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Oh how time flies

Dear Diary

It has been several weeks (egads, it’s been a few months!) since my last entry. I apologise for not up dating you more regularly. So what has been happening that has kept me away from the internet for so long?

Thing that has kept me away from the internet excuse #1: The wedding.

Last year I decided that to truly understand the wedding process I should experience it first hand. So after lots of planning and many trips I married my now lovely wife Pam in the idyllic snow fields of Guthega Alpine Village. Normally I wouldn’t put other wedding photographer’s photos on my site, but I am happy to make an exception. Thank you to Candice (and Emily) of O Photography for taking the photos and putting up with the two of us.

Some snap shots from our wedding at Guthega:

Thing that has kept me away from the internet excuse #2: The house.

So naturally after getting married we wanted to move in together. Unfortunately neither of our residences was really suitable for our needs. So we bought a new house. In reality we had been looking for over 12 months, and trying to balance weddings and open homes every weekend for 12 months is a long and arduous task. So with the old studio now happily rented I have been undertaking the task of establishing the new premises in anticipation of it’s grand opening.

Thing that has kept me away from the internet excuse #3: The twins.

Lastly and probably the most exciting, I am happy to announce the imminent arrival of the twins. I won’t go into too much detail yet, as I’ll keep all that information for a separate post.

March 13, 2012 | Categories: Photographer rants | Tags: alpine, Guthega, Snow, snow ball fight | Leave A Comment »

The man with the hoe: Photo 6 of 52

The man with the hoe

Photo 6 of 2: The man with the hoe

This weeks theme is based on the poem ‘The man with the hoe’ by Edwin Markham and the painting ‘L’Homme à la houe’ by Jean-François Millet (II).
'L'Homme à la houe' by Jean-François Millet (II)

For this weeks theme I thought I’d re-interpret the the painting into a more personal photographic rendition.

“Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave
To have dominion over sea and land;
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power;
To feel the passion of Eternity?”
Ah stuff it, I’m out of here…

The man with the hoe - alternate

Next weeks theme: Good eats!
Previous theme: Etiology

January 1, 2012 | Categories: Bit of Fun, Project 52 | Tags: 52, Projects | 1 Comment »

Etiology: Photo 5 of 52

Etiology

EDIT: Having had a few moments spare I’ve managed to catch up on a few photos. So this week was Etiology: the study of causation, or origination. Often used to refer to the study of why things occur, or even the reasons behind the way that things act. So I thought a quick self portrait trying to examine what is behind the camera would be appropriate. Enjoy…

Etiology, The study behind things

Next weeks theme: The man with the hoe
Last weeks theme: Annals of Connacht

December 20, 2011 | Categories: Bit of Fun, Project 52 | Tags: 52, Projects | 2 Comments »

Annals of Connacht: Photo 4 of 52

Annals of Connacht

Hark to the deeds of great heros in the Annals of Connacht

This weeks theme was initially a daunting one, but the idea came to me in a flash of inspiration. The idea behind this image is the imagination of a scholar in the dark ages writing illuminated manuscripts of the heroic deeds of heros and the evil they have vanquished.

On a completely different tangent, and interesting fact; the book used for this image is a 150 year old bible that is a family heirloom. It was the bible of Rev Micheal Henry Becher who arrived in Australia in 1854, arriving on the super clipper “Champion of the seas” after a 75 day voyage. He became the Rector of St James Cathedral in Melbourne, and to this day there is a plarque commemorating his service in the cathedral. Oh yeah!

Technical stuff:

This is a composite of two elements.

The scholar

The first is the scholar at the table. This is lit with a single strobe directly above the book and aimed directly down. The beam was zoomed in to give a tight pool of light. The figure is lit using the reflected light from the pages of the book.

The ghost

The ghost uses a single strobe with beauty dish set high above the figure and in line with the camera.

Next weeks theme: Etiology (ok this one has me stumped!)
Last weeks theme: Gordo Space Monkey

December 13, 2011 | Categories: Bit of Fun, Project 52 | Tags: 52, Dark and moody, medieval, Projects, smoke, Strobist | 2 Comments »

Gordo, Space monkey: photo 3 of 52

Gordo, Space monkey: photo 3 of Project 52

Even as a young monkey, Gordo dreamed of the stars

Week three

So here is week three’s photo. Gordo, space monkey. Gordo was one of the first monkey to fly into space in a Jupiter rocket. But, due a technical malfunction in the rocket, the parachute failed to open. Poor Gordo and his capsule were never seen again.

The idea behind this photo was to show Gordo as if he was a young child, gazing up at the stars, and like a small child would dream and pretend he was an astronaut. He has his pretend rocket and helmet (that were made out of cardboard). One day Gordo would be the first man (Monkey) in space. But little did he know of the dangers.

The technical stuff:

This photo was taken at night time (for obvious creative reasons) in the back yard of our lovely suburban canberra home. The camera was set to 400 iso, f9 and a 30 sec exposure to allow the camera to capture the star sky. I then walked around the scene with my trusty flash and manually triggered flashes (1/32 sec power) painting in sections of the foreground that I wanted illuminated; including gordo and his rocket.

Then using a bit of tweaking in photohop to adjust the contrast in the sky and add some lovely NASA insignia to the rocket and helmet.

Next week: The Annals of Connacht
Last weeks theme: The Goblin Tower

December 5, 2011 | Categories: Bit of Fun, Project 52 | Tags: 52, Flash, Monkeys, Night time, Projects, Strobist | 6 Comments »