Heat, Cars, And Canon Cameras - Part One

Way back in 2014 Canon Australia and Camera Electronic hosted a workshop day at Barbagallo raceway to show enthusiasts how to take motor sport photographs. I attended and it was the noisiest day of my life apart from the battle of Waterloo. Well last Saturday they did it again, but this time with even bigger motors - this time it was not motorcycles, but full-sized Porsche sports cars.

It's not just a case of standing out there going deaf - the core of the day was comprised of a very professional presentation by a person who is a motor sport photographer. The target audience were enthusiasts who love race cars and who have an interest in the Canon brand...though there was no hard and fast rule that restricted attendance on the brand basis. There were, however some very trenchant points that could be made to tie the Canon brand to this form of photography - the speaker made them honestly, and showed images to back them up.

To set the scene, Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo is a large sporting complex with a twisting up-and-down race track set over it. The buildings that service this race track - car pits, tyre stores, mechanic's workshops, and catering facilities are pretty good, if a trifle basic. In any case they are far and away better than those provided by the old Caversham raceway. There is the basic problem, however, that the physical location and layout of the place makes it a bit of a journey to get to. It's out at the end of a pokey little road that only allows one way access. This is being corrected, as I see  major works on the road, but it is still in Wanneroo...and I am still in Bull Creek. If you live in Wanneroo, disregard my grumbling.

It was also hot as a griddle out there. The old Caversham raceway had more trees and was marginally cooler, if cruder. It is a trade off, and perhaps I should not even complain, as the Camera Electronic and Canon Australia always book out the air conditioned facility at McCracken house for these deals...and provide a good lunch. Hey, at least I have not had to spear a Tiger Snake to get back to the car at Barbagallo like I did at Caversham. And the Caversham hot dog of 1964 has been replaced with one that contains meat...

Okay, the day on the track was given over to a Porsche Owners Club. It reminded me of either a clinical conference or a minyan, but then I am a cynic at heart. The cars were gorgeous and of more variety that I expected - there was even a bathtub racer from the 50's or 60's out there, though I noted at the lunch interval that it drove off with more smoke coming out of the exhausts than it started with. Perhaps raced not wisely, but too well...

Never mind - the club required the drivers to walk over the course before they would let them drive it - a sensible way of approaching high speed driving. Then they sent them out in a big old slow snake of cars to suss out the way the thing feels. Then they released the cars in batches of 5 or 6 to build up speed and confidence. In the end - at the 2:00 o'clock mark - there were some who were circulating at quite respectable speeds indeed. They were noisy enough to disturb the photo analysis session that the lecturer conducted - but it still went ahead. And you'll find out more about that tomorrow!

Photo Live Expo 2016 - The Thing You Didn't Know...

Psssst....C'mere....Wanna see what I got...?

I'll bet you thought this weblog post was going to show you something rude. Or secret. And you kept right on reading...

You kept on reading because you are naturally curious. We all are, and unless we are cats it is a good thing. Curiosity leads us to enquiry...and enquiry leads us to knowledge. And knowledge leads us to wisdom. And wisdom sits at home a plays with the cat.

Actually, at our house, wisdom stands holding the door open while the cat decides whether to go in or out...

So what should you do when you come to Photo Live Expo 2016 at the Perth Novotel Langley on the 24th of July - what should your curiosity lead you to? Let me suggest that it leads you to three places:

1. A lecture room for a subject that you are really interested in. Pet photography? Drone photography? Go for it. And there are lots of others available for a pre booking ticket (or maybe buy one on the day...but remember they book out sometimes...). You'll get the latest gen from someone who is an expert in the field.

2. A different lecture room. Choose a subject that you have NEVER DONE BEFORE. What if you don't like it? What if you do...?  Scary stuff, eh?

Consider - if you have never pursued a topic in photography before, you have no pre-conceptions - no mis-conceptions - you may very well have the best eyes and ears in the hall to learn about the subject. If it is all new it is ALL NEW! How many times in your life have you had something all new...for the price of a pint of beer? I mean besides the pint of beer*.

You may be brilliant at it. You may have the gear already to make wonderful images in the special subject. Or you may be able to add a simple lens or accessory or lorry-load of gear to do it. You don't know yet.

Go. Go into that lecture with a cheery heart and a cup of hotel coffee and a biscuit and enjoy yourself.

3.The trade tables. The staff are there to help you entice yourself into purchasing new equipment - you might not do it on the day, but you can if you want to - there will be show specials, after all - there always are. But you can have a feel, play, shoot, think, and talk all day if you've a mind to.

Wise photographers with a specific want will be bringing their cameras down with them to try out the new lenses and accessories. Oddly enough, some very wise photographers will be doing a variation of that - they will be bringing their lenses with them to try out new bodies.

Note: If you think to do this, do the right thing and clean your lens thoroughly, front and back, before you ask to try it on a shop body. People forget that the lens mounts and back elements of their lenses may contain a great deal of dust...

And if you are really set to be analytical, you can bring some cards with you to format in the shop bodies, and then take home images that you can peer into on your home computer. Be aware that new cameras frequently have new RAW data protocols and your image-editing software may or may not be able to open the files. if you are in doubt, look it up on the net before the day and possibly update your firmware. In any case JPEGs open nearly every where and if the camera you are interested in pumps out a DNG you're fine anyway.

If you go away with new information on an old interest, or new information on a new interest, or definite information on a new purchase - you will have had a fine Sunday.

Note to Seniors: If you have a Seniors card you get free bus and train travel into the city on Sunday the 24th of July and you can spend the savings on a lecture ticket!

* Few people want pints of beer when they are used...

Photo Live Expo 2016 - Cats And Dogs And Alex

Someone reading this column somewhere has a bag at home full of venomous snakes, hungry crocodiles, and angry grizzly bears. And they want a pet portrait done. This is the daily nightmare for Alex Cearns of Houndstooth Studio who must experience a nervous tremor every time the studio phone rings.

Be kind to her. Give her a Sunday off when she can come and talk about the photography she loves to do to an appreciative audience. Come and buy a ticket for her Photo Talk at the Photo Live Expo 2016 on the 24th of July.

It will be at the Novotel Perth Langley Hotel between 10:00 and 5:00 and you would be best to go to the Photo Live website to book ahead for a ticket - it'll be cheaper than trying to buy one on the day and you'll be sure of a seat.

Alex is an award-winning shooter of a subjects that either melt your heart or fasten their teeth into your thumb. If anyone in Perth knows how to take pictures of fur, fins, scales, or feathers while they are still in the possession of their original owners, it is her. Her studio is a howling success (see what I did there?) and even the advertising pictures on the outside of the premises are fun to look at.
So she is a fun person to listen to.

If your own ambitions in the pet photography line run to a little less terror, you will get some invaluable tips on animal behaviour and the best way to capture the spirit of the pet.  This form of photography is an extremely rewarding one in emotional terms as the connection between the subjects of the pictures and their human friends can be extremely close.

Also, some animals are just camera hogs...and they don't even have to be hogs to do it.

Early bird tickets $11, on the day $16 (unless sold out).
Buy tickets here

Photo Live Expo 2016 - Wedding Bells Are Ringing

So who doesn't love a wedding? The spiritual experience - the colour - the romance and spectacle - the family connections - the buffet table...

I'll tell you who doesn't love it - the photographer who has been asked to shoot the occasion and hasn't figured out how to do it. Short of skydiving with an anvil, there are few more daunting prospects.

Well, help is at hand. Hie on over to the Photo Live Expo 2016 section of the Camera Electronic website and book yourself in for the talk about wedding photography by Kirsten Graham of Compose Photography. It's part of the Speakers Series. You can get a pre-book ticket for $ 11 as versus $16 on the day... and remember that if all the tickets sell out, you miss out.

Many photographers who are comfortable with other subjects and occasions freeze or panic when asked to take pictures at a wedding. They can be overwhelmed by the idea, by the unaccustomed environment, and by what they see as the responsibility. Kirsten can help by explaining some of the ways that professionals get through this. Remember it is better hearing this from someone who does it very, very well then trying to read it out of a book - or even off a weblog column...

Note for the timid re. responsibility. If you are taking pictures at a wedding you are not responsible for the ritual of the ceremony, the legal aspects, the catering, the flowers, the flower girls, the crazy uncle, or the wedding speeches. You are not responsible for the success of the day or the success of the marriage.

You are just responsible for showing what it looked like. And you can do that with focus, shutter speed, and aperture.

Keep some spare batteries and cards and a long sharp stick to poke the bridegroom awake in case it is a long ceremony.

PS: Kirsten may have better ideas - go along and hear her. You can buy tickets here. Remember that the writer of this weblog column has a secondary job as crazy uncle at weddings and may be biased...

Photo Live Expo 2016 - The Food Connection

Did someone say food? Was that someone Stefan Gosatti?

Well, he talks photography as well. Stefan is going to conduct a 2-hour workshop... a new thing for he Photo Live Expo this year... between 2:30 and 4:30 on the afternoon of the 24th of July at the Novotel Perth Langley hotel.

We've all seen gorgeous pictures of food - from the raw material to the finest dining tables - and thought we could do the same shots easily. Then when we tried we found that there were obstacles in the way - tricks and techniques we didn't know that would make the subjects look fresh and appealing. We longed for the right information.

Well, here it is. Stefan will show how to use natural light as well as speed lights and how to find an angle for each dish that really makes the viewer want to reach out and taste it.

Of course, it isn't finished with the click of the shutter. There is post-production work for nearly every image we take and certainly for every image we sell these days.  If the workflow isn't cool and calm our time and profits melt like an ice cream under an arc lamp. There will be technique aplenty.

Good news for attendees - this year there will be more space for the speakers and the trade display  so it will be more easy and less squeezy!

Now's the time to pre-book a place for this workshop - go to the Photo Live Expo website and get a seat close to the action. The food won't bite.

Photo Live Expo 2016 - Less Than A Month To Go

You will probably have seen one of the Photo Live 2016 Announcements on your Facebook feed - or perhaps you are one of the subscribers to In The Loupe or our shop emails. You may even be someone who reads this weblog column...

Well, you'll have noticed that there is slightly under a month to go until the Photo Live 2016 is staged - it'll be Sunday, the 24th of July at the Perth Novotel Langley form 10:00 to 5:00. The advertisements encourage you to wander down and wander in and wander around.

 The cost for wandering is very reasonable - a gold coin donation to Telethon - but you might want to consider a little more focused activity. There are to be a number of speakers on a wide variety of photographic subject and the cost for attending their talks is VERY reasonable. Like a pinta beer in a pub price reasonable...so you can get the latest ideas about specialised subjects from world-class speakers who are recognised experts in their field. Interested in....?

Sports
Drones & Aerial
Pet Photography
Portraits
Surf, Beach and Lifestyle
Astrophotography
Wedding and Couples
Landscape
Travel

Well, never mind finding an App for that - we've got real live experts for that and for the price of a talk ticket, you get to hear what you really need to know. I'm not going to use the phrase "horse's mouth" here because some of these are attractive people, but if you want to find out what is right - RIGHT NOW - then go to their lectures.

If you're going to be in the workshop mood on the day, there are three longer session. They deal with

Adobe software
Studio Lighting
Food Photography

Now the catch to all these pleasures is that you'll need to book a place for them. And It would be a good idea to do so now, because last year saw some of the sessions booked out. Sure, you might be lucky and nip into a session if it is not packed, but you'll pay more on the day than with a pre-booking.

So go over to the Photo Live Expo website and start clicking. It'll be the most fun on a Sunday that you can have in town.

Doin' Anything Tonight?

No?

Motor over to Shoot Photography Workshops next door to the shop and catch a brilliant talk by Megan Lewis on the subject of mindful photography.

As she is an award winner who uses a camera system - Fujifilm - that I thoroughly endorse, I think it will be well worth hearing her.

Contact the shop or SHOOT this afternoon for more details.

Part Two Of Part One - The Pentax 645Z Night

No, it's part one of part two. We changed the file numbers and the thing jumped...

C.R.Kennedy and Camera Electronic wanted to show and tell about the Pentax 645Z camera and its lenses so they called a meeting of the not-bored-at-all at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville on Wednesday last to discuss maters.

Star of the meeting - and chief speaker - was James Simmons. You'll remember he is the Canon/AIPP Wedding Photographer Of the Year and Canon/AIPP Photographer Of the Year for 2014. He uses the Pentax 645Z for wedding and fine art work. His topic for the evening was the 645Z at the wedding and for fine art work so he did indeed know whereof he spoke.

Well, it works. And to prove that it does he made it work right there in front of the room of people. He had his girlfriend pose in the midst of the photographers and got them to illuminate her with the LED lights on their mobile phones. Then he crawled up onto a ladder and made the shot with the 645Z - the great light capturing ability of medium format and the immense dynamic range of the camera made it all magic.

That business of dynamic range is sometimes forgotten in the welter of other specifications that people amass for their favourite cameras. They will obsess about megapixels or ISO or frame capture rates and forget that the cameras all need to see a very wide dynamic range to come anywhere close to the capability of our eyes. james showed a beach shot that went from black nothing to perfection with just a push of a slider - and the camera provided the detail and range to do it.

The ergonomics of the camera are also something that people do not think about when all they see is a net page or other people's opinions. Anyone who has handled a Pentax 645D or 645Z will recognise that there is far better handleability here than other medium format digital cameras. It is not small - nor could it be  - but it is balanced perfectly. James also pointed out the wonderful green button on the back. When he has been working with the camera in dim conditions or with it set up for some arcane ISO or shutter/aperture combination and his wedding work instantly draws him into a different light situation, a quick push of the wonderful green button resets the camera and takes a pretty good light assessment instantly - you are ready to run and gun.

More on James and the weddings on Part One Of Part Two...note that he was not making a phone call on the 645Z in that photo. Coverage in Leederville is spotty...

Speaking Whereof We Know

I note that we will have a Nikon event next week - the 9th of July - and the staff have been permitted, enjoined, and ordered to go to it. I, for one, am delighted, as the man giving forth is an expert in his field. Kristian Dowling  knows how to take pictures of celebrities so that they continue to be celebrated - and he will likely be showing some of us the secrets that ensure his success. I'll benefit - a little later in the month someone wants me to shoot a party as if it were a Hollywood event, and I reckon Kristian's advice will be worth gold.

Still have some places for interested punters so ring Shoot Workshops and make a booking for it. As long as there is one spot left for me, mind.

All of which is an introduction to my plan of action for shop-related talks this year. I will be seeing several clubs for their evening activities this year and in some they want a little talk. It would be the height of folly to ask me to speak on the subject of fashion photography - one look in my wardrobe at home would tell you all I know about fashion. Likewise getting me to hold forth on street photography, sports, or architecture. Have a look at the dismal results on this page and you'll see what I mean. If the clubs want to know about these things, they will have to snare Gosatti or Phillips or Romano for that. These guys DO know whereof they speak because they do it well.

I shall speak on the little wedding and how to photograph it simply. I shall speak about the Small World and how to photograph it in the studio. About the photography of costumed societies. About the hot rod and how to capture it. These may not be what the clubs want to hear...but it is what they are going to get. It actually will have some value of expertise, albeit small.

Uncle Dick