The Batblog by Photobat

My photo of Rove McManus is in this auction, if you like it, go along and bid for it!

This is all happening in Melbourne, so may be out of reach for some.

“KNOWN”
Fundraiser For The Daylesford Foto Biennale.
As photography experiences an unprecedented boom the world over and people embrace it as the art form of the masses, the Daylesford Foto Biennale (DFB07) has positioned itself as one of Australia’s premier photographic festivals.
However, running a festival is no easy matter and the difficulties of obtaining government and corporate sponsorships is as difficult as ever.
So, in a fundraiser to support the DFB07, some of Australia’s finest portrait photographers have donated images of famous people to be auctioned this Saturday 4th August at 2
pm.
“Known”, showcases, not only celebrity, but notoriety, fame, political greatness, sporting prowess and genius. From Winston Churchill to Rove McManus, to music legends, BB King, The Police and Mick Jagger. Also featured will be a classic image by John Casamento, of Rock and Roller, Chubby Checker doing “The Twist” at Festival Hall in 1962.

Photographer and Gallery owner, David Johns will be hosting the fundraising event for the Biennale at David ohns Gallery, 15A Railway Place, Fairfield, this Saturday 4th August at 2 pm. Entry is from Gillies St. (Mel 30 K11).
Refreshments will be available.
Come along, meet some of the participating photographers and make a bid on some classic images, that will look great on your wall for years to come.

Bidding begins at 2.30 pm. You can view images online at
http://www.davidjohnsgallery.com/known/

For more information you can contact David Johns at
david@davidjohnsphotography.com
Or
Andrew Chapman at
andrew@bigcheez.com.au

Across the road from my office is a cool little shop called “content”. It’s where i bought my cool brown coffee mugs for the office and has heaps of great little things from candles to card to kids clothes to dog shampoo.

The shop is run by Melinda and she is assited by Finn who sleeps under the counter most of the day only occasionally venturing out to say hello to customers.

Shot for my Portrait of the Week.

Content is located at 63a Brisbane St, Launeston, right next door to Flight Center.

My broter and his partner moved into their new house on the weekend, i assisted a little with some box moving and took a couple of photos. Some other photos may appear on his flickr account one day.

It’s a nice little house with a lot of potential, and more importantly for Bruce, it has a nice wall big enough for him to put his projector screen in front of!

Congratulations to Bruce and Tiarne for owning their own little place in suburbia!

Tara, the artist responsible for the great teacosy images now has a blog up. At the moment it has images from the exhibition opening in Melbourne. Check it out!

More images from the Revolution are located here

This blog is about cute cats! But really more about the lighting I used to get the shots.

I have taken a few lees formal portraits of Bitey Mouse and Kooshan, but after seeing the work of Rachael Hall I was inspired to do something a bit more studio like. I also wanted to show off Bitey Mouse’s cross eyedness!

But I don’t really have a studio…. Step one was the backgrounds, if you look at Rachel’s work she has amazing colours that compliment the animal. I found 3 different materials at spotlight, all with a floral pattern, to use as a background. The background was going to be out of focus, and the pattern would provide a bit of texture to the final image.

Initially i was going to pull out my lights and set up a small studio. I decided the light coming thought he lounge room window would be perfect, but as it was direct sun, I had to diffuse it to make it not so harsh and reduce the brightness of the whole scene. I did this by hanging some translucent material over the window.

So i pegged the background onto a clothes drier, set up the ironing board for the cats to sit on and teased them with a knitting needle to get some reactions (And a good chew if they got hold of it!)

The bright light was great for getting a fast shutter speed, but it make the cat’s pupils a bit small, taking out a bit of the cuteness (The larger the pupils, the cuter the animal - see Puss In Boots in Shrek).

Just playing around with Vikashni and the Kaba Dog. Just experimenting with light and high ISO’s.

This was lit with the overhead fluro , not the best of light sources, and the background is a lamp shined at the curtain diffused through a laundry basket. Shot at 800 Iso i think at f2.8.

“It’s freezing Mummy” is the quote from the shoot, and Peyton was right, it was very very cold! The shoot was organised by Nicole as a surprise for her husband Kevin, Jude and paton’s father, and it would still be a surprise except Jude filled his Dad in on what they had done that morning “We went to the museum and a man took our photos!”.

We wandered around the inverek area, playing with the train tracks and Jude’s Percy toy, while Peyton was happy just carrying around Dolly!

As it was a bit to cold in te shadows (where I normally like to shoot) we explored taking photos in the warm sunlight! We managed to get some great shots there too!

This shoot was also fantastic for finding some great complimentary colour backgrounds. I always will look at what kids are wearing and find a background that really helps make them stand out, which really makes for more dynamic images.

It seems I’ve been having a run of people I know getting hitched! Hugh is the brother of my good friend Sarah, and he asked a girl called Piet to marry him, and she did!

They both live and work in the ACT now, but met while studying and working around the uni in Hobart. I had only met Piet a handful of times before the wedding and they have all been great conversations, so i was really looking forward to their big day!

Not your typical wedding either, it was in winter(thankfully a surprisingly warm day!), and everyone was getting ready at the same place in the same couple of rooms! Their were not any real bridesmaids or groomsmen as such but both were surrounded by their closest friends. The guys were entertaining with their impromptu Super Hero poses with the soothing mask, while the girls had to deal with all those buttons!

Before the ceremony we headed off to Richmond for some photos with initially Hugh and Piet, and then joined by the rest of the crew from the house. Richmond Bridge is the oldest bridge in Australia, and is a great backdrop for some photos, the convict stonework is amazing!

After the photos we went off to Meadowbank Vineyard where some more friends joined us for photos and then a little break followed by the ceremony in the main building. The ceremony was conducted by Kaye Haward (one of my favourite celebrants in Hobart!).

Following all the signings and pats on the back it was straight to the food and drink, followed by a surprise dance from Hugh and Piet. It was the first time many people had seen Hugh dance, and he didn’t disappoint!

Georgie and Garth

Georgie was the year below me at Grammar, and as life continued on its journey, became friends through non school related mutual friends. And so when her wedding came along it was fantastic! I had taken a portrait of Georgie and garth about 18 months before the wedding, and even before they were engaged, that shoot was fun, down on Salamanca in Hobart. I picked up in that session how important Garth’s car was to him (a 1975 Dolomite Sprint Triumph).

So Georgie returned to Launceston for her wedding, with her 2 bridesmaids and her getting fully prepared at her parents place, while the guys had a bit of a wait for Breakfast at the Metz.

The ceremony was held in my old school chaple at Grammar, with a typically windy day but surprisingly sunny for a Tasmanian autumn day.

The photo session was great, initially we headed down to the old silos on the edge of the river and took photos between the woolsheds, this was so i could get some shade (which is ideal for shooting a large group and a car!). Yes, garth’s Triumph was the main wedding car, so I had to get a shot of him with it! The second part of the photos was planned to be on my office roof top, but it was a little too sunny…. so the idea came together to shoot the whole bridal party from above, while they walked across the street! The only issue with that is blocking traffic while we used both crossings, one of the drivers was put in charge of stopping the oncomming traffic, and no one got hurt, which is always a good thing!

After the antics on the road, the light was just right on the roof top, so we all ran around in the coolish evening light getting some fantastic shots, the one below is my fave, the old building on George Street have been in my mind for a long time, trying to get them as a background for a shot, and I finally got it!

The reception was a cocktail style reception held at the GPO in central Launceston. As i was also a guest at the wedding i did get to sample some of the great nibbles that Juan and his team had created. The GPO is a fantastic venue!

Jane Ward from Sacred Heart Weddings did a fantastic job, it’s the first time i’ve worked with a wedding planner. I admit, i was initially a little scared (what does a wedding planner do, will it affect the way i normally shoot ect ect), but it was really great. I can’t wait till next January when we will be working together on Scott and Paula’s wedding at Peppermint Bay!

Mikelangelo is the leader of the Black Sea Gentlemen, they have traveled many lands, over earth and sea to share their tales with a unique mix of story telling and Baltic styled music. I saw them in Edinburgh and instantly knew I wanted to take their photo, and as it turned out, Mikelangelo lives in Taroona, just south of Hobart and the whole crew was in town earlier this year for 10 days on the Island.

The shoot happened one afternoon in Taroona, initially we tried some set up shots inside and then moved out towards the river. Initially I was thinking of using the rocks that were easy to get to, but the gentlemen had other ideas and stripped off into their underwear and swam out to the rocks, keeping their hair immaculate!

Their clothing was taxied out to them in a basket by Undine Francesca and they balanced precariously when it came to putting on the suits. By this time, I was ready to shoot, but I couldn’t get close enough. I once again went into water for the sake of a photo, and got out to a rock that had a much better angle. Then we waited for the light, they sang songs, a few passers by took seats and listened,and a conversation was held with a surprised swimmer!

The shoot was over just in time, as the tide was coming in and Sam the Bassist was rapidly running out of rock to stand on! They swam in with their hats on and then sang some songs for a video camera, bobbing in the water with only their heads and hats above the water.

After the shoot they rushed back inside to the open fire that was conveniently burning.

Have a listen to them on their website, and buy a cd!