Photography

Shire Photo Society 'Shelly Beach Foreshore Walk'

Sunday 16 October 2011

Every month my local Photography Society get together for an informal outing to a different locations across Sydney.  This month we met at Shelley Beach Rock Pool 7.30am for a 4 hour walk along the foreshore, covering Shelley Beach, the rock platform, up to Bass & Flinders Point, around to Darook Park and eventually cutting back through to Shelley Beach to our cars.

The weather held out (as showers were predicted), and it turned into a perfect day for a walk. 20 degrees, beautiful sun, wonderful breeze.  Although the bright sunlight  not quite the ideal weather for image taking but can't complain. Beats the rain.  I managed to drag my friend Nikki along and force her to pull her Nikon out from hibernation, dust off the cobwebs and actually learn to use her beautiful equipment.  All in all, a pretty successful day for her.   

Upon arrival, whilst everyone is milling about, setting up cameras, checking settings, waiting to get going, I notice a issue with my shutter speed.  Unable to set anything faster than 1/200 of a sec.  which normally wouldn't be a problem, considering it's broad daylight and plenty of light to come in.  But the extremely slow shutter lag was a bit of a worry.  

On comes troubleshooting, adjust ISO, exposure compensation, fill-flash, largest aperture, remove polariser, remove battery, SD card, pop the in-built flash a few times, when all else fails, try a reboot - unfortunately not this time.

I'll be damned if I could figure out what the problem was.  I'm pretty sure there's nothing I've missed. Odd thing is I could use it in Auto mode. but who the hell wants to use Auto mode.  So we eventually discover there's an issue with the contacts between the body and the lens. Bugger, Bugger, Bugger.  So off for repairs it'll have to go.  Thankfully I could still shoot the day in Auto and put my concentration on composition rather than creativity.  Bugger again.

   

Shire Photo Society 'Mystery Outing # 2'

Sunday 25 September 2011

Every two months the Shire Photo Society organises a 'Mystery Outing' for about 20 members.  We meet early morning, hop on a bus to an unknown destination for a full day's photo shoot.  This month we headed an hour out of Sydney to Berrima and Bowral.  Luck would have it (for me) the day turned out rainy and slightly overcast.  Which was superb.  A perfect day to get good shots without having to worry too much about bright light.  Our main attraction was the Bowral annual Tulip Festival.  A little haven of gorgeous tulips covering every inch of space.  Sponsored by the local council.  This was their 52nd year.

     

After the festival, back on the bus for a series of several stops along the town.  In the bus, out the bus.  At some point, I gave up having the luxury of time trying to switch between my telephoto  and macro lens.  So the weather served as a good advantage for me, confined to using my macro lens for 90% of the day.  And x3 4GB SD cards later.  Shooting in RAW, definitely eats up space.

My favourite spot was a really old garage sitting on the side of the road among relatively modern houses. so out of place, but looking so enticing.  Alongside an old wooden fence covered in moss.

 

In one of the window panes, a large array of old and new spiderwebs.  I loved the different patterns and how they stood out against the old weathered wood. 

   

Found on the fence (pictured above right) running alongside the wooden barn/garage was the most beautiful, fresh moss.  The textures were gorgeous.

Botanic Gardens Competition

Nothing like a project to get you out of your rut, which I certainly need.  www.gardensinfocus.com.au

A ‘Gardens in Focus’ competition. The aim is to showcase your talent by entering an online competition of photos taken in any Australian Botanic Garden.  Entries close beginning of December.

 The categories; Plant Portraiture, Gardens View, Garden Creatures, International Botanic Gardens and Youth Competition (this one, I’ll have to pass on, as much as I loved being under 21 years of age, I’m quite satisfied to be exempt from this section at this point in my life).  Not often one can say I love being old ... correction, I love my tender young years of 34!

The aim is about capturing the personality of plants, from germination to decay, your experience in a particular botanic garden, these can be close ups or a wider perspective, depicting the character of the animal world, the seasons etc etc.  So it all sounds completely exciting and intriguing and definitely encouraging.  Can’t wait to get started.  Nothing like practise, practise, practise.