It’s another beautiful summer day in Bondi. The beach is full of sunburnt backpackers and the coastal walk  is the busiest I’ve seen since Sculptures. But there’s one area that’s empty as it always is at this time of year – the boardwalk.

Yep, it’s been closed off to make way for the massive stage that will host the acts for Shore Thing, Bondi’s NYE party. The past few years have seen the likes of Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx, Bob Sinclar, Groove Armada and The Presets grace the beach. This year the Noughties will be played out by some of the biggest DJs from the last three decades – Carl Cox, Danny Tenaglia, and Roger Sanchez.

Security fences are also up along the length of Campbell Parade to ensure only the paid up ticket-holders get in (although expect quite a few backpackers to scale them/impale themselves on the night after having a few Stellas at the Bondi Hotel).

And tomorrow evening the beach will also be closed off as the sight of floating revellers the next morning is never a good way to start the year.

Nice clouds today though. Cirrus I believe.

It’s silly season once again and I’ve been busy shooting events and Christmas debauchery parties, so apologies for the brief hiatus.

I’m also lining up more model shoots to increase my work in the air-kissed and air-brushed walk-in wardrobe of fashion – although I must stress that I don’t use Photoshop and have quite strong reservations about entering the whole multi-layered realm of post-production. Well, until now.

You see, I’ve always positioned myself as something of a purist; wanting to get the perfect shot straight out of the camera with very little editing in Aperture 2 apart from the “accepted” level adjustments to contrast, exposure, brightness and saturation, and a bit of cropping here and there. I like to know I’ve used my knowledge and experience to get the best from the camera rather than relying on software to save me. Photographers the world over argue and protest the pros and cons and rights and wrongs of post-production. Should a photo be as the eye sees it or as the photographer perceives it? Is it documentary or art? And with the amount of modes and variable settings available via a digital camera’s menus, is that not a form of pre-post-production? The debates rage on and everyone gets their rolls of film in a twist (well the purists do – digital photogs overheat their memory cards).

Anyway, yesterday was the first Sunday of summer in Australia and it was a scorcher. Bondi Beach was packed (and so was the Beach Road Hotel for the Miss Bondi competition) and I felt the need to avoid all of it and make use of the weather for a stroll with the 5D2.

But where to go? It was midday and the sky was blue and clear so completely the wrong time for a dramatic landscape, the beach was packed so seascapes were out, spring blooms were wilting in the heat so flora was a no-go, plus I couldn’t think of anywhere local I hadn’t been to recently. I really needed some inspiration.

And then I had an idea. I’ve been seeing a lot of photos taken with the cheap but chic Lomo plastic cameras from Russia, such as the popular Holga model. The randomness of the results you get from their somewhat haphazard construction has become uber cool and now demand has driven quite a revival. Sales of Lomos are going through the roof and there are now several iPhone apps available that will reproduce the same retro, vignetted, saturated quality associated with these essentially toy cameras. I’ve been thinking about buying a Lomo and have had a few looks at the Lomography website to check out the quite vast range of models available.

But did I need to buy one or could I replicate the look with Aperture? Ooh controversial! Did I really think that? Did I not want a Lomo for the joy of playing about with a cheap film camera and waiting excitedly to see what comes back from the darkroom? Well, yes, but I didn’t have a Lomo yet to play with and I wanted to get out in the sun so Aperture was going to have to do.

So off I went for a few hours of visualising everything with retro eyes. It was actually quite fun and did make me look at very familiar locations in a new light. This old car in front of a house would not have made me bat an eyelid if I was looking for “normal” images but it screamed out to me as vintage Australiana, so I took the shot and pushed a few sliders to the limit in post-production. What do you think?

I also found the great petrol pump that is featured as the opening image.

I’m happy with this little project I gave myself and look forward to taking more shots with a view to manipulating them. Will this turn me into a Photoshop fiend? Well, I’m still to be totally convinced I need that much post-processing power, but with a fashion career in the back of my mind sometimes you have to look to the future. Or is that the past?

I recently joined ModelMayhem, the world’s largest social networking site for models, photographers, stylists and make-up artists.

“Joining the Mayhem” is something you really need to be do if you’re starting out in fashion photography as I am. You get to work with professionals of varying levels of experience who are striving to hit the big time, and therefore often offer their services for free in return for hi-res photos to add to their portfolios.

The name ModelMayhem itself is definitely appropriate for the site! The guidelines say that a new member’s profile can take up to two days to approve. So after nearly a week of constantly checking my inbox for confirmation, all I could do was assume that the moderators were spending a lot of time scrutinising the four initial photos I had to supply with my profile. Or were all lording it up at a fashion show somewhere, which I thought was more likely. But I can’t lie: I was nervous. I really want to break into fashion and this seemed to be the main conduit into it. If I didn’t get approved, what was I going to do? Sure I had met a dozen models at a recent model search and become facebook friends with most of them but those things only happen a few times a year. Plus a few of the models and stylists from the event had recommended that I join ModelMayhem so I was really keen to get on board and get shooting.

Eventually the wait was over. The confirmation email arrived after a week, welcoming me to the Mayhem. This was it – my chance to break into the big time and maybe eventually star in a Zoolander sequel! And then the site went down. Yes, the chaos of the fashion world had infected the online space. No not really, it was a hacker bringing down the site’s security, causing it to shut down for a few days while they bought a few more digital Dobermans.

Fortunately I hadn’t yet put all my hope and dreams in ModelMayhem and had arranged a shoot in Bondi with Renny, one of the model search finalists. Renny is a part time model with Platform Models and aspires to go full time. Until that happens she’s loving her role as a chemical engineer, designing drilling equipment for mines! What was all that talk about models being airheads?!

Renny came all the way down from Newcastle on a sunny Sunday and together with my stylist friend Ali, we spent four hours having fun shooting at a handful of locations that I had already scouted. Renny was a true professional and needed little direction, effortlessly moving from pose to pose. At the end of the shoot I advised Renny to get onto ModelMayhem as well. But to wait a few days first!

If you’re on ModelMayhem look me up at www.modelmayhem.com/miltongan

The weather in Sydney this week has been schizo. 37C heat and wind on Tuesday for Melbourne Cup was not particularly pleasant, especially if you were a bloke trussed up in a suit and tie like me. Then the rest of the week was 15 degrees cooler, cloudy and wet.

But it’s all come good today to the relief of several thousand people as Sculpture By The Sea is back. If you haven’t been then you have a week remaining to head east and wander the coast from Bondi to Glamarama to view the ever interesting and unusual works of art.

The best time for photos is definitely early: read 5.30am. But for that you get the sunrise and clear shots of all the sculptures.

If you come over next weekend for the final days then bring your elbow pads and prepare for cluttered viewfinders!

So on Tuesday night I might have had a few glasses of wine. And beer. And saki. And cocktails.

But when I woke up at 6am the next morning to a room bathed in red light, I really didn’t think I’d had enough to make my eyes bleed. What on earth/mars was going on?

My photojournalistic gene instinctively kicked in (quite fortunately as the adrenalin boost instantly cleared my hangover before I realised I was supposed to have one) so I grabbed the 5D2 and headed out on to the balcony to survey the most surreal experience since…well, the night before to be honest but I won’t go into that now!

A quick change and I was down on Bondi Beach for a few more shots.

I couldn’t believe that people were working out as usual in the middle of a dust storm! And then I had a pot/kettle moment and realised I could well be ruining a very expensive piece of kit. Oh well, too late so I grabbed the bus and headed to the CBD

and Pyrmont, where I took a few more shots before the sky finally started to lighten up and clear. And my hangover finally kicked in.

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Sunrise is getting ridiculously early these days. Too early even for me.

That’s a shame because I love getting down to the beach pre-dawn. For a lot of people setting the alarm for 5.30am to go and exercise is ok, but setting it that early to take photos has a touch of insanity to it, and dragging yourself out of a warm bed to head out into the chilly darkness doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either. Add the fact that you’re never guaranteed a spectacular sunrise and it’s quite reasonable to wonder whether I’m just extremely bored or an insomniac. However, the sky is now getting light from 5am, which is pushing my limits given that I don’t sleep until after midnight. So when is daylight savings kicking in?!

Once that comes around I’m sure I’ll resume my pre-dawn ritual. I actually like the lottery of heading out into the dark and guessing the best location to set up my tripod when I can’t even see if there are any clouds, let alone guess whether the next 30 minutes will bring my holy grail – a blanket of glowing pink covering the beach and the sea.

However, even if that doesn’t happen it’s still worth hanging around until the sun rises. By that time Bondi Beach is a hive of activity; the runners are pounding the promenade, the boot campers are doing their push ups, and the surfers are sitting out at the back waiting for their perfect break.

I love this town.

The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is one of the most popular pasttimes for both locals and tourists.

Each day hundreds of people stroll, jog or run along the route which has a permanent view of the ocean and passes through the beaches of Tamarama, Bronte and Clovelly as it meanders south. The Bondi to Tamarama stretch also hosts the famous Sculpture By The Sea exhibition.

There are many prominent lookout points along the walk to cater for the throngs of visitors wanting to take home a photo souvenir; but every now again you spot a new vantage point, such as this one which I noticed early one spring morning as the sun emerged from the ocean.

It’s going to be a hot weekend in Sydney, which means the sun-seeking crowds will be descending on Bondi. But they’re not the only ones. I also spotted a squid, octopus, crab and…teddy bear down there.

Yep, the Festival Of The Winds is back. Tomorrow is the main day so get down here to enjoy kite flying displays, music, and entertainment. All in glorious 30C sunshine! (Did I miss a couple of seasons or are we still in winter??)

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