Day Forty Eight - Mark

I wandered into uni at 10am this morning for what I thought was a normal E-media class, but we were asked to help Leigh Hobba set up some installations in the Gallery downstairs. You wouldn't believe how spatially and logically impaired these middle-aged artists can be. I was working with one middle-aged woman mounting a shelf and also measuring out and hanging some picture frames. I'm a little carpentry challenged myself but at least i can work out half of 14cm without thinking about it for 30 seconds. Yeah. Really.

Anyway this is Mark, a good friend of mine and always there when I need any sort of media assistance. Dave and I used to fondly call him Dad, as he'd often be the one organising things on shoots and making contact with clients and people involved. He's great.

Sometimes I wish my 50mm was autofocus. This was basically just walk up to Mark and fire off a couple of shots hoping one is usable. All ambient lighting from random downlights spotted throughout the gallery space. I haven't had heaps of time for photography the past week. My head's been full and focused on getting the DVD done by tomorrow, uni and my new job. I'm quite excited for this weekend. Bring on Melbourne.

Day Forty Seven - Lattés in Shiny Land

I consume at least one or two of these every day so it seemed fitting that, lacking any other inspiration, I take a photo of one.

I'd like to do a decent-lit version of this at some point. This one's dull and boring. Salamanca is Shiny Land. Shiny rich people eat there and drink lattés with their poodles and chiwawas sitting in their handbags.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2

Speaking of rich people, I hate bluetooth headsets. They're one of my many pet peeves. I suppose because it seems no different to the crazy inhabitants of Hobart who stroll around aimlessly, chatting to themselves and harassing people. Until you see the stupid flashing blue light attached to their ear, you're led to believe they're just a well dressed homeless person who has noone to talk to but themself. Of these homeless people who intrigue me are Moggy and The Bag Lady, neither of whom are well dressed, nor have I had the pleasure to photograph either of them. The only reason I carry my camera everywhere with me is in the hope of running in to her again. Actually not really, but it's definitely one of the reasons! She's pretty amazing. So is Moggy for that matter. I love Hobart's freaks.

Bluetooth savvy man in the rain. Obviously important enough and expecting that many calls that it would inconvenience him a little too much to use his hand to hold his phone to his ear. Having a cord dangling from your ear is pretty comfortable anyways.

Day Forty Six - Barrios

Please click over to flickr to view this photo large.

This photo has a very studio feel to it, which I was kinda going for. The piano bouncing bokeh in the background, the blue light, the harsh outlines. Yes. I like this. And it's not too often I can say that about one of my own photos.

This wasn't really intended to be a photoshoot as such. Max was in my room playing Barrios' La Catedral on my guitar and trying to learn the second movement. I wanted to go do something but decided to set up a couple of flashes and take some shots of him playing.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2
Vivitar 285 HV at 1/4 above left fired through a jb-hifi docket to diffuse (yeah i really need those umbrellas!)
Vivitar 285 at 1/16 under the desk with blue gel pointed at max.

On that note, I'm about half way through learning the first movement of Barrios' La Catedral on guitar and it's quite exciting. I endeavour to learn the entire piece within a month. If you don't know what I'm talking about click here. Barrios is beautiful.

Day Forty Five - I Don't Need High Definition

Really. I promise I don't need HDV. I'm completely happy with SD. *bites lip*

Okay so no. I actually really do want to upgrade to High Definition but I'm too poor at the moment. I was way too hungover today to think about anything at all until about 5 in the afternoon. I worked on the cover for our bmx dvd for a while and that's about as productive as it got. So here's my little baby. Sony DSR-PD150. Standard Definition isn't a dinosaur yet!

I like this photo. I'm not sure what it is about it but it grabs me.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8
Vivitar 285hv at 1/16 to camera left bounced off the roof.

All that said, here's a rough draft of where the DVD cover is at. The idea is to smother the page with a bunch of bmx photos I've taken over the past 2 years that haven't ended up being published or used for anything in particular. It still has a little ways to go as making every image look like a polaroid film photo is a little time consuming, but so far I'm pretty happy with how it's coming together.

Day Forty Four - Steam Train

Not much to say about this one except i'd downed half a bottle of Canadian Club in an hour beforehand.

Obviously too drunk to get the flash out of the frame.

Nikon D200
10.5mm fisheye f2.8
VIvitar 285HV at 1/4 to the left bounced off the wall
Vivitar 285HV at 1/16 to right with blue gel

Day Forty Three - Paw Thing

Firstly, I'm terribly sorry about the horrible, and offensively lame title.

This dog has three legs. He was so cute and kept fleeing (pardon the pun) as soon as I lifted my camera. I had my little manual focus 50 mounted to my d200 so couldn't auto focus, meaning this shot's not quite as sharp as I'd like it to be but I only had time to fire off two shots before he trotted off and hid. The photo really reminds me of an RSPA commercial or something to do with animal rights, which got me thinking that every single domestic animal is locked up for all their life. Sad? Yeh Nah. They're loved to pieces and pampered almost every moment of every day so they have it pretty damn good really.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2.8

I started a new class at uni today called "temporal imaging and 2D animation" which should be a lot of fun and allow me to experiment a lot. Basically it revolves around stop-frame animation which I've always had an interest in but have never had the patience or drive to really give it a go. Definitely watch this to get an idea of what I'm talking about. The idea behind this is amazing and was produced using only polaroids. Another stop motion video I saw today was a music video by a band called Oren Lavie. Also worth checking out. It's quite a beautiful piece.
Ideas for stop motion are already floating around my head and I'm really looking forward to getting into it!

I also met up with my mate Tyson today and discussed our ideas for an entry into the MyState Film Festival which is due by some date in October. I'm also entering a film with another friend too so I'll definitely be very busy over the next few months. This is a good thing. Our idea is loosely based around a dream Tyson had a little while ago and so far it sounds pretty fun. I'm quite excited to get these ideas off the ground and into production.

In the words of Nathan Barley,
Peace and fucking...Believe.

Day Forty Two - BFF

This is a day late but none of you care i'm sure. I took this yesterday but was way too tired upon getting home to attempt stringing words together.

Back at uni this week along with working a whole lot isn't leaving me much time to think, let alone to be creative with my camera. But i'll keep plodding along and producing, whether it's interesting or not. That said, this photo is probably one of my favourites i've taken in quite some time. Next week is the premiere for Two Wheels 'N' Pub Meals, our third bmx dvd, which means i'm also pretty stressed getting that finalised and organising printing and designs and such.

That's it for now. I'll be posting today's photo later on. Here's a couple more photos from yesterday.
Peace.

Day Forty One - Fatso

Today was my first day back at uni for second semester. That's second semester, third year. So if all goes to plan I'll be a graduate in 15 weeks. However I'll probably have to go back next year to finish things off. I'm not really ready to put uni life behind me just yet anyway. Uni definitely seems very empty without Dave though. I miss that guy heaps.

I also started a new job today at Mezethes Greek Taverna. Having never worked in hospitality before, I was pretty nervous and didn't really know what to expect. It probably didn't help matters when I rocked up at 5 and Stas, the owner (who I know quite well), wasn't working and had also neglected to tell any of the other staff that I was coming in! Sofia (Mama) offered me a coffee though. This is apparently a good sign. She usually hates everyone and everything and wouldn't offer anyone more than a slap to the face. Maybe she's taken a liking to me. Probably something to do with my baby face. As stressful as the whole night was, I'm hired and definitely glad to have the first shift done and behind me. I feel like I've been adopted by a new family. It's a good feeling.

Here's a photo of my friend Morgan's dog, Fatso.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2
ISO 1600 (yeah) at 1/25

Day Forty - Melancholy

I was going to upload some snaps I took today but realised I hadn't taken any strobists shots in a while. I actually set up this snap in the hope of taking a photo of a passer-by. Just my luck, not one single person walks past in 20 minutes. I guess that's Hobart on a Monday night at 11:30pm. Probably a good thing considering if I was counting on a passer-by, there'd be a 50% chance of a someone very much lower class, or in laments terms, a bogan, smashing my shit up. I know the chance of that happening is very slim, but I still don't like taking my chances with the unpredictable lower class.

I suppose one in every 10 photos being a self portrait isn't so bad. One of my Vivitars was playing up too and not recycling properly. Time to clean the battery terminals I think. I don't complain too much when my flashes play up as I picked one of the Vivitars up on ebay for $7 when they usually retail for around $180. Apparently it was faulty but once I took it apart it was only a loose solder contact. Really not too difficult to fix. One day I'll have SB-900s. One day.


Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2
ISO 400 at 1/80

Vivitar 285HV to camera left at 1/16th and 20' away.
Vivitar 285HV behind me to the right at 1/4 for rim light.

Day Thirty Nine - Hot Bird

I'm going to ask you to full view this one.

I'll admit it's not often I get an image this sharp with my 50mm at f1.8. Manual focusing with such shallow depth of field is fucking hard! Especially when your subject is a little bird that's just landed on the seat next to you and you have to snap a photo before it flaps away. This little guy was quite odd. He didn't seem too scared of us and actually hopped his way under the table we were sitting at before flying up to the neighbouring chair and posing for me. Some sort of finch I believe. However I could be wrong.

I do have lots going through my head at the moment and feel the need to vent. However, I'm hungry and my stomach takes priority right now. There's also the fact that not many of you could even care less. So here concludes another photo in my daily photography adventures. Enjoy.