Another Wedding Workshop Completed!

Well, another Saturday, another wedding....workshop. Yes, I was once again to be found wearing my teaching hat on Saturday, running a wedding photography workshop at Abbottsford Convent on behalf Camera Action Camera House.
I was very happy to work once again with the lovely Elise, who in real style turned up to play the part of the bride while being in real life 6 months pregnant.The last wedding workshop she brought along her husband, but he was not available this time unfortunately. So this time our expecting mother had to pose with the handsome Shyam, who brought his wife along too. Yes, it was a regular Peyton Place at the convent yesterday.If there is one thing I find incredibly rewarding, it has to be seeing the little lights go on in people's eyes, knowing that at that moment I have made a difference to the way they will be enjoying their photography from then on. Sure, I like getting paid for my work and I am paid fairly well to do it, but the real rewards are far more personal.For instance, an email just came in from one of yesterday's attendees. It reads:
"Just wanted to say thankyou once more for a great day at your workshop.
I had a really great time and did learn heaps, looking forward to future workshops with you."
Yep, I do enjoy my work - for many reasons, and emails such as this are at the top of my reasons list.
For my photography tutorials website, click here.
For more information on upcoming workshops, click here or here.

Back from Patagonia

Cerro Torre at Sunrise
It was arduous.
It was exhausting.
it was uncomfortable.
It was freezing cold.
It was dangerous.
It was perhaps among the most exhilarating things I have ever done.
Some time ago, Darran Leal from SafariWise asked me to lead a photo tour through Patagonia. Ever since I saw Galen Rowell's magical images of this place I have wanted to do so. The answer was an obvious yes.So, I loaded myself up with over a dozen large Sandisk Extreme III and Extreme IV cards so there would be nothing I would miss. I chose not to bring a back up hard drive or laptop as there was already a space and weight issue to contend with. After all, when I travelled in years prior I always carried film. I didn't have back ups or back ups of back ups. Just the film. These days, film is digital and probably more reliable. A dozen large 8 gig Sandisk cards would prove to be all I needed.
I also took with me two new Tamron lenses, thanks to the good people at Tamron in Japan and Australia. I took the new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 and the revolutionary Tamron 18-270 VC lens at the request of Tamron Japan. This incredible lens became permanently fixed to my D200 body, while I concentrated most of my photography efforts using my new Nikon D700.
Photographing Patagonia is no easy trip. For mountains like Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, you need to camp and hike in if you want to catch them at sunrise. The nights are cold in Spring, and the weather during the day is always unpredictable. As I was leading the photo tour it fell to me to wake at 4:30 each day and check for a starry sky. If I could see stars it meant getting out of my sleeping bag, out of the tent, waking the others and hiking to our vantage point to photograph the sunrise on these mountains. There was no driving up to the parking lot for these babies. But when the sun rises on Cerro Torre, it is nothing like you will ever see anywhere else. It is among the most spectacular things I have ever seen.

We were very fortunate in fact. The day we arrived to see Fitzroy, the clouds cleared and we were able to photograph its magnificence unhindered for hours.For almost two weeks prior to our arrival, no one had seen this spectacular peak because of the almost constant cloud cover. The same thing happened with Cerro Torre and Torres Del Paine.Speaking of which, we crossed the border into Chile to witness the unbelievable reality that is Torres Del Paine. These mountains have to be seen to be believed. They are like no other mountains I have ever seen. The landscape that surrounds these mountains is also spectacular, but requires the photographer to be patient and to endure the constant winds for which these regions are known.

It was an extreme version of these winds which had us pinned to an incline for several minutes at Salto Grande, a waterfall in the Torres Del Paine National Park. Freak gusts of wind are not uncommon but the ones we experienced at Salto Grande were incredible.So much so I could very easily have been killed by the gusts that pinned me and a couple of others on the tour to the cliff wall for several minutes. Had I been standing on the edge of the waterfall as indeed I had been only two minutes earlier this blog would not ever have been updated.For my work I find myself photographing people more than any other subject. This trip was about mountains, waterfalls, landscapes and wildlife. It was a real change for me, evern s as a photographic tour. No doubt I will find a whole bunch of new images to use for tutorial videos in my photography tutorials website, Five Minute Photographer.

Photographing Patagonia was without doubt the most demanding photo tour I have ever had the pleasure to run. It was exhausting and difficult. But it was exhilarating...incredibly exhilarating.

And I would do it again in a heartbeat.>

My Status confirmed...

My good friend Scott recently recently returned from Tasmania and brought with him a gift that confirms my official photographer status.Behold...my Cup.

Now, I do not know how I have managed to maintain this rather ridiculous title, but I remember it being given to me by the Melbourne Herald Sun after that newspaper ran an article by me in a photography supplement inside.

Since then I have been known as "the Guru".

Ok..You have all had your little fun....

Off to Patagonia

Indian Girl in Diwali Crown, Auckland

Hello Blog.
Sorry it as been so long since I have written something in you. Its not that nothing has been happening. Rather, its the reverse. Too much has been happening and it has prevented me from keeping you up to date. I do apologise.
I have recently returned from New Zealand where I spoke at the Annual Photographic Society of New Zealand Convention, which was held in Auckland. It is always an honour to be invited to speak at these conventions - flown over, chauffeured around and given some lovely accommodation. I was on the same bill as Australian landscape legend, Peter Walton - a photographer I have been wanting to meet since I was 17. What an honour to be on the same bill! I have recently interviewed Peter Walton for Total Image but i have yet to finish the interview. Perhaps I should have done that as we had breakfast together at our motel! On Saturday afternoon I went out with the club to photograph a very pretty young model named Madison, and then to be driven around with Peter Walton to shoot some landscapes. On Sunday I closed the convention with the second part of my lectures and was taken that afternoon to photograph the Diwali. Diwali is an Indian celebration filled with colour, costumes, culture and perhaps the prettiest girls I have ever seen gathered in one place. I photographed one young lady in the audience whose eyes were amazing. A moment later her father approached me. Naturally, as you can imagine, I thought I had some explaining to do! However, he very kindly asked me if I could photograph her away from the crowd as he wanted a lovely photograph of his beautiful daughter in her cultural costume. Being the wonderful human being that I am, I obliged of course.
While there in Auckland I also ran two photography workshops. The Monday saw me somewhat tired but waking to a beautiful day, ready to teach a group about wedding photography. The day went well and our two models, Michelle and Rob,were fantastic fun to work with. They are a couple so their interaction was fun and natural. Oh, and they could kiss on cue! Actually, they didn't even mind! Funny eh?
On Tuesday I ran my Creative Flash Photography Workshop and that was very well received by the group who attended. Flash can be a very confusing thing for many photographers and the workshop was an eye opener for them. I do love teaching, and the rewards for it are never just financial.
I recently received an email from one of the attendees, whose words were particularly kind. He said "Hi Shelton,we met when U were in Auckland and I attended the 2 sessions U conducted, remember? I meant to mail u earlier, but didnt get down to doing that, sorry. I read you're blog very often, and I've joined you're 5minutephotographer. I've also gone ahead and bought the reflectors and the triggers & receivers U showed us to use!! Now I need to practice and I'll send U results of what I've done.
I must thank you for being the wonderful teacher you are and more important, for being such a nice guy. All of us did learn a lot about photography, and I must say I learnt a lot about communication, reaching out to people from you. It makes a difference with people photography!!"

Well,..what can I say? How very kind!

However, after a tiring two days, it was time to go and photograph thousands of nesting Gannets for a bit of a change.
But today, I am off to Patagonia. I am leading a photography tour there and I am looking forward to it very much.I don't consider myself a landscape specialist, but this is a region of the world any photographer would love to get a lens into. So bear with me dear blog and dear readers. I will return forthwith with some great stories to tell you! Look out here and at my photography tutorials website...
See you when I get back!

My new Baby

Well, my new Baby has finally arrived. My Nikon D700 is here. And let me tell you this.Apart from perhaps the Nikon D3, I have never used a more impressive picture taking machine in my life! And I must admit, I think I would rather own two D700's than one D3, given the price. It is a beautifully engineered machine with images straight out of the camera that are truly impressive.I have mentioned this often at my photography tutorials website, Five Minute Photographer.
As part of my arrangement with Nikon Australia to procure said Nikon D700, I recently ran a D700 workshop for Camera Action Camera House at Abbotsford Convent here in Melbourne. It was a far less intense workshop than I usually run as of course it was a chance for all recent D700 owners to get their cameras out and simply stretch their legs. On hand was one of my favourite models, Soph, who made sure to keep us all in line.
At the workshop I was also in temporary possession of the new Sony Alpha A900. This is a great camera, and the Carl Zeiss lenses are to kill for. I thought I would give it a comparison test with the D700 at ISO 3200. It was kind of a Sony A900 vs Nikon D700 shootout...but without the animosity!
Now, remember, the Sony A900 has 24 megapixels and the D700 has 12. That being the case, the Sony is bound to have higher resolution, but more noise. And it did.
This is the image of Soph we use to make our comparision.
This is a section of Soph's sweater from the D700 at ISO 3200...And this is straight from the Sony A900, also at 3200 ISO...Clearly there is an obvious difference.
Having shot with both cameras, I can tell you that it is simply a case of 'Horses for Courses'. The Sony A900 is a wonderful camera.The resolution is wonderful. The lenses are incredibly sharp. The Steadyshot is unbelievably effective. But its not designed to shoot at high ISO's - making it a fantastic studio camera and landscape camera. I know. I used it in studio and made large prints from it that amazed me. However,for the available light photographer like myself, it is not the tool of choice.The Nikon D700's resolution is not to be laughed at either. After all, how many pixels do we really need?
Which is why I love my Nikon D700.
I really, really do.

When a model saves the day

I ran one of my Wedding Photography workshops over this last weekend. All was going well until the Friday when I received a text message from the model and her husband telling me that a family emergency had arrived and that they had to drive to Sydney. Ok...I am suddenly down not just one model, but two. The other problem is that this particular model is 'mammiferous' enough to almost fit the wedding dress I have bought for these occasions. Almost...

Enter Melissa Cresp. Melissa has been an integral part of my workshops this year and I have really appreciated her constant willingness to be there. This time though she went above and beyond, spending her Friday night adapting an old wedding dress she had into something that could be used for the workshop. She also then made herself available for the entire Saturday afternoon. In the end I could not get a male counterpart to play the groom but Melissa worked hard enough for two people anyway.

Thanks Melissa. Very much appreciated!

A Tropical Wedding

Some time ago, Mark emailed me asking me if I would come to Cairns to photograph his wedding to Melanie. What can I say? No? Never! I love a good wedding and the chance to see Cairns was one I could not turn down.
So, I flew up and stayed with Ingrid and Terry at their B&B called Nutmeg Grove. I know Ingrid as a result of her membership to my photography tutorials website, The Five Minute Photographer. She offered to also be my assistant on the day which made the whole thing even more enjoyable.
Mark and Melanie's wedding took place on a humid Sunday - the kind of weather we are not used to in Melbourne. I must admit to having sweated from start to finish. But I am very happy with the resulting images, and I am even happier to have made new friends in Ingrid and Terry and Mark and Melanie.

It is always an honour to be entrusted with a wedding. It is an even greater honour to have been given it from so far away. Thanks Mark and Melanie, and Congratulations!

Shooting Jeff Just Right...

Keeping the White balance consistent in a series of images can be difficult. Usually I begin each shoot by settin gthe White Balance manually according to the most approproate setting. Then I take a picture of the 18% grey side of my Lastolite EzyBalance and using the eyedropper tool in Lightroom I synchronise all the images to match that.
Yesterday, however, I found myself in a situation that completely bamboozled me. I was photographing a seminar in which Kodak Vice President, Jeff Hayzlett, was speaking. When you are working for the 'Big Yellow Box' you make sure to get the colours right! But! No matter what white balance setting I used, the colour was wrong and Auto White balance would not have kept the images consistent. In the end, through trial and error, I set the camera's white balance numerically to 2500 Kelvin and Voila! It worked! Even when I got around to processing the shoot in Lightroom I found that nothing needed to be done. Jeff saw some of the images on the back of the camera and was very pleased. He says he wants to use one of them himself. Look out for it on his Facebook site!
I have never used the numerical white balance settings before. I think I will remember the value of this lesson for next time. Perhaps I should add this little lesson to my photography tutorials site...

Its all on Island Time

Now, as a man who has travelled his share of the planet, I can say with authority that I understand the meaning of Island Time. Its an expression you come to appreciate when you actually receive the benefits of the concept - something which usually happens when you are on some tropical holiday island enjoying a well deserved break. However, when you are doing a shoot, the term assumes a completely different meaning altogether.
While doing another shoot for SEW Eurodrive recently, I encountered the Island Time concept in a most annoying manner. SEW are a fabulous company who sponsor a Samoan Rugby team, the Samoan Kangaroos. My brief consisted of an arrival time of 12:00 so that I would be ready to photograph the arrival of the sponsored team at 12:30. So, I arrived at 11:55. Ok, its unusual for me to be so punctual, but there you have it.

However, as we waited while firing up the barbeque in their honour, no team was anywhere to be seen. Finally, after a two hour wait I was told at 2:30 that I should just pack up and head on home. So...I did. I was just getting into the car when...a bus arrived. Yippee! Finally we can get these shots done.

Hold your horses there, Shelton. It appears the team wishes to partake the Barbeque first...Ok, finally, after three hours waiting, I could take my photographs. Now, anyone who knows me understands that I am six feet tall, skinny and with no aptitude for a fight. However, at this stage it did not concern me at all that I had to order around a group of Rugby players who would eat me for breakfast. Not at all. I was not in the mood to be waiting any more. So I gathered the team together and made them do what I wanted...and funnily enough there was little argument. None in fact.

Maybe I don't know my own strength....

Two Weddings, One Weekend, A Nikon D3

This past weekend I had the immense pleasure of photographing two weddings - something that doesn't happen to me very often - thank heavens! As much as I enjoy the process I don't think I could handle two every weekend! I tend to pour almost every aspect of myself into my wedding photography and find it exhilarating but exhausting.

Knowing that I was going to be up against the dark Melbourne winter days I hit up on Nikon to borrow either a Nikon D3 or a Nikon D700 for the weekend. I am going to be getting my D700 soon, but it hasn't arrived soon enough. In their kindness, I was given a D3 and the SB900 to use over the weekend and I have to tell you I have never found it easier to photograph weddings. First of all, there is little point to setting the Nikon D3 lower than ISO 800 for this kind of work. The difference between 200 and 800 in terms of noise are invisible, but the advantages of being able to shoot at ISO 800 are simply wonderful. This portrait of Princess, one of the bridesmaids, is taken straight from the camera and captured at 800 ISO. Click on the image to see a larger version. You can see for yourself that the noise is not an issue.

Naturally I pushed it a little and by the end of the night I was taking candlelit portraits at 6400, at which point you can start to see noise. However, its not bad at all. Being able to hand hold your available light images is one thing, but having them result as such clean, sharp, well exposed and well balanced jpegs is something else again. I have already posted threads at my photography tutorials website, The Five Minute Photographer.I can't wait to get my new Nikon DSLR!

Scrubbing Up Ok

I recently asked my friend and fellow Five Minute Photographer member, Richard Annable to join me on a shoot for a new hospital promotional brochure. It was a full day shoot with several scenarios attached to it and having him along made everything work faster, smoother and funnier! For one of the shots, he and I were required to get into 'scrubs' and photograph an actual operation. Naturally, we had to get a picture of ourselves..Dr Muller and Dr Annable, specialists in Human Imaging...

What Can I say?

Wow.
Sometimes I am honoured more than I can say.

If you wanna know what I mean, click here

All I can say is a humble, "Thank You" Melissa.
I am honoured.