Of Studio Shoots and Car Shoots

Pardon the long gap between posts... But the past month was truely hectic, with multiple assignments due, laptop and other technological problems, and exams, I just haven't had the time to deal with blogging :/ On to the topic... Studio shoots and Car shoots (Which happened so many weeks ago now ~)

As I've probably mentioned before, model shoots and other forms of people photography isn't my main area of interest when it comes to photography genres, and I'm not that good at it anyway. However, because the photos from this years first studio shoot looked great, I decided to give it a try myself.

Overall, it was pretty fun playing with the lighting, and I liked how different photos could look with the various types of lighting we tried, though in the end, I still don't know a lot about lighting...

The car shoot was held a week after the model shoot, and involved yet another form of photography that I haven't really tried. Most of my shots didn't turn out too well, with lighting being an issue again. Fortunately, I felt that at least a few turned out acceptably (Not sure if they're acceptable to those who do car shoots more frequently though...).

Ah well. Goes to show that I need quite a bit more practicing with lots of stuff :P

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1387/5169149086_2f6431de92_z.jpg

Cupcake Photography

Remember the cupcakes from this post? Well, for the recent Food Photography tutorial for the UNSW Photoclub, we got a tower of them, made once again by Cupcakes by M :)

I'd say that I got more shots during that previous cupcake sale as compared to the tutorial, largely because it was pretty 'action packed' during the tutorial, with everyone going after the cupcakes, first for the photos, then to eat them when the photography was done (For shots of the tutorial, the Photoclub's blog entry has more).

Oh, and Alfred's Domokun made a special appearance too :)

For more cupcake shots, everone who attended probably has a few in their facebook albums, including me ~

In the Field

Two weekends ago, I had a field class for my GEOS course, where we went to Artarmon Reserve to spend an entire day studying and identify vegetation (I'm still in the midst of doing the related assignment, unfortunately...). I brought my camera, just in case I could use it for some vegetation images (which I did, but insufficiently), I managed to get a few other interesting shots as well.

What my group-mate found:

And what we spotted on a tree somewhere along a path:

Who knew field class could be so interesting? (It was tiring too though)

Coastal Walks and Lighthouses

On Saturday, I organized a coastal walk for the UNSW Photoclub to look at (and photograph) two of Sydney's lighthouses. I am sure that it is of no surprise that I would organize a coastal walk, of all possible ideas : ) Unfortunately, even with an extended 1 - 5pm time range, we had insufficient time as we spent a little too much time walking to the Macquarie lighthouse, so the walk to South Head and back was a little more rushed than what I would have liked.

The first one, Macquarie lighthouse, is Australia's oldest, and one that I had only photographed from the back while on my walk from Watsons Bay to Bondi last semester.

The second was the Hornby lighthouse, located at South Head, which was a very nice place to be at, not just for its views, but for the relaxing feel that the location brings.

Overall, it was fun (I like coastal walks), and I would not mind going there again (That would become my 5th visit to South Head!)

Long Exposures at Mahon Pool

Landscape long exposures are somethings that I have always wanted to do, and was one of the factors that got me moving from normal point-and-shoots to DSLRs. Then, late last year, I got a set of cheap ND filters to try out daytime long exposures, finding out that the ND stops weren't high enough (and that the quality was rather dubious). In June, I finally decided to get a ten stop ND110 filter from B & W, as that was what many other photographers had recommended for doing daytime landscape long exposures.

I didn't have much opportunity to try it out until two weeks ago, when I went down to the Mahon pool near Maroubra beach to get some photos for an assignment I was doing.

While the effect wasn't anywhere as nice as the photos that inspired me, I was kinda happy that they were sort of  in the right direction.

Well, there's much more practicing to be done, and maybe one day, I'll be able to get some really, really good shots too!

Bodhi Night 2010

I am not an event photographer, mainly because it isn't the area which I prefer to cover, which is to say anything that doesn't move. So when I was asked by a friend on whether I was interested to help out with the photography for this major event, I was a little hesitant at first. But then I remembered how the event was like the year before (when another friend asked me to help), and add to that the fact that I needed more practice with event photography anyway, I decided to go for it once again. So it all happened last Saturday, with me being at Clancy Auditorium from 830am in the morning to cover their final rehersals and the night itself. And overall, it was a tiring but fun day (and night), even though it was their event, and I was just one of the photographers.

(Above photos are from the sketch, full album in Facebook )

So would I want to cover the event again next year, if asked?

Well, why not?

Cupcakes Galore

Clarissa and her friends were holding a cupcake sale to raise funds for the RSPCA on Friday, and I made an impromptu decision to bring my camera along to, perhaps get a few shots... And boy was I glad I did that.

The cupcakes were made by Clarissa's friends Michelle and Martina (Cupcakes by M), and were not just a feast for the eyes, they were pretty much just a feast overall, tasting as nice as they did. Being free that afternoon to stand around and perhaps help out a little, I ended up buying 4 small cupcakes, a large one, and a brownie.

So much sugar, all for a good cause :)

Post-exam City Walk

Finished my final paper for the exams (and the semester), and the first thing I decided to do was to head to Sydney CBD to take photos (Okay, actually I decided before the paper...).

Took the bus to Circular Quay, without any clear plan of what I was going to do, except may wait for the sunset. After hanging around the area for a short while, taking random shots of the Opera House, I decided to go round the corner to Dawes Point and Millers Point to take a look (and take photos) of some of the stuff I had learnt about in GEOS 2641.

By the time I was at Walsh Bay, the sky was already rapidly becoming overcast, but I just decided to continue walking around and taking photos until the rain came.

From Walsh Bay, I headed to Millers Point, and finally found out where Barangaroo was.

Millers Point was a pretty interesting location, with all its gentrified Victorian housing (I think its Victorian anyway, lol), tucked in a quiet corner not 5 minutes from the CBD.

While looking around the place, the rain finally came. I sought shelter, then decided to walk down to Darling Harbour to get a bus to return home. It was a really long walk...(Route taken: Circular Quay - Dawes Point - Millers Point - Darling Harbour)

Sculptures by the Sea

Went down to Bondi with the UNSW Photoclub for the annual "Sculptures by the Sea". There were many interesting works of art; in fact, the event itself was interesting, as it used the beautiful coastline from Bondi to Tamarama as an outdoor art gallery.

One of the funny exhibits that I really liked was the one that looked like actual direction signs. Including the one below:

There were many other pieces of artwork, but I won't be posting them here, mainly as I don't think my shots are nice enough to reflect how the actual artworks are like.

A facination with waves...

Over the months, I went to Coogee Beach and the coastal walk several times, and I kept attempting take photos of the waves ~

Ōceanus

Enérgeia

Aequor

This one has a faint rainbow in it:

Hope to take more (and better) photos of waves ~

SSA's "Dinner and Dance"

The SSA's annual Dinner and Dance event was held at the Sir Stamford hotel at Circular Quay. While called a "D&D", it wasn't really one. Rather, it was more of a high-class cocktail dinner.

Sample of the type of food served:

Wasn't a totally fun event, but it was interesting enough (It had a "Masquerade" theme). I suppose many of the people who went (not that there were that many in total) continued the event afterwards by clubbing or drinking, so it was probably more fun for them.

Masquerade theme:

I did not take many photos, as I didn't have the skill to take good shots of indoor events with relatively dim lighting...

Fieldtrip to La Perouse - GEOS 3921

The field trip for my GEOS 3921 module was to Congwong Bay, La Perouse, south of Sydney. Once again, it was interesting, as I had not been to the place before.

Went down to the beach area to learn about foredune systems, vegetation types, weed management, etc...

I found the place to be rather scenic.

From the beach area lesson, we went inland and learnt about mid- and hind-dune systems and associated vegetation and management issues...

After that (which was actually the majority of the field lesson itself), our lecturer took us to look at the Henry Head fortifications, which were part of the WWII era bunker system of the area.

The track there was quite far, but quite scenic at parts:

The ruins itself were quite interesting (to me, at least):

...and the view from Henry Head was also very nice.

Fieldtrip around Sydney - GEOS 1601

On 19 SEP 09, I went fot a near full-day field trip for my GEOS 1601 module, which went to several different parts of Sydney. For me, it was an interesting learning experience, and very useful as well, being an international student who was new to the city.

The locations that we went to were (chronologically): Sydenham, Ashfield, Fairfield, Cabramatta, and Pyrmont. Of all these places, I had only been to Pyrmont before, so everything else was new to me.

The top photo is a panorama of the Pyrmont waterfront, formed by combining 12 photos. I think it was the best one of the entire field trip (I also used it for my GEOS assignment, and it did really well :D ).

Bottom photo is another panorama of the Pyrmont waterfront (in the other direction).

(I think I liked Pyrmont the most, so both photos in this post are of the place :P)

Skies of Dust

When I woke up early this morning, I found my room bathed in a strange orange glow. Curious, I went to look out the windows of the apartment and this is what I saw:

The entire place was shrouded in orange, and the buildings that were further out could not be seen at all. The wind outside was also really strong (It was literally howling). Later on, I found out that the city (and surrounding regions) had been covered in what I would like to term a 'dust storm'.

See here for a news article on it.

By afternoon though, the skies had cleared, and my favourite blue skies were back. Many of the vehicles on the roads however, were covered in a thin layer of the red dust (To think of all the cleaning the owners have to do).

Such an interesting day (with regards to the weather, that is).

Flowers in the West

On 05 SEP 09, I went for a Tri-alliance photoclub outing (UNSW, UTS, USYD) to a park in Concord West.

The outing started out on a funny note, as we missed the train that we were supposed to get on at Central station as we were waiting for one guy, not knowing that he was waiting at a different part of the station, and had to wait for the next train, which was half an hour later...

At Concord West, we spent quite some time walking through the suburb to get to the park, whic hI found to be a rather random place. But happily, I did get some nice photos of flowers, even as we rapidly lost sunlight (The longer days of summer had yet to arrive)...

While at the park, we also saw some curious (and probably hungry) Cockatoos wandering around...

UNSW SSA BBQ

On 01 AUG 09, the UNSW SSA held a 2nd semester BBQ at Coogee Beach, to welcome new students (Like me).

So we ate, and we talked, and I got to know a few more people. (I have, unfortunately, forgotten most names already, with the exception of those whom I've added as friends on facebook.)

I'd have to say that I'm getting used to the fact that in Aus, they hold their BBQs in the day, unlike what we do in Sg, which is to do it at night.

Anyway, I 'unoffically' got the job to take the group photos at the end of the event, so here they are:

(Do click on them to see larger images)

First sunsets from Randwick

As stated in an earlier post, I have come to Sydney for my university education. Finding a place to stay took some time, but finially, I did, renting an apartment together with a friend from Singapore.

Our place was in Randwick, not far from the university. And fortunate for me (in my inexaustable quest for more photos), we got a few days of pretty nice looking sunsets on the first few days after we moved in. (In July - this is a delayed post.)

#1 - Fields of Sunset

#2 - Violet Stormclouds

#3 - Evening Clouds

#4 - Sunset Silhouettes

Hoping for more great sunsets!

Trip to the Blue Mountains

Before the semester started and after I had finally settled housing issues and most of my uni admin stuff, my parents and I, along with Samuel and his dad, felt that it was time for an actual 'holiday'.

So we thought about it, and decided to go for a day trip to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves, west of Sydney. And we did so, on 18 July (The weekend before sem started).

We went by tour coach, and the drive out west took several hours, passing suburb after Sydney suburb (This is where I first realized how spread out Sydney was). Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of this part of the trip...

Our stop in the Blue Mountains was at Katoomba, the major town and tourist destination of the area. The photos in this article (above and below) are mostly taken at this stop (unless stated otherwise).

Scenic World, Katoomba. The place where we stopped for views and for toilets. We also went for two short cable car rides, a steep mine train, and a short walk through the forest.

Two of the views from the cable car that went over a deep valley:

We also saw many white Cockatoos in the area. Apparently, they were quite common in the wild.

On the way back to our coach, I saw some buds on a leafless tree - I couldn't really decide if they were going to turn into leaves or flowers...

The journey to the Jenolan Caves from Katoomba took quite some time more, as the caves were actually beyond the main range of the Blue Mountains, which meant that we actually were crossing the mountains to the inland plains.

Views along the way to the caves included giant wind turbines:

And some traffic along the long, long, roads.

We arrived at the caves in time for lunch, and while we were doing so, we saw several wild parrots of some sort, perching around. They must have been hungry too...

We had a tour of one of the cave systems there, which was not too bad. Unfortunately, caves are absolutely difficult to photograph (for me anyway) so I didn't manage to get many good shots at all.

Here's one of them:

After the tour, we returned to the coach, and went on the long drive all the way back to Sydney...