Tuesday 28 July 2009

Orange...




I have a 24 hour flower shop near my home. Lucky me...

I love taking photos of flowers. They are fascinating and have the most intricate details.

They are also pretty colourful.

Here are a couple of samples of my efforts this morning...

Sunday 26 July 2009

It's time...

It's time to stop talking and start doing...

It's time to bite the bullet...

It's time to put up or shut up...

My photography tutorials start next weekend...

I was speaking to (yet another) person about photography (yet again) the other day and he said that he would be interested to learn more about how to take better photos...

This probably makes hundreds of people that would be interested in my course that I have already spoken to. I know there is lots of interest in learning photography given the prolific websites out there that all try to help.

The problem, as I see it, is that every course I have ever seen seems to assume that you already know something about how to use a camera. Based on recent experience in a course I was a student in this may not be the case. Most books on "The Basics" are still way more advanced than a beginner needs and contain so much more information than is necessary to get started.

The other thing I found is that to learn by doing is far more effective than perusing a plethora of books and websites, gaining knowledge without experience and becoming confused by esoteric concepts and mathematics.

Given that anyone can pick up a fully automatic camera and take a photo is there a need for this type of education? Emphatic YES to that question...

Honestly, what is a camera? It's a light tight box with a hole in it and a way to collect the light from that hole.

There are only three settings that are important...

All the rest is fluff (very expensive fluff) and can be really effective in image making but unless you understand those three basic, fundamental settings nothing else matters.

So, I'm getting together a small group, going out for a coffee and some instruction in the basics and then taking them for a walk to try out what they have learned.

If you are interested, live in Melbourne and have a SLR camera (digital or film) maybe I'll see you on one of my courses soon?

Sunday 12 July 2009

Amazing...


I went to the park today for a walk and decided that I should take my camera. I'm glad I did as there was lots to see and plenty of photographic potential...

While I was wandering around I spotted a couple of trees with the most amazing branches. Everywhere you looked in these trees the branches were convoluted and twisted together. It seemed to be the way these particular trees grew as they looked very healthy (and large). The photo is of a single branch that has just about done enough to qualify as a yoga master...

There were also a few places that Rosella's were nesting so I'll be back there to see what I can manage over the next couple of weeks...