A year goes by pretty quickly these days (is that another effect of climate change?) and at first I thought I’d struggle to find ten images that I’d proudly mount on pedestals. But a trawl through my library reminded me just how many shoots, jobs and photos came out of those 12 months! So the problem was then drawing up a shortlist of the best ten.

And then there’s the subjective part: what defines a top photo? Should it be a personal favourite of mine or others? Should it feature a person or place that’s dear to me? Should it have captured a unique event or moment in time? Should it be technically well executed? Or all/some/none of the above?

Well after careful consideration I’ve selected my top ten images. Some of them I honestly didn’t expect to make the final cut, but for some of the reasons mentioned above, I felt that they deserved a place. Please have a browse and let me know which is your favourite.

Here we go, in no particular order (as that would take another three months!):

Disco Condo

This is one of my all time favourite shots and it’s also by far the standout favourite amongst my friends and those who have looked through my work and given me feedback. I suppose the thing that surprises people most about this photo is the fact that it was spontaneous. I just walked out onto my hotel balcony in Waikiki and this is what the building opposite looked like. No scouting for a location and no waiting for hours for the lights to come on. And that’s the magic of photography: the ability to make the everyday things around us look amazing. Read more about Disco Condo.

Lake Taupo Trance

On many photographers “to do” lists is a long exposure of a jetty leading out into the water, and it was certainly high up on mine for quite a while. But a trip to Lake Taupo in NZ finally gave me the opportunity to cross it off. This was taken at sunset after a day of unsettled weather. My west facing position gave me a nice golden glow on the horizon, while my ND grad filters blurred out the water, gave the clouds movement, and saved the sun’s highlights from blowing out. The ghostly blur of the swaying boat adds extra atmosphere. Read more about Lake Taupo Trance.

Sydney Dust Storm: Centrepoint Shroud

The Sydney dust storm was memorable for anyone in the city that morning and especially those, like me, who woke up at dawn to find they had relocated to Mars overnight. I took a heap of shots to commemorate this special event (and put the 5D Mk II’s dust proof claims to the test!) but this one is my favourite. It was taken in the CBD as I made my way to work. The dust was starting to clear but there was still an eerie silence as the city’s commuters tried as best they could to go about their daily routine as if everything was normal, despite this golden mist cloaking them! I like the perspective in this shot and how the silhouetted Centrepoint Tower in the distance gives a sense of how widespread the dust is. Read more about Sydney Dust Storm: Centrepoint Shroud

Sculptured Sunrise

Every year Sculpture By The Sea is one of the most popular events in Bondi, with amazing works of art adorning the beautiful Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk. There are opportunities galore for photographers, but if you want a nice clean composition you need to get there early, as in dawn early. And for that effort you may be rewarded with a shot to remember. Read more about Sculptured Sunrise.

Balance Beam

I spent quite a few mornings during the summer weekends at Cooper Park in Bondi. It was a haven for dragonflies and damselflies, and after the first morning of using my macro lens to get up close and personal with them, I was addicted and couldn’t wait to go back and take more! Most of the inhabitants were these Sydney Flatwing damselflies. They were amazing models! Very photogenic and totally unfazed by the camera despite the lens being just millimetres from their tiny faces! One of my shots (Red 5 Standing By) became an instant hit on my RedBubble web gallery, but my favourite is this one. I’d identified a broken stalk which I thought would be make a great perch and staked it out. Several hours and meat pies later (kidding) and this little fella decided to drop by and pose.

Red Vent

I’m a big fan of photo genres based around buildings, from clean architectural photography and lifestyle interior shots to eerie derelict warehouses and gritty urban cityscapes. Sydney offers a whole host of these opportunities and I try to make the most of them. This shot was taken very close to where I work. It’s a composition that called out to me as I was walking past, so I duly obliged. I like this for the vent’s splash of colour against a neutral canvas, and also because my decision to position it off-centre paid off and resulted in a more interesting image.

Opera House Streakers

This was one of the first images I shot with my 5D MkII. It was taken on the opening night of Vivid Sydney, a festival of light. Amazing installations had been set up all over the CBD but the centrepiece was the Opera House as a canvas for a series of light projections created by Brian Eno. I was taking long exposures to flatten out the water and enhance the ambient light, but as a working harbour there were boats constantly going through the shots, causing ghost images and light trails. I decided to use this to my advantage and waited for a small sailboat to approach, then I hit the shutter and soaked up its light trails as it bobbed past, adding extra colour interest to the shot.

Nintendo Launch Party

This shoot was memorable for me as there was a lot of pressure to perform (ahem). It was my first corporate event, there was decent money involved, and clients and celebs were present. Nintendo were releasing four new games at the trendy Oxford Arts Factory and had divided the venue into zones with each one set decorated to reflect one of the games. The zone for Style Boutique resembled a star’s dressing room with big mirrors surrounded by lightbulbs. I like this shot for two reasons. Firstly it was technically well executed given the cramped conditions. I needed to avoid catching myself or the flash in the mirrors and so I ended up in a corner on tip toes with elbows all over the place. But the resulting composition is strong, and the exposure and bounced flash balanced out nicely. Secondly I like this because it was taken just at the right moment when the main subject looked up and realised she was in my crosshairs! Plus the all important products are in clear view.  There’s a lovely natural energy to the shot and most importantly the client was very happy with the results! Read more about Nintendo Launch Party.

Renny

Renny is an agency model with Platform Models and she was my first proper model shoot. I met her when I was shooting the NSW finals of the fashion tv Diamond model search and soon afterwards organised a shoot with her in a few locations around Bondi. Renny is an absolute star and a true professional; very easy going off camera, but when she’s in front of the lens she really knows how to work it! I’d scouted a few locations around Bondi that I wanted to use and this is my favourite – the entrance to an art deco apartment block at North Bondi. It has a very Miami feel to it and the outfit my stylist Ali picked out for Renny suited it perfectly. Another of the photos I took during the shoot is now featuring in Renny’s portfolio and the Platform Models website gallery. I’m really happy that the preparation that went into my first model shoot paid off and resulted in some great photos for both myself and the model. Read more about Renny.

Mitchell’s Christmas Party

It’s probably fitting that we finish on this image as it’s from a Christmas party. The setting was Luna Park and the company is Mitchell’s, the highest billing media agency in Australia (and one of the main rivals to the agency that I work at!). Everyone was up for a top night so I went full throttle and took a great collection of images. This one in particular stands out for me. It’s one of those shots where you see something new every time you look at it as there’s so much going on, such as the main subject spinning around while balancing her glass, the trumpet player in action on the stage, and the girl off to the right posing with her friend in front of her own camera. A nice amount of ambient light has been soaked up, giving the image a lovely range of colours, the flash has frozen the moment perfectly, and the angled camera position delivers a very dynamic (and almost dizzying)  feel. A nice event to end the year with! Read more about Mitchell’s Christmas Party.

So that’s my top 10 of 2009. Would love to know which one was your favourite?

Trippy Trip Hop Shot: ISO 3200

Monday nights are generally pretty relaxed right? It’s the start of the week so most people want to take things easy and stay dry until the inevitable crescendo towards the frenzy of drinking, partying and debauchery that is the weekend. Or is that just me? But if that also happens to be the case for the masses, is a Monday the best night to stage a concert? Well, possibly not if you’re a full on dance DJ or Marilyn Manson. But for British trip-hop legends Massive Attack, a Monday evening seems perfect, and the serene setting of the Opera House Forecourt would almost make you think you’re out for a Sunday evening of sophistication.

So this week I headed to Circular Quay with a few friends, all of us looking forward to reliving more youthful days circa 20 years ago. Our years of all night illegal warehouse raves are now distant memories (although some of us are still deluded convinced we can handle one more big night!) so the prospect of a chilled evening sitting on the Opera House steps was something we were quietly savouring. It was a perfect autumn evening: warm, clear and just a slight breeze coming off the harbour to keep us cool.

However, when we arrived the steps were already full so we headed into the standing section in front of the stage which had been erected a couple of days before, facing the iconic Opera House. This was actually the better option as the stage looked a bit distant from the steps and for this type of music you want to be as close as possible to the source to feel the dark, womb-like intimacy and comfort of the soothing beats. And so you can take good photos of course!

I brought the 5D2 with me, which surprisingly made it through the security check without as much as a flicker of interest in the steward’s eyes. From my position in the crowd I was able to get a nice full shot of the stage at the maximum focal length of 105mm. The gig started and I fired off a few shots with the 580 EXII speedlite attached, but due to the tight crowd and several Hagrid types around me who were being overly-illuminated, I opted to lose the flash and employ the high ISO, wide aperture, steady hand technique. Fortunately at this type of gig there’s not much crowd surging (if anything they become inanimate bordering comatose judging by the strong scent of a certain “medicinal” substance wafting around) so it was pretty easy to keep the camera steady. But regardless, this was one of the occasions when you fully appreciate the sophistication of modern DSLRs to deliver high ISO images with minimal noise. The lowest ISO I used was 3200 while some shots were taken at 5000 and 6400. I also tried a couple at 12,800 just for kicks and those were amazing albeit unnecessary! But looking at the results coming up on the viewer and later on the laptop, it’s no wonder ISO is now the battleground rather than megapixels. Judge for yourself! I’m really happy with these shots by the way, particularly as there was no post-processing done at all apart from some straightening and cropping. The colours, contrast and exposure and (lack of) noise are exactly as captured in camera!

So back to the concert itself and Massive Attack didn’t disappoint, taking us through a compelling combination of new and old tracks with amazing guest vocalists and great use of the backdrop screens to deliver thought provoking political and social statements. Without a doubt the highlight for me and many others was the revival of their groundbreaking hit “Unfinished Sympathy” with powerful vocals delivered by the fantastic Deborah Miller.

3D and Daddy G: ISO 5000

Guest vocalist Martina Topley-Bird: ISO 3200

Guest vocalist Deborah Miller: ISO 3200

Well would you Adam and Eve it. There I was about to take the plunge and invest my future kids’ school fees into the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM lens (as of course you would) and what happens? Canon go and launch the mk II version today, that’s what!

But you can’t deny it – this is a thing of beauty and a true object of desire.

I mean, just look at it!

But how frustrating! After weeks of exhaustively researching websites and magazines to establish which piece of glass would be my first purchase with which to adorn my beloved Canon 5D2, I knew the 70-200 was the lens I wanted and needed: amazingly fast, versatile and able to get up nice and tight for portraits and candids. And of course incredibly cool to be seen with!

Fashion and photography have always been inextricably linked, and no camera product range waves the fashion flag as much as Canon’s L series lenses. According to ancient legend, the “L” stands for Luxury which is easy to believe given that these are the most expensive lenses that Canon produce. Members of this exclusive club can be recognised instantly by their distinctive red ring, which means slinging one of these over your shoulder is the photographic equivalent of wearing Prada Sport.

Couple that with the always-in-season putty finish of the telephoto L lenses and you have the ultimate accessory to be seen with. It’s hard to equate this to just one fashion item, so try this: close your eyes and imagine Scarlett Johansson decked out in a little black Givenchy dress, Chanel sunglasses, an Hermes scarf, Marc Jacobs handbag and Manolo Blahnik killer heels.

That will get you slightly close to what I’m talking about.

And therein lies the problem: both 70-200mm lenses are absolutely exquisite in functionality and results and if I’m honest, would I be able to tell the difference between photos taken from them? No, of course not. I imagine 99% of professionals won’t be able to tell the difference. But say you heard that Claudia Schiffer was single and looking for a photographer boyfriend and you also heard that she has an equally hot sister who is 10 years younger and has better taste than to marry David Copperfield, which one would you go for?  Both would be equally head turning, both would bestow instant kudos upon you in the pub, and both would ensure instant entrance to VIP areas in nightclubs all over the world (if you’re into that sort of thing).

So that leads to my dilemma: do I go for what is now last season’s 70-200mm lens whose only future in making headlines lies in being inducted into the camera lens Hall Of Fame? Or do I wait until April for the mk II and pay the premium to have the hottest supermodel on the planet?!

What would you do?

Not nervous because of the large scale of the event; not because of the range of shots required of the guests, entertainers, band and location; and not because it was a well paid job. No, I was nervous because I work for OMD, their main competitor! Both agencies are powerhouses in Australia and regularly slug it out over pitches and bragging rights for largest billing figures. This year both agencies billed over $1 billion, ranking 1st and 2nd out of all Australian agencies.

And there was no hiding my allegiance either as several OMDers had moved to Mitchell’s and would recognise me straight away. And sure enough as the coaches arrived and the guests made their way into the venue, I was greeted with a range of comments about whether I had left OMD, whether I had joined Mitchell’s, or whether I was just plain spying on them!

But it was all in good humour and I was quickly over that hurdle and into my stride. The party went really well and so did the shoot. The crowd were up for a big night and very comfortable in front of the 5D2.  I filled a whole 8GB card with over 700 photos which were later distilled into a final cut of around 200. Here are just a few of them, starting with the venue:

The Crystal Palace

There was also an outdoor area which provided a range of excellent backdrops throughout the evening and into the night, including fairground rides and The Harbour Bridge

And of course there was action on and around the dancefloor!

At the end of the night the coaches returned and took us to the after party. And that’s when the camera went back in the bag!

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?

In Australia the Labour Day long weekend varies by state. In WA and Victoria it’s in March, while in Queensland it’s in May. In NSW and SA it falls quite neatly in early October, forming a bridge between the Queen’s Birthday in Jun and Christmas (yes, you’ve guessed it, in Dec).

Most people look forward to the long weekend as a chance to have a rest and perhaps get away from the city to enjoy the first days of spring at one of the many beautiful spots along the northern or southern NSW coastline.

I, on the other hand, was keeping busy with the camera as long weekends ultimately also lend themselves to special events. And I had two of them.

The first was on Sunday night. SpringRocks was a celebration of dance music at The Argyle, one of Sydney’s biggest bar/clubs located in the historic Rocks district of the CBD and a Speedlite’s effective range from the Harbour Bridge. SpringRocks was promoted by Paul Strange, who I do social photography for at both The Argyle and Favela in Kings Cross. It was a big event consisting of 9 hours of dance music DJs and bands performing in each of the 3 main rooms. I was down for a 5 hour shift during the peak hours of 9pm – 2am, and as if shooting moving targets in a dimly lit, busy environment while trying not to knock anyone’s drink out their hands wasn’t enough to manage, I decided to make things even more interesting by setting both the camera and Speedlite to manual. Well, I like a challenge!

Highlights of the night were Helena, one of the up and coming DJs from the UK who moved to Australia a year ago:

RadioInk, with their rock-infused dance pop:

Dirty Laundry, one of the most entertaining dance acts I’ve seen:

And headliner Dave from the Potbelleez, now one of the mainstream dance acts following their hit Don’t Hold Back:

I was really happy with the way the shots came out. The focussing of the 5D MkII in dark conditions was excellent and I achieved a nice balance of flash and ambient lighting by adjusting the settings manually. My full set of photos can be viewed here.

A few hours of sleep and I was back out for my friend Louise’s 30^th birthday party at her Bondi pad. Louise is a top girl with loads of great mates who all know how to party and can make any time a good time. Lou had asked if I would take some photos to record her historic day and of I course I said I would be delighted to (well, there was free beer as part of the deal!).

It was an awesome afternoon and I’m sure when her memory comes back Louise will have great recollections, but here are a few shots to remind her!

However, there was one young man who will never forget the day. Lewis, having only been in Sydney for a few weeks, suddenly found that he had accrued a whole load of new friends!

]]> http://www.sparkography.com/labour-day-weekend/feed/ 0 http://www.sparkography.com/sydney-dust-storm/ http://www.sparkography.com/sydney-dust-storm/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:57:46 +0000 Milts http://www.sparkography.com/?p=190

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.

]]> http://www.sparkography.com/sydney-dust-storm/feed/ 5 http://www.sparkography.com/aquabumps/ http://www.sparkography.com/aquabumps/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:15:13 +0000 Milts http://www.sparkography.com/?p=64

When I first moved to Sydney the last place I wanted to live was amongst the backpackers and tourists of Bondi. I wanted city living, walking distance to work, and stumbling distance from the bars and clubs of the CBD. So I moved to Pyrmont.

Big mistake.

Now Pyrmont did tick all three boxes in a big way. I had a split level apartment in a warehouse conversion, I was 5 minutes walk from work, and just the length of Pyrmont Bridge from the crowds of King Street Wharf.

But it was boring. Oh my god it was SO boring.

No surprise then that when my lease came up for renewal six months later my thoughts turned to getting away from the city and Bondi came blipping back onto my radar. Not by choice I might add; more because my mates were giving me a hard time for moving halfway round the world only to live in another city apartment when the most famous beach on the planet was just half an hour away!

However, it was something else that made me rethink Bondi. One of my mates at work forwarded me an email newsletter called Aquabumps. It was a simple looking page written by some dude called Uge, which basically relayed the Bondi surf report for that day. But it also included 5 amazing photographs that Uge had taken of the sunrise, beach and surfers from that morning. The colours were incredible and the surf shots better than any I’d seen in magazines.

I literally saw Bondi in a different light and decided I needed to give beach lifestyle serious consideration. So I signed up for the daily Aquabumps newsletters to see if Bondi looked consistently stunning, and started investigating the Bondi rental market. Well the photos didn’t get any less mind-blowing and I soon found myself anxiously checking my inbox each day for my daily fix of sunrises, surfers and spray. I was hooked, and within a couple of weeks I was inspecting the central-Bondi apartment where I’m writing this entry three years later.

From the time I moved in I absolutely loved Bondi and regretted ever thinking anything bad about the place. Yes it’s overrun by backpackers during the summer who party every night like it’s Saturday and spoil your sleep. But the off season is peaceful, it has a great community feel, and most of my friends live within walking distance. And yes the beach does fill up with tourists who don’t speak English and can’t spot a rip – but without them we wouldn’t have Bondi Rescue!

However, it’s those Aquabumps emails which still do it for me. I’ve spent many early mornings down on the beach waiting for the glow of the pre-dawn sun to light up the clouds in hues of pink and orange, in the hope that I might capture images to rival those that Uge takes on a daily basis and sells in his fantastic gallery. I’m getting there. We both use Canon 5D Mk IIs (I had mine first!) and we often pass each other, chasing the best positions to catch the sunrise, so I must be doing something right.

But I’d like to pay tribute here to Uge and point you in the direction of the Aquabumps website so you can sign up for his awesome newsletters and browse his gallery of breathtaking photos. Just like the one on this page.