Creative June

It feels like forever since I last posted, simply because so much has happened over the last month. Uni is finally nearing the end as well, and a full-time teaching position is looking likely around October. In regard to my photography, the Winter Magic festival in Katoomba proved to be a photographic feast - costumes, characters and gozleme as far as the eye could see! There was also the Vivid Sydney festival, which to be honest I had mixed feelings about. It seemed like such an event - the lights, crowd, atmosphere... But it was kind of hard to feel inspired when hundreds of people are taking photos of the same subject. After a while I came to the conclusion that the most interesting photos weren't going to be of the opera house, or the light shows, but rather the crowd and the atmosphere. So, here are my six best from June:

Location: Circular Quay
(F10, 30sec, ISO 400, 17mm focal length)

Taken during the Vivid Sydney festival, as is sometimes the case with photography this was more of a happy accident. I was taking photos of the projection light beaming across to the Opera House when a ferry started to approach. I thought it might be fun to get the blurring of the ferry, but I didn't consider the shutter speed I was using at the time. Luckily the photo finished exposing before it reached the Opera House.

Location: Circular Quay
(F3.5, 2.5sec, ISO 400, 46mm focal length)

Photo number two of Vivid Sydney. it kind of goes back to taking photos not just of the artwork, but of the atmosphere. A group of children were exploring the 'blue egg' (or whatever it was called), but because of the extended exposure it was difficult to get people in focus. So for this photo I forced the flash to capture the image of the people, but still got a blurring movement pattern that comes with a longer exposure. A little bit ghost-like :)

Location: Circular Quay (again!)
(F25, 30sec, ISO 100, 25mm focal length)

I haven't taken very many of these photos at all, I managed to slow the exposure down to 30 seconds by reducing the ISO to 100, upping the aperture to 25, and using a variety of filters (from memory I had an ND4, ND8 and a circular polariser on!). Anyway, after adjusting the tone and some levels in photoshop (as well as correcting a few small spots that were on the window), and using the burn function in photoshop to bring the exposure of the sky down a little, I think I've ended up with a pretty cool daylight extended exposure!

Location: Katoomba Station
(F8.0, 1/20, ISO 400, 46mm focal length)

After a long train ride, and armed with thermos' of mulled wine, Jacqueline and I were greeted at the Winter Magic festival in Katoomba by what I think is called the Heritage Express. I took a handful of the front of the train, with steam bellowing from the engine in all directions. Funnily enough, my favourite photo came of the crew who were manning the locomotive. And let's face it, steam-trains look awesome in black and white!




Location: Katoomba
(F4.0, 1/400, ISO 400, 70mm focal length)


With such a diverse crowd at Winter Magic, (and such a diverse range of hats and outfits), I think this photo aptly sums up the festival - someone in fancy dress, and someone taking a photo of them! Which is of course why I like this photo - it really is a snapshot of what the afternoon was like. Plus on a technical note, I'm just generally happy with the depth of field, and how sharp the subject turned out. I should also note the reduction in vibrance and saturation to make the photo feel a little 'colder' - it was in Katoomba, in winter after all!

Location: Katoomba
(F4.0, 1/250, ISO 400, 50mm focal length)

My final image for the month, and my third of the Winter Magic festival. This photo supports my 'diverse range of hats' comment in the description of the last photo!!! There were quite a few photos vying for the sixth spot, admittedly some were probably technically better than this, but the reason I like it so much is that it invokes memories of my own childhood. In particular, the decorated plastic dolls on the wooden sticks. At least for me, it brings up vivid memories of my primary school fete. I keep reading on how photography is dependent on the audience - while some people won't look twice, other people will struggle to look away. At least for me, because of the memories that it evokes, this is one of the latter.


So once again, another month - another six. July will represent a 12 month cycle (seeing as I started last August, and posted July in retrospect). My aim for July - shooting star trails. Or at least giving it a go! In fact, regardless of how successful it is, I'll post what I do and learn. There's only one certainty - it will be cold.