Austentatious

Austentatious

This is another local band from Brisbane, Australia, called Austentatious. They feature an excellent line-up of very talented local musicians. This band is primarily a Bob Marley Tribute/Reggae band, with the aim for coorporate work.

Here's a Lighting Diagram for my setup:

Created using the OLDC

As you can see, it's a fairly simple setup, but the real magic happens in Post-Processing. The quick and dirty version of my workflow for this images was as follows:
- Import into Lightroom
- Do a few minor adjustments (white balance, blacks, crop and straighten)
- Run over it with the spot removal tool and remove all the unwanted bits and pieces
- Export into GIMP
- Apply a Soft light, Screen, and High Pass Filter layer.
- Adjust the opacity of the layers until the desired look is achieved.
- Apply the watermark,
- Export/import back into Lightroom
- Upload.

I did say it would be quick and dirty. If you have any questions/comments about my workflow or setup, or about what I do in general, then please leave a comment below!


J.P.

"Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads..."

Misaligned Values.

I really wish I had more time to write more and show more. But we haven't had internet at our place for the last few days and it's only just re-connected now. So like the good boy I am, I've uploaded a shot from last weekend, taken in a rush on a morning out in the countryside. Be sure to click through it find out the particulars on the image itself.

and be sure to view it large on black, it looks a million times better.


Stay at it.

J.P

Be fruitful, rather than busy.

Meaningless Eccentricities.

I've said it once (maybe not on this blog...) and I'll say it again and
again. I love the night time., but more specifically, the random hours
that I need to be awake to practice my craft. I love the night sky so
much, there's so much out there. I like to sit and ponder.

So yes, I'd planned a nice sleepless weekend, capturing sunsets,
sunrises and startrails as well as attending a meeting for some upcoming
stuff (stay tuned!) and having some chill time with some friends (and
thats just for saturday!)

However my day-job had other ideas, and now I have to work a half-day on saturday morning. Which isn't so bad, it gets me closer to paying off a few debts and closer to saving up for that next camera-related purchase.

The thought that has been rattling around in my brain the last few days is quite simple, and like the title of this post already gives away...Be fruitful, rather than busy. Our lives are so full of junk; wasted time, missed opportunities and depressing regrets. Some house-keeping and spring cleaning of our existence is in order I think. Prune away the dead and useless parts, so that the good stuff may flourish and bear fruit.

Who's with me?


J.P.

In the middle of nowhere is where you find yourself.

Spin me right round.

I love that the earth spins. I love that there's a lean on its axis. I love that the world revolves around the sun. I love that the earth it just one of 9 planets in this solar system (pluto is still a planet!). I love that our solar system is just on of millions in our galaxy, I love that our galaxy is so vast. I love that our Galaxy is just one of billions.

I love that our existence is the tiniest of tiny specks in this universe.

I love that this world supports life.

Our Life.

I love that these things together give us the seasons and the amazing weather that can accompany them. I love that I've got the opportunity and time to capture them. I love that there's like-minded photographers out there who enjoy this as much as I do.

Get out there.


J.P.

(one of these days, I'll document my Post-Processing work-flow for y'all to follow.)

A few hours sleep, 3 hours travel, some slippery rocks and fighting off the sea foam...

...allow me to bring you this:

Improperly exposed; I guess your imagination will have to fill in the rest.

Wow, what a morning! It started early, awaking at 2:30am, on the road by 3:00. I was really unsure about this mornings' expedition, as the weather radar showed rain over the intended destination, but then my alarm, which I attach a message/reminder note to, went off, telling me to, and I quote "Get outta bed you lazy bum." I figure what the heck, what is there to lose? half a tank of petrol? BAH! Nothing! So up I get, and off I head.

The drive up was uneventful, very little rain and the sky was pretty clear when I got to Point Cartwright on the Sunshine Coast. Which was quite a blessing, considering the official forecast and what I predicted it would be like based on the radar.

The surf was quite rough and the tide was high and still rising. Nothing to be especially concerned about, a little bit of care while on the rocks and keeping an eye on the waves would keep me and my camera safe... the huge "man, these are some tough shooting conditions" factor came in the form of sea foam, and lots of it. Coupled with the wind providing the rough surf, and you've got some tough shooting conditions. More than once I found myself suddenly up to my stomach in a pile of foam... and more than once did my poor camera find itself in the middle of that pile.

The worst part about the whole morning, was that as soon as I found myself a seemingly safe position and composition, a few large waves would hammer me, and the foam would love me that little bit too much to make it worthwhile sticking it out. So on I would move to the next composition. On the plus side, I did come away with a large variety of compositions.


But, was it worth it? At the time, I wouldn't have thought so; upon looking at my shots afterwards, most definitely.

You've got to be there to shoot it.

J.P.

Mosquitos: making people smack themselves in the face since forever.

Space and time matter not, only your perception of them.

alarm, 3am, wake up, put on clothes, look outside, clear skies, grab camera, regret not having warmer clothing, soak yourself in repellant, walk out the door, find location in the dark, setup camera, high ISO, test composition, lower ISO, set timer remote,

...and shoot....

Sit back and soak up the wonder of the night sky; and know that my camera is capturing what I see.

Time to ponder, time to think, time to just sit.

J.P.

It might be love...or simply a passing fad...

The best ten seconds of your life.

Some rambling thoughts....
I'm just going to throw this out there...I'm falling in love....with my ND400 filter... and before you ask and comment, no this isn't some sick man and machine type love... this is photographic love. I am starting to visualize and see a part of life that you just can't see normally. Life is experienced in the "here and now." We see life as it happens, there is no going backwards; no going forwards, only what we experience at this very present moment.

ND filters change this status quo; with them we can see time, so to speak. We get to see many seconds worth of time in a single shot... and this experience is one that is uniquely reserved for the photographic community.

And as a photographer I feel pretty darn lucky having that opportunity.

About the photo...
So tonight I've taken some time to get outta town and visit the parents back home. I do this for the family, a great home cooked meal and the photographic recharge I always get from visiting home. I never come away with amazing photos, there are the exceptions, of course, but I'm not there for great photos. I'm there for a recharge, which for me is just getting out there with the camera, and extending my skills at macro (running around the garden chasing bees is quite fun), catching the sunrise or sunset across the dam next door. Just simply being out there with the camera and no expectations of expecting great photos. (as above)

What's your method of recharging those photographic batteries?


J.P.

There isn't a word to describe me right now.

Your entire existance is but the tiniest of blips on an infinitely large radar.

And there you have it, another shot from the weekends escapades at Coolangatta.

Not alot from me today, feeling quite tired and drained, work has me starting at odd hours this week (4am yesterday!), I'm heading back to my folks place tomorrow night, I'll look at writing something more substantial from there. (may even post something!)

Somewhere out there, is a parallel universe where you're a vagrant clown.

Stalking the sun

OK, so finally I've had a weekend where I'm not too tired from the weeks' activities and where I've been in a position to get up well before dawn and go shoot the sunrise. This week it was off to visit Point Danger/Coolangatta/Snapper Rocks down near the border. Nature must have been on my side, because, despite the fact that it had been raining non-stop for the last few weeks and that it was raining on the drive down and I do believe that it was raining further south of Point Danger, Nature really put on an amazing show. For reasons unknown, Coolangatta was completely dry; it seemed as though there had not been a drop of rain all evening. It was very similar conditions to the last time I shot the sunrise from Snapper Rocks.

The original plan was to shoot snapper rocks for the sunrise (as I had done previously) then move onto various rocks and do some long exposures of the water, etc...however upon arriving it was well noted that the surf was quite high, quite unpredictable and super choppy...all the necessary ingredients to having your camera take an unplanned salt bath. needless to say I like my gear more than that, plus, the sun (as it was last time) was rising quite a way around the headland, thus making it very difficult to actually shoot the sunrise.

Instead the whole operation was moved around to the south facing side of the headland where the surf was quite a bit smoother, the waves more predictable, and the rocks alot nicer.

The Un-nameable Photo

All in all the sunrise mission was a major success, and a complete surprise considering the horrible weather we've been having lately. It was such a great freedom to stretch the photographic legs, and witness the beauty and majesty of nature's canvas.

You ought not to waste your time; you never know when you'll be out of it.

Things learnt:
- You have to be there to get the shot
- Don't forget your ND400 when visiting the beach (DOH!)
- Always bring a dry change of clothes and a towel to the beach


Peace,
J.P.

If you keep spending, and not saving, you'll go broke.

That post title completely sums up most ares of my life at the moment. Photographically speaking, I haven't been able to get out much due to work, church and social commitments, not to mention that the doing of those leaves me pretty drained for the weekend, meaning that early mornings are harder to get up for. Which also means that I am having to dig around in the vaults of my extensive photography folders to find something new and fresh to post on my flickr stream.

And considering that I have not been out in a long while...the vault is slowly getting empty.

The worst part is that because I haven't been out in a long while, when I go out now, I'm very rusty in motivation and composition; I need to get my 'eye' back, so to speak.

So I give you the latest little gem that I've managed to find in the vault.

This was taken at Pt. Cartwright on the Sunshine Coast back at the end of November, 2009.

Catch you on the flipside,
J.P.