Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Australian Photography

The announcement last month that Japanese camera manufacturer Olympus was to sell its imaging business was not only a sad day for one of the great camera brands many of us know and love, but also a sobering reminder of just how drastic the changes to the camera industry have been in the past decade. To put it simply, people are buying less cameras than they were a decade ago, and Olympus had clearly seen the writing on the wall. You just have to look at the figures – according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), global camera sales peaked in 2010 with 121.5 million models shipped. By 2015, that had dropped to 35.4 million, and in the latest figures from 2019, 15.2 million cameras were sold. There…

THE shortlist for the Portrait of Humanity 2020 competition has been announced, with seven Australian photographers recognised in the shortlist of 200. Portrait of Humanity is a global competition seeking to celebrate the best portraits taken by photographers around the world. It is a global initiative run by 1854 Media, a digital media organisation which also publishes the British Journal of Photography. The competition seeks to uncover the lives of people around the world and capture expressions such as courage and sorrow, as well as interactions such as the moment people are reunited or the moment they part ways. Photographers Brian Cassey, Antoine Veling, Kathryn MacPhee, Biljana Jurukovski, Ingetje Tadros, Cathy Ronalds and Anne Moffat comprise the Australian contingent on the shortlist. The shortlisted images include the work of photographers…

HOW DID SNAP HAPPY TV COME ABOUT? At the time I launched the show in 2015, there was nothing specifically for photographers on television. I’d been looking for a new challenge and had recently started working in broadcast TV again. At the time, there was a whole bunch of photographers around me, many of who I’d met through work. The idea of producing a show for photographers really came from chatting to those guys. That said, I’ve always seen our audience as keen amateur photographers. Our mission on the show is to be equal parts educational, inspirational and motivational. We really want people to get out and just enjoy photography at whatever level they’re at, and with whatever device they choose to use to take photos. Our team is a…

Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to India on a photographic tour with five other photographers. What an experience! The filth that is accepted, and the fact that so many families still live without electricity and clean water still haunts me. But from a photographer’s viewpoint, you just had to stand in the street to find a bewildering array of amazing subjects. The downside is with the mass of humanity everywhere, you will be run down or trampled if you do not move. Noise overwhelms the senses – vehicles of every shape and size, motorbikes, tuk tuks and bicycles, every one of them fitted with a horn and everyone using it. Combined with more people, rubbish, open drains and sewers, pigs, cows, donkeys, and bullocks drawing all manner…

DYLAN GOLDBY Dylan Goldby is an Australian photographer based in Seoul, South Korea. His passion lies in documenting the ancient cultures of the region he now calls home. See more of his work at welkinlight.com ANTHONY MCKEE Anthony McKee is a Melbourne-based writer and social documentary photographer. In 2014, he was named AIPP Documentary Photographer of the Year. See more at anthonymckee.com.au STEVE AND ANN TOON Steve and Ann Toon are a UK-based husband and wife team of award-winning, professional photographers with a specialist interest in the wildlife and wild places of southern Africa. See more at toonphoto.com SAM EDMONDS Sam Edmonds is a photographer, writer and Antarctic expedition guide focusing on issues of ecology and conservation. See more of his work at samedmondsphoto.com…

We live in a pretty unique time Today, our camera equipment is better than at any point in history, and it’s easier and cheaper than ever to access incredibly detailed educational resources for taking better images. Getting our work out there to an audience has never been more simple, and even the traditional pathways to becoming a professional photographer are so different today to when I started in this field many years ago. And yet one thing hasn’t changed: our desire to take better photographs. After all, it’s probably why you’ve got this magazine in your hand. I’m a strong believer that something we need to do from time to time is assess what we want to do and where we want to be with our image making. Even an…

What makes a cracking character study in a world that’s already super-saturated with beautiful animal imagery? How do you spot the potential for a winning wildlife portrait in the first place? And how do you dial up the drama or add that extra bit of wow when you’re out there with a great subject in front of your lens that you want to big up even further? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for every occasion, of course, but there are lots of simple tweaks and techniques that together can work a treat to give your next character captures that added sparkle of magic. Start by selecting the very best candidates for your wildlife portraiture just as you would with people – particularly stunning or eye-catching characters will get you off to…

Our angle of view defines how we look at many things in life, almost like a mirror of how we perceive the world around us. It all depends on our point of view, and this concept carries over into the field of photography. On many occasions, the display of light along these lines produces unique angles, which reveals a glance into the essence of the subject. With this idea in mind, I was stunned when I recently saw one of Luke Oakley’s photographs. The image captures how the interplay of light, design, perspective and reflection, drawn together by skilful composition, give shape to the various parts within the frame. Even the combination of inside and outside light generates a sense of ambiguity within the clearly defined lines of the humble…

ALLAN COPSON Pasta Delight EDITOR’S COMMENT Allan Copson’s great image, Pasta Delight, is not only technically perfect, it also has a wow factor that leaves you thinking, “How did he do it?” The secret, he says, is in the details. “This is a one-shot Raw capture developed in Lightroom,” he explains. “The rolling pin was suspended with fishing line and the flour was blown across the scene. I used two off-camera speed lights [to freeze the action].” This is a dynamic image that wouldn’t look out of place in an advertisement for San Remo – which is strong praise when you consider how much work goes into producing advertising images. Well done. TECHNICAL DETAILS Olympus E-M5 Mark II, OLYMPUS M.12-40mm F2.8 lens @31mm. 1/125s @f13, ISO 200. Thanks to the…

Traditionally, Fujifilm’s flagship X-T series has appealed to photo-journalists, street photographers, wedding photographers and even sports and wildlife shooters as the APS-C sized sensor allows some affordable yet well performing glass to mount on the front. And by now, four generations in, it’s safe to say there’s plenty of fans of these cameras out there. But perhaps the biggest realisation to make about the Fujifilm X-T4 is that this iteration of the series takes Fujifilm’s X-series cameras a significant step closer to a serious professional camera. There’s in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), improved autofocus, better battery life, impressive video specs and a newly designed rear LCD – all features professional photographers are demanding today. Despite the camera’s versatility, the grip of COVID-19 and social distancing laws in Australia meant my chance…

SUPER SUNSET When Finn Reilly was at the beach with his sister and her horse, he thought the sunset was pretty good and “when I saw her standing in front of the sun looking out to sea, I snapped this shot. I think it worked out pretty well.” Yes, I agree it turned out very well. I like the fact that the framing is off-centre rather than centralised, the horizon line is above the centre line, the colours are soft and appealing, and the subject is placed in front of the sun. There is a big burnout hole between the legs of the horse, but the halo around horse and rider makes the subject’s silhouette a strong one. What is really nice is the sharpness of the foreground water with…