A Five Minute Photographer Meetup

The crazy gang at my photography tutorials website, Five Minute Photographer, have been asking me to come along for photography meet-ups for a while now. With the site growing and people joining up regularly, it is becoming quite a creative little community. Not that little actually! And getting together is a great idea. I wish it was mine, but alas it has been the brain child of Richard Annable, who has now invited me to no less than four of these things. I claim ignorance and say that I was never invited, but my lack of attendance so far has actually been a simple case of bad timing. However, when my friend Richard organised an end of year meetup for the Melbourne contingent of the site, I simply had to be there. He even made it happen down my end of the woods so it would be easier for me to attend. Mordialloc Pier, 5:30 pm. Richard has been a great asset to the site and has even contributed video tutorials.

When I arrived the light was pretty average and the wind was a killer. So we had something to eat. My son Nathan arrived from his day working at Camera Action. We had some photography fun at his expense but the light was still bad and the wind was a killer.

So we waited for more people to arrive and then...we had something to eat. One member of the site, Charmaine, had traveled from Queensland to attend! So, I was getting a little concerned. Its a long way to come just for some fish and chips on the beach with a few lunatics from Five Minute Photographer.

The hard part about this for me is that I am looked upon to lead by example. In my role as the teacher and mentor at Five Minute Photographer, I suppose it falls to me to get things going and to make images happen. I eagerly looked for opportunities and began shooting, making some time exposures of the waves as they moved around the fixtures and the pier. There is always something to create and photograph if you put your mind into gear.

But then, we started to get some interesting light. The off camera flash shots were also starting up and we all got into the zone. As the sun plunged toward the horizon the sky became orange and the clouds were amazing. The fishermen at the end of the pier were 'happy' to pose for photographs and we all had a great time. It was only after the sun had set that we decided on a celebratory coffee together.

I look forward to the next meet-up gang! Lets do it again!