Thrilled to be included in the latest Progressive Street e-zine featuring Australian photographers!
The Remarkable is Now — Start Documenting Your World Today.
Our world has shrunk. Daily life confined. Goals for making art can seem more distant and harder to reach. The remarkable, however, continues to be right before your very eyes, ready for you to document today.
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Rain, sunshine and more rain in the City
Rain, sunshine, and more rain in the city. Images from a rainy Sydney town.
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Songriders - A musical caravan on the bike paths of Sydney
The afternoon breeze blended a unique aroma of mangroves, wild fennel and market garden herbs with car exhaust, fresh cut lawns and aviation fuel. I wheeled my way along the Cooks River cycle path, camera dangling around my neck, humming a tune I heard just moments before in a tunnel by a concrete drain beneath one of the main roads to Kingsford Smith International airport. I was song-riding, and I was loving it.
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Sydney Winter | 2018
How to break out of a photography rut
We have all been there. We walk the streets with our camera, looking for that image that never comes. The light is wrong. There are no interesting characters. There is nothing happening on the street today. It’s overcast. Its too bright. Its the middle of the day. The sun is too low. It’s behind the buildings. There is a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty. They are on to you. You are being watched. Glared at. Your timing is off. There is just no damn time in the day to get out and shoot. And you don’t want to share or print anything. Your camera is too heavy, too obvious. You are underwhelmed and want to give it all away and shoot macro. At least the damn things stay still.
Read MoreHow I set up my Fujifilm X-T2 for Zone Focusing
I have always set up my cameras to zone focus by simply going into manual focus mode, setting the focusing distance scale to my desired focusing distance and shooting away. The problem with this approach is that it is difficult to keep the focusing distance consistent because more often than not I am accidentely bumping the focusing ring. However using the settings I describe below I have been able to circumvent both of these issues and have a reliable zone focusing setup.
Read MoreBus Windows Project
This week something more focused on pure photography - a set of images from a project I've been shooting with the working title of Bus Windows.
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Street portrait - Mario | Sydney, 2015
Getting started with street portraits
Taking portraits of strangers in the street can be a rewarding experience that challenges and changes the way that you view the very place that you live in. These are some of the things that work and have worked for me, and that will hopefully help those of you who are thinking of exploring this interesting sub-genre of street and documentary photography.
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It always pays to have a backup | Sydney, 2018
My Photography Backup Workflow
Backup of data is one of the most important parts of any photographers workflow, and if you get to the point of doing work for others it becomes essential. If you have invested lots of time in making photographs you want to make sure that you back them up, because ultimately you want them to be around for a long time. Hard drives crash, computers get old, phones get lost etc. I hope I don’t really need to convince you too much that you need to backup.
So what is the best strategy? Well, for me it is the one that works continuously, reliably, and without too much intervention from me to actually take place!
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No matter what image I use here, I am doomed | Sydney, 2015
Street Photography not street snapshots
I was speaking to a friend the other day about street photography. He is what I would call a photography enthusiast and is interested in all aspects of photography, cameras and related topics. On street photography, he said that he didn’t get it - he said that all he saw were the same old pictures of people walking down the street - snapshots of strangers.
It made me think about why he had this impression and what he was talking about and I think I know exactly what he means. There are a lot of images out there on the web, instagram and other photography sharing sites passing off as street photography, and I think there is a lack of substance in the type of street photography that people are putting out there. This is a thought piece on how we all can learn and grow as photographers in general. What I am writing here is very much for me. Hopefully it helps you too.
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12 inspiring Street Photography articles from around the web
Some of you out there may not know that I have a twitter account for zonefocus.net where I post links from around the web that are related to photography, focusing on street and documentary. If you would like to follow me on twitter, head on over and follow @zonefocusnet. Here are 12 links I have curated from around the web for the twitter account that I think you will really like
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One of the few successes I have had in over a month of shooting with a new to me prime lens, the Fuji 18mm f/2.
Why a Prime Lens will Improve Your Street Photography
One of the most popular questions on the photography internet is “what is the best lens for street photography?”. Let’s discuss why I think a prime lens will make you a better street photographer, and look at some recommendations.
Read MoreTips from a National Geographic Photographer
Searching around YouTube for discussions about documentary photography I came across this gem from silberphotography.tv, interviewing former National Geographic photographer Bob Holmes. Holmes is an award winning travel documentary and food photographer, and in this interview he discusses his approach to what one could call the “National Geographic” style of documentary photography. What this translates to is awesome light, amazing subject matter and effective composition combined with a masterful use of the camera and lens as a tool to tell a story. I'd like to share some of my takeaways from the interview below.
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Ariana, Stranger Portrait Series | Sydney, 2015
Overcome your fear of street photography - talk to strangers
Here is a little tip that has helped all of the aspects of my photography.
It is not a tip about a fancy new lens, a special photoshop technique, or a camera setting.
It is a tip to help develop your confidence and conquer your fear of shooting out in public - a tip that will make you a more confident and positive shooter, allowing you to make connections with the subjects that you photograph, should you choose to do so.
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Domke Gripper 1" Camera Strap
Review: Domke Gripper Camera Strap
I love the Domke Gripper camera strap. So much so that I have two of them, bought with my own hard earned cash. In fact, I went ahead and bought two so I would have these straps for a very long time. If you don’t know the Domke brand, you should - they are an old school photography company started by a photojournalist called Jim Domke in the 70’s with a great retro looking lineup of bombproof bags and other gear.
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High contrast silhouettes and shadows | Sydney, 2018
How to shoot high contrast black and white Street Photography
I've written previously on the blog about shooting with intent - that is, heading out with a theme in mind and shooting images that match that theme. This provides a focus and a goal for your photography, and starts to create a body of work that perhaps one day could become an exhibition, photo story, book or a series of prints on your wall. One of my favourite themes to shoot is scenes with high contrast shadows and silhouettes, in black and white.
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Central Station, Sydney | May 2018
Street Photography Camera Settings: Shutter priority (And Serendipity).
When serendipitous moments happen in Street Photography, it pays to let your camera do the work for you.
Read MoreHead On Photo Festival 2018 Kicks Off!
There are 1064 artists, 147 exhibitions across 98 locations spread across galleries and locations across Sydney - so how do you know where to go for the best street and documentary related goodness? Read on - I've done the hard work for you
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Couple kissing with onlooker laughing
Getting Started in Street Photography - 6 tips
For many casual or even serious photographers, shooting street is something that they might toy around with when they are on holidays. Shooting the occasional street photograph of locas at a holiday destination to record a piece of their vacation for posterity. This sort of shooting may be a little easier to do as there is an inherent permission associated with shooting pictures of an un-orchestrated street scene with people you don't know in it. Especially so when you are a ’tourist’. The thought of photographing street scenes in the suburb, village or city that you might call home can be a scarier proposition for you, but it shouldn’t be.
Read MoreStreet Photographers of the mid 20th Century - Call for photos
The Museum of Sydney is planning a Street Photography of the 1930’s-1960’s exhibition for late December 2018 through to mid 2019
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