excitations-stock photography galleries will be off air so to speak from 4pm till 8pm ESDT Sunday 22nd January 2012. Servers will be undergoing a few tweaks to keep em running more efficiently for you.
Sorry about any inconvenience.
If you’re not viewing this from Australia, please do the maths yourself…. I’m to lazy to work out the times for different timezones.
Australia have been a dream for weather photographers. Most part of the country have had some grat photography weather. We would have liked to be out storm chasing, but alas this is our studio’s busy time. That magic date 25th December, means no rest and very little sleep for the excitations crew. Although I had one lady tell me this morning that I was lucky to be a photographer and be able to sit back and put my feet up coming into Christmas….
Anyway manage to sneak away for a few minutes the other night and grab this shot of a thunderstorm passing over the Sunraysia area. Unfortunate timing for me as I reckon the storm was about 4 minutes late. When the mush finally cleared, most of the colour action was over. Just a lingering afterglow as the last rays of light bounced around the evening sky. We haven’t added this to our stock collection as yet but it is available over at excite art at a reduced rate as an art print for Christmas.
There have been by all accounts some mighty storms along the Western Australian Coast, Far North Queensland and extending south through NSW and even Southern Victoria. There has been much electrical activity to the North East and East of Alice Springs, but I’m told virtually nothing in the Alice itself. Hopefully lots of photographers out there have some great captures from these weather events.
Woolsheds, a photographic essay of shearing sheds around Australia. Shot by long time photographer and all round good guy Andrew Chapman.
There is a saying in photography that you should shoot things you’re passionate about. Well that would would put the iconic Aussie shearing shed right dead centre of Andrews viewfinder. Andrew has for years been tracking down woolsheds. Often heading into the bush with nothing but some vague whisper he has heard about this or that shed.
Andrew is a member of a exclusive club. An ever diminishing group of photographers who think before lifting a camera to their eye . Unlike so many today, who seem addicted to the sound of their DSLR rattling away in motor drive mode. As some wag put it the other day. “I’m appalled at the number of bad photographs my new camera can take every second.” If as a photographer, you are intent on clicking the shutter button as many times as you can, in the shortest time possible, chances are you will never SEE the picture you’re trying to create.
Some locals will have already been exposed to Andrews work around woolsheds. Having had an exhibition of his work with shearers here in Mildura a couple of years back. Or in his first excellent book. Which recorded the lives of the hardest workers of all Aussies. The shearer. WOOLSHEDS is packed full of story telling images, by a great photographer.
Anyhow if you want to get hold of a copy of “WOOLSHEDS” you can get your copy from, NewNorth Gallery, 15a Railway Place, Fairfield, 3078. Cost is $39.95. Would make a great Christmas present for anyone with an interest in Australian heritage….. Just saying.
Alternatively, you may wish to deal with the artist himself. andrew@bigcheez.com.au Andrew’s website can be found here or you could check out the WOOLSHEDS Facebook page here
Silverton, a tiny settlement 20 minute drive from Broken Hill in Western NSW. Do yourself a favour, if you’re ever in the area. Make the trip to Silverton. Home of many films and TV commercials, along with countless editorials published around the world. Silverton is an artists heaven.
One such artist is John Dynon, great character and very handy with a paint brush as well. John can be found most times at the Silverton Outback Art Gallery. Up on the hill overlooking town, surrounded by bits and pieces that John has collected over the years. He is a Broken Hill boy, born and bred. Working on stations and then moving underground before venturing into a career as an artist.
So make it one of those must do things. When in Broken Hill, make sure you take the short drive to Silverton. Make absolutely certain you take your camera. Early morning and late evenings being the best time to photograph. And last but not least, swing on by and say G’day to John. Maybe even purchase one of his paintings, so that you can always remember your trip to the Australian outback.
For as long as I can remember photographers have always been chasing new ways of doing things. New Ideas, new techniques, in fact anything new. This is obviously the way forward. After all if we all stood still and didn’t try to advance our craft. Where would we be?
Equipment manufactures and more recently software producers survive from this basic photographic need. Convince a photographer he or she can’t survive without your latest widget, and success is yours. The internet has increased our desire to have the latest. With thousands tuning in daily to web sites such as nikonrumours.com or canonrumours.com . In the hope that someday real soon the next great thing in photography will be released. Then of course you have the tens of thousands of photographers and would be photographers. Who chase the latest information from web instructors and teachers. Such as those to be found on kelbytraining.com
None of these things are bad. It just concerns me that, we are all spending to much time looking at ways to be like others. Instead of maybe looking at ways we can develop our own sense of identity. After all there can be no denying that Joe McNally is a highly talented image maker, who has for decades produced great images. The question is how many Joe McNally clones can the world accommodate? Sure we should as photographer look at what others are doing. But maybe we would be better off looking at what we’re doing.
A photographer recently related to me that he was a stock photographer. I asked what his specialty was. His somewhat vague reply revolved around his method of working. He visits the microstock sites. Checks out what is being downloaded the most. Then proceeds to clone those images. Not look for a different take on the subject. Just straight out clone the image. His thinking was that if it’s selling for others it will sell for him. Funny when I asked him how his stock income was going, I didn’t get a straight answer but if you believe in body language, then the answer was “not well”.
I recently saw a workshop for photographers being promoted. A successful photographer and publisher was going to give anyone who attended an insight into how to make a living photographing landscapes and self publishing books. Who wouldn’t want to do that. Just swooning around the country taking the occasional snap and making a healthy living. Sounds ideal doesn’t it. But I wonder just how many people can be in that market before it becomes over saturated. Just like the colours in so many landscape photos today. I wonder if the instructor was going to tell his followers about the very early mornings, late nights, heat, cold, wind, rain, travel expenses, isolation and other hardships that go with the job. Or just gve em the good stuff, because most will never do anything other than dream of reinventing themselves.
Was recently informed by an expert that as a stock photographer you should never photograph dogs or kittens. A couple days later this image of a bunch of Rottweiller puppies sold from our library for use in a children’s book. That same week one of the most successful stock photo libraries sent out a request for cute kitten photos. Masses of them. Seems cute pets are still in demand.
Today’s much anticipated wait for Canon to announce another DSLR camera will have some people happy and others disappointed.
For me the announced camera will most likely end up in my camera bag. Ticking most of the boxes for the stuff I need a 35mm style DSLR for.The 18mp sensor is just about right for me. Not for everyone but for me yes. A pair of CF card slots instead of one CF and an SD slot another plus. I can plug an ethernet cable straight into the body while studio bound. Again nice touch.
Apparently Canon have tinkered with the control layout on the new camera. We can only hope they’ve got it a bit closer this time. All 1 Series cameras have been lacking in user comfort features. Pick up a Nikon pro camera and it somehow feels right. I use I series gear daily and it never feels just right. We’re told autofocus and exposure control is vastly improved. Again there was plenty of room for improvement there.
High ISO is going to be astounding. Well to be honest even if it matches Nikons D3s that’ll do me. Movie features will have some excited. Personally couldn’t care less Mr Canon. But if you’re a working plod like myself then you’ll probably be happy to shell out the expected price of 7000 clams for a piece of kit that will serve you hopefully for about three years before you pitch it out and move onto the next greatest incarnation of camera obscurer.
The shot above is pretty typical of the current conditions throughout the Mallee. Most everywhere you drive the sides of roads are a alive with the massed colour of Acacia and Senna’s in flower. Every year we have a good showing of these species but this year seems to be exceptional. It is kind of unfortunate that this is all most people see. But if you take time to stop and have a walk around in our native bush. You may just be surprised by the number and variety of other native plants also in full bloom.
The above image, created on the road into Robinvale in Northern Victoria. But could be almost anywhere in Northern Vic or Far Western NSW. The above stock photo of wildflowers in the Mallee can be be found in excitations stock library. It’s amongst our cheap and cheerful royalty free range of wildflower images,
I’ve always been drawn to the sights and sounds of WWII airplanes. Such brutish, noisy and fast machines. Can only imagine what it must have sounded like to have a whole bunch of these birds fly over at low level. A single P51 at full noise is enough to send shivers down your spine. Funny thing is, ever since seeing a Mustang overfly a crowd at an airshow at very low level, I’ve held a fear of the dangers of such demonstrations.
Maybe it was because I was just a kid. or maybe I’m just a realist. That much metal, going that fast, so close to the ground in my book equals high risk. Anyhow nuff said. Today’s tragic news from Reno really wasn’t a surprise. Nor I guess is it any surprise that thousands of people attend these events.
One such attendee is renown American nature photographer turned aviation photo nut, Moose Peterson. Peterson has over the past couple of years reinvented himself and is carving out a niche for himself, as an aviation photographer with a special interest in old and unusual planes. Check out some of Moose’s pictures from Reno here. Some really good ground to air images here. Also a video on top right of page taken from a camera strapped to the Moose’s tele lens. If you got some time and like to sit and watch paint dry, you might like the video. Moose is a great still shooter but video is maybe another story.
Hopefully the Moose was out shooting at one of the pylons today and not near the finish line. Our thoughts go out to families an friends of those effected by today’s accident.
We were in Renmark last week shooting a job for a commercial client. After completing the photo session we decided to take a quick stroll along the beautiful Renmark waterfront. My dad always use to tell me that if you’re looking for something or someone to photograph. Head down to the river. Great advice really, there always seems to be interesting characters in abundance along the banks of the River Murray. I suspect that is true of most of the major rivers throughout the world. People seem to be attracted to water, especially those living in arid environments.
Didn’t take us long to spy a really interesting boat, moored right in the centre of the towns wharf. Interesting doesn’t do justice to this creation. From a distance, I tell you it looked like a floating farm yard. In fact at first glance, I doubted that it was actually floating. Something that seems to have been noted by the boats skipper. Frank Turton, musician, story teller and all round character. Who for reasons fairly obvious, if you take time to say g’day, chose to name the vessel the MV WILITSINKORWON’TIT.
I’m not going to even attempt to describe the boat. What you see in the picture above is just a tiny sample of this wonderful creation by Frank Turton and his right hand man Graham, who always seems to be busy tinkering. Good old Aussie humor abounds. Sight gags, whimsical decorations and engineering that defies belief. If you’re near Renmark in the next few weeks get on down and check this thing out. Likewise if you’re one of the thousands who will travel to Mildura for the annual country music festival later in September. Keep your eyes peel along the banks of the Murray at Mildura. Frank and Graham will be making the voyage to the festival.
Getting closer to Spring here in Southern Australia. Subsequently native plants are beginning to flower. Lots of Acacia and Eycalypt’s putting on their annual show. Yesterday in one of our rare expeditions away from the dreaded computer, we came across this beauty. Eucalyptus polyanthemos, or Red Box. An introduced species into California USA where it is known as Silver Dollar Gum. Presumably because of the silvery green rounded leaves on juvenile trees.
Red Box grows to a height of 25 metres. Occurs naturally Central Victoria and the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Eucalyptus polyantmos timber is dense and termite resistant, burns well and is used for fence posts. Foliage is harvested for the floral industry. Birds are attracted to the flowers as are bees for honey production. Red Box likes a rainfall over 450mm per year but can withstand drought conditions.
As with many Eucalypts, Red Box flowers are quite small. Making up for their size by sheer numbers. A Eucalyptus polyanthemos tree can, during flowering look distinctly cream coloured all over. Keep a lookout for this and many other Eucalyptus trees flowering all over Australia during the next few months. Take a moment to stand under flowering Eucalypts and marvel at the amount of bird life and insects attracted to these beautiful trees.
Other trees and shrubs to look out for in the Australian bush at the moment. Cassia’s about to explode into a sea of yellow . Wattle’s which have been flowering for a while but will continue for some time yet. For those of you with a keen eye. Tiny terrestrial orchids will start to burst into flower throughout our bushland . Some have already started but the main flush is due shortly. In Victoria, don’t forget the Grampians Wildflower Festival. Lots of amazing Victoria wildflowers to be seen here.
Other excitations stock photos of Eucalypts here