Generation Slash Revisited
Chase Jarvis recently posted a copy of his interview with Juxtapoz magazine. It’s a great read if you are into photography, fine art of just the whole big creative thing. A few lines really stood out for me, “And for what it’s worth, I’ve been told my whole career that being a hyphen, that not [...]
Dalí, Subversive Humour And Learning To Be An Artist
My favourite film of 2011 was Midnight in Paris. Among the many memorable scenes there is a wonderful moment when Owen Wilson’s lead character meets Salvador Dalí, played by Adrien Brody. Of course, the real life Dalí was every bit as over the top and amusing to behold as Brody’s portrayal suggests. Yesterday I stumbled [...]
January Wallpaper
This month’s wallpaper is the last image I took in 2011. It was a seriously wet end to the year here in Singapore. Apparently, in three hours on the 23rd, we had more rain than the average monthly rainfall for a typical December. It was a very damp Christmas. But, the days around the New [...]
Photographically Speaking
For the last few weeks I’ve been reading David duChemin’s new book Photographically Speaking. Like the other books David has released, it is a solid read, with lots to inspire and challenge photographers of all levels. That said, I’m probably the last person you want to turn to for an “objective” review. Over the last [...]
December Wallpaper
This image was created recently in Oaxaca. Earlier in the day, David duChemin had made the comment that there didn’t seem to be a lot of photographers shooting still life images these days. That got me thinking, what other classic styles of photography were perhaps being under-experlored today? My mind quickly wandered to surrealism. Now, [...]
The Rule Of Halves
A lot of photographic conversations seem stuck at the rule of thirds, perhaps forgetting that although it’s a powerful grid system, it’s not the only option out there.
Stealth Photography And Other Urban Problems
“Do you think I can’t see you, crouched over there, with your giant camera and massive lens? Do you think I don’t know that you’ve been taking pictures of my daughter and I while we sit and talk about her school day? I came here for a few moments of quiet conversation and a cup [...]
Lightroom Preset Fun
As a rule, I don’t like to use software presets, either for photography or music. But, like, every rule, there are exceptions. It wasn’t till I read David duChemin’s excellent book on Lightroom, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Voices That Matter), that I realised that, by default, Lightroom adds a [...]
A Few Recent Lessons From The Road
My recent trip to Mexico was something of a long-haul ordeal – thirteen hours from Singapore to London, layover of six hours in Heathrow, twelve hours flying London to Mexico City, overnight stay, then a six and a half hour bus ride to Oaxaca. On the way back things were slightly worse, six hours by [...]
Oaxaca – Within The Frame
While in the Oaxaca I toured with a small band of photographic brothers and sisters photographers on the (Within the Frame workshop organised by David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman). Although we travelled together, in each location we were often off shooting by ourselves. It was a delightfully international group, with photographers from Canada, New Zealand, [...]
Hugely Distorted Reality
Put any group of photographers together and, eventually, the conversation will come around to HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos. HDR involves processing two or more exposures of the same scene to create an image that has a greater range of light than is possible in a normal photograph. Pushed to the extremes HDR can create [...]
The Slow Trip Home
I’m writing from the Pelican Hotel in Miami Beach at the end of a wonderful adventure. I said goodbye to Oaxaca on Saturday afternoon, then boarded an ADO Platino bus for one last night in Mexico City. Six hours on a bus might seem like an ordeal, but the scenery from Oaxaca to Mexico is [...]
Oaxaca’s Soundtrack To Dia de los Muertos
I’ve heard a lot of great music on this trip. A little bit of it was Mariachi, but most has been either upbeat Banda (Brass Band parade music), or heartfelt guitar driven Boleros (and some Tangos). There’s been no bigger surprise, for me, than the quality and energy of the Oaxacan Brass marching bands. Funky, [...]
Oaxaca First Impressions
Vibrant is the word I would use to describe my first impressions of Oaxaca. This is a colourful, lively and passionate town, full of life and rich in tradition. On my first full day here I took two walks; an afternoon stroll full of art galleries, cafes and small stores and a late evening exploration [...]
The Tourist Phase
Second day in Oaxaca and I’m fighting a familiar battle. On the one hand I want to see and experience everything this place has to offer, in an almost uncritical way. On the other hand, I’m fighting off mild disappointment at the more touristy parts of the town. Of course, the reality is that I [...]
On The Road In Mexico
Getting from Singapore to Oaxaca is not a straightforward thing. The quickest route is with Singapore Airlines, via Moscow, then connecting with a direct (Continental) flight from Houston to Oaxaca. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get that route on the days I needed, so I opted instead to come via London on Qantas (my first trip, finally, [...]
Packing Again
Last night I got home from Adelaide and tomorrow I’ll board a flight to Mexico on a photographic adventure. I’ll be travelling via London, and then taking a bus from Mexico City to Oaxaca. On the way back I’ll be stopping off for a quick break in Miami. Every trip I try to pack lighter, [...]
Tacos, Tequila & Tilt-Shift
OK, that might just be the most poorly conceived heading for a blogpost ever – but it’s the best I could come up with after nearly a week bed-struck with the flu (the photo above is a reflection of how I’m feeling – rusty!). Anyway, in a little over a month I’ll be heading off [...]
Changing Lanes When There Are No Lanes
We live in an extraordinary era, with the economics of communication totally changing. What do I mean by that? Well, when I was young, we would tune into television or radio and hope to hear people that were interesting (to us), talking about things that were relevant (to us). It was a pretty inefficient process, [...]
Second Time Lapse
OK, I’ll admit, this is kind of fun. Quick Tilt-Shift time lapse taken this morning.
Time Lapse Test
For a long time now I’ve been wanting to try and shoot some Time Lapse videos of Hong Kong. Kind of crazy that I waited until my last week here to try. Anyway, here is my very fist attempt. If you are interested in trying this sort of technique, here is the article I used [...]
Make Art Not Sport
On Saturday night I had a great evening with some of the photographers from the Lightenupandshoot workshop. A few of them had just been on a photo challenge organised by a local photography club. I like the idea of setting yourself creative challenges. In this instance the competition was involved shooting with only a 50mm [...]
July Wallpaper
This month’s Wallapaper is one of my favourite recent images of Hong Kong. It was taken using a 24mm PCE Tilt-Shift lens (which is unfortunately in need of repair at the moment). I’ve really grown to love using a tilt-shift lens and although I’m still only coming to grips with the basics of this approach, [...]
500px
500px is a community based, photo sharing website; much like Flickr. In fact, there’s a growing chorus of articles comparing the two sites and suggesting that 500px might just be a better service for serious photographers. Here is a sampling of recent opinions, Move Over Flickr — Hot Shots Love 500px 500px is not Flickr [...]
