Trying something new

I have just finished work for the year and to be honest have not really done much in the way of real photography for a while. I have all the excuses under the sun, but I'm not going to use any of them. I've been lacking the creative juices....that's the only real reason. I just couldn't get motivated.

I have however been "playing" with some of my older photos recently. I had seen something when I took them, but either didn't capture it as I saw it, or didn't really think it was resolved when I processed it. Again some of these images worked better than others, but here are a few samples of some of the ones I am happy with.

This process has reignited  my passion for photography. It has allowed me to "create" art rather than just portray life as it is. I think I'll be "playing" some more over the days to come.

Teaching Photography

I have just begun teaching photography. It's a great job. It combines my love of teaching and my love of photography. What could be better??

I have done some one-on-one teaching in both composition and post-processing, but recently I did some teaching on location. I went with two ladies that I know from photography, who are both talented but want to improve even more. I took them to a waterfall (as they had requested help with taking water shots) and we worked for a couple of hours taking images, critiquing them on the spot and then giving them tasks to improve their technique even further. I really enjoyed it and I think they did too. I didn't take any serious images, just snapped a few images of them in action, but it didn't worry me. It was great to see what they were producing and seeing them grow from the experience.

In the zone

One of the ladies said she was inspired to do water images because of the images she had seen of mine from a series I did on waterfalls in the mid Blue Mountains . It was so flattering.

Tri Falls 2010

 These two ladies, Kay and Sue are already producing great images. Soon they will be sensational. They both have a great deal of passion and flare for photography. I look forward to their work growing better and better.

Setting up the shot

I enjoyed it so much I think I'll try to do more next year when I take a years long-service leave from St Marys. I'll have to work hard to get my name out there and attract customers, but I'm excited. I hope it goes well. I'm going to do a small business course as well so that I have the knowledge to run and grow the business. Hopefully I'll be really busy.

 Terrace Falls:Below main falls 2010

Domestic Violence Portfolio Finished

I am a member of the Blue Mountains Photography Group. We have just presented our projects of passion for this year. I drew my inspiration from a Shania Twain song, "Black ears, Blue Tears" This is a song about domestic violence and a woman's struggle to leave and stand on her own.

I had begun this project before my breast cancer diagnosis, so some of the photos were very raw and personal. I did not have a model on hand, so I had decided to use myself. This was a major challenge as I had no remote for my camera at the time, and had to set the timer to take photos. Much practice was needed as well as many trials to get the desired images.

I wanted to show the feelings that the victim might have in the images. I have no experience in domestic violence, but have been through other experiences that I felt would allow me to know what the domestic violence victim might feel. My encounter with breast cancer made it easier on some occasions to portray some of these feelings in my images.

My life, like I imagined theirs to be, was thrown upside-down. I faced fear, disbelief, terror, pain and sorrow. I found I could relate in part to these victims.

My journey to some type of freedom was in some ways similar to theirs. I don't pretend to be an expert on the issue, but felt that I had done justice to the topic.

This was the only bit of photography I have been able to do lately. The rest of my time has been spent getting ready for the Leura Markets on this Sunday. I have been busily printing, matting and boxing prints and cards. In many ways I'll be glad when it's over. In others, it's exciting to see how people react to my work. I'm doing this with two good friends, so that makes it even better.

And like the last image in the project.....I'm outta here!!

Hope to post again soon.

Baby Jack

This week has been busy, just like all my weeks seem to be. My Step-grandson was born last Saturday so I have been spending some time with him and his gorgeous parents, as well as painting the house and super soaping walls....such joy.

Friday I got to do a photo shoot with Jack and his family. He was an angel. So calm and so alert. Amazing for 6 days. Apparently he doesn't like having his clothes off, so I prepared myself for another shoot with a clothed baby....no biggy, but not what I had in mind. Anyway we tried without clothes and he was brilliant, very calm whilst being skin on skin with his parents. We all had a ball. I have been trying to get thee photos all processed for his family, so I admit I've rushed some and I'll go back and re tweak a few.

Elyce and Matt, Jack's parents are both beautiful people inside and out, so it was a very easy shoot to do. I'm so happy for them that they've turned out well. I am so happy with my new lens, a Canon 50mm f1.8. It's so sharp and beautiful in low light.

I have been learning to post-process in Lightroom thanks to my dear friend Shirley Steel. I must admit, after knowing Photoshop, and being able to use it so easily, it is frustrating. Lightroom is faster, but I get angry when I can't do some things at times that I know I can do in Photoshop. So then I tried editing Lightroom,  editing in Photoshop and coming back to Lightroom. Again, frustrating, cause when you do some things in Photoshop, like when you use an add-on and then save, it doesn't come back to Lightroom. I have to save it and then re-import it , and add it manually. ( took a little while to work that out.) Anyway, I will persevere as I'm such it will get better as I get to know the program better.

I am a teacher, so I believe in life long learning.....so I can't give up. I would never allow my students to, so I won't.

Little additions

It's been a busy week since I returned from Mudgee. I've been trying to get the house ready for sale, so am preparing rooms and painting. This weekend was the Blue Mountains Photography Group's workshop. An event that seems to be becoming a regular fixture on the calendar. The committee at the club are a fantastic group of very enthusiastic and talented people.

My role was basically to run a workshop (What makes a good photo?) and help out where I could in setting up and packing down. It was a great day and I'm really proud to be involved in such a well run event.

I had some other events happening through the week. The birth of my nephew Caleb last week meant I got to do a photo shoot for his family on Thursday. He was not at his best, but I did manage to get a few nice shots between the crying and the feeding.(as well as some shots of his sister before she had a sleep too)  His poor mum was exhausted by the end of the day. He seemed to be constantly looking for a feed.

Each time he settled for a sleep and I thought we could take some photos, he objected quite loudly to being posed. Below is just one of those occasions. Oh well, I'll just have to try again. 

On the Friday my step -daughter went into labour and we waited patiently for the arrival. Finally we got word that she had delivered a very healthy baby boy (expected....sorry for the unintended pun) Jack. As I was at the workshop when this occurred I had to wait till Saturday night to see him. He is so cute. I managed a few snap shots in the hospital, but will do a proper photo shoot later this week.

I am a very proud step-grandmother....that sounds really old.

Today, Dave Glazebrook and I went to photograph a 100th birthday party. Dave was the principal photographer, and I went as an assistant. It was pretty hectic, with five generations of the family present. Dave did a wonderful job, and I'm sure he'll have some great photos. I didn't take many (compared to what I normally would) as my time was spent controlling groups and being a helper. I'm looking forward to seeing what he's produced.

I'm looking forward to a less hectic week next week......not sure that will happen, but we'll wait and see.

Canola Field Trip

I had a few days left in Mudgee before returning to the Blue Mountains. I had seen the local fields covered in Canola and knew it wouldn't be there when I returned to Mudgee. It was now or next year to get the shots of the fields.

I ventured out on an overcast, but windy day, knowing that there would be shafts of light coming through at various times, but diffused light at others. Should make for interesting photography.

I travelled some roads I had not taken before and found fields of various sizes, but all blooming brightly. I think I was probably the talk of the towns (well not the whole town) that day. you see to get some of the best angles of the fields I had to stand on the roof of my car. This may seem like an easy feat, but my car is  a Nissan Patrol 4x4, so it is higher than me. That probably would have been enough, but the day brought very strong wind gusts at times. A couple of times i could feel myself being pushed to the edge. A little scary. Some of the looks I got from the drivers of the cars that passed by were classic. I'm not sure if they were thinking I was completely nuts....or they were scared for me...or they just couldn't work out what I was doing. Made me laugh though, so thank you drivers.

Here are a few of the days images....

Now that I'm back in the Mountains I have a newborn photo shoot to organise, a workshop to do, a reunion photo shoot to assist at and then another newborn shoot (when the baby arrives). In the meantime I have to repaint or touch up some rooms in the house so we can put the house up for sale soon. The idea is to move to Mudgee permanently by the end of the year. (That's the plan anyway!) Busy, busy, busy. I work pretty well under pressure normally. Let's hope that will happen this time.

Neutral Density Filter and the Cudgegong River

After having used the ND fader filter with great success at Dunne's Swamp last weekend (see first blog) I decided that I would tackle the Cudgegong river that runs through our farm again. In the past I hadn't used the ND filter and I ended up with 'happy snaps' that I wasn't happy with (pardon the pun). Some of this was probably due to being blocked from seeing, but I think I was also looking at the larger landscape. Looking  at a more intimate landscape (smaller area) I was able to compose more simply and get rid of the clutter.

I did several test runs with each composition, just get to get amount of "flow" right. I changed apertures and shutter speeds to play with the amount of light being let into the lens, as well as the amount of ND filter applied. My ND fader filter goes from 1 to 10.

Here are some of the better results:

                                              

The next couple of shots are still using the ND filter, but to make the water seem still, although it is actually flowing. A slightly different effect to the above series.

I think I'll be back at the river next visit to take more of these type of images.

Bad weather makes good photography!

I really am new to blogging! I think I posted nothing earlier tonight, so hopefully this will post. How many different ways did I spell photography in the last blog? (all fixed now I hope!) I have not had much time to process photos, mainly due to actually taking/making more photos! Always a good thing! Here are a few more from Dunne's Swamp though as promised. I'm sure there's more.

Yesterday it was cloudy here at Mudgee, so with camera in hand and rugged up for the weather: umbrella, dry-as-a-bone, welli's, cover for the camera and camera bag, I ventured out on the farm. For the past six months I had not been able to "see" photos here on the farm. I was just seeing clutter. I knew there were photos there, but I was blocked. After my time with Len on the weekend, and finally "relaxing" after the cancer treatment, I began to "see" again. I was so excited!

I was shooting happily in the overcast conditions, and then the rain began. The colours began to change, colours were richer and the rain helped to separate subjects from the backgrounds more. I was as happy as a "pig-in-mud" (in part literally: the mud bit, not the pig bit). Everywhere I looked the colours were changing and the images I could see were fantastic. All I hoped for was that I was capturing them properly. They looked OK on the screen, but time would tell when I got them on the computer.

The only ones not happy were my poor dogs. My usually very loyal dog Bruno, began to question my sanity. Each time I looked as though I had finished taking photos and was heading home, he bolted for the farm house, only to look back 5 minutes later to see that I had stopped again. He reluctantly came back again and again as I stopped to take each photo. He and the new dog, Sam, were soaked and just wanted to be under cover. I, of course, was just too happy and dry, due to my preparation. I didn't want to go home. The light eventually got too bad to take more photos so I headed home. Bruno had given up on me when we got to the farm gate 1km from home, but Sammy stay with me. At least someone still loved me.

Looking forward to taking more.....bring on the rain!

A new beginning.

 A trip to Dunne's Swamp with Len Metcalf and fellow Blue Mountains Photography group camera buddies has once again inspired me to make more images and appreciate every moment we have been given.

It has been a tough year for me: breast cancer, loosing my dog, Spot, who we had for 11 years, being away from my partner, having a major flood at the farm in Mudgee doing lots of damage to fences and dealing with financial problems. I never thought things could get this bad all in one year. I fought through the cancer time to stay on top of things, and life just seemed to pass by. Now with the help of family and special friends, I can see my way to a better future. I am stronger for the experience, but I can't say it was a good one. I am still luckier than most and appreciate life more.

The weekend away was the first time in six months that I forgot about my troubles and could just relax and concentrate on getting in the "zone" and making photos.

I have had the priveldge of learning from Len last year in a Master class, and he once again became a mentor on the weekend. I was lucky enough to be with some other very talented photographers who inspire me. They are a constant reminder that I am ok and what I do photography wise is good. I love to help anyone who needs it and have been doing that in my job as a teacher (St Marys Senior High PDHPE) and also in the club.

This photo was taken whilst in a Michael Kenna zone. The foreground rocks aren't as special as I would have liked, but I love the feeling of peace that this photo displays. I was "at Peace" here!

I haven't processed many of the shots from the weekend yet, so I will post more when I can.