Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Australian Photography

I have a love/hate relationship with shooting people and portrait images, and it is the one field that I really have to talk myself through when shooting. Being intimidated by portraiture is something many photographers experience, and, apart from a lucky few who are often gregarious in nature and comfortable shooting people, is something that just has to be overcome. Yet every time I have such an opportunity, I always find I manage to take some images I think most photographers would be happy with. So, what’s my secret? I’ve always tried to place emphasis on confidence and technique, with a few technical points as well. Let’s take a look. CONFIDENCE Confidence is not something that comes naturally to all of us, but in a portrait session it really is…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR THE WILD BACKYARD It’s been said that the best subjects to photograph are those we know well, and Ethan Mann’s category winning series is evidence you don’t have to travel far to capture great animal images. Captured at his parent’s 1.25-acre block on the Sunshine Coast, the 25-year old teacher’s year-long photography project sought to showcase the animals that live and pass near and through their home. Two of the images (The bandicoot and domestic cat) relied on a DSLR camera trap, using a passive infrared motion sensor to trigger the camera. “The Bandicoot image ¬took me three months to capture (replacing batteries and SD cards weekly/fortnightly) after noticing diggings down by the shed,” he explains. Mann says he only started photography in 2017, and says…

PRESENT BY panasonic FAMILY HEIRLOOMS Carole Mills Noronha’s unique series Family Heirlooms is much more than just a series of smartly observed observations that span different time periods. It was born from a need to create more family photos and memories in and around the house she grew up in and is a series she describes as the ‘most important she’s done’. “My mum passed away suddenly in 2013, and over the last year dad’s health began to deteriorate. His memory was fading, and he wasn’t well. To help his memory I began getting out the old family photo albums. We would talk about the good old days, all the memories in the house. My dad is 87 years old and I could feel things were changing slowly. Using the…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR STREETS OF PYONGYANG Captured in Pyongyang, North Korea, Luke Fazekas’ series was made while accompanied by two Korean guides, who, although making his photography initially ‘quite awkward’, did allow him to shoot in this most mysterious of cities. “Once the guides were comfortable with me, they opened up a little more about themselves, as well as asking questions about Australia. The more relaxed they got, the more they would let me capture images. There were restrictions as to what I could take photos of (no military, no construction), and every time I saw an opportunity, I would ask for permission: it wouldn’t always be a yes,” he explains. A current student at Charles Sturt University studying a Bachelor of Creative Arts & Design, Fazekas says that…

PRESENT BY panasonic OCEANIC POWER Ian Hollis is a 20-year-old aspiring photographer from Camden, NSW. Currently studying at the University of Wollongong to become a primary school teacher, he says the proximity of the University to the ocean has allowed him to spend time between his studies photographing. It was also where he captured his stunning series Oceanic Power. “I have never lived very close to the beach, but I have always loved the ocean,” he explains. “Starting photography just over a year and a half ago, I have constantly been drawn to shooting the ocean. My biggest inspiration is the way it moves with power, to create spectacular scenes like the images within this portfolio. I did not own a waterhousing when these images were captured so shooting them…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR VIEW FROM AFAR 17-year old Henry Howard began taking photos in 2015, and received his first DSLR in December that year. His Junior category-winning series View from Afar was captured out the window of a moving plane during a scenic flight that took him from Kunanurra to the Purnalulu National Park, WA. “I got a camera so that I could take pictures of planes, which was my passion, but it wasn’t long until I developed an interest for photography as an art form,” he explains. “Photography will always be a hobby for me, but I wish to continue building my skills and knowledge of the medium.” Despite describing the images as difficult to capture due to shooting through an angled window ‘moving at speeds of 300km/h…

Join Australian Photography and World Photo Adventures on our three amazing workshops for 2020/21. At Australian Photography, we love to help photographers take better images, and there’s nothing quite like doing it in some of the most picturesque locations on the planet. So join us for our workshops aimed at photographers of all skill-levels. As well as Australian Photography Editor Mike O’Connor, some of your other hosts will include popular imaging guru Mark Galer, Snap Happy TV producer Tim Robinson, and experienced World Photo Adventures’ guides Darran and Frazer Leal. World Photo Adventures commenced in 1989 as a project to combine the experience of a holiday and the education of photography. The camera is an essential item that we all bring away with us on holiday. Darran and the crew…

DETAIL What makes a detail shot? Think of it as an image that draws attention to a specific part of a subject, but it can also be an image where emphasis is placed on the detail of a subject – think focus stacked images. Regardless of how you approach it, the best detail shots draw attention to details that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. CHRISTIAN BURLING Passu Cathedral EDITOR’S COMMENTS: Christian Burling says he took this image while travelling to the Northern Areas of Pakistan. “This is the Passu Cathedral, otherwise known as the Passu Cones, which I photographed on an adventure that had been planned for many years. This picture was taken just before sunset and is handheld.” Handheld – and look at all that detail! We loved this…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR WINTER LANDSCAPES OF BIEI, JAPAN Anthony Lawrence is a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist working and living in Melbourne, as well as a former runner-up in the 2017 Photographer of the Year. His Landscape category and overall Photographer of the Year winning series for 2019 showcases his admiration for the purity, simplicity and elegance of Japanese culture. “The beautiful farmland of flower fields and rolling hills in rural Biei, Hokkaido, change in deep winter with extreme cold and heavy snowfalls to [create] minimalist snowscapes,” he says. For the judges, the portfolio was a standout not only in the hugely competitive landscape category but the competition as a whole. Shot with just the subtlest of colour tones, there’s a gracefulness to Lawrence’s series that marked the images as…

PRESENT BY panasonic BEAUTY OF THE BEASTS Herptologist Jari Cornelis is currently completing his masters at Curtin University on the behaviour and habitat use of tiger snakes, however he still found time to shoot this beautifully lit and evocative series of some of Australia’s most iconic reptile and snake species. “My fascination with reptiles has turned into more of an obsession,” he says. “It’s come to the point where my vacations and time off are mostly dedicated to looking for reptiles I have not seen before so I can photograph them.” Cornelis says the images for this portfolio were captured on his travels around Australia and from exploring the wilderness areas near his home on the east coast. “I spent a lot of time searching for these animals, but I…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR SAILS IN THE SKY Sydney-based photographer Allen Koppe and his series Sails in the Sky is a beautiful study of the iconic Opera House, illustrating its timeless architecture and the way light contours and stretches around its forms at different times of the day. Speaking about the series, Koppe says the structure has always ‘amazed me’. “I use long exposure black and white minimal photography to explore the light, and [for this series], attempted to reduce clutter allowing the shapes of the sails to be the prominent subject, he said. JUDGES’ COMMENTS ALEX CEARNS: This series of images captures one of the most photographed buildings in Australia (the Sydney Opera House), but does so in a pared back and minimalist way. The clever composition of each…

PRESENT BY panasonic TRAVEL Karoly Nemeskeri’s travel portfolio was taken in February 2019 when he spent 30 days in India, a place he describes as a ‘photographer’s paradise’. Currently living on the Gold Coast of Australia, Nemeskeri describes himself as a keen member of the Gold Coast Photography Society Photo Club and the Photo Art Club Tweed. His series, capturing unique candid moments, perfectly captures the vibrancy, colours and visual intoxication that make India such an amazing place to photograph. JUDGES’ COMMENTS ANTHONY MCKEE: Karoly Nemeskeri’s journey to India is a wonderful reminder of how colourful life can be on the subcontinent. Lush blues, vibrant reds and rustic stone washes provide a rich palette that Karoly has used to her favour in capturing ordinary life in some of the country’s…

PRESENT BY panasonic TOXIC BEAUTY Perth-based landscape photographer Alex Ham captured his evocative and challenging Photo of the Year winning image above an industrial location in WA. It serves, he says, to communicate the conflicting emotions that such activities cause within him. “On one hand there is the industry, engineering and science going into the process, which as an engineer I see as impressive achievements, and there are amazing colours and textures being produced. But as I look around the wider scene I see incredibly un-natural changes being forced on the landscape, the replacement of natural beauty with artificial, toxic beauty, and the potential long term effects of our ever increasing demands for products that only ever seem to take from the environment.” For the viewer, it’s a stark reminder…

PRESENT BY panasonic THIS IS AFRICA Regular followers of Photographer of the Year will be no stranger to Harman Singh Heer’s remarkable wildlife images, with the West Australian teenager winning the junior category in 2018 and 17. This series, entered in his final year of eligibility for this category, continues his tradition of wowing the judges, and likely would have given our Wildlife and Animal category winners a serious run for their money. Captured in the Masai Mara National Park, and Laikipia areas of Kenya, and the Sereneti National Park in Tanzania, the series shows intimate, dramatic and dynamic images of African widlife. Singh Heer tells us three of the four images were captured by leaving his camera on the ground in a protective metal casing and firing the shutter…

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SHAPES AND LINES According to Barb Dunford: “This is a five-storey 1950s building that has the most amazing rubber plant growing in the stairwell from the ground floor to the top. It’s a challenge to photograph because of the tight space.” This is a strong image, both in terms of textures and lines. While you suggest you were interested in the rubber plant, it runs a poor second place to those radiating spoke-like metal posts and steps in terms of interest. The image is graphic, sharp, tonally good and those lead-in and lead-out lines are dynamic. If I were to nitpick, I would suggest framing to get one of the post lines bottom left into the corner to balance the diagonally opposite top right corner. This sort of content really…

GETTY Images photographer Chris McGrath has been named the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year, the highest accolade for photo-journalists in Australia. McGrath took out two major awards: the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year, for his work covering stories in Kosovo, Hong Kong and Istanbul, and the Feature/Photographic Essay award for his series The End of the Caliphate, focussed on the defeat of Islamic State in March 2019. The judges praised Mc-Grath’s entry as a mature set of images shot in classic Magnum style, exploring how daily life continues alongside the devastation of the conflict. Starting his career in Queensland, McGrath has worked for Getty for more than 19 years, and is currently based in Istanbul. The walkley win caps off a stellar year for the photographer, with…

YOUR BEST SHOT IS OPEN TO AP SUBSCRIBERS AND APS MEMBERS. TO ENTER AN IMAGE IN THE COMP, CHECK THE COMPETITION THEMES AND INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AND EMAIL YOUR BEST IMAGE TO YOURBESTSHOT@AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM UPCOMING COMPETITION THEMES APRIL ISSUE BOKEH January 31, 2020 MAY ISSUE ACTION February 29, 2020 JUNE ISSUE ON THE STREET March 31, 2020 JULY ISSUE PETS April 30, 2020 AUGUST ISSUE FOOD May 31, 2020 YOUR ENTRY 1. Email your entry to yourbestshot@australianphotography.com with the name of the competition theme in the email subject line, for example: Weather, Abstract, Landscape, etc. 2. The image file must be the same as your name, for example Jane Smith.jpg. If you enter multiple images, each new image file name should be appended with a unique number, eg Jane Smith2.jpg 3. A…

PRESENT BY panasonic THE SURREAL LANDSCAPES OF THE DESERTS OF NORTHERN ARGENTINA Niall Chang’s runner-up portfolio in the landscape category was captured in the Puna de Atacama region of northern Argentina. He says the challenge of photographing the area came from the hot temperatures, sandstorms, vast distances and the rocky and steep terrain. As winner of the travel category in 2018, Chang is no stranger to visiting remote parts of the planet, something as important to him as the environmental considerations in much of his work. “Given the ecological changes affecting the planet, landscape photographers have the responsibility to record and document the environment,” he says. The majority of Chang’s images are single capture. “While I understand digital enhancement is a significant part of photography today, my workflow remains very…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR THE MANY SHADOWS OF MR 4 Alice Mariette says she loves photographing her children, but ‘they have never been the kind to sit still and pose’. As a result, a candid, documentary style of photography naturally emerged in her images, and it’s also the key to the success of her series The many shadows of Mr 4. A self-taught photographer from Brisbane, the mother of three says she takes her camera with her ‘everywhere, and loves documenting the adventures her kids have in a non-traditional way.” For our judges, it was Mariette’s use of light and her innate ability to create stories without revealing her subjects that made this series a winner this year. JUDGES’ COMMENTS LISA MICHELE BURNS: Clever. That’s the word that immediately came…

PRESENT BY panasonic THE GREAT DEPRESSION Hunter Valley photographer Steven Algie says he chose the iconic Mereweather Ocean Baths for his runner-up winning portfolio because of the fond memories he spent at the baths when young, and as a reminder of the difficult times Novocastrians experienced during the Great Depression. The series is especially topical as the baths face an uncertain future due to plans for privatisation. “I felt it was important to capture the memories left behind from the past and create a series that expressed how it makes me feel when spending time here,” he says. “Visiting the baths gives you a real respect for the craftspeople who built them in the 1920s, and the reality of the political debate around their future.” For the judges, the pared…

PRESENT BY panasonic SPONSOR SNOWSHOWMEN Jakob Kennedy’s series, Snowshowmen, captured in Australia, USA and Japan, showcases his love of snowboarding, something he does both in-front of and behind the camera. (The fourth image is a setup shot of himself captured with a tripod and shutter release). With a background in filmmaking, the 30-year old from the Southern Highlands, NSW, impressed our judges with his varied series that illustrates both the difficulty and beauty of snowboarding at the highest level, while also showing his clear understanding of storytelling, something he says has become a fascination, particularly the subliminal elements that can help direct a viewer. JUDGE’S COMMENT PETRA LEARY: I found this series brings a very fresh perspective to snowboarding photography, with the photos showcasing the motion and sport side of…

SPONSOR LEIGH MILLER PINK LAKE Captured by drone at Pink Lake, near Port Gregory in WA, Leigh Miller’s image shows vibrant colours that just don’t seem natural at first glance. “The pink hue is created by algae which is used in cosmetics and food colouring and the colour often changes its intensity depending on the time of the day or year,” she explains. “With this image I wanted to make the viewer pause and take a longer look as I feel it looks more like an oil painting than a photo.” Starting photography in high school with film and the darkroom, Miller says she has her partner Dahmon to thank for his love for camping when it comes to pushing photography. “Thanks to him I’ve seen more amazing sites in…

WITH ROBIN YONG I got my start in photography as a model rather than a photographer. It all started when I wanted to see the famous Masked people in Venice, but at the time, I didn't know where to find them. I went to Venice in December 2013 with a friend, but we didn't see any Masked people and the locals seemed to have little idea on where to find them, except during the Venice Carnevale. I returned home to look for tours to the Venice Carnevale but couldn't find any and I thought maybe a photography workshop may have them. Once I started googling it, I found a few photo workshops, but all of them said "Sold Out". Nevertheless, I emailed the organisers and American photographer Jim Zuckerman answered.…

WITH BARBARA ROGALLA For some time, the thought of creating my own unique style of photography has intrigued me. It’s like that invisible signature that lets people guess who the photographer is, without even seeing a name. I started thinking - what about using movement as that special trademark? One overcast day, my travels with the local photography club took me to south-east Victoria. The light was dull, and the sea swell played havoc with the water trapped inside the rocky outcrops at the sandy beach. What if I could enhance the illusion of movement from the sand patterns caught in the swell of the waves? Rather than chasing light, I thought of chasing movement in a still image. Thus, started an experimental photo shoot at Mallacoota Beach. Waiting for…