strange. So what does it really entail. Well here goes.
BTW, apologies for typos, I'm on a phone on a hue, on a bumpy rd!
Tue, get up at 4.20am for a 6am flight to Melbourne. Luckily I managed to get a qantas flight so the standard grunt and obvious lack.of service was replaced with smiles, breakfast and coffee, As a result I now sit on the 7.35 airbus to Melbourne city feeling quite a lot more alive than normal. The shoot today starts at 10.30 and because of budgetary restrictions I'm combining my gym workout with travel and will now make my way with the 40kg of gear (shhh don't tell qantas) across Melbourne by walking and public transport. I'm on route to the studio we've hired in collingwood, aperture studios a great space with, the very friendly Dee running it. The shoot is for bike Victoria, we've got a couple a close-ups and bits and pieces to get done before the talent turns up at 12.
Well bus is in the city, update later, now where's the nearest coffee establishment.
BTW, apologies for typos, I'm on a phone on a hue, on a bumpy rd!

Update- found it, magnation, one of the best coffees in Melbourne and more magazines than you can poke multiple sticks at!

sent from my Telstra NEXTG™ handset

Globalisation in imagery

This may end up being a rant, it may be interesting, perhaps even though provoking, I hope you stay with me... What does globalisation mean for photography?
Globalisation, the www and social networking has made images of all sorts increasingly available.  Good or bad, shared with permission or illegally downloaded, we have to accept that images are now seen more often be more people than ever before. This has some instinctual advantages as well as many disadvantages. By far the biggest advantage is that we as a society are becoming more visually aware, we appreciate better visual content and to some extent are not happy to be exposed to lesser quality imagery.  This maybe goes against the general movement to a more throw-away culture where quality and value are not held as dear as they have been in the past. Another massive advantage is ease of communication. Better access to images that tell stories in news, social comment and even fiction mean that these mediums can communicate more effectively and engage the viewer more readily.  You can now utilise imagery from every corner of the globe no matter how local your comment may be.
However with this comes some distinct disadvantages; the devaluation of the professional sector, the saturation of imagery into culture and the propensity to steal otherwise valuable content.  As a professional photographer the devaluation of the industry is especially important to me. I was at the pub the other day talking to a photography student and the words actually came out of his mouth "Yep, but, photography's easy" I was shocked, appalled and dumbstruck all at once, and the latter one isn't something that happens too often. I'll happily admit that pressing a button is easy, I'll even be happy to say that taking an image is easy, but photography, photography isn't easy and from someone investing a lot of time and energy into learning it, this should be sacrosanct. It's a common misconception that because we see a lot of images and because some people undervalue what images are, it's perceived as easy. I blame istockphoto and other like photo sharing web applications! istockphoto took the specific and refined process of supplying and purchasing images for commercial purposes out of the hands of professionals and put it into amateurs. This process not only devalued the stock image industry but also had a ripple effect onto the entire photographic industry by the saturation of mediocre, non-descript images into the public spectrum.
So how do we battle this? In the face of saturation, computer generated imagery and IT professionals shooting weddings on weekends there is only one thing to do, BE professional, raise the bar and produce images that stamp authority. It’s not challenging for many people to get a pretty image of a flower close-up, or a sunset over a beach, but getting a get likeness of someone is another matter entirely. The most amazing thing about the whole idea of globalisation is the one thing that it can't kill is the one thing that photography became famous for in the mid 1800's, peoples likeness. Professional photography comes out clearest in the most challenging situations, where technical, aesthetic, logistic and personal skills are all but to the test simultaneously. Simply put, when we photograph people.  When I tried to learn the guitar I could never sing and play at the same time, no matter how well I knew the song (and regardless of how bad my singing was) I couldn't manage it and it's exactly the same with photography, when photographing people 100% of your attention needs to be focused on the sitter, therefor everything else needs to be intuitive. That comes from experience, and that's what makes photography a profession, a challenge and more than anything an inspiration.

Car tests

Just thought that I'd chuck up these car tests that I've done of the new Alfa. I worked for 2 years as an assistant to a car photographer in Melbourne years ago, and shooting these today made me remember why it takes so long to get it right. I'll post more about the techniques used at a later date, with better examples as there are too many mistakes in these!

Inspire me!

I was having a great very (late) night chat to a friend photographer Paul Hoelen a while back about photographers that inspire, educate and challenge us. It may well have been at the end of a slightly boozy night and I may only have just remembered the conversation, but I thought that it would be great to start a list of photographers that I personally admire. It would be great if you feel like leaving a comment with any of your favourites.
I love being interoduced to new talent. So here goes, by no means exhaustive but at least I've finally come good on my word to get a list out there.

Australian

Trent Parke   Stills Gallery     Magnum
Trent is a photographer, not just any photographer and not just one who works as one. He lives it, his life seems to me to be the true meaning of 'living life through a lens'. He documents Australia, people, sydney, his life and everything inbetween. Fantastic black and white work in "Dream Life" and Beautiful Art/Doco interpretations in "The Christmas Tree Bucket"

Narelle Autio Stills Gallery
 Australian as an Australian Photographer gets. She is Trent Parkes partner and together they created the series "Seventh Wave" but her images have a grtit and realness that I will always shy away from in my own image making.

Alice Springs - Yes that is her real name (well changed from June Browne) She married fashion photographer Helmut Newton. Her images of people uncover a side of people that they don't want to show. Especially dramatic are her double portraits where she often used a straight/profil formula to create an amazing movement through the frame, (which includes the viewer).

Bill Henson - Created a lot of controversy a couple of years ago. All I can say is that standing in front of one of his prints will hit the mute button on most critics. They are beautiful, deep, provocative and extremely soulful. His images are where we should be in contemporary fine art photography.

Many of the Oculi Photographers

International

Ewrin Olaf - An amazing commercial photographer from the Netherlands who does a lot of personal work. His series of "Hope" and "Grief" ask more questions than they answer and his series "Royal Blood" has a wonderful tounge in cheek aproach. His high production values put a lot of contemoporary fine art photographer to shame.

Andreas Gursky - You really need to see these images in real life to fully appreciate them, they prove how scale can be used so effectively to create different reactions. He photographs the real word but creates hyper real images which are just that little bit unbelievable. I especially like his image of the Formula 1, a composite from something like 30 separate images.



Sebastiao Salgado - The most amazing, tragic and beautiful photo journalists ever. Check out his images from his book "Workers" which documented manual labour in the early 90's.  I especially like his image of a confruntation in the gold mines. This image to me captures what Henri Cartier Bresson coined "The decisive moment" (another good one to look up). If you look carefully you can see that moment when a oppressed magority finally cracks and one man decides that hes had enough and makes a stand. The energy in the image is stunning. To quoate another founder of Magnum "f11 and be there"

There are so many more. Ansel has to get a mention, as does Steichen, HCB, Kertesz, Man Ray, Blumenfeld, Chase Jarvis, Leibowitz and definatly Seliger... (below)

Now, any suggestions, who have I missed??

Bored with a phone...

sent from my Telstra NEXTG™ handset

Magical forests and mystical light... hmmm

One of the main reasons that I have started this blog is to push myself into doing more personal work. Over the last 10 years I've tried all sorts of things to this end, most of which are spectacularly unsucessful. Closed Session (and the later incandation global session) the few exceptions. But that's another story. 

The work here is the lastest in a stream of unfinished projects. My aim, to force myself to write a context statement and to get some feedback on the work and said context statement...help please, anyone!

Nocturnal
Tasmanias myrtle forest are in a world of their own, light catches on ferns and gnarling tree roots amid a derth of deep shadows.  They are a magical place, timeless, motionless and completely segregated from the outside world. Stepping inside imediatly transports you to a place where endless shades of green intemingle with deep browns and blazing sunlight. A carcofany of colour, as if mixed and sprayed across a landscape, then left for a millenia to grow, live, die and cycle endlessly.  Standing inside, the timlessness encapulates very sense, there is no floor, no ceiling, no start or end, there is the forest. The forest that lives, that keeps, sways and molds to every change, that slowely grows through storm and sun, that will die through and through and still live to see another day.

In the night, the light that generates this energy has left. I attempt to recreat the energy as I remember. To create the magic artifically that nature does so easily. It's a challenge and privallage to spent time in the forests and share in some of it's magic.

London Riots

Amazing images of destruction from the Londons riots..
@ The Age

800 ICT Professionals and the Govenor ...

What happens when you get 800 ICT professionals from all over Australia into one room? The talk, they talk a lot, mostly about stuff that you can't understand. Well they talk and then the drink and dance, at least I can understand that one! The Govenor of Victoria was there to help proceedings along, which is all good apart form the fact that every little move and request all had to go through his Aide first.
So in the end the stats stacked up like this...

16hrs of photography
1300 Images
20 Gb of data
Very sore feet!