12 months in review....

...I'm back!

So over the last 12 months a lot has happened - most of it 'life' related. Last year ended up being rather hectic as I found myself completing my last uni placement (and hence finally finishing my studies), finding gainful employment, and having new and exciting adventures. The bottom line - even though I never stopped taking photos, I found myself with much less time to set aside to specifically go out for the purpose of 'finding' photos. The photographical adventures were replaced with vocation and vacation.

The good news for me is that since I posting last I've upgraded my gear substantially (for the photographically savvy I'm shooting with a Canon 7D, and I finally replaced my telephoto with an awesome 70-200 f4L IS lens. I was quietly excited to get my first 'L' series lens!). So, what does this mean for my blog? The original idea was to post my best 6 photos each month. Because it's been so long, I've decided to put up my best 6 for the year - 12 months dating back from when I last posted. Enjoy :)

Pacific Ocean
(F8, 1/1250s, ISO400, sigma 17-70 @50mm)

There were a lot of awesome photos while whale watching on the Red Rocket outside of North Head(thanks again Croppy!). Being so close to the water made for some amazing shots of the whales, but this was my winner for the day. The swell was ridiculously flat, and the dolphins were out to play! No doubt the kids were having an awesome time :)




Bondi Beach
(F8, 1/1000s, ISO400, canon 70-300 @300mm)

This little guy was snapped at Bondi while Eric, Jodie and I were lunching. I've always thought seagulls made for fun photos, simply beacuse you can easily get up close to them. But obviously it's the timing of this photo that really 'makes' it...

Elephant Conservation Center, Sayaboury (Laos)

The first of my holiday snaps (and my first blog photo with my 7D), taken in the Sayaboury province in Laos. When we travelled there in December last year, we organised to go to the Elephant Conservation Center. It was great to see elephants being looked after - unlike a lot of the more mainstream tourist places, their itinerary is based on the elephants rather than tourists (ensuring they have a proper diet, as well as medical treatment). I took this photo one morning as we walked into the surrounding jungle to fetch the elephants from where they slept. The whole thing was an incredible experience - I strongly recommend it to anyone planning on travelling through S.E Asia....

Hanoi, Vietnam
(F32, 1/2s, ISO200, sigma 17-70 @70mm)

Taken in Hanoi, a local woman selling her wares of teapots and vases on the side of the road during peak hour. Being such a fast moving city, with a lot of motorbikes, I had a lot of fun experimenting with longer shutter speeds. This was of course my favourite :)




Lebua State Tower, Bangkok
(f2.8, 1/5s, ISO1250, sigma 17-70 @ 17mm)

The Lebua State Tower - home of some amazing cocktails and part of the set for the Hangover Part 2 movie. This is a panorama shot of about 10 individual photos (hooray for 'photomerge' in photoshop!). This goes against my normal rule of panoramas, as I shot it at a wide angle (and hence it is a little warped), but it was the only way I could fit in from the top of the tower, all the way down to the Mekong. Ideally I would have walked back about 10-15m to take it slightly zoomed in, but that's not always possible when you're on a rooftop bar.......

Circular Quay
(f2.8, 1/4s, ISO1000, sigma 17-70 @70mm)

My last photo was taken during the Vivid Sydney festival. As was the case last year, the installations were all very impressive, but none of them really spoke to me in terms of being photographical subjects. So once again, my camera turned to the crowd, and it got a lot more interesting. I saw this couple trying to line up their own shot in front of the MCA, and managed to catch them right as their camera flashed.



So these six photos were the product of thousands of photos (if I had to guess, in the range of 10,000 photos) that I've taken over the last year. Time permitting, I am going to try and go back to posting regularly. I'm hoping to to muster up another six from July soon, while at the same time trying to fill a quota for August... Finally, a big 'thank you' to my friends who, at some point over the last 12 months, simply let me know that they enjoyed my blog. It's always more inspiring to do something when you know you have an audience - no matter how small it may be.