Bread...and Butter

A new client is a great thing, especially when they result from an established client who has moved into other pastures. Fonterra Food Brands is just such a thing. Having been contacted by a former client from Kodak who is now there, I did my first product shoot for their displays. Hopefully it will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

Butter Infusions is a new flavoured Butter product for cooking. I am sure that it will do well. For me its both Bread, and Butter....;-)

Congratulations Troy and Laura!

I did a family wedding over the weekend. Troy is my niece's husband's brother...so that's family, right? Well, either way I was once again entrusted with a wedding, and I am always honoured by that. It was Troy's Mum, Kaylene, who insisted on my being the photographer and its always nice to be asked in such a manner. There are many photographers in the world, and I am only one of them.

Troy and Laura's wedding day was a little on the overcast and rainy side, but I would always prefer that to a stifling hot day. At least you can escape the rain. Heat is another story altogether. And Laura, you were a joy to photograph. As for the Distan boys...well...you gotta love 'em.

Oh, ok. Troy...you were good too!

I wish you both every happiness!

Canada Images in Cokin Filter Advertisments

Because I write so much 'how to' editorial, I am constantly aware of the need to provide images for my articles that show both how to do it, and how not to. I was aware of this need when I was recently in Canada, and took the time to do some 'with' and 'without' images for Cokin Filters. I have been using Cokin filters since I can't remember when, and despite shooting entirely digitally now, I still do.

Case in point - this landscape in the Canadian Rockies. When the brightness and contrast in an image extend beyond that which is capable of capture, graduated filters are sometimes (usually ) your saviours. I used a Cokin G2 filter to make sure that both the alpenglow mountain and the falls in the foreground were equally exposed. Without the filter I would have had to take two images and then spend unnecessary time in PhotoShop to merge the two.

Maxwell Australia, who are the distributors of Cokin Filters, are using these two images in an upcoming advertising campaign in Australian photographic magazines. So, you see, sometimes taking a bad photo pays off, provided you take a good one as well!

Another Issue of Better Photography

I am proud to have once again contributed to another great issue of Better Photography. In this issue I discuss the basics of studio portraiture and reveal simple lighting techniques that can be used even in the home. I have been writing for Better Photography for some years now and am always proud to be involved as a regular contributor to this fantastic photography magazine.

Peru in Peregrine

Isn't it interesting where your images turn up? In 2004 I led a photographic tour through Peru. It was one of the most incredible tours I have had the pleasure to lead. Peru is just a wonderful country, offering the photographer a feast of diverse images. The company we organised the tour with was Peregrine Tours.

While enquiring recently at a travel agency, my wife and I came across our images on the covers of their recent brochures. There are also several that have been used within. The cover with the Machu Picchu image is my wife's and the Andean Church is mine.

Tamron Ad

Well the Tamron Ad in which my images feature has been designed. And here it is! Its a great privilege, and I am proud to be affiliated with a great lens company such as Tamron. Now, all you good people at Tamron...you do know I have loads of other photographs I've taken with your lenses, don't you...;-)

Patrick and Alexandra

Patrick and Alexandra have been married for two years, but never had the celebration they wanted for their wedding. Building their dream home meant not being able to have the wedding they wanted at the time. But two years down the track, and they are still very happy, and I was honoured to be asked to photograph the renewal of their vows and enjoy their day with them.

Humbug...

As anyone who knows me would understand, Christmas and I do not belong together. As a celebration, I reject it outrightly. It degrades teachings that dignify God and men and is in itself a complete fallacy. There is no recorded birthdate for Jesus, and Christmas is an excuse to commercialise something that should not be commercialised. In itself it stands as the antithesis of the very teachings it allegedly celebrates.

So, when my client, Vision Australia, asks me to photograph the annual Carols By Candlelight event, I attend with a camera in hand in the service of a long term client. To me, its like photographing a wedding in a church. I am not a fan of what so called 'Christian' churches have done in the name of peace and brotherhood either. But I enter a church to photograph a wedding for a client. I do not participate. I take pictures.

That is exactly what I did at Carols by Candlelight. I must admit to enjoying the photography. I love live performance photography. This year I also photographed the venue from a very high and somewhat wobbly cherry picker. It was raining too, and perhaps I should have put my rain poncho on before I strapped myself in....hmmmm...

Shooting for Tamron Ad

I was asked recently to provide an image for Tamron's advertisement for their 17-50 f 2.8 lens, which I have grown increasingly fond of. This lens is excellent, and is half the price of other lenses in its category. I don't know why, but it is.

The brief was to provide an image that highlighted the lens' ability to shoot in available light at f2.8 and also its minimal depth of field for portraits in that kind of light. I asked Kiera Ballis, a model with whom I have worked before for a Kodak shoot, to work with me again on this one.

Several poses, settings and styles were shot for the ad. I am yet to see the finished product but you can bet I will post it here when I get my eyes on it!

Roger and Maria's Wedding

Roger and Maria are perhaps the most placid couple I have ever photographed on a wedding day - especially one that almost hit 40 degrees! Yes, it was a hot one, but we all had a lot of fun.

Their wedding was a cross cultural event. Roger was born in South Africa, but with Chinese ancestry. Maria is an Australian with Greek heritage. It was a wonderful day and I was honoured to be chosen as their photographer. They even let me sing at their reception...ah, they're a class act!

Corporate Headshots

If there is one thing you will wind up doing - some time, somewhere - it is the corporate headshot. These are the staple of any commercial photographer, and we can only be thankful for them. Corporate management is constantly on the move, and new headshots are always required for internal publications, press releases and other corporate and marketing needs. For the photographer, they are not difficult, and they continue to feed the family.

When I say 'not difficult' I mean at a technical level. I take a portable studio with me and setup a standard lighting setup in some spare floor space somewhere in the client's building. Its fairly straightforward. The difficult part is sometimes getting your subjects to appear in their portraits as they themselves wish to. Like most people, they don't necessarily enjoy having their photographs taken and are far more talented in their professional endeavours than they are at sitting and looking dynamic, professional, friendly and interactive in front of a camera. Thankfully the guys at Rockwell Automation were great to work with.

Loy Yang

The life of a photographer is a diverse and interesting experience. One day you can be covering some gala event, the next in the highs of the Canadian Rockies and the next in a coal pit in Gippsland. But you can never complain that the job is boring and routine!

A long term client of mine, Rockwell Automation, asked me to come to Loy Yang Power Station near Traralgon, Victoria, to photograph how their technology enables the conveyer belts to transport tonnes of coal to the power station each hour. The technology is above me, and is of little interest to me really, but photographing the monster machines in a 100 metre deep coal pit was more interesting. These machines are huge! I returned home hours later, covered in coal dust, tired and sweaty, but it was an interesting day...although once, I think, is enough....