Day 270 - Sushi Soldiers

Had lunch today at the Sushi bar and was trying to finish off the last couple of shots so I decided to snap what I was about to eat.

Technical:
Leica SL
Kodak BW400CN
ISO 400
90mm Leica lens

Day 269 - Beauty Is In A Smile

I spotted a family walking down the street, ducked in and out of shops and I thought they would be wonderful to photograph.  I had already missed out on a few opportunities during the day so I didn't want to miss another chance so I sat and waited for them to get closer.  I asked the mother if I would be allowed to photograph her kids and she was only to happy for me to go for it.  Unfortunately the shot I took of the young boy didn't work because he blinked, but the young girl was beautiful.  A gorgeous smile came across her face and she held it while I tried to get focus.

Technical:
Leica SL camera
Kodak BW400CN
ISO 400
Leica 90mm lens
f/2.8

Day 265 - Objects and Shapes

I spotted this shot which had a vase and garden ornaments in it... I didn't realise I still had a camera in frame.  It's the first shot where I actually placed the Recesky camera down on a firm platform as to increase the focus and clarity.

Technical:
Recesky camera
ISO 400

Day 264 - Our Shot

Wenz and I were playing around with the plastic toy camera (Recesky) and took a shot of us thinking it wouldn't turn out.  We were to close, unsure of framing, moving to much, and poor light.  We instantly loved the shot once we saw it developed.  The shots nothing special, it's just the moment that made it special.

Technical:
Recesky camera

Day 263 - Inner Beauty

I decided to walk a different way to work today to see if I could spot a shot for the blog.  A recent fire at the Boogie Shack provided the inspiration I required.  Guys were working on the site but as soon as I turned up with the camera, they seemed to disappear.  I decided to frame up a blossom tree in the foreground against an ugly burnt out building.

Technical:
Leica SL camera
Kodak BW400CN
ISO 400
Leica 90mm lens

Day 262 - Work Haze

It had to come, back to work after three weeks holiday.  Fires have been running down the range and sending a haze across the city.  I have been wanting to capture some streets and general imagery because its always interesting looking back at your parents/grand parents photos and seeing what places looked like back then.  I made sure I had some information in the shot (70 Neil Street) so you know where it was taken... just in case the digital information in the picture is lost.

Technical:
Leica R4s camera
Kodak BW400CN
ISO 400

Day 261 - Recesky

Absolutely loving this thing.  You have to pre-visualise what the images are going to turn out like and then you can compose your image to suite.  It's so simple, insert bright day, somewhat interesting subject, point, hit the shutter button... done.

Technical:
Recesky Twin Lens Reflex camera
Kodak 35mm colour film

Day 260 - CJ & Chiya's Wedding

Had an awesome day at my little brother's wedding.  Beautiful day, great subjects, food and four cameras.  What else could I ask for.  Here's a shot I took from the Leica R4s.  Unfortunately I missed focus (by a long way) on a few shots.  I can't work out how I did that but the lesson learnt is take it slow and make sure I have focus, otherwise there's no point in taking the shot.  I had the negatives printed on metallic paper which gives a beautiful look to black & white.  Unfortunately that doesn't translate over to digital when scanning.

Technical:
Leica R4s camera
Kodak BW400CN
ISO 400
f/2.0
1/60

Strobist:
Drinks frig placed left of subject

Day 259 - The Painted Label Band

Went to catch my brother playing in his band tonight.  I've been meaning to catch-up and take some band shots for some time now.  It was extremely low light so I tested the capabilities of the new lens.  I'm impressed with the way I managed to layer this image.  The stage lights coming up underneath the drummer gave an added moody look.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
EF70-200 @ 185mm
ISO 3200
f/2.8
1/40

Image Manipulation:
Black & White conversion, Curves

Day 258 - Close Inspection

Finally starting to finish some rolls of film.  This was a shot of Derek inspecting the Recesky roll of film.  I thought it made a great shot... to finish another roll of film.  This is how the boys printed the metallic paper.  Usually they would trim the paper down to size but I like the look as it was.  Looks like a polaroid.  This is a big moment for Derek, second time on the blog.

Technical:
Leica R4s camera
Kodak BW400CN
ISO 400

Day 257 - New Toy

Bit of a play on quality here.  I shot a picture of my new toy, the Canon 2.8 70-200mm Image Stabilisation lens, from a $20 build yourself eBay camera called a Recesky Twin Lens Reflex Camera.  I love the natural blur to the edges and the harsh vignette you get from the plastic lens.  Definitely a favourite alongside the Holga.  Oh yeah, and the Canon lens is pretty good too.

Technical:
Recesky Twin Lens Reflex Camera

Day 256 - Dump Run

Was out at the dump trying to find some props for a photoshoot and came across some weird stuff which I thought would be an interesting image through the Recesky.  You be the judge.

Technical:
Recesky Twin Reflex Camera

Day 255 - Chronicles of Change

Construction of the new Chronicle building has been heating up so I though I would capture a stage of construction and try to revisit the site again at a future date.  You really notice in this image how the plastic lens blurs off at the edges.  Helps to focus the attention on the centre of the image.  Not always the best for composition however.

Technical:
Recesky Twin Lens Reflex Camera

Day 254 - Shutterbug Competition

I entered my shot from day 217 into a local photographic competition and was a little surprised to find out I was one of three finalists in the hobbyist field which means my image will be on display at the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.  It was pretty cool seeing my image printed in a large format.  I was a little late getting to the awards.  I literally just found a seat, then they called my name out and had to walk up on stage.

Technical:
iPhone

Day 253 - Wonderings

I went for a walk on my own today in search of a worthy photograph for the blog.  I backtracked along the walk I did previously and found a side track which lead to a beautiful little waterfall and pond.  I spent most of my time in this spot picking the best angles to capture the scene.  I've also for the first time moved away from relying on auto white balance and fixing up in post if the colours wrong.  I'm now shooting mostly daylight or cloudy settings depending on the conditions.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
EF70-200 @70mm
ISO 100
f/32
8sec

Day 252 - Goomburra Hike

Went for a 3 hour hike with half of the Tierney gang today.  We saw some nice scenery and I made a mental note for some sites to come back and explore a little further.  While I had plenty of time to sit around and relax, I continued reading a book by John Blakemore, Black and White Photography Workshop which has taught me a lot about film developing techniques which translate directly for digital as well as looking for tonal differences and how to correctly expose for those situations.  Keen to try out some of the things I've read in future shots.  To summarise it, "Expose for your darks (capturing the image), develop for your highlights (processing / photoshop)".

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
EF70-200 @ 110mm
ISO 100
f/32
20secs

Image Manipulation:
Small rotate, crop and vibrance boost, final sharpen

Day 251 - Holga Wife

Here's my baby and Wendy.... hang on, that didn't come out right.  Here's my baby, Wendy and the Holga.  We went for a little explore once we were setup at camp.  Wenz took the Holga and I took the new toy, 70-200mm lens.  I won't be impressed if the images come out better on the Holga than the Canon lens.  Only about $2500 difference in price, but not much of a difference in the fun you can have with either toys.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
EF70-200 @182mm
f/2.8
1/13sec (GO THE IMAGE STABILISER SYSTEM)

Day 250 - Feathered Friends

One of the first days I actually got a chance to play with the new lens.  I wasn't disappointed with the quality and sharpness of this baby.  You can really shot at 3 stops slower than what you normally would shoot.  For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, most people can hand hold (no tripod) at around 1/80th of a second and still get a clear/sharp image.  With this lens, with the magic button turned on, I can shoot at 1/15th of a second and still get a clear image.  [Insert impressed reaction here]

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
EF70-200 @180mm
f/5
1/100sec

Image Manipulation:
Vignette, Dodge and Burn, Enhance yellow, Crop

Day 249 - Ground Glass

I secured a bellows which was used for taking photos of slides.  It got me thinking about converting it into a large format camera.  Kerwin just bought this large format camera from a customer which has all the parts I'm missing.  Unfortunately they are all the expensive parts.  Maybe I'll get to play on this camera instead.

Technical:
Leica R4s camera
Kodak BW400CN film
ISO 400
Leica 50mm lens

Day 248 - Rubby vs Morse

Rubby got his new toy... a Steve Morse guitar.  It's a machine!  Switches and dials everywhere, and as many pickups as you can stuff into a space.

Technical:
Leica R4s camera
BW400CN film
ISO 400

Day 247 - Recesky Build

Kerwin bought me a plastic toy camera which you have to build yourself.  These things are so inexpensive and a ton of fun to build.  Todays inspiration came in the form of the completed camera sitting on top of the instruction manual at the completed stage.

Technical:
Leica SL camera
BW400CN film
ISO 400

Day 246 - Hair Raising

Got a trim today and got a chance to take a photo of Willsy at work, giving Wendy a colour treatment.

Technical:
iPhone