You never stop learning!!

As most of you will know, i'm not a pro (i know eh!) i like to think of myself as a "Pro-am", professional amateur, and as such i don't always use the 'M' setting on my camera, hell sometimes i barely even get out of 'P' mode some days! but if I'm shooting large events where the light and timing of my subjects are too fast to fiddle with settings then that's what I'll use.
 But as with using a device that requires you to think about what your trying to attempt to capture, sometimes it's better to say you cant do it and find someone who can teach you what you need to know, even if it's been a while, a refresher course is sometime worth it's weight in gold (or yellow if you shoot sunsets) ;) and on that note i attended a course held by fellow photog Seng Mah and his Venturephotography workshops, i was doing some shoots were i was struggling with dark rooms, backyards and uneven lighting and my use of the flash left a lot to be desired, so off i went to learn about this form of lighting that so many of us use, but don't quite understand.

Held in his studio in Fremantle, we went through the basics of flash photography and its uses, whether in a room at a wedding or outside in the bright sun, it use as a main light source or as a fill feature in broad daylight, what it can do and what it can't do even if we want it to light up the bright sky!
We even had a live human to model for us! that way we can see how shadows work for us, or against us, as people aren't quite as easy as a car! most classes are only 12 people large, so its easy to ask questions and interact with both Seng and the model without moving past and not getting the idea in your head properly. the first half of the day is inside the studio taking about all things flash related, after some lunch we then go outside into the world and try to use your flash in the wilds of Freo!! and it's here you learn hands on how your lighting works in the real world, lucky for us it was a very overcast day with cloud cover most can only dream of, one huge diffuser in the sky. we did have spots of full sun and this allowed us to work our flashes to the max while learning more. did you know your flash works so fast that using your shutter speed to do anything to control your flash is pointless?? me neither!! 

So for the rest of the day went walked around setting up here and there and using the available light to try and work out how we need to use the flash, either as fill or as a main light source, in little alcoves or in a big area with no shade. We had the use of a flash on a stand with a softbox and wireless triggers to do more than with it just on top of your camera, so easy and yet so versatile. if you ever get the chance to do a course with some one then go for it, it may just make those little scratchings on your cameras dial actually mean something! ;)

  So after a full day of walking, talking, and shooting everytime the model stood still long enough, i think i may just have a handle on this flash photography thing..time will tell i guess.

 Big thanks to Seng for letting me in on this course and being able to use these BTS photos, if your ever in Perth you should look him up, or meet him on one of his O/S courses!!

Motorvation 2013

Once again i headed down to what is Western Australia's premier car show. but this time i decided to buy a camping pass and stay for the weekend, although i didn't have time to get there on Friday, and running around on Saturday i only managed to arrive at 11:30am, so i missed Friday nights prelim burnouts and cruising but i thought i'd grab all of today's activities to make up for it...well..it was about 31degreesC and the club tent had an air cooler in it...so i didn't make it out as much as i thought i would.... really had no energy from doing long hours during the week. but that doesn't mean i didn't meet a few people and watch the cars cruising past our tent!

I intended to take some video with a friends go-pro, make a time lapse and some other stuff out on the track, but lethargy kicked in and i really CBF ;) with all that was happening i just didn't feel the love nor the inclination to go get the shots i wanted, pity cause there was a lot happening out there. but as i wasn't the only one with a camera shooting, i knew most shots wouldn't be missed, everyone has a camera these days, and will upload to FB or the like, so no point me busting my chops to get the same shots... think i lost my mo-jo a while ago.

stayed up till 1:30 Sunday morning and awoke around 8am for food etc. i did go out and get some night time shots before bed and then trolled around during the morning to see what else was cruising the 'plex. and as i didn't have a 'entrant' sticker for my car, i couldn't bring it in to load up all my crap till nearly 4pm. so basically just lounged around with the others and watched the crowds and cars cruise past the tent.. not a bad way to  take in a Sunday really! if i go again next year, i definatly want my own car in there to go cruising in  or at least release the boredom occasionally, and maybe get that camper trailer done so i have a proper bed and a place to store all my stuff. but you didn't come here to listen to me gripe about how many commodores there were or how many of them started to do burnouts in the pit area so they could get kicked out and go home early... so here's some photos... all the rest of them are at Autolifeperth's website, as well as a page just with MY PHOTOS  go check them all out ;)

(click on these photos for a slideshow)

'

sweeties!

killed in the name of fun!

what a ripper ;)

Till the next time,, oo-roo. Bruce.

Hot summer nights 2013

 

Another year done and  to bring in the new year there's no better way than an ol skool car show!  and for the third year i went to the Cranksters run event "Hot summers night"

 unfortunately i didn't have my dodge there as i still haven't fixed the engine yet (soon i hope) so i just rocked up in my bunky datsun and parked it well away from the cool cars ;) did the usual of talking to people i haven't seen for a while more than take photos but this is the time to catch up with like minded car folks.

 I have posted all the photos and a proper write up on the website for all to see, so this is just a taster for those who visit my page, so please go there and check it out!!!

On another note i'd like to take this time to say thanks to Jay Fitzgerald of 'Tech Toyz' for building me my new computor, it's only taken me 2yrs to get my shit together and save some coin and finally order one custom built by Jay, and i must say, it's a ripper!!! for the geeks out there its basically a gaming PC, the specs are..

. Intel i7-3770k 3.5ghz CPU
. 16gb DDR3 1600mhz ram
. Nvidia GTX650 2gb graphics card
. Asus Z77 pro4-M (ASRock) motherboard
. 240gb SSD
. Gigabit LAN, HD audio, USB 3.0 +DVD r/wr

Mmm purdy

this stuff is the shiz!

and as a result i bought the new Lightroom 4.0 for it, so i now have the top performing computor to edit all these photos, without all the lag like the old one did, dunno why i waited so long to upgrade..oh yeah..i was broke HA! but seriously i should have done this sooner considering i edit not just car photos, but also the odd wedding and model shoots (which i can now start doing again!) i needed a computer with the power and ability to actually handle the files i upload and to do them justice.
So for 2013 i have the tech ability to go further than i ever have before... now if i can just make more time to actually do some of these shoots, i'll be a happy man ;)

till next time... Bruce.

Xmas lights 2012

Another Xmas eve in Australia, and it was a warm and sunny day here in Perth, and as usual i visited some friends for the street party that has a big following down this end of town.

Most of the houses put up their colourful lights and displays for all the visitors that will be passing thru come sundown, and as usual there were a lot of people driving and walking through the street with their kids/family/dogs in tow, as they do each and every year. 

this year a few more of the houses had some lights up as last year we were down a few as houses were sold or owners were on holidays. but the amount of people coming to see these displays didn't slow down, in fact i think it may have increased although they do seem to finish earlier each year, and this year we didn't have a bbq on the lawn as usual. so we just ate before and parked our chairs up inside our little area out the front of the house.

Nawwwww

Once i've settled in and had food or drink, i grab the camera and head out to record all the houses with display's (not all of them as either i can't see for the cars and people, or they dont have a big display, but still sit in the garage and eat while watching the passers by) and that takes a good hour or so as i meet people i know or just talk to the owners for a bit. but once i'm done it's back to my chair and a cold one ;)
 
(and just for the photogs out there, i took these shots using a Nikon D7000 on a tripod with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens using F3.5 iso 800 and around 1sec exposure, the early ones are slightly different, but not much, and cropped accordingly. also i used Lr to edit them)

so there you have it for another year, seems to be a trend now. this makes it 3yrs running that I've done a blog on xmas lights in this street. lets hope i can continue it!
OO-roo! DB

dont forget, the photos are 'clickable for large size viewing ;)

they gave me food, i like them!

and the crowd starts

even the local police came past to say 'ello!

..and they said 'ello to Santa too!

Santa was busy all night!

One of the neighbours were collecting for a local charity...

....and they even had their mascot there to say hello to the kiddies!

that white blur up the top is the moon

one house even had a mechanical singing santa!

people were lining up to see the displays...even if i was in the way ;)

dam bogans were out in force ;)

even the visitors had xmas lights!

Carolers going from house to house singing away!

your never too  old to ask santa for pressies.... ;)

finally dieing down