Tag: colour

Posted on

Adelaide skyline

I’ve been photo-walking the streets of Adelaide these last couple of days. Ostensibly it was to hunt down and photograph the various pasteups down by Peter Drews for his street art project entitled ‘Adelaide’s Forgotten Outlaws! I wanted to do it before the temperatures reached the high 30’s–which they are today.

Then I realized that I was really using this urban wandering to basically look for new locations for the Adelaide book I’m slowly putting together.

Globe, east end

I was looking for locations from car parks that would give me a skyline perspective for large format photography. I wasn’t very successful in my last exploration as I was looking for car parks with open roofs, but these are few and far between in Adelaide. This time I was happy enough to check out the car parks with open grills to see what kind of perspective they offered.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

at Victor Harbor

I’ve come down to Victor Harbor for a day or so to continue with the 8×10 large format seaside architectural photography series. I plan to photograph this heritage building tomorrow, weather permitting:

Esplanade, Victor Harbor

In the meantime I’m watching a live stream of the judging of the Epson Australian Institute of Professional Photography’s (AIPP) South Australian Professional Print Awards at the Orange Lane Studio in Norwood.

The commercial architectural shots in this competition are nothing like what I’m doing. Mine are very rough and ready compared to the smooth and carefully calibrated celebration of the architect’s work that the commercial photographers do for their clients. They go for the wow factor, but they do seem unreal in their perfection–almost iconic — compared to mine.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

making a foto book

I’m down at Victor Harbor this weekend going through some of my photos of the region. I reckon that I have enough images on the computer’s hard disc to begin to do something with them. I’m thinking about publishing them as an organized body of work.

early morning in winter

I’ve finally taken the plunge and decided to begin work on a DIY book of photos and text of the Fleurieu Peninsula. I’ve started by using the Posterous Spaces publishing platform to kick things off.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

8 x10 photography

I’ve came down to Victor Harbor for a couple of days before I fly over to Melbourne to do some 8 x 10 black and white location photography. I haven’t done any for a while mainly because I’ve had no way to scan the negatives.

My Epson V700 can only scan 8×10 as a negative, and up to now I’ve had no way to invert it into a positive. So I’ve ordered Photoshop from B+H in New York, as this professional software enables me to invert the negative into a positive.

8x10 Cambo

It was overcast and still today so I struggled down to the foreshore with the 8×10 gear (monorail camera in the right hand, the heavy duty Profi Linhof tripod with its centre post and heavy duty pan tilt head on my left shoulder, and the computer bag with the darkslides + darkcloth, lightmeter etc on my right shoulder). I was accompanied by the two standard poodles.

My aim was to take two photos of a particular rock. One photo was in portrait mode and the other in landscape mode. That was it. I struggled back to the car, unloaded my gear, and then took the poodles for a walk.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

preparing for Melbourne

As I am due to return to Ballarat and Melbourne at the end of this week, I’ve come down to Victor Harbor for break to allow the poodles to get into hunting mode and to look at the street style and architectural photos that I took when I was there couple of weeks ago.

I don’t have that many images on the computer’s hard disc, as I only took a few, and most of the ones that I did take were quickly eliminated. That is digital photography: edit, edit, edit.

Lydiard St Nth Ballarat

After spending the weekend in Ballarat for the International Foto Biennale I will stay in Melbourne for several days to take photos in the central business district. I plan to concentrate on skyline photos, as most of the photos that I took through the train windows didn’t really work.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

AAMI

How do you order the chaotic flow of the city? How do you arrange the different elements in the picture plane so that relate to one another in some coherent fashion?

I avoid “street photography”–that is, representing the everyday flow of the city — because I cannot satisfactorily resolve the above problems. I started working by sitting in a tram and taking shots but I found that very limited.

Sturt St, 5.30pm

The next step was to stand in front of a building and wait for someone to walk past. That didn’t work that well for me as I wanted to cram more urban stuff into the picture plane. The city is full of flowing stuff–eg., ever changing and moving events and situations.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

scanning the workload

My days of late have been taken up with scanning some of the old 35mm + medium format negatives, plus some of the medium format film that I took earlier this year. Scanning sure is a time consuming business. In terms of workflow it is probably better to shoot a couple of rolls of film, have it processed, then scan it; rather than allow the rolls of film to build up to 30 or so.

I’m not persuaded that the combination of 35m film plus a flat bed scanner, such as the Epson V700, is better than its digital equivalent. People do use a dedicated film scanner–eg., a Nikon 5000— for 35mm film to improve the quality of the scan. However, if 35mm is the format of choice, then it would probably be better to invest in a top end, full frame, DSLR and some really good glass.

Angas St , Adelaide

Maybe 35mm film would be the equivalent of a high end DSLR if I used a really top line desktop scanner (such as the Imacon Flextight 949 Film Scanner or the Flextight X1); that is, the ones the pro labs use. However, these are a big dollar investment for just 35mm, and it is hardly worth the investment for that format. Those photographers who don’t have high volume requirements will not be able to justify the cost of these pro scanners. They are designed for Photo Labs, Printing Bureaus and professionals that need to scan hundreds of negatives each week or day.

If 35mm is the format of choice, then clearly, it is more worthwhile to shift to, and work with, the new technology. It would be easy to work within, and around its limitations with good image editing software.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

Port Augusta

I spent a great part of yesterday afternoon scanning some old negatives from the archive from photos taken from a trip to the Eyre Peninsula via Port Augusta. This one of the Payford Power Station was taken on the Linhof Technika 70

Playford Power Station, Port Augusta

I cannot recall much of the time at Port Augusta other than remembering that my photographic focus was the power station. I do recall driving around looking for the best spot to take photos but it didn’t occur to me to go on the tour to get some photos inside the plant.

Pages: 1 2
Posted on

Hindmarsh River, Victor Harbor

This study for a 5×4 shoot was done before I left for Ballarat last weekend.It is of the estuary and the mouth of the Hindmarsh River at Victor Harbor. It was taken around 4.30 pm. A few minutes later and the sun’s rays disappeared.

Hindmarsh River, Victor Harbor

I went back the next day around the same time and took a similar shot with the Linhof 5×4. Of course, the man who was fishing the day before was no longer there. It’s not a memorable image, but it is part of my exploration of the coastline in my local neighbourhood and the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Pages: 1 2