August....

So I started taking photos some weeks back - for my own photographic development, and thus also for my blog. It was not an easy task narrowing down my photos to my favourite six, but these are the ones which grabbed my attention the most. As it stands they are unedited - although that will change in the future as I learn more about Photoshop!

Location: Silverwater Bridge
(1/6, F4.0, ISO400, 18mm focal length)

Driving home from my folks' place, I noticed the converging pattern of the clouds and the blue-orange gradient of the sunset over the industrial area of Silverwater. That was more than enough for me to stop and take a few snaps!
Unfortunately I didn't have my tripod on me, but with a large apperture and lower shutter speed it came out quite well (especially considering I was resting my camera on the hand-railing on the bridge!). I would have liked to try longer shutter speeds, but the bridge would 'bounce' slightly whenever a decent amount of traffic passed over it!!!

Location: The Rocks (particularly The Lowenbrau!)
(1/640, F5.0, ISO200, 210mm focal length)

The main reason I chose this photo was because of the refraction of light through the turbulent air created by the temperature difference (and I know that sounds an aweful lot like the high school science teacher I am studying to become - "wavy heat lines" might be more appropriate description to use!).  But yeah, I just thought it looked cool - especially with a larger depth of field, blurring the people in the background, etc., etc. When looking at it I found my eyes wandering around through the swirls of heat, I think that is what appealed to me the most...

Location: The Rocks
(1/2000, F4.5, ISO200, 80mm focal length)

This was an interesting photo for a few reasons - mainly because despite the similarity in the silhouettes, it was unscripted! I was quickly trying to change lenses, to take a photo of a young boy leaning with his back against the stone carving. By the time I was ready to shoot, the situation had changed for the better, and I had a man in a hat inadvertently imitating the statue! One real life silhouette, one stone... Plus the texture within the sandstone is kind of cool :)

The end result of my experience - I now want to invest in a lens that covers wide angles all the way through to a decent zoom! And an image stabilizer!

Location: QVB, George St.
(F16, 1.3sec, ISO400, 18mm focal length)

There are a few things I like in this photo - The manequin 'staring' at the people waiting in line for the bus, the reflection of the lights in the glass (particularly of the roof), the blurring motion of people walking past presumably on their way home... Or maybe rushing off to somewhere a little more sinister... Well, probably not, I'll never know :P It seems the only thing that isn't going anywhere in this photo is the manequin! This is also the first time I was trying to balance the f-stop and shutter speed to allow for the blurring of the people moving around - I think it worked well with the woman who was walking towards the camera... Although maybe with a slightly quicker shutter speed she would be more obvious - something to experiment with I guess! :)

Location: Luna Park
(6sec, F4.0, ISO400, 18mm focal length)

It is hard to explain why this photo appeals to me. It was taken at Luna Park during a photography outing with my friend Frances (if I could tag people in my blog facebook-style, this is where I would start!). One thing we both learned about photography is that security won't let you use tripods at Luna Park! So that provided a completely new challenge :)

As for the photo, I guess it is just the absence of 'action' at an amusement park which makes it different. Kind of like a 'ghost-town' effect. While you can tell the cars don't seem as vivid and bright as they ought to, you can imagine them coming to life when the ride is in action! Plus the lighting in the apartment block in the background adds a bit of interest as well :)

Location: Koolewong (Central Coast NSW)
(20sec, F5.6, ISO400, 50mm focal length)

Finally, this photo was taken after Allyson (my cousin) and Miro's wedding, during the reception at The Boathouse Waterfront Restaurant, on the NSW Central Coast at Koolewong. I have been trying to slightly overexpose my night-time shots, and I think this one worked out quite well! I was also pretty lucky in the clouds covering the moon while I was outside shooting, (especially when taking into account the over-exposure), because I think the light shining through the clouds adds a lot to this photo... And I have to admit I rather like the blurred reflection of the pier in the water - I'm guessing a result of the long exposure time? That gives me another variable to keep exploring! As was the case with the photo from the Silverwater Bridge, I didn't have my tripod on this occasion... Hooray for large, flat rocks :)

So that is my photographic month of August. Those that I have had the pleasure of showing the photos that didn't make the cut will know there were quite a few which I was excited about. But as is my aim with this blog - I think these are the cream of my crop. If all goes to plan, next month I will be posting new photos at random intervals - not in one big go like the end of this month! At some stage I will also retrospectively post my photos from July, when I was holidaying in Vietnam/Cambodia. That will be a massive challenge for me - narrowing down an odd 2700 photos to a mere 6! However, at least for this month I can say that I am happy with my work :)

Aaron.

The beginning...

To anyone who comes across this blog - most likely my friends,

Those who know me will already know that I have always enjoyed taking photos, almost to the point of annoyance. This blog is my attempt at keeping a journal as I try to learn more about photography; about using the manual controls on my camera, shooting in RAW format, digital 'darkroom' editing, and basically learning to take better photos in general.

I am not a professional photographer, nor do I wish to be. For other photography enthusiasts, I use a Canon EOS400D with the standard 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses. For those who really aren't into it, I have a Digital SLR with one small lens and one big lens :) It is nearly 4 years and over 40,000 photos old - at the moment I can't really see any limitations with it, it works well for me. But in saying that, I'm already picking out different types of lenses I want to get!

So the whole "6 images" thing... As I started reading about photography (In this case - "Creative Black & White by Harold Davis), I came across a quote that I really liked - which basically passed on the advice that you should never have any more than six images that you feel you need to show. That really spoke to me for a couple of reasons: Firstly, I generally take a lot of photos. Secondly, there are generally a decent handful of photos that I like; that I want to show off. So I decided that would be the aim of my blog - not only to act as a diary as I try and learn more about the art of photography, but to force me to be much more succinct in what I would like to display. Hence, my goal is to post a maximum of 6 photos that I take each month. It would be incredibly easy for me to show all the photos that I have taken a sense of pride in - but to limit myself as such is the real challenge. I'll see how I go...