I was thinking what to write for my first blog post, do i write a tutorial, do i write why i got started, there are a million ideas for blogs in my head, but i decided on sharing some of my favorite images from the last few years and why i like them so much. I will be able to share why i photograph what i do and share a little about my self along with them.
My first image is from a trip that restarted my passion for photography. Me and my girlfriend went backpacking in Australia and i was undecided if i should take my camera bag or not, it was big and bulky and was worried about leaving it in hostels, on the other hand it was Australia and i would regret it if i never took it. This photograph is far from technically perfect, i had left the ISO at 640 in the bright daylight giving me unwanted noise and a shutter speed of 5000th of a second! When i took the photo i knew the edit i wanted to do, inspired by the iconic New York taxi shot. This shot is nice to look at, the road as leading lines drawing the eye to one of Brisbane’s newest tallest buildings, this building could be seen from our hostel, the whole walk into the city, and right opposite our favorite beach front burger bar. I like this photograph so much because it not only reminds me but takes me to back to being on the bridge walking from the Westend to the Brisbane city center.
This is a photograph from Woodside Wildlife Park near Lincoln of Julia the Bengal tiger. A shot i have had in my head for many years but failed to get before. I went to Woodside to photograph the new penguins in their newly built enclosure and pond with huge underwater viewing window. My brother is the manager of the zoo and i hung about all day, watching his bird shows, feeding the wolves, reptile handling and my favorite, the big cat feeding! I had gone on a quieter day so managed to get around the side of the enclosure and sat down on the floor at her head height. I took a few average shots i had taken hundreds of times before. My brother, Ben, then decided to walk around my side with his big bucket of meat, and she followed, but instead of walking around the perimeter against the fence, she stalked through the long grass, i had only a few seconds before she was back against the fence and my chance was gone. He was throwing meat over the fence and as i took this shot he had a piece in his hand, ready to throw and her eyes are fixed on it ready for a catch. I managed to focus perfectly on her eye, the sunlight was good, she was far enough from the fence to lose it in the DOF even at F5.6!
My first successful try at star photography. I had done this before, but not taken the moon, or light pollution or even the camera setting fully into account. My last few photos were of a different tree with the town in the background, blocking out any of the stars i could see. I drove past this tree regular, its only 2 minutes from my house so on a clear night i decided to go down and give it another try. It was pitch black, i didn’t want to leave my car running with the lights on drawing attention that i was on private farm land in the middle of the night, i had the light on my phone to light the tree enough to tree set my focus, i focused to infinity which means the tree isn’t pin sharp but looks good anyway. I took a whole bunch of shots, changing settings, composition for around an hour and this was the one i liked the most. I went out with an image in my mind, took it, went home stayed up and edited it and was happy with the result. I have taken more star photos since this but i still think this is my favorite because it was a good moment when it came out on the camera LCD how i imagined it.
Another image i had in my head before i went out to find it. This is Nottingham city center at night, in the middle of a food market. I had just picked up a new lens, a 35mm F1.8 and wanted to try it out on some street photos. When i found out this market was on and at night an imagine like this sprung to mind, a worker singled out by light and colours from the rest of the chaos. We were wandering around, i hadn’t really captured what i wanted, i was just impressed with the quality of the lens so far. I noticed this girl serving hot food right underneath the only light close by. I got a photo, it was quite nice, but then she opened a lid and steam poured out up to the light. I quickly pulled my camera up and fired a single shot off…..it was exactly what i was after, the night was a success.i had edited it several times and this was the one i settled on.
A photograph from the carshow FittedUK in Manchester, an event i have been to many times but not come away with a shot i really liked. This time i had a new lens, the Sigma 17-50mm. It creates a great depth of field and has a good range of zoom for the show. I saw this beautiful BMW raised up on a stand, i got down low, to remove all the cars in the background, waited for a clear view with no people and took the shot, i have edited it more than i usually do, darkening the areas around the car, drawing all the focus to the car.
My last photo on this post, not the best photograph ever taken from the top of The Shard in London, i struggled with reflections, shutter speeds, noise and mostly people. But this was not a photography trip to London, it was a week away with my girlfriend, Chloe, for an anniversary, she booked us a trip to the top of The Shard during sunset, it was amazing! I love visiting London, and have wanted to go up for so long, the sunset photos were a bit boring so we hung around for all the city lights to take over. This is a nice photo of London with some landmarks visible but much like the first it reminds me of a day and moment and is why i chose this as one of my favorites.
I have many more images a i like and love but don’t want to go though them all on one post, i will do more on my favorite shots based on genre or location and a run though on how i achieved the image in case you want a go yourself!
Let me know in the comments which is your favorite image from this post and if you want to see more follow me on Instagram and keep an eye on my website.