It has been a while.

Nikon D2x with f1.4, 85mm lens

Wow how time flies when your having fun. I've been a bit slack in the blogging department lately. Guess you could use the word busy to describe things around here lately and if the last couple of days have been any indication it may not slow down for a while yet.

The image above is of the lovely Jess, a local area model who occasionally visits us for some portfolio photo updates. The outback photographer had the great pleasure of shooting with Jess earlier in the week, and while a lot of portraits from this session where shot around the farm, this one was created in Excitations Barn Studio.

Using the simplest one light studio set up you can get, a single softbox up close and personal to Jess, on camera left. A plain grey background and my all time favorite portrait photography lens, the tacky sharp Nikkor F1.4 85mm. I know that some of you will have noticed a second catch light in Jess's eyes and think I'm fibbing when I said it was a one light portrait. Ok there was a second light, I often use an on camera flash set at 128th power to trigger my studio strobes. The trigger unit in this case a Nikon SB600, which by the way is an excellent little flash unit.

Jess has great skin, so this shot has had almost nothing done to it in post. Just a quick tweak of levels and the addition of a little custom diffusion in Photoshop and convert to black and white using one of our own conversion profiles.

Some great photographs to check out!

Canon 1Ds II and f2.8 24-70mm USM lens, shot from a Robinson 22 helicopter. The River is the Murray near Mildura, in Northern Victoria, Australia.

People often ask me what is the best camera to buy? How do you do that in Photoshop? It seems that the how to do, or what equipment you should have is to most people what photography is all about. The reality of course is that equipment while important, is not the most important aspect of our profession.

Back long long ago, when I was a newbie to this mad game we call professional photography an old timer told me that it was all about the "eye" as he put it. Now days we are more likely to talk about the thought process behind a photograph or the visual appeal of an image but in reality it is much the same thing. If my fading memory serves me correctly it was Cartier Bresson , who famously said, "There is nothing worse than a sharp rendition of a fuzzy idea!"

Today I'd like to point you to some beautiful black and white imagery by Tom Stoddard, all shot in black and white, beautiful, powerful, strong in message and devoid of gimmicks. Go check out his work here.. and be moved.

More great fun shoots today.

Canon 1Ds II, f4.5-5.6 100-400 IS USM lens, available light with just a touch of white reflector camera right.

Out of the blocks early this morning, a couple of client meetings and then into a fantastic, fun filled shoot with a young and very beautiful ballerina, Mikayla. Who was not only a great sport as we worked our way through a series of both classical and contemporary portraits but heaps of fun to work with. Can't wait to show Mikayla and her parents the results of the shoot.
The above shot created on the front steps of our Sunraysia studio in the early morning cool.
Desaturated, with a little bit of diffusion and a quick adjustment for contrast and bingo we're done. Love this job they call photography.

Some days are just to good.

Canon 1Ds II, f2.8 24-70mm USM lens shot from a Robinson 22 Helicopter late afternoon.

I had a great afternoon today. As the afternoon sun started to make its way to the horizon, the our little Robbie climbed slowly out over the small rural city of Mildura, which nestles on the banks of the River Murray in South Eastern Australia. Pilot Colin, and I were headed out over the city to undertake some low level aerial photography along the river.

You see I love taking photographs and I love flying low in hot air balloons, but in a real world when shooting from the air, as much as I enjoy shooting from balloons, there is nothing that beats a helicopter. Being able to go around again, or changing altitude to get a better angle is something that I gotta have. But the best part is flying low and slow, just shooting the unfolding scenery below you.
The above shot captured after completing the first of our two jobs this evening, we were gentle gaining altitude as we headed to the next location. This cluster of beautiful homes situated along the river bank caught my eye and I just had to shoot them. We Aussies sure low being near the water and I'm just guessing here but I suspect that most of us would jump at the chance to live in a location like this.

But the goodness didn't end there, after departing the Sunraysia Helicopter base, I drove back to our studio, where one of our beautiful and gracious clients was waiting to view images from her recent engagement sitting. Yep I was late, but hopefully forgiven.... I promise it won't happen again, well not until next time at least.

Then we had the best family portrait session in our studio, staring the one and only Rory. Rory, was supposed to have some maternity shots with his mum and dad to be, but unfortunately he got a bit confused about his due date and arrived early, causing a slight delay in the photo session. Tonights session was a total blast and I can't wait to show his proud mum and dad the fantastic images we were able to capture.

Well that's it folks it 11:30pm all the backups are done, batteries recharged, gear packed and ready for another big day tomorrow. Time for some shut eye as well...

Some times you just gotta smile...

The other night I caught a piece of television. The show was one of those news magazine style programs where they save us from all the evil in the world and basically inform us on how to live our lives in a full and meaningful way. I'm sure you all know the style of program. The outrage interviewer who confronts a sleezy used car salesman in his car lot, complete with an irate customer who was wronged by this low life. Then surprise surprise another wronged customer just happens to arrive in time for the camera's to record tirade of abuse for said evil doer, and in so doing fully legitimise what would have been a shaky story . At least the cooking shows are honest enough to say " and here's a dish that I prepared earlier".

Anyway back to the story from the other night. I tuned in because having missed the news earlier I thought I might get some information on the horrible devastation in Burma. But no instead we had an in depth report on whether a swimmer had a bear gut, was underdone and lacking in preparedness for the Olympic Games. Interviews with sports medicine experts, doctors, sports personalities, and sports commentators, all expounding their different views as well as the inevitable replay of the same few seconds of footage over and over and over again. In slow motion, freeze framed and zoomed in.

Good to see Australian television news really gets to the "guts" of the story. I feel so much better knowing that we are so well informed.

Have a great day

Dry lake

Canon 1D II with 16-35mm f2.8 USM lens.

I guess it's what you'd call irony... When I get to go to an awesome location in a dry lake bed surrounded by old dead trees and acres of dried, deeply cracked mud, that mother nature decides to turn on a couple of hours of dull cloudy whether punctuated with the occasional light shower of rain. But who cares, I've found a fabulous location for some fine art nude photography, all I have to do now is wait for the weather to get a little warmer ( some that the model doesn't turn blue0 and hope that the dry lake doesn't become a wet lake before then.

Another green pic.

Canon 1Ds II with 16-35 f2.8 USM

You can't blame me from posting another green picture can you. The promised rain around here didn't arrive again, "Oh what a surprise..." Then today I read that El Nino is in decline meaning the end of the chances for above average rainfall this winter. Seeing that we're currently running at just under 25% of our normal rainfall for the months January through April, I guess we had better get use to working with a lot of brown and dusty backgrounds.

The above dose of green was shot along the banks of the Erskine River in the Ottway Ranges west of Melbourne. Tomorrow I'm off to photograph a very dry and cracked lake bed, so that should be a lot of fun.... seriously.

The beautiful Cherie Q

Shot with a Canon 1Ds II with a 100-400 f4.5-5.6 IS USM lens, natural light with a touch of white reflector on the left hand side of frame.

So its a cold dreary morning here, can you think of a better excuse to post and image of a beautiful young model wearing a bikini. Gotta tell you, even if you can, I'm posting it any way. The shot was created on the banks of the Murray River near Mildura a couple of weeks ago. You see Cherie Q, a good Aussie health and fitness model decide she needed a couple of bathers shots for her portfolio, and the lucky old outback photographer was given the job of shooting them.

Cherie Q, tiny little bundle of dynamite that she is, has launched a new website portfolio page, which you can view here. Cherie Q, is currently on the Australian Gold Coast modeling bikini's on the beach. Lucky sod... while the rest of us freeze.... but then again if its cold there, well maybe that wouldn't be such a good job.

Have a great day....