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Happy new Year!
Photo taken from Rosny Point foreshore in Hobart, Tasmania. One of my favourite spots for fireworks display.
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Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 1st, 2012Sydney-Hobart Finish 2011
Thursday, December 29th, 2011
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The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has been run and won for another year (well nearly, still waiting for the outcome of a protest that is still in session at the time of writing this. This year saw a number of happy differences from last year:
- A close race between two maxis up the Derwent River.
- Large Gennaker sails being used – the wind was coming from the south.
- Wild Oats XI did not cross the line first again.
- An Evening Finish.
RTBG Spring Festival 2011
Sunday, October 16th, 2011
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Every year the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Garden holds a festival to celebrate Spring, featuring food, wine, entertainment and of course the gardens. This festival used to be known as the Tulip festival but in recent years the tulips have been flowering earlier and as a result usually finish blooming by the time the festival comes around.
This has been the first time I have taken the camera out since visiting Taiwan, and suffered some challenges including forgetting an all important step-up ring for the filters I had taken with me. oops!
Come Fly With Me
Saturday, April 30th, 2011
As you may remember, the other night I went out to the Hobart Airport and proceeded to waste my time taking bad photos. Well having sat down and worked out the night when the most flights would be occurring for the week, which to my surprise was the following night. No choice then, back again the next night.
I teamed up with photo buddy Nigel Honey and rode down to the airport in the one and only Kombi Cam, before meeting up with our other friend Iain Best, before arriving at our destination for the evening – the Hobart Airport Control Tower. I was apprehensive the first time I went there the night before – concerned about security, however I was pleased to find that in Hobart at least they are not so uptight about people taking aircraft photos as I thought they would be.
Lest We Forget – ANZAC Day 2011
Monday, April 25th, 2011
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They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Learning from Mistakes
Sunday, April 24th, 2011Last night I went out to do some photography with some friends. It was a style of long photography that I have been meaning to look into from some time, but have never had the time and tended to forget about. I am talking about taking photos of planes landing using long exposure techniques in the evening. An excellent example of this work may be found on Flickr.
For me, it was not a very successful night taking photos, and it reminded me that some basic preparation goes a long way.
1. Focus
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At night, planes are hard to miss when landing, they have a whopping big headlights on the front that can provide light up a field hundreds metres away. So it was rather annoying that even seeing the plane some 10 mins before it landed that this photo was taken out of focus.
This night I was using 2 lenses, this one was an Canon EF-S 18-135 f4-5.6, and like most “lower end” lenses, it was lacking a focus distance meter. AF does not work at night, there is not enough light for the camera to pick up an edge to focus on. Prior to the plane starting it’s final approach as it was so dark and I was lacking a torch, I could not see to focus manually so took a guess at where infinity was on the MF and shot. I was wrong.
Tip 1: Take a torch, even better a spotlight, that you can use to illuminate what you want to focus on in the photo. Ideally have a friend act as assistant in light coloured clothing, and get them to walk to the area you want to focus on and shine the light on themselves.
Tip 2: Torches are also very handy to find your way on uneven ground at night. I really missed having a torch.
Autumn Festival
Sunday, April 3rd, 2011
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It would seem another weekend, another festival in Tasmania. This weekend saw both the New Norfolk Autumn Festival and the Longford Revival, the previous weekend was the Focus on Franklin, 2 weeks before that was the Taste of the Huon, and I am sure that there will be a heap more festivals in the near future.
Today I was at the festival at New Norfolk to give myself some time to play with my brand spanking new EOS 60D Camera. Whilst I have aspirations of owning a full-frame sensor camera, the 60D is a good compromise given my limited use of camera recently and price.
The Festival itself has been much like many of the counterparts in regional areas – a cross between a limited carnival rides (3 jumping castles in a row? really? thats all sideshow alley rides these days?), special interest group stalls, the usual food vans and a few performance stages.
Regatta Night
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
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The wooden boat festival was tied in with the Royal Hobart Regatta. As is tradition, on the evening of the public holiday associated with the regatta, there is a fireworks display to mark the end of events.
Usually the best vantage points for the fireworks are by boat, anchored by the regatta grounds, or the surrounding shores opposite. This night while waiting for the fireworks to begin, I found that the iconic landmark of Hobart, Mt Wellington, was beautifully silhouetted against the fading light, so took a few snaps.
Wooden Boat Festival
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
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What an incredibly busy weekend! Many events were on the go that would keep a photographer busy. the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, the Royal Hobart Regatta, not to mention Valentine’s day as well!
I sort of managed to juggle all 3, and as a result now have quite a few photos to share over the next few weeks.
Above is a photo taken at the Wooden Boat festival from the main Pier.
Tasman Bridge from Natone Hill
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
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Indeed it has been nearly 3 months since my last post. How time flies. Truth of the matter is I have had some changes in my life that has meant I have had less time to spend on photography. This is not necessarily a bad thing 
This picture was recently taken from Natone Hill on Hobart’s Eastern shore, facing south. I was demonstrating how aperture, ISO and shutter speed interact to expose a photo. I still think the Tasman bridge is very pretty, but it is rare that all the lights appear to be working at any time, as demonstrated on the left of this photo.
This is possibly my last post before Christmas, so I wish everyone a safe holiday season and a happy new year.