Photo Challenge 7 – Technicolor

Yeah yeah, I used the American spelling. Less characters to type, and technicolour just looks weird.

Tech⋅ni⋅col⋅or

/ˈtɛknɪˌkʌlər/ [tek-ni-kuhl-er]
1. Trademark. a brand name for a system of making color motion pictures by means of superimposing the three primary colors to produce a final colored print.
–adjective
2. (often lowercase) flamboyant or lurid, as in color, meaning, or detail.

Steve’s submission

My thoughts:

This is representative of my typical way of thinking about things – left of centre, although I’m sure Mat would have thought of this too.  This is a collage of “technical colour” things around my house.  I don’t have much else to offer about this image today so I’ll leave it to others for a change.  And thanks to Joepi for her help on how to use Photoshop to create a montage/collage or whatever it’s called.

Joepi’s submission

Joepi says:

Sinulog is a festival held in Cebu every year on the 3rd weekend of January. It is the Philippines’ version of Mardi Gras (sans the nudity as this is a religious festival).
The colors you see being displayed for you in the Grand Parade are just plain fabulous and earns the “WOW Philippines” tourism tagline. Among the hundreds of photos I took that day for the uber-technicolor event, I chose this particular photo obviously for the many colors in the photo but also because of the challenge I had in trying to bring out the colors despite a gray sky which dampened the color in a lot of my photos. If anyone has more tips on how to bring out sunny colors on a dreary day, please speak up!
Taken with my Canon 450 D Portrait lens.

My thoughts: An extremely bright image which I think fits the criteria of our theme perfectly.  Excellent choice of crop, too. I like the tightly cropped portraits. I’ve seen the entire set of Joepi’s Sinulog photos and I have to say that the colours are just great the way they’re presented. In my view the overcast day actually helped them to stand out. Personally I dislike shooting in bright sun as it tends to wash out colours for me. Ken is the light expert, someone might want to wake him up out of hibernation and get his opinion.

Katy’s submission

Katy says:

This shot was taken in a park nearby ages ago. I tried to play with the color blend a bit by rummaging up on PS – channel mixer basically and monochromatic noise set to 15 to make it look old. However, I’m not convinced whether I got the idea right.

My thoughts: This is actually quite similar to how I imagined technicolor movies might look (I don’t watch anything that isn’t in full colour, with lots of explosions and CGI).  In my view it also has an old Kodak (or was it Agfa) slide look about it. Hmmm, wonder if that’s why Katy used a slide in the image – to make that connection…

Ken’s Submission

Ken says:

This is a photo i took some time ago of Victor Pender, a local Melbourne musician.  I really like the shot as it very much represented his personal style. I like that it has a kind of retro/disco/techno feel.

Victor was sitting on my dining table with black muslin draped behind him. I used a pair of Bowens monolights, one high above to create the butterfly lighting and the other behind to give the green backlight. The spot in the corner and lens flare was applied in Photoshop.  I knew as soon as I fired the first shot of this sequence that it would be the best shot of the night.The sharp shadows are created using a small reflector on the light source and keeping the light close to the subject to minimise the light depth of field.

This was shot with Nikon’s 28-70mm at f8.0 ISO 100.  I tend to always stick to the middle aperature on the Nikon lenses when in studio as they prove to be sharpest and  have no distortion.  I control the exposure with the lights power adjustments.

My thoughts: I always remember a couple of things that Ken has taught me, and one is the use of F8 on my studio lenses to get the sharpest images.  I also marvel at how he thinks through the lighting to create the end result. Years of experimentation and practice, I suppose. This is a superb portrait of Victor with a lovely touch of dreaminess to take it into the realms of rock. The colours of the lens flare are very cool, and I like the slightly muted, rusty tones.

Mat’s Submission

Mat says:

I was considering heading into the Melbourne CBD to shoot some of the fantastic graffiti art that decorates the city, but with the high temperatures we’ve been having lately I was worried that my camera might melt, or I may spontaneously combust, so instead I decided to shoot a portion of my unfeasibly large collection of t-shirts.
I took a few shots at different exposures and played around with the HDR Merge function in Paintshop Pro to come up with something nice and bright but also a little unnatural. And yes, I do wear these t-shirts on a regular basis!

My thoughts: Yes. Mat does wear these t-shirts. I regularly go home with a headache after he insists on accompanying the orange one, which delights in shouting boorishly at anyone who will listen.  Another excellently thought out and composed photo.

Next Challenge

It’s Ken’s turn this time with his suggestion of “Texture“.   For your enticement I have a very intriguing and possibly difficult theme coming up after that, suggested by Katy.

Looking forward to all images being submitted by close of the clock on Sunday 15th February.

Jason & Misa’s wedding

Jason is a very tall, talented musician with a real enthusiasm for life.  And he doesn’t drink! What’s that all about? Never mind, he’s still an awesome guy.

Misa is a sweet and beautiful, outgoing Sushi Chef from Osaka, Japan, with part Korean lineage.

While Jason was spending an extended period of time in Japan in 2002 he met Misa on a train near Osaka.  Six years later they married at Queens Park in Moonee Ponds.

The weather was perfect, after nearly a week of sporadic rain and overcast days.  Misa looked absolutely stunning, and was a joy to photograph throughout the day.  With the combination of water, greenery and a very attractive guest list, particularly Misa’s family and friends who travelled from Japan for the occasion, it was difficult not to take wonderful photos.

There was a real musical bent to the day, beginning with the cello and two opera singers in the park, and ending with a rock show at the reception, performed by Jason and his large collection of musician friends.

I’m not a huge fan of photographing weddings for a number of reasons.  To begin with, I photograph in more of a documentary style, so I prefer very laid-back, relaxed weddings.  Secondly, I’m not really a fan of the institution itself, so if I accept a wedding job it is usually because I relate very well to the couple getting married.  This job was easy as I really enjoyed everyone’s company, and had a great day myself.  The third reason is due to the pressure of getting wedding photos right.  You only have one chance, and if you screw it up you can potentially ruin the happy day for the couple.  I can’t imagine what it must feel like to get home after shooting a very expensive, formal church wedding only to find your storage cards fail to be read, or have been lost or stolen.  I think I’d move to another country if that happened to me!

Misa’s Dad is an amazing man – humble, incredibly polite, and absolutely single-minded on ensuing his daughters are happy.  He seemed to be very proud, but did not betray too much emotion.  I only wish I could have spoken with him during the day.  I’m limited to about ten Japanese words and phrases, and there’s only so many ways one can string them together into meaningful conversation.

The best part of a wedding should be the reception. And this was one of the best.  With the band rocking out on hair metal hits of the 80s, the crowd was very quickly on their feet dancing.  And as you can tell from their smiles, everyone was having a great time.

After such an enjoyable wedding shoot as this one, who knows, I might just do some more!

A family portrait in Werribee South

An Australian family portraiture session should, in my opinion, be fun, relaxed, casual and outdoors.  I can’t think of anything worse to be hanging up on the family loungeroom wall than a stilted, studio shot of Mum, Dad and the kids in their Sunday best, with a nondescript backdrop.  I’m thinking in particular about my own, taken when I was about 10 or 12, which still makes me cringe when I see it.

Remember when you’re choosing family, wedding or other photos of the people close to you to display prominently in your house, that you’ll see these photos every day.  I believe you would be happiest with photos taken in a location that makes you feel happy when you see it again and again.  The photo should bring back a memory of joy, associated with either the time or the place. 

A photograph that is being hung for viewing needs personality and character, rather than looking like a traditional posed image with painted on smiles.  It’s a little like music.  The Top 40 is full of tracks that really have no depth, and therefore no longevity, but you are immediately attracted to them.  Over time you’ll get bored with them.   A timeless track is often the one that grows on you, rather than immediately catching your eye.  So, listen to your photographer when he/she advises you on which photos are best to display.  They may not be the ones you initially think.

Thanks to Damon Howes and his family for this session on a brisk, but very sunny late afternoon at Werribee South Beach. I hope they’re enjoying their new collection of family portraits.

Photo Challenge 4 – Transition

I’m impressed! I honestly didn’t think the gang could keep it together for this many challenges, but to all of our credit we’re still moving forward. Not only that, but we’re expanding our numbers.  As of next challenge I am very pleased to announce a new contributor – Katiane Goes.

Katy lives in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil.  Katy is a teacher, and a beach lover who lives 1300 km from the nearest beach.  She has an excellent photo collection on Flickr which I invite you to go check out now. Welcome aboard, Katy!

Transition can mean so many things to so many people. And therein lies the fun of asking four very different people to apply their creativity to this theme.

Steve’s submission:

My thoughts: I’m not sure I should go first this time, as I don’t think my photo is really indicative of my style, nor a particularly good shot.  However, it does show the constant cyclic transition that nature experiences. In this case an old tree comes to a possibly untimely demise at the hands of farmers, but way below the eyeline, as yet unnoticed, the tree’s offspring raises it’s youthful head ready to take up the challenge of survival.  Shot on the Canon 30D, 45mm, F22, 1/50, ISO 100. Primarily processed in Lightroom 2.1 and all the really tough stuff cleaned in Photoshop CS3.

Mat’s Submission:

My thoughts: Mat, this is a fantastic idea.  I really love what you’ve come up with.  Next step for you is to build your technical skills to allow you to present the very best version of your ideas that you can. Ken is the post-processing master, so go drop in on him unannounced, with a bottle of wine of course, and get him to give you the works. Your photos will love you for it, and the less creative of us (i.e. me) will be bowing in deference.

Mat says: I struggled to come up with an idea for this one. I had some thoughts about sunsets or nature scenes where one landscape transitioned into another one, eg grass to beach to sea, or field to freeway, or parkland to car park – but the very wet Melbourne weather this weekend made me somewhat disinclined to venture into the great outdoors.

So I ended up deciding that with every tick of the clock we are transitioning from one time into another. I used a 5 second exposure to capture 5 ticks in a fairly gloomy room, then I massaged the result with some of the filters in Lightroom and Paintshop Pro to give it a slightly more abstract and grainy feel. I wanted an old fashioned look which is offset by the word QUARTZ showing it is actually a modern clock – hence indicating a transition from the old clock-work world to our modern electronic one.

Ken’s Submission:

My thoughts: I think Ken might still be having trouble with my Aussie accent, because he’s given us “trainsition” instead. This image had me believing the trains were both moving, making me wonder how on earth he took the shot. I love the character and details in Ken’s images, so even when I’m through thinking about the life analogy delivered by the passing trains, I can analyse the rails and stones to see what I can find in there.

Ken says: I must say…I have struggled with this week’s theme!  I understand why Stephen chose it, but once again I did not want to entertain the obvious and therefore set out to find something left of field. 

Whilst shooting the various images to compile this particular shot, U2’s Running to Stand Still was drifting through my head. For me, this week at least, transition is a train wreck in the making… We sometimes struggle to transcend without tearing down everything and beginning again. With all our optimism we set out with the lesson previously learnt in an attempt to make the transition to a better, happier life… Our problem is that we never really apply what was learnt and fall desperately back onto the same ol’ twisted tracks. All the while it seems that everyone else is on the fast train…passing us by…getting somewhere… anywhere….or maybe we are all just running to stand still?

U2 – Running to Stand Still (first verse)

And so she woke up

Woke up from where she was lying still
Said I gotta do something about where we’re going
Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain
Maybe run from the darkness in the night

This was shot with my trusted Nikon D2X, Nikon 28-35mm f2.8 lens. (shot at f8 at about 1/300 , ISO 200) 

Joepi’s Submission:

My thoughts: I left the best for last. This is the most tangible and definable transition of all, and Joepi’s presentation of herself in this collage is a little self-deprecating, a trait Aussies love.  I’ll leave it to Joepi to explain the story behind the image.

Joepi says: I had no plans of actually sending this,but I did put the collage together for the challenge just for the giggles.

The transition from drab to fab is every girly-girl’s favorite activity. And every woman goes through these transitions at least once in their lifetime, others do it too often, others too little and most, like me, do it for fun (especially if it’s a free make over!) 

Next challenge:

The next challenge will be a little different but the theme is a tad obvious – “Christmas”.

This time I am not looking for abstract images or unusual interpretations, but rather something that represents your personal impression of or experience with this particular event.

“Christmas” should be submitted by Sunday December 28

I’d also like each of you (including Katy) to submit a theme idea, and I’ll randomly use one for each of the upcoming four challenges.

DJ Delco at Eurotrash

I’ve been redesigning my web site to bring it more in line with the kind of things I do.  To begin with I much prefer to blog about all the photography-related things I think about and do, rather than simply posting finished, professional quality images (in fact, I rarely do that!).  So on that basis I bring you a new design with more of a portal/news style template.

I noticed that I don’t have any posts about shooting portraiture, and it’s been a little while since I shot such a project.  But I did dig one up so that I can populate that sub-category.

DJ Delco is a local DJ who’s trying to break it in Europe.  He engaged me to shoot him at Eurotrash, a cool little inner city club with fantastic decor for photography.

The majority of this shoot was taken with the Canon 30D at ISO 1600 with no flash, using my 24-105 to allow me to get as wide as I could in this small venue.  I used the room and natural lighting wherever I could to maintain the character of the location.

It was an enjoyable shoot, with the bar open, the DJs friends on hand to spice things up, and to top it all off DJ presented me with my very own DJ Delco t-shirt!