Thursday, 14 June 2012

Why do I do this?

It's not a hard question but it is a rather in depth one. As I have detailed in previous posts I am from the country and love the outdoors, so the colour and serenity I get from being outdoors fills me with zen.
When I leave my house with a camera I find that the constant mish-mash of thoughts that swirl around my brain, robbing me of my sleep, start to slow down and I can relax and focus of what I see through the viewfinder. Sometimes I just like to hike through the bush, find a place to sit and simply visualize and conceive the photo before I even take the camera from my bag.

For me this is not about money. I hate money and what too much of it does to people. I will be very happy to earn enough to feed myself and have a roof over my head. I guess I have begun to embody the "struggling artist" stereotype where the passion for what I do takes over the reasonable actions of reasonable people and I'm cool with that.

I have not nailed down my own "style" but I'm sure that will come with time and at this point I simply enjoy taking pictures and learning from them as much as I can.
What I am most excited about is my very recent venture into film. I have taken some stills and the excitement is killing me because I have no idea how they are going to turn out. I used a hand held light meter and trusted my own ability but I just don't know. 

Honestly I want some of these pictures to be complete and utter failures because with no digital data I have to use my brain and work out why they went wrong, I want to take a better photo in-camera and learning from my mistakes is a good way to do that. I have knowledge, skill and passion, but some luck would sure help things along too, also I can't just run it through Lightroom to fix exposure. What lies ahead after Tafe is very exciting.

Thanks Steve for opening up my third eye and making the other two view things differently. A person who can get me excited about history and has me hanging off their every word is damn decent bloke in my book, you are just so trendy :)

Sean Ray.

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Turn around bright eyes

 
Every time I take a picture that I like as much as this one, it reminds me of how much I have learned since I took that camera thing seriously.
While walking in the hills over Hong Kong city I turned around to see the sun coming through the trees and captured this beautiful image.
When ever I walk around I always remind myself to turn around, look up, look down and explore angles all around me.
I put the original next to a black and white version, which looks best? 

A bit of my stuff

Here are a few pictures of mine that I like. I may not be as arty or creative as some of my fellow class mates but that will come with time (about 6000 hours I believe)

A tree in Westleigh where I used to live, I have taken many many many photos of this tree because it's always changing.
 This is what I like to do that most. Landscape stuff. This was taken while floating down the Nile in Egypt, a place I had wanted to go my whole life.
 Again in Egypt. This time I was floating in a balloon over the valley of the kings. I had this image in my head well before I took it, all I had to do was pick my moment. I really like this picture.
 I love to travel the world and while I have not done much I try and take the best pictures I can. I'm a Buddhist and while in Hong Kong in Jan 2012 I visited many temples and managed to take a couple of snaps that I really love.
I think this is a beautiful photo. I love how still she is and how the people behind her are blurred in movement. I also wonder what she is thinking. I really feel at peace when I'm in a temple like this one.

Sunday, 3 June 2012

Even animals don't like Nikon.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/21/Grizzly-Bear-Attacks-Photographer-Rented-Nikon-D4


Now here is a little story with some funny links attached to it. Firstly it made me laugh and it gave me a chance to take humorous swipe at those Nikon people, all in good fun of course.
And secondly it does show the real dangers a guy like me could face in the future. I doubt I will encounter any bears in Wenty (likely some morons in Subaru's) but it pays to check your surroundings while outdoor.


Take a moment to look at the links for more pictures.
Cheers.
            Sean Ray