Charlie's Worldstyle
Posted on March 15, 2010
I was determined to be a cool street photographer.
I had designs on my camera collection down to a simple Leica M6 or M7 35mm rangefinder and a few tasty lenses, shooting exclusively in black and white and generally taking cool shots a-la Cartier Bresson and his ilk.
Well, the nearest I’ve got is my Trip 35 (which, despite being very cool and unflappable is still woefully underused)
and a couple of second hand autos from the 80’s
You might think I’m a bit gutted, and in some ways I am, but it transpires that I’m actually starting to like landscapes and also, rather incongruously, sports photography. Neither of which lend themselves to the Leica in any way shape or form.
I’m on the save up for an ultra wide angle lens for the D300 plus some very tasty filters that would enable me to take the shots that just can’t quite get with my current setup. Handily, I’d like to use said ultra-wide angle for sports photography too.
Here’s some recent landscapes that I’m rather fond of..
Okay, true, they are all sunsets, but I haven’t invested any time into daylight shots yet (plus I need better filters, mine are fine for sunsets, but tint clouds purple during the day). I have a few location ideas in mind which I think I’ll start to work upto in the next few months, especially as the cooler weather is coming.
So we’ll see how it goes, I might be getting up at the crack of dawn to catch that sunrise yet.
Kite Surfing
Posted on February 14, 2010
Saturday afternoon I popped out to Shoalwater where the kite surfers hang out and took a load of photos.
It was earlier in the day than the last lot and there were a lot more kits out and the sun was higher leaving more blue sky to get decent shots against.
I usually just watch them for 15 minutes or so to see who the better kite surfers are and where the wind is blowing, thus where they are doing the best tricks. Then, I take a few shots, gauge the speed and the angles, the background behind the shots and how many other kites are in view.
Then I get right up close to the water and hope to engage some of the better kite surfers to show off for me 🙂
Had a corking session this time – there were a couple of guys out who were noticeably more confident than most – one of whom was really happy to try to do tricks right in front of the camera. He came in for a few mins and I asked him to get as close as he dared so I could use the wide angle and get him really filling the shot – to which he obliged and I got some awesome shots! Hats off to you, mate – I didn’t get your name, but hopefully you’ll see this when I email you 🙂
Chatted to another photographer who had one of those waterproof baggy things around his camera – he was standing (getting his toes bitten by crabs) chest high in the water getting some serious wide angle shots. I’ll see if he posts his stuff anywhere – it’ll look pretty intense I’d say.
Anwyay, for your viewing pleasure – kite action – I have so many I don’t know which ones to keep! This is about 1/2 the “keepers” from the session.
Saturday, Saturday..
Posted on February 14, 2010
.. but no fighting whatsoever..
Had a lovely day yesterday – Jay and Anja went down to see a friend so Pipes and I went to the beach for a swim.
It was a beautiful morning, very still and the sea was very clear and gorgeously warm. We splashed about for a while, avoiding the transparent teeny (but not stingy) jellyfish, then built some sand castles and tried to keep the waves at bay. The wind picked up, as it does here, around noon and we got some good waves to belly surf in before coming home.
I got sunburned, despite covering myself in cream – meh! my back is scarlet and very sore today. Bummer.
In the afternoon, I went to take photos of kitesurfers – had a really good shoot – (more on this in the next post) – all in all, a nice and productive day.
Monday Monday
Posted on January 26, 2010
So good to me…
Just like the Mamas and the Papas, my Monday ended up being awesome.
Work was boring, nothing happened at all all day, as this year, Monday is an odd day between the weekend and the public holiday for Australia Day (today). As a consequence, I was done early and “helped” Jay make pizzas for dinner and we went out to take sunset photos at Point Peron
We’d had a hot day, compounded by the aircon having given up the ghost and deciding that it was only going to blow hot air from now on (*sigh*) so it was lovely to get out to the beach.
Was a gorgeous evening, the girls had lots of fun, we saw a big brown seal lazing on a rock and lots of crabs in the rockpools
What more can I say other than to show you photos..
And to top that, if it were even possible, I went and got some wine.
Mondays, not always bad.
scorcher
Posted on January 19, 2010
Was very hot in Perth yesterday – 43 degrees according to the news and I don’t doubt it. It was already over 30 at 7am when I caught the train and when I went out to get lunch, the air was so warm it felt like it was burning the inside of my nose. You know when you get a blast of hot air from the oven when you open it – like that.
The office started to heat up a fair bit in the afternoon, so I came home early – just as well as all the trains were on a slow timetable because of the heat. Over 40 degree days happen every summer, so why on earth would you build a railway that can’t take it? The A/C on the train was really struggling too, especially as it was packed full 😦
Anyway, I got home (via the bottle shop and 12 bottles of cold beer) and was melting by then – I really must retire my English smart office trousers – they’re too thick material for this country.
Was bliss to get my shoes and socks off and get into shorts!
Went out to take some photos at Point Peron as the heat was causing some clouds to appear over the ocean – good chance of a nice sunset, but the clouds really rolled in and the sunset wasn’t like it could have been. There was another photographer on the beach – a Belgian guy called Tim – who was pretty cool – had a good chat whilst snapping away. He was getting some great pics straight out of the camera – I really miss my filters that got broken when my camera fell into the sea.
Despite the sunset colours being nothing to write home about, I got some corking photos. I messed about a little in Lightroom and was pretty happy with what came out.
blimey
Posted on January 17, 2010
Its hot today
Over 40 according to my thermometer thingy.
Not as hot as I’ve felt here, but close. Hot enough to make the grass too warm to walk on. Probably hot enough to fry eggs on the drive, not that I would, detesting eggs like I do.
Gonna go out to take some pics at Point Peron after dinner, hopefully get some nice low sun/dunes/plants etc shots. We’ll see.
From yesterday..
kite surfing
Posted on January 15, 2010
a few minutes drive from where I live there’s a little shallow sheltered cove where the kitesurfers like to play.
I havent been there to take pictures for almost a year, so I figured it was about time this afternoon. I left it until almost 6 so the light would be better and the breeze nice and strong. When I pulled up in the car park though, I was surprised to see lots of people were packing up, but there were a good few people still out on the water.
Took almost 2o0 shots in the hour and a half I was there, which is a lot of pics for me, I’m getting a lot more economical these days. Less is the new more. Or something.
Anyway, I focussed on a few lads who seemed to be trying harder than the others to get huge air and faceplant themselves into the water – here’s a selection of the best shots..
sunsettage
Posted on January 8, 2010
Jay burned her hand picking up a pyrex dish from the oven with an oven glove that had the heat resistant properties of a wet tissue and has been stomping around with her hand packed in ice all evening.
So when the sunset started to look promising I suggested we go to the beach and get some air and chill for a bit.
Speaking of chill, even though it was warm out, her hand being packed in ice kinda made her cold, so whilst I took photos, she sat shivering on the sand- LOL!
On to the pictures – one panorama and two experiments with motion..
piccies
Posted on December 17, 2009
I worked it out – I have to use image capture to download the photos as iTunes doesnt do it – very odd!
Anyway, for your viewing pleasure – some photos from the last week or so – mostly taken with “The Best Camera” iPhone app.
impressionista
Posted on November 17, 2009
as promised, some images from last nights shoot at the beach.
motion pans, horizontal and vertical, zoom blurs and a gorgeous portrait.
Charlie's World 