Our replacement shoot for the weekend is the Big Bay Swim Festival in Williamstown on Sunday, 22nd February. Meet at the Rotunda, Commonwealth Reserve, Nelson Place, Williamstown at 10:00am.
For more information, click here.
News
It's thistle time. Check out the local empty blocks and paddocks for loads of thistles full of pollen and bees. Kororoit Creek Road has a stack of them near Grieve Parade. Guaranteed bees, bees and more bees. If you're like me and want to pinch a few to take home, use secatuers and some really thick gloves as they have some mean barbs on them.
What about a new start for the new year? Why not a 365 project? A photo a day for the rest of the year.
five-beautiful-365-photo-projects-get-inspired
These long evenings are great for backlit photos.
More new years' good ideas
New-years-resolutions-15-ideas-for-photographers
10-photography-resolutions-new-year
Christmas tree bokeh portraits
How to take bokeh xmas images with 31 stunning example
Shoot thru xmas lights
Forced perspective with bokeh
Xmas light bokeh background
Must get xmas pictures before the tree comes down
Xmas light painting
Abstract images of xmas lights
Last night was our end of years awards night and party night. Over the last year we have had a terrific selection of photos put into our competitions. Each year sees the quality getting better and better. Just goes to show that we can all keep learning and improving.
Friday Night
A few members (12) arrived in Bright and headed off to have dinner at the local pub, after sampling the local parma (alpine) full tummies and left overs for breakfast. Some went home to bed after finding out the Myrtleford show was on Saturday. A few dedicated souls went off in search of a good position for night photography of stars.
Saturday
After a relaxing breakfast, a few went to Wandillong and the rest headed off to the Myrtleford Show, touted on a website as follows - Fun family day with events including; wood chop events, cattle and horse events, arts and craft, photography exhibition and competition, horticulture, rides, entertainment, showbags, animal nursery and much more. The Show was small, but there were lots of photo opportunities. The official part of the weekend started at 2:00 pm meeting at the Visitors Centre and our photography guide for the weekend – Christian Jemison. 22 members attended. The program for the rest of Saturday was 3 gardens and sunset down by the river. 2 gardens were part of the Open Garden Program and all were full of colour, loads of fun with your Macro lens. Late afternoon we headed off to the other side of Bright and down to the river. We spread out, finding different vistas that took our eye. Sunset turned into something spectacular. Even the view from the hotel balcony was stunning. Dinner on Saturday night at the local pizza joint, saw a few members enjoy the nectar of the local fruit and discuss the day’s events.
Sunday
Only the die hard photographers in the group got up at 4:30 am and headed up to Mt. Buffalo for sunrise, which was lovely. After breakfast, we were back at a local garden and then headed off to a creek at the base of Mt. Buffalo. Just before lunch most members started the trek back to suburbia and left the tranquil Ovens Valley. As you can see from the photo gallery, members enjoyed themselves and if you have been considering coming but think “I’ll be by myself”, that’s not the case, everyone is welcomed, helped if necessary with settings and given the opportunity to meet and get to know other members in a social setting.
See Bright Weekend Away Gallery.
Zack Arias' "OneLight 2.0" is a pretty cool video workshop. Zack doesn't play favourites with tech, using many cameras and a few different methods of connecting to his one light.
As photographers I think we overthink our setups sometimes and one thing OneLight shows us is that you can do great things with the one light and a few different modifiers. And they don't have to be expensive modifiers.
Approximately 13 members experienced the wonders of St Paul’s beach.
We arrived at 2:00 pm and tide was up, but as the afternoon progressed, the tide receded and light changed. Being a beach nestled on the south side, we didn’t really have the wind that was lashing the Bay. So the afternoon was spent finding things to photograph, some members even brought their own props! We scoped around for sunset sites and decided that it would be fizzer due to the cloud cover, but as always mother nature keeps you guessing and we were rewarded with a beautiful one.
A few members tried their hand with the ND filters and other filters on hand. Another great get together, with one member showing that she is in the running for baking queen of the club. If you’ve ever thought about coming on an outing, please consider it, members are chatty and helpful, and who knows you may meet a new friend.
Another night of great entries and creativity. Our thanks to judge Heather Prince.
Digital: Open
1st - Chasing My Shadow - Phil Taylor
2nd - Wheel Bubbles - Nola Kelsey
3rd - Dark Sky - Cathy Buchanan
HC - Neil - Arvin Coloma
HC - Sally - Andrea Sparks
HC - Feathered 747 - Ronald Clarke
Print: Open
1st - The Apple Peeler - Brett Ferguson
2nd - The Daily Commute - Cathy Buchanan
3rd - Two Of A Kind - Ronald Clarke
HC - Stare Me Down - Arvin Coloma
HC - What’s Up? - Lisa Leone
Digital: Night/Low Light Photography
1st - Light In Winter - Karen Malbon
2nd - Phone Booth - Arvin Coloma
3rd - Willy At Night - Derek Warren
HC - Anyone Out There? - Brett Ferguson
HC - Whizzing Wheel - Nola Kelsey
Print: Night/Low Light Photography
1st - Steel Wool On Fire - Leeanne Laidlaw
2nd - Westgate Moon - Brett Ferguson
3rd - BP On Geelong Ring Road - Lisa Leone
HC - Fireworks Finale - Neil Anderson
Print: Novice
1st - Midnight At The Apostles - Paula O’Shea
Another night of great entries and great imagination. Many balloons were hurt in the making of this competition. Our thanks to judge David Burren for his comments and critiques and also for calibrating our projector.
Digital Open
1st - Sleeping Beauty - Dee Palma
2nd -Beauty of light - Brett Ferguson
3rd - Ice hockey conga line - Phil Taylor
HC - Howling Gale - Neil Anderson
HC - Rock with Scottie
Print Open
1st - Into the light - Brett Ferguson
2nd - True love - Dee Palma
3rd - Fishing Halong Bay - Andrea Sparks
Digital Paper Bag Challenge
1st - Don't let go - Arvin Coloma
2nd - Pink explosion - Phil Taylor
3rd - On our way - Trevor Davis
Print Paper Bag Challenge
1st - You had me at log in - Arvin Coloma
2nd - Popped - Cathy Buchanan
3rd - Pop - Lisa Sandy
HC - Balloon play Cambodian Style
Novice Digital
1st - Just Chillin - Darren Malthouse
Well may we call this outing an opportunity to take ‘good’ pics, but trying to capture images of a keeping standard proved to be quite a challenge! Taking shots indoors under artificial (and relatively low level) light, through a scratched plastic screen, onto a white reflective surface, of fast moving ice hockey players moving in erratic, unpredictable directions from up to 60m away was something new to me. This was compounded by a total ignorance of any rules regarding the sport which, in turn, removed the ability to anticipate any upcoming strategies or moves by the players.
Well, after a bit of trial and error, I sorted out the technical bits on the camera that enabled me to potentially capture the players (ISO 2000, F2.8, 1/1250th sec, 70-200mm lens, AI servo mode, high speed continuous mode). However framing good shots was still a problem.
So I decided to ‘think dirty’ - I tried to figure out which was the the weaker goalie and then position myself at their end on the assumption that sooner or later the opposition would give them a hard time. And, within reason, it worked and the poor goalies got a pounding! I don’t know how there are not more injuries, despite all the padding the players wear. Those goalies must have double jointed knees! And I’m not too sure about having equal opportunity for both sexes as the girls sure gave the guys a hard time in the hoppo bumpbo stakes!
My personal track record was an unenviable 770 shots taken over a 3+ hour session, mostly taken in continuous shooting mode, for a return of nominally 1% of keepers! Probably one of my worst returns ever!!! I think I will have to go back again and use my new found knowledge to advantage and try to improve.
Thanks to Cathy and the committee for organising the day out, lots of fun, good company (a nominal attendance of 15-20 members) and some more photography lessons learned.
Upcoming
Presentation: Infrared Photography - David Marland
We will take a look at the art of Infrared Photography and the equipment used to make such beautiful imagery.
Entries due for VAPS Competition subject is open - Prints and Digital images accepted
Walker Close Community Centre
25th February 2025 7:30 pm
Photo Opportunity: Blue Lotus Water Garden
Join us for a day out at the Blue Lotus Water Garden. A great location for a few different types of photography.
Blue Lotus Water Garden
2nd March 2025 11:00 am