The joys of a new toy

Recently bought a smaller camera as a more accessible camera for walking around and doing some street photography.  Love my large full frame Canon 5Dmk11 but it's heavy and cumbersome and I often find myself thinking about whether or not to take it on short outings.

I sold my older Canon 400D and a 50mm Canon macro that I wasn't using and picked up one of the new smaller micro four thirds cameras.  I bought the Olympus OMD.  A beautiful little camera.  Does take some getting used to though.  So different to the big old Bertha I've been lugging around.   The balance in my hands still feels strange but the lack of weight and aching shoulders makes up for it.

I've been researching and wondering about what lens or lenses.  Just bought the basic 14-42 as part of the kit but am wanting a couple of primes I think.  My first buy was the beautiful Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4.  It arrived today!!!!  Haven't had much of a chance to do more than look and dream but I did get a couple of quick images outside in the garden.

I'm off the the US and Canada in a few weeks and as I've booked some photography lessons while there need to take the big camera as well but I think that this might be my last overseas trip with heavy carry on gear.  Hoping that the new Oly will do just nicely for all my travel wants.  I do take my photography seriously on trips so it's a big ask but I think I might be onto something.

Enjoy these couple of images shot today.  I'm sure I'll improve!

Recovery Mode

In the process of recovering from a small health problem and being forced to stay home and remain quiet for a few days I've discovered the joy of reorganising and re editing some older images.  Some not that old, but they were images I'd had a bit of a go at when I first took them and put them aside for a rainy day.

I'm also in the process of slowly moving to Lightroom 4.  Still not entirely happy with the metadata that I can bring in as I upgrade.  I'm keeping versions of LR3 so if (when) they sort it out over at Adobe or when I discover "how"?? I can have another go.

One of the things that always intrigues me when I open an image that I haven't looked at for some time, is the way I see it with new eyes and often I think the 2nd edit is much better.  I always have to be disciplined when I'm in the middle of a major block of time editing work.  I can make an absolute idiot of myself, good judgement right out the door??

Why is it that when completely ensconced in your own world, you can lose all perspective.  My little rule (that is quite often broken) is to not upload anything immediately - and if.... no ...  when I do, to make sure that I head right over to that site the very next day and rescue myself.   The readout on my computer actions these past few days would make interesting analysis as I've pretty much ripped everything I have uploaded off again and started all over.  I think that's one of the things I love the most about the digital world of photography.  Nothing has to be definite and most things can be dressed up with a new look for a new idea.  The trick for me, of course, is to make sure I publish all the versions and don't just write over each one as there is a wonderful treasure trove of my days and my life hidden away midst my photography.

So now for a snippet of what I have found - just a small look.


This gorgeous fellow (below) was in Turkey, not for from Van when our mini bus spotted a wedding party being followed by their friends and family along a main road.  Cars everywhere, horns blaring, red scarves being waved by young people leaning out car windows.

These guys (below) were also in Turkey in a very historic town, Sunliurfa.  We'd been enjoying some street photography in the local meeting place and this snap was taken when these fellows were inspecting the image on my friend's camera.

A tiny village (below) close to the city of Van in Eastern Turkey.  This youth was busy in the workshop.  I've processed this a few different ways and it looks good as a B&W but when I used a different process with a blue tone and stronger contrast I got a completely different impression.

And finally, a pic from western NSW (below).  The old woolshed @ Kinchega, near Menindee bathed in late afternoon light.

Late Autumn Light

It's Mothers' Day and it's been glorious.  Blue skies, crisp clean air, cool enough for a coat but warm enough to enjoy being outside.

I've recently been discovering some of my older images and looking at them with clean eyes.  It's so easy to get immersed in some newer work that you lose a bit of perspective - are they really that good?  maybe not? or maybe they are.  However, I find that when images are put aside for some time, fresher eyes are often a better judge.

So what have I been enjoying?  I've really loved finding some of the older images from the local area here in the Blue Mountains.  I'd completely forgotten that some of them even existed.  One of the joys of this sort of reminiscing is that now my skills in editing are far better than they were even a couple of years ago.

I've loved working with Nik software and have made a real effort recently to dig a bit deeper and learn more about the tools on offer.  Nik Silver Efex is a great B&W help.  Because I was never a darkroom person I avoided a few of the film effects that are hidden in the palette but recently I did a couple of webinars and have found so much more that I had been using.  Color Efex is my other current favourite.  Version 4.0 allows so much more than the earlier version so I've been working my way through it slowly and finding the ability to use multiple filters in an image quite beautiful.

So, today, with the last of the sunshine lighting up a couple of my maples, I grabbed the camera determined to take a shot for posterity.

Here are a couple of my favourites - real quick and dirty shooting and a bit of lick and polish thanks to Nik.


Enjoy!!

When I teach I learn

We've just had the most marvellous weekend of photography here in the beautiful Blue Mountains.  As I wrote previously, we had a workshop last Saturday and then on Sunday we enjoyed a walk with some of the photographers along the Charles Darwin walk @ Wenty Falls.  Incidentally, only a few minutes to where to current bush fire is in Leura.  I think we have a nasty summer ahead of us in the mountains bushland.  It's had a lot of growth with the rain and now it's dry and crackly.  I live adjacent to bushland, and there is a deep layer of fallen leaves and mulch that will burn very quickly if a fire was to come along. Thankfully, the Crown Lands department have been working on the section immediately beside our house and have cleared away a few dead trees and quite a number of overhanging branches so we now have a bit more separation between house and bushland.  Fingers crossed for a safe summer in the Blue Mountains this year!

The title of this post came to mind after I have been doing a bit of teaching and offering support to friends and colleagues with a few basic photography practices.  Having retired about 18 months ago from a long career in education and management, I have begun to miss a little of the joys of teaching.  Although I hadn't had my own class for a good 20 years, working in schools ensures that you are teaching and learning every single day.  So it is quite natural to meander along my new life's path adding daily to my own learning and knowledge bank.

I'm not a professional photographer and never will be.  I have no intention of encroaching on a field where professionals have often done many years of study and full time practice.  However, the edges of this area of work are the aspects that interest me.  How do you manage your photography files, your prints, your archiving?  How do you ensure that the images you take today of your family and friends are available to your grandchildren in years to come?  How do you become a more competent photographer, able to use your camera's settings to ensure you capture the world no matter what the conditions?  How do you learn from art?

It's been a slow realisation of what I can do outside my earlier life in education.  My previous world was very regimented.  I loved it for its connection with people and for the way people worked together to make the world a much better place.  I don't want to return to the commitments, lack of flexibility and sheer hard work that was my life.  I now have the luxury of choosing a new path.  And I think it has finally found me.  Thank you to to all those other wonderful photographers who have encouraged and nurtured me as I dipped my toes into the beginnings of a new life.

So, what am I doing now?  Well, I'm trying to learn a bit about housework for a start!!!  Still a long way to go!

I'm also working with a a few photo buddies (Kay, Sue, Dot, Robyn) to improve my photography practice.  I'm still enrolled in Lens School.  I'm working with Len on a beginner's course and again, with Len, I'm writing an introduction to Lightroom.  I've been trialling components of the new Lightroom course with my mates and it's getting closer and closer to a launch.

"When I teach I learn" is a truism for me.  In all the work I have been doing on Lightroom, each time I take a new client or walk a group of people through the program, I dig deep into my own practice and each time I come up a little short.  It's about learning.  It's as much about my learning as my teaching.

This past week I have been privileged to work on some stunning images from a local photographer.  I've also supported a couple of people with setting up Lightroom on their own systems.  Busy, tight time frames but absolute joy at the challenge and the opportunity to view wonderful images from other photographers.

From both of these exercise, I emerged with deeper knowledge of my subject area and inspired to revisit some of my photography that will be better edited and presented with my new skills.  Teaching is truly the best way to learn.

Enjoy!!  I certainly am.

Eastern Turkey, 2010.  In a small village, this bridge underpass leads to a deserted old bathhouse.  New editing to soften and enhance the brickwork and peeling paint.

Evening light in Istanbul visiting the Blue Mosque with many others, we were enthralled by the beauty and significance.

In the shadows of Mt Ararat, Eastern Turkey, a local village has planted their field.  In the re edit here I have again tried to soften and bring out the colours and lines.

This tumble down building in a village in Eastern Turkey, has been someone's home in a a past life.  I loved it cropped and published as a mono but again, by softening the patina and bringing out some colours I think it is much more handsome.







The next 3 (below) were taken in the succulent garden @ the Botanic Gardens, Sydney a couple of weeks back with Len Metcalf's class.  Been there many times but this particular day the patterns and lines were my focus.  Oh, and I discovered a couple of baby penguins as well??

The image (below) was shot in Tarana, just west of the mountains late afternoon.  Had never quite worked out how to display it and I've recently decided to not hold back on "oomph!"  It wasn't quite this bright in real life, however, it did have a strong visual punch to it at the time.  This image reminds me of the absolute beauty and tranquility along the riverbank that day.

These cute little eucalypt leaves (above) were in Dunne's Swamp.  Again, I've been a bit creative with my colour treatment but the rich colours are there for the taking in the bush.  When the late afternoon light shines around and dribbles through the trees it makes beautiful imagery all around.

The Fish River @ Tarana (above)

Another view of the late afternoon light adding its magic to the Fish River.

Photo Buddies

I've  always known my photography improves when I use my camera more frequently.  I also know my photography improves when I have time to clear my head and just live in my photographic world.  What has become more apparent to me over the last couple of years is the role "photo buddies" play in improving my photography.

Just knowing other photographers doesn't necessarily make a big difference although it does help.  Hanging around other photographers certainly makes a difference to me.  However, it is when I have a connection and a trust and respect for the photographers I am with, that my photography improves in spades.

I first learnt this a few years ago when I did my initial digital course with Greg Dickens (http://www.photosydney.com.au/)  The lessons were fabulous.  The regular schedule of learning and practice made a great difference but it was really after the course had finished and I realised what a supportive group I had grown to know and depend on that the penny finally dropped!  What we had was a group of like minded people of varying skill level who continued to shoot together.  That's when my work stepped up a notch.

A couple of years ago I finally had the courage to front up to the local camera club.  Surprise! Surprise!  Here on my doorstep was a whole group of fantastic photographers who had found a way to build networks and friendships with other people of similar interest and passion.  I was in awe of their collective skill and loved the way I saw them encourage each other.  It took a while and a few baby steps, but after a few months I too had found some "photo buddies" to hang out with, to ask for critique and to build friendships.

About 15 months ago, having retired after 40 years in education, I took a huge leap of faith and signed up for a full year's Master Class with Len Metcalf.  (http://lensschool.com/) If my beginner's course and my camera club activities had made a huge difference to my photography, this intensive mentoring allowed me to find myself photographically.  It challenged me in ways I had not been challenged before and it gave me the confidence to call myself a photographer, rather than a recent retiree.  Both are accurate descriptions, but it is my photography that owns me at the moment.  Retirement is the luxury that allows me to be a photographer.  Not a working professional, but an actual practicing photographer.

So now, a fair way down the path, I have some amazing photographers that I hang out with.  Each time I do I learn something.  When my "photo buddies" are around I have the luxury of time and opportunity to live in my photographic space.

In this last week alone I have had two separate opportunities and have returned form both with a new richness and new ideas.  The images I captured may not be hero shots, but they were a means to an end.  A way of experimenting, of trying new ideas, of seeking feedback, of sharing and of having fun!

The first opportunity was 5 nights down the south coast.  Thanks to Sue and Kay for their hospitality, good humour, red wine and encouragement.  The second opportunity was an evening shoot with Len Metcalf's group in the city near The Rocks.  Again, a great chance to practise a few ideas and to talk about what we were doing.

If you are keen about your photography and frustrated about where and what to shoot and how to improve, I can't stress enough the value of finding a group of like minded photo buddies.  Get along to your local camera club, enrol in a course, be proactive in taking every opportunity that comes your way, force yourself to be a bit social when you are with other photographers.  For every bit of effort you put in you will double what you take from it!


This post is among other things a recognition of the generosity of photographers and photography.


I've posted a few new images from last week.



Enjoy!

Where does clarity come from?

I had a fabulous photographic trip to Eastern Turkey last year with Peter Eastway through World Photo Adventures.  ( http://www.worldadventures.com.au)


From this marvellous photographic experience, the question is asked; what do you do with your images?  Frankly,  I have far too many and there is some learning in that for me for the future.  I think I would have done well to try to cull some while still on tour so the task at home is a little faster.


I travelled with my notebook and 2x500g external drives and downloaded daily with Lightroom.  Some of the early edits were uploaded to my picasaweb album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/shirley.steel/FANTASTIKTURKEY2010#


Anyone looking at this will realise that these were fast and furious in the digital darkroom and that I need to cull hard but I also need to do a better job on processing.


Since returning, I have printed and framed a couple, selling one at our class' exhibition late last year.  (Thankyou Helen!) I also uploaded a more restricted and better chosen selection to my phase site.
http://www.pbase.com/ssteel/turkey_2010


However, as anyone who has undertaken similar trips will know, there really is a strong desire to have your best printed in such a way that you and friends and family can share and enjoy.  So, like others before me, I am preparing to publish them in a book.  I've given myself the rest of the year to get this major project completed.  I might even wrap it for under the Xmas tree "from me to me"!


This will be my first attempt at a book.  A coffee table book that I can proudly display and fondly look through.  It might even act as a reminder to save for my next trip?


Here's the rub ... I've got  a few too many preconceptions about what to choose.  I've got the bias that comes from the first images I chose to quickly edit and upload, I'm caught having seen some amazing images of the others on tour, including the leader, Peter Eastway who has already published quite a number as illustrations in articles he's been writing on a range of topics.  Some of these are just fabulous.  So, can I find anything that is mine, unique, something that speaks of my experience and my vision and voice?  My photo buddies will laugh at this point and suggest I could devote the whole damn book to weeds or blurred images as they reckon these are the "Shirley Shots" that are so recognisable.


Well, I don't know whether this is right for me or not???


A few weeks back in my masterclass, Len Metcalf and the group were mulling over the selection I'd brought in from Turkey.  I was being a bit anal and systematically ticking every stopover off and attempting to find the best from each venue and try to get a mix across all genres and ideas.  


Well, I thought it was a plan???  And I like plans.  So, here I was, listening to people ask me question like "how do we know it's Turkey?" and "this doesn't say Turkey to me" and my response of course was, "well, I was there and I took these images and the *&%$# title will be Turkey, so what the hell???"


By now I'd figured peer review and input was not going anywhere.  Why did I even waste the ink?   And then something happened.  Old wise Len looked at them (he'd been doing this for some time) and pulled 3 out of the mix, laid them down and said, as only Len can ..... "There you are.  That's your book.  Mono!"  And you know, when  I looked with clear eyes, and not eyes shrouded with a lot of other images and bias, I too could see it.


So, my friends, sometimes "clarity" comes to us in the strangest and in quite unexpected ways.  


I've continued since that night to work on my images, slowly revisiting them with new eyes.  Black and White eyes.  It makes a difference.  This time, by looking at them as a mono image, I don't see them as hastily edited and uploaded from the hotel room in Turkey.  I don't see them as the images of my buddy travellers.  I don't see them as Peter's images from his magazine.  I see them with new eyes and I see them as my images.  


A new confidence, a new energy and a new purpose in working on my book.


I think I'm actually going to do 2 books.  


My friend Lidia (check her out, her work is stunning! http://www.redbubble.com/people/dopera) has given us a fabulous checklist of pros and cons for Momento and Blurb.  My Black and White book will be with Momento.  I will then do a second book with no preconceived notion of colour and I'll publish this with Blurb.  It will be slightly smaller and less expensive.  


Clarity is a clearness, or so the dictionary says.  It's also a really lovely slider in Lightroom.  


A tiny, tiny sample of some of the "new images I'm considering for my book.  NB  These are not final edits, just a few that I had already exported and resized for web.


Enjoy! 

This last one (above) is not mono yet, but I really like it.  It speaks of quirky.  Here I was in the New Mosque in Istanbul, having just been introduced to the Foreign Minister who was leaving the mosque at the end of Ramadam.  The mosque was at its beautiful best.   We had been invited to share the sweet treats left after the service and we spent 30-40 minutes by ourselves, headscarfs, cameras, no shoes and our small tripods.  An amazing experience.  I couldn't help but see the beauty in this single electric light hanging by itself but framed by the architecture inside the mosque.  A contradiction and a moment of beauty.

Inspired by talk of heavy metal

Strange what suddenly refocuses your thinking????  Sometimes a word is all it takes.

A small group of us from our local photography club are committed to working on a personal project of passion this year.  Just a fancy way of saying that we are going to commit to do something special that gives us both joy and a bit of pain and that we agree that we will present it for viewing at the end of October.  These things are not new and the last couple of years we've called it a portfolio.   It's actually a great thing to do.  And having to commit with a group ensures that I "deliver" and not just have it as an ongoing thread that never finishes.

Where am I going with this????  Well, tonight we had our first round table discussion and while we were talking one of our group mentioned some old machinery and that led me to comment on a fabulous book I own Take Tour Photography to the Next Level.  It's written by George Barr and published by Rocky Nook.  Highly recommend it.  George Barr is easy to read and by way of illustration he has many images of machinery, hand tools, metal and ordinary things.  None of them are the pretty chocolate box image but every one of them is an interesting image.  I never tire of reading and rereading it.

So home I come and pick it up again and flip through it and I begin to reminisce about some of the old machinery and pieces of metal that have attracted my attention and I've often wanted to photograph.  And then I remembered!!!!  I have all these lovely images I took at Tarana a couple of weeks back that I haven't finished playing with.

So, here for your enjoyment  (and my satisfaction) are some more of my metal images from Tarana.  One of the things I love the most about knowing how to use a camera is the way it can make the ordinary seem extraordinary.  I look through the viewfinder in the right light, with the right sort of moisture in the air, some wispy movement in the surrounds and suddenly an ordinary shape becomes a star in its own right!  Magic, pure magic!

I warn you, I'm going to add too many - yes, I know I have recently learnt to be more discerning and leave people wanting to see more .... but not this time.  This is a celebration!

Enjoy ....

PS  I am back 2 days later and finishing the upload (I'd realised at around midnight that maybe I wasn't going to be able to sleep if I stayed in my photography zone, so I wisely turned it off) and today my books from Amazon have arrived and included is the next George Barr book as well as a couple from David du Chemin and a fabulous one from Bruce Barnbaum.  I have so many beautiful photography books that I will start a section on the blog.  I always love reading everyone else's reading list.

OK, I lied.  This one (above) is not part of the metal idea but it was in the same garden and I loved it.

Wet ANZAC Day in the city

In the last hour or so, I seem to have lost the beginning if this post.  I'll see if I can remember what I wrote ....  Just looove technology!


My photography group spent the morning in the city with Greg Dickens http://www.photosydney.com.au/ doing a bit of street photography and recording the happenings as we saw them around the start of the Anzac Day march.


I've come home, wet and weary and have spent a couple of hours downloading and sorting my images.  Not much from today that will be much use.  In fact, I've had to delete at least 70% of what I took.  Some of them were pretty shocking!  I thought I knew how to focus at least!!!  Obviously not. 


Never mind, the challenge continues ... Even when I return with a pretty meagre bag of images (like today) it's always a bit of fun to mull over the failures (or non successes?) and remember why I pressed the shutter in the first place and try to work out what I might have done better.


I've had a bit of a feet fetish with my photography of late.  I had some fun today looking at the colour and movement along the pavement as people made their way past.  I've included a couple here.


I captured a few shots of people that I quite liked however I don't feel completely comfortable posting online, so I've culled even further.  There was a pipe band with a couple of very young members who made great subjects.  I think I have one that is a little anonymous that I'll be able to pop in here.

This was my city of Sydney, 25 April, 2011 as I experienced it.  Wet, miserable, crowded, enjoyable, fun!!

These two fellows (above) explained that they were French  (from Noumea) and were quite chuffed to pose for their portrait.

The city was alive to the sounds of bagpipes.  The weather may have been horrid, but the music was fabulous.  If I remember correctly, this image was taken about the time I realised that I could perhaps pan and follow a subject for a few seconds.   Hello?? This is not a new idea but I'd obviously forgotten all about it.  Photography is never easy!

The excitable group (above) were waiting for their special person to appear in the march and a few moments after I took this image one of the woman ran at her  "special someone" and squealed for joy.  It was certainly a moment and although I was not tall enough to shoot that scene, when I looked at the couple of images I'd taken at this time, the emotion is certainly evident.  On reflection, I was pleased to have a story to match this image.

Quiet Dignity

The guy holding this cap up in the crowd for all to see made for a good shot.

These next couple of images are my tribute to the umbrellas on the day!

Hats, hats, hats.... and a range of experience and emotions beneath.

And here (below) the city pavements and the trees and buildings above,  added their own beauty.

 I was fascinated by the array of matching and marching feet.

This small image below is my moment of abstraction for the day!  The movement that was captured almost gives a painterly effect.  I think the white bit that's hanging down is maybe attached to the uniform???

While we waited along King St and watched the start of the march, it was hard to ignore the enthusiasm shown by this young fellow for his task of keeping his group in step.  Check out the look on the guy on the LHS.

The navy groups quite often seemed to be led by a young female carrying the ship's name.

And in this image (below) we have the Little drummer Girl, keeping near perfect time.

From the same band ...