5 Silvers for some prints and another silver for a wedding album. The wedding album went on to take out 2010 Tasmanian Wedding Album of the Year. Second time in a row i’ve picked up that one. Very happy about that. I’ll post the wedding album in it’s entirety soon… maybe even make it a slideshow.

Thanks to all the great clients who he were involved in making these shots happen!

I’m really enjoyed working with Michael and Camille, they are a nice Melbourne couple who decided that Tasmania would be a really great spot to get married. And a couple of weekend ago they did just that. Almost everyone at the wedding was an import and Tasmania put on a great bit of weather for them all.

The day started off with some guys getting their fill at Zum, where Michael’s son met us then off to Zero Davey to get all dressed and pretty. I took one of my favoutie ring shots ever there and enjoyed watching four grown men attempting to tie the same tie at the same time.

We found Camille all pretty in pink hanging out with some family and friends at the IXL apartments. I’d never been to the apartments, quite a spectacular entrance. The girls all chowed down on various nice things before being ushered out so Camille could get ready with her Mum. I like a different coloured wedding dress, Zakk describes this one as fairy floss pink, which is a little better than my descriptive attempt red pants left in the wash with the whites. It was a great pastel pink colour that really suited Camille.

When everyone was ready it was time to meet up before the wedding. Michael and Camille arranged some time for family photos and come couple shots before the ceremony. Of course, the family shots were slightly interrupted when Michael’s dad got into a spot of bother we a few thousand bikers (he got stuck in the toy run traffic). We found a heap of different spots around the water front and took some of my new favorite wedding shots. I really liked the portrait I took of Michael’s son Zak sitting on the floor in T42. We then met up with everyone to get on board Peppermint Bay II and head down to the ceremony at Peppermint Bay.

I’m lucky that in my job I get to spend heaps of time photographing people like these guys, they are so nice! Congrats again Michael and Camille

The last few weeks have been a little crazy, seems like I’ve only spent a couple of days in the office. Actually, I have only spent a couple of days in the office. We have been all over the place, started off with a bit of speaking over in Perth WA. Great place, great photographers, great people, great food, great wine, great coffee and great grates too (you know I love urban shots!).

The whole reason for the trip was to do a presentation to about 80 photographers along side David Oliver, Christian Fletcher and Ric Syme. I really enjoyed the event and had heaps of good feedback. While out west I finally got to visit Jorgensen Albums, this is the place I get all my wedding and portrait albums hand made by a team of skilled and passionate people. I’ve been using these guys for about 6 years now, talked on the phone, emailed and sent Christmas cards to, but never met them in person. They were all taller than I expected.

I must have said a funny. Christian Fletcher, Me and David Oliver doing a joint Q and A at the end of the presentatioin, photo by Vikashni Moyle, she is talented!

It was fascinating to see all that went into making the albums and the amount of staff working away. I’ve got some images I’ll post soon. Then it was time for not working time. Summer is coming and I can see it’s going to be very busy so any time I can get at the moment is spent with Vee.

We managed to pack a lot in 2 day, both in things we did and things we ate / drank. There was catching up with photographers, checking out galleries, drinking wine, tasting cheese, waiting for sunsets that were always obscured by clouds, and then also some more wine tasting. The Margaret River / Dunsborough area were incredible, and I am looking forward to heading back there one day.

Some Holga action north of Margaret River

Clooney at Barwick Vineyard

Voyager Vineyard

Vikashni shooting the sunset, somewhere south of Perth

Then home for a couple of days and just as I got back into the swing of things it was off to Hobart. Hobart was a mix of Vee time, client time, learning time and speaking time. It was all based around a presentation I did for the Tasmanian Division of the Australian Institute of Photography. Vee also managed to into the talking spirit, doing a presentation to the happy snappers on social media. I was proud of her little talk! My talk was about evolving in photography from shooting body parts to shooting weddings and other stuff.

When that was all wrapped it was off to home for a few hours, a quick trip to the office and then on a big metal bird to the home of iconic music houses and water crossing structures. Yes, Sydney. A few days up there learning things, getting inspired and hanging around with some awesome photographers.

A shot of the back of a guys head with some kind of iconic bridge in the background

So I’m back now fully inspired and ready for action. There will be some changes about the place, nothing too major and all very cool. It may even involve some new products and saying good bye to some old ones. Looking forward to new ways of processing my images, getting new things up on the website, getting back to some old ways of shooting and catching up with all the clients who are coming back for their Christmas photos. Anyways, hope you are well and things are moving at a manageable pace in the right direction for you.

Oh and Congrats to Deb F for being the latest random Batblog comment prize winner! Some cool things are heading your way once I find out where to send them! Remember, big prize of limited edition art print will be drawn at the end of the month for a person who comments on the Batblog. Why not leave one now???

Sunday was a bit strange… There was this blue stuff in the sky and a big bright thing too. So Vee, Kaba and I, like the rest of Launceston, went out to expore in what seemed like a Spring day.

The most exciting thing was seeing a seal swinning up into the Gorge. The Gorge is still very flooded and we watched it fighting the water for about 20 minutes. Vee worked on getting some shots of it, while i concentraited on the little doggie at my feet. Kaba didn’t like being on the bridge too much but was happy for all the pats and compliments of the passers by.

Last week I was in Melbourne with some spare time and decided to just go for a walk. The above video is the result, a mini documentary of Brunswick Street in Fitzroy between Gertude and Johnston.
Let me know what you think, should I do more of these?

Friday night saw the BATBOOTH heading back to the spectacular Albert Hall. This time we were shooting people to raise some cash for prostate cancer research at Simon’s Cancer Ball. The organiser, Stuart, lost his Dad last year to prostate cancer and out of that sadness came this fantastic night of raising awareness and funds to help fight this cancer.

Some facts I learnt from Dr Harry, who was one of the speakers.

1: Each year more Australian men die of prostate cancer than Australian women die of breast cancer

2: Initial tests for the cancer is a simple blood test

and

3: Hearing about the further tests for prostate cancer while eating does put you off your food but inturn makes you want to run to your doctor.

So guys, if you are over 50 and haven’t started to have an annual test you better start as 1 in 11 men are going to get this. The odds aren’t great.

This was one of the best charity balls I have been to, organised by very enthusiastic and dedicated team who put in many hours of work to get this together. I have no idea what the amount raised on the night was, but we will be adding to it with $10 from each print sale heading off to add to the total.

And again finally, over 50, male SEE YOUR DOCTOR.

Learn more here 

Head over to see the rest of the photos here

Hey wow… this is my 700th Batblog post!

This first bit was written on Tuesday, 4.09pm Tas Time, 5.09pm Queensland Time

The weekend is over! I know it was over a few days ago but it has been a very busy few days starting in North West Tasmania, on to Brisbane and then to home.  I’m fealing exhausted but thought I should write a little post to update you on what is been going on.

Saturday was a long day for a great wedding. Hayley and Aaron tied the knot at Highfield House in Stanley, here is a preview, and a full post will be up in a couple of days.

 I managed to get back in the door after the wedding at 11.30pm and then packed for Queensland. It seems that I only had a couple of hours sleep before the 5am alarm went off so I could get to the airport for the 7am to Melbourne then up to Brisbane.

I had been invited up to speak at the Australian Institute of Professional Photography’s Hair of the Dog conference. It was my first time to this conference and I was impressed, a heap of speakers, lots of sessions, a big trade show and most importantly quite a lot of participants.

My talk was delivered in the late afternoon to about 100 or so people and I am told went quite well. There were a heap of people who hung around to have a chat afterward. There was a cocktail party afterwards where I hit the water and orange juice hard, where large amounts of others hit the jager-bombs hard and woke the next morning with drinking related issues. I was stuffed so headed home early and turned on the TV to be horrified by the fires.

I had been away from news all day and could not take my eyes off the TV. It is horrific. The next afternoon I realised that my old head lecturer Gale Spring lives in one of the areas where people have died. It took a couple of days but I did track him down and heard the story of the fire coming towards them and then turning away when the wind changed. They were lucky.

Back to the presentations and we heard and saw photos from about another photographer in north Queensland who has had 7 foot of water through his shop and studio. His computers and equipment were stashed in the ceiling to keep them dry.

It really is a sad time in this country.

Last night I had dinner with some of the remaining photographers before heading off to see Jason Starr, a photographer who was a great help to me when I was starting out and always a delight to meet up with to talk shop and life. This morning I was with new friends Todd and Aleda, we met after my talk and Todd asked me if I have photos taken of myself often. I try every year or so to have photos taken of Vikashni and I, it is good to be on the other side to remember what it is like. He and Aleda hadn’t had photos since they were married 8 years ago, so this morning changed that. See below for a little preview…

 After the shoot I had a mini studio tour through some inner city photography businesses, sharing ideas and stories. Photographers are a great group, most are willing to share for the greater knowledge of everyone. I know I have picked up things that will be used at Photobat and I know there are ideas I have given that are already being picked up by photographers here.

I’ll post some more shots later, for now it is time to catch a plane and get some sleep.

————————————————————————————–

Now, its a few days later and here are a heap of photos from the last few days including a lot of portraits of photographers.

 And on a hopeful and really cool note, I dropped off some clothing to the local drop off point which is some local parliamentary offices. I was early so I just though that what was left out the front was because they were not open. I was wrong; they were out the front because inside was packed. There was no room to move. It is a mammoth effort that made me feal really proud to be from Launceston. So much giving and I heard that people turned up with cash to donate but they couldn’t accept it, so the people went to the shops, bought clothes and donated them. Go Launceston!

Bruce Fairfax is a teacher at my old high school. He has been there for a while and is now moved up to the role of deputy principal. I guess the teachers that stand out are the ones you like or really don’t like. I really liked Mr Fairfax. He did not teach any classes I took, we only came into contact through other non classroom activities like school productions and when I hung about and annoyed friends on the debating team he ran. He also gave me my first reference that helped me get my first job, hand written on the school letter head.

What is even more fun is re connecting with teachers and having adult to wise adult conversations. It has been really great taking these photos for no real reason than an excuse to talk and listen to stories. You never really get to know teachers that well when you are a student, so I can highly recommend connecting with your favourite teachers.

(and hope that they don’t read your blog posts and correct your grammar)

So, i have new signage. Thanks to Chris at Fabric-Eight for designing them and also to Scott from Think Big Printing for installing them.

My laptop is currently being formatted due to be slow. Great timing for the laptop to be playing up too. I have a few days left until I head off to Queensland for my presentations. It means i’ll be spending some late nights in the office (like all of them) getting things ready.

The presentations are coming together. I just figured out how to work Mr T into one of them, so it’s all going well.

I had a call last week from the President of the Queensland division of the Australian Institute of Professional Photograpy asking if I would be interested in doing a presntation at their Hair of the Dog event up in Brisbane. Sounds like a bit of fun, i’ll whip something into shape for the presentation, I then asked the question how long do I have to present? 90 minutes… twice… on the same day…

…

I said Brilliant!!! and have started to prep a talk. I think it is supposed to be mostly on Portraits, but i’ll probably mix it up a bit.

I only just wondered who dropped out, who’s shoes am I filling, who is the person people have actually booked to see? I did a little searching and discovered i’m replacing Robin Selleck, a celebrity portrait photographer… quite a big name… seems like I have very big shoes to fill (especially since my shoe size is a 6).

Now unlike Robin, I haven’t had exhibitions tour nationally with sponsorship from big multi national companies, don’t have any books out and certainly have not been featured in almost every glossy in the country.

As I mentioned, i’ll be presenting a bit of a mix of things, most people will be interested in my work with comedians and musicians, i’m also hoping that most people will enjoy my take on the domestic wedding and portrait world. I’ll be adding in a little bit about my marketing and personal projects. So if you have booked in to see Robin, please check out my site and my work, I’m not a swish high flier, I don’t have a producer or manager. I have me and my mobile and some friends. I take photos because I love to do it and have met some fantastic people while doing it, some shoots take months to organise and last a few seconds, others take a few seconds to organise and last hours.

So, the shoes i’m filling are much bigger, but I WILL WEAR BIG SOCKS.

See you in Brisbane next week! Mention this blog post and i’ll give you a lollypop!

 Hair of the Dog site

A few photos taken on the drive back from the East Coast on Australia Day, we were up there to shoot a wedding on the Sunday and stayed over to have a good breakfast and take some photos for fun on the way home.

We all had a really nice breakfast at the Village Store and More in St Helens, which has fantastic coffee, great breakfast menu, an Aussie rock singing chef and apologetic waitresses who only apologise about the chef’s singing. I wasn’t worried about the singing, I recognised it as Ruck Rover and surprised the chef by knowing who they were. The place is vintage, you spend most of your time reading the old magazines and newspapers that cover the tables.

On the drive back we stopped in Derby, which is V and my regular stopping spot on the drive back. Zakk and I explored the old grandstand (more photos to come) and then we all discovered that the Devonshire Tea’s at Berrie’s cafe are quite good, plus they gave Kaba a drink.

Sorry about that, I kinda disappeared for a week or two there. I’m happy to say I’m alive, refreshed and ready to take a heap of photos this year. I will be digging into my emails and messages in the next couple of days, expect a call.

Over the last couple of weeks I did a few shoots, and also the weeks before Christmas were crazy, so the batblog is a feeling bit neglected.

Never to fear, it will be going completely nuts in the next couple of weeks to get updated. There may be a little less writing, that way I don’t have to think too much and the photos can get our of the hard drives and see the light of day.

Some photos of the animals from the break.

I got a cool, heavy based frypan for Christmas. It was sitting on the bench about to be washed and seasoned for the first time when I left the room for a second. When I returned, Kooshan was sitting in it. This is a photo of Kooshan a minute later sitting in his Laundry… or as we like to call it, his cell. He spends a lot of time there.

Kaba got a bone thing, and wasn’t sure what to do with it. He decided it was precious and spent a lot of time protecting it and not eating it.

This is an older one of Mouse I hadn’t posted yet. He is helping Vikashni with her sewing.

And this is my pretty wife.

So, what does this year hold for Photobat? Well, soon we will see what is behind door 36… Plus a bucket load of weddings this month, quite a few portraits and as usual, a heap of stuff that we have no idea about yet.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, and look forward to talking, seeing or emailing you soon!

A wind slammng experiance did not do a lot of good for my office door today.

I do have new glass now, but it is not the cool detective glass that used to be there. So that isn’t so good, but at least the office is secure again!

A typical day at home…

Mouse helps out Vikashni making soft toys…

Kooshan looks out for trouble, and if there isn’t any about, causes his own. He is in the Laundry.

And Kaba destroys another toy.
Another typical weekend.

It was a busy Saturday, a couple of shoots in Hobart and another in Launceston.  More about them later in the week. Here are a few nice random shots from the weekend.

Madeline with her colourful dog tag bling

Zak in the grass, gotta love that new lens!

The hardware bag belongs to James, he has had it for years and it still functions well as a general bag

This is Zak retrieving a clients hat he was looking after… and i just realised he has my new lens in his other hand… which is over rocks and water… hmm…

This is a duck, a Battery Point duck to be precise

Another dog, but I have no idea whom it belongs to but it is cute

Another nice shot from down Battery Point way, I really like this one which i can only assume is a greandfather and granddaugher.

It has been over a year since I first met Anthony and Amanda, at that time Amanda was quite pregnant and gave me a hand in updating my pregnancy folio. I have to say, both Anthony and Amanda are very special people, so friendly and I found myself staying a bit longer than normal for a chat at the end of the session. So now Ella is about and I have been back three times to photograph her so that we could put together an album showing her first 12 months. She is very very cute in both looks and in what she does, she is lucky to have such top parents who are completely in love and in awe of her!

 So below is the podcast that follows the Castray’s progress, from Pregnancy to just after Ella’s first birthday. It has been a preverlidge to spend time with this awesome family and I’m looking to catching up with them again soon, if only for a cup of tea!

Saturday, Sunday and even Monday saw me out of town and all the way down south in Hobart. We even transported the office so the viewings we had down there were in the hotel apartment where Zak and I were staying. We even took the espresso machine and Coco Bean Chocolates! If you were down in Hobart you may have seen that Saturday afternoon saw a huge range of weather in a short time, one minute it was nice, then windy, then a flash flood followed by locusts! (well, i saw a grasshopper). We had a shoot booked in for the early evening and there was no way to predict what would happen, so we decided to postpone this one (normally it would be all go with the amazing weather, but i was scared of the 9 month old flying away).

So Zak and I played a game in the hotel room. Basically we had to see how many unique photos we could get out of the one hotel room using only what we had in the hotel room. There was no video light or reflectors either! We tooko it in turns, shot for shot, if you stuffed up your shot, too bad, it was gone and the camera was passed over. I reckon we got at least 50 differnt shots in the one room. My favourite is below… i’ll have to get Zak to post his favourite of me in the next few days.

Sunday and Monday were spent in the company of many other photographers and students at the AIPP Festival of Photography. A couple of photographers from Sydney were down to share some insights into what they do and how they do it. Generally there was a bit of inspiration being thrown around.

I’m not sure how many others noticed the interesting occurrence that all the photographers ended up having lunch at Say Cheese..

Our speakers were:

Grand master of Photography David Oliver. I have known of David since I first became a member of the AIPP and he has no idea how much of an inspiration to me he is… well, he may know now… This was the first time I had seen him speak and I again got a heavy shot of inspiration. Check out his work here

Graham Munro was our other speaker, and it was the third time i’d seen him speak but the first time that I really had some time to chat with him. He is the only speaker I remember from the first AIPP National conference I went to… maybe because he told a few to many jokes, but also for the imagery. I guess you could say that you never know what you will get with Graham as a speaker, he pulled out the goods on monday and I have about 8 pages of notes to disect (and a few jokes to memorise). Check out Graham’s work here. Plus a different photo of Graham here as portrait of the week

And then on the drive home there were some clouds… so a work in progress below. So what do you think of it? Leave a comment if you like, i know i would like you to!

I headed back to my old school to catch up with one of my favourite teachers, who incidently, was never the teacher in a class I had. More in the next few weeks

I just found out a great man died. I’m very sad I don’t have a photo to post. Christopher Strong was my old headmaster at Grammar. I always liked him at school, but once I had moved back to Launceston and was a little wiser, I realised he was a really very kind and thoughtful man. Always said hello, was always interested in what was happening in my world and always full of encouragement. Plus I admired him for his dedication and passion for so many things, including the environment and humanitarian causes.

I have managed to take a family portrait of his son’s family. From that session I discovered that, as expected, he was a very much loved grandfather. I wish he could have been around longer to share his wisdom with them as they grew up.

The world moves too fast, I regret not getting out and visiting as we always talked about, and taking the portrait I always wanted to take.

I still remember being in grade 8, and after an assembly, i rushed after him, with my little camera and asked if i could take his photo. His equally amazing wife Sally told me many years after that he was touched that I wanted to take his photo. I’m going to go search for that photo later. I am really sorry I did not let the chance pass to take one more recently.

The Funeral is on August 15th, 2pm at St Johns in Launceston.

Ps, if you can, give your grandparents a call.

Sorry about the lack of blog posts last week, the image above was the reason. I spent a large chunk of last week putting together an application for an Arts Tasmania Grant. If I get the grant it will be fantastic, it means that i’ll be helping out some other artists who are in need of a bit of a boost because they are amazing. I’ll probably do the project anyway, just will not have he impact if the funding doesn’t come through.

We went for a drive on Sunday, first off to the River’s Edge in Longford where i’m involved in a boutique bridal expo in a couple of weekends. It’s grat spot to sit down on the couch in front of the fire and read some magazines while enjoying a coffee.

Next we went off to Anvers where I gave a small presentation to the Tasmanian Florist’s Association. It was fascinating to have lunch with a bunch of florists (yes, a group of florist are called a bunch). There was much talk about flowers and Vikashni and I learned a bit about some florist gripes with flowers at weddings. I will elaborate more in the next few weeks when I will have a guest post from a florist.

Then it was off to see The Dark Knight, which was pretty good, we arrived late so had to sit too close to the screen which really annoying.

And on the way home I took some photos of empty pallets on the side of the road.

So that was Sunday.

I like cats. I think they are cute and quite good leg warmers in winter.

Kooshan is not a cat. He is pure trouble.

Example 1

We had pancakes and left the bowl on the sink with some water in it. A few minutes later Kooshan comes in with half his face wet from cleaning the bowl.

Example 2 – 5 minutes later

I made a coffee. I put the milk jug on the bench. I sat down to enjoy some blog reading. I hear a loud band in the kitchen. Kooshan had his head stuck in the milk jug, unfortunately he managed to free himself before I got the camera. Here is the evidence on his face. Take a closer look to the right side of his face, now covered in milk.

Kooshan is now in the laundry. That is the place where he goes when he has been naughty. He spends a lot of time there. Once I found him in the cutlery drawer, it was only open an inch but he managed to get in. Dam cat. I had to clean all the cutlery. Then there was the time he broke the front window of the house, distracted me so I scrapped the side of the car, escaped out the fly screens and investigated the neighbours rubbish, amongst many many many other things.

We have another cat, he is quite nice. He spends very little time in the laundry.

More Snow People have just arrived down at Pocket Space in Hobart. Go check them out. And check out Vikashni’s etsy site too. heartvandana.etsy.com/

Yesterday was vet visit day for the cats. Mouse needed a booster injection and Kooshan, well, he needed to have a shave. We try to groom Kooshan but he does not really like it and we don’t really like getting scratched so it’s off to the vet to be knocked out and let them get rid of the matts.

Mouse was fine… well after I managed to get him out from under the couch and also the bed. I have no idea how he knew he was going to the vet.

And the final results of Kooshan’s hair cut. Remember he is the evil one and I have no problems about publicly embarrassing him. Both the kittens got a clean bill of health and Kooshan especially enjoyed his car ride, he sits on Vikashni’s lap and looks out the window while Mouse has to stay in the cat carrier on the back seat.

Way back in April Rob and Susan were expecting an arrival. So I went out to take some photos. I had heard stories about Rob’s childhood feline companion Arnie, so had to get him in a few shots.

After doing a pregnancy shoot for Susan and Rob we waited for little Max to show up so we could do a newborn shoot… we waited… he waited… we waited… he waited… and finally he decided to show his face well after he was supposed to. Max arrived the day before my wedding so we had to wait until he was a little older to do shoot. I’m sure you will agree it was worth the wait. He was a great little guy to photograph, pity about the dad (just kidding Rob!!)

The shoot ended with a very loud example of Max’s lungs. But by the time we got there we had the all the shots. I even got another one of Arnie!

Thanks again for letting us come and share some time you and your little boy! Also, help feed max by buying ,lots and lots of jewelry from Jim Hughes and Sons, Rob and Susan’s business. It’s where we got our rings from and ever one loves them!

Some photos from a little old town called Athens. Things that first hit us about Athens were, the amount of graffiti, how dirty it was and in some places, the amount of cats.

Really, the fascinating ancient sites would be much better if there wasn’t a whole city around it! We stayed in Plaka, right in the old part of Athens. It was really good to get up and just have a wander before the tourists really arrived. One of the most dangerous things in Athens is probably Bretto’s.

I’ve officially stopped work for a few weeks, Saturday is the day I get married to Vikashni! I’m excited, she has been mentioning her dress a bit and i’m really excited to see what it looks like, plus the whole getting married thing!

I have a few blog posts saved up for posting while we are off on our honeymoon. Plus there may be some posts from the trip. And you never know, there may be some wedding snaps uploaded too.

 I won’t really be checking emails or answering the phone. I haven’t had a descent holiday for a while and really looking forward to this one, especially as it will be with Vikashni and have lots of special momens in it for both of us.

Alright, enough of this, i’m off to pick up my soon to be wife (see below)!

I’m excited!!! She is going to look so beautiful!

Some birds from Melbourne above…

 In other news the dreaded lurgi hit the Photobat office last week. Zakk was out from Monday with a bad cold and I got hit on Tuesday with a sore throat, which turned a bit worse on Wednesday and on Thursday turned into not being able to swallow or speak, fever, headaches and a bit of dizziness. Turned out to quite bad Tonsilitis and an order from the Doctor to not work for 5-7 days… I’m at day 4 now and have mostly taken the Doctors orders, did manage to do a couple of time sensitive shoots but apart from that it’s been nothing. So my apologies if I haven’t returned calls or emails, i’m sure there are heaps waiting for me. I’m going to do a couple of half days Monday and Tuesday and then I hope to be working at 100% again. Vikashni is doing a great job at looking after me and supplied a lot of soft and gooey food and also drove me to the couple of shoots, she will make a good wife (in about 3 weeks!!!)

 I have consumed about 3.5 packets of panadol, quite a bit of penicillin and 2 evil fishermans friends that Garry in the newsagency said would clear up my throat… they didn’t but i learned a couple of things, firstly, Garry isn’t a Doctor and secondly fishermans friends are EVIL. (but Garry is a great newsagent and I trust him with my magazine purchasing)

I took a few photos in 2007, in fact, I took a few thousand.I always have loved showing off my work and am very proud of the way my images have developed in the last 12 months. So it’s time to show you all my favourite shots in an audio visual presentation. This is only on for one afternoon only, and not an exhibition that is hanging on the walls, so this is your only chance to see it.

Some of the highlights will include documentary work on the East Coast bushfires and backstage at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala, Holga images, urban and natural landscapes plus heaps of kids,families, pregnant bellies, animals and shoes.

In addition there will be a presentation of some of my favourite portraits of the week taken over the last 5 years. The POW started as a way of practicing and pushing myself by taking a different portrait each week. Some of these portraits are commissioned; others are self commissioned and feature comedians, musicians, brides, animals, fictional characters, photographers and everyday people I have bumped into.

The presentations will take about 30 minutes.

2pm February 10th 2007
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Inveresk, Launceston

Entry is Free and there will be prizes!

Please RSVP here as we have limited seating available andmay have to reschedule more viewings.

PLUS FESTIVALE IS ON, SO YOU HOBART PEOPLE SHOULD COME UP FOR A DRIVE!!!

Hi there, Happy New Year! I’ve jumped right back in the deep end this year after having a few days off, so it is all really busy now and I can’t see it slowing down for quite a while.

Christmas involved a bit of driving to see my family up the North West Coast, where my Aunt’s granddaugher, Bridie had her first Christmas, which made for some nice shots including the 4 generational shot.

And then straight back to Launceston to see V’s family before collapsing in a heap from over feeding. After Christmas I had planed to go back to work, but decided a few days off would be good, so i actully went and took photos for myself and thought up some things to work on for this year.

The plan for 2008 is

Shoot more details for my own personal fun

Shoot more landscapes

Share more stories and tips

Learn to spell and do that grammar thing proper

Blog More

So I hope all is going well, and look out for another year of photos, i know a little of what is coming up and i’m excited. Hint, there are some babies, bellies, weddings, landscapes, car parks, holga and some secrets.

Happy New Year and have a good one!

After forgetting all about daylight savings for the second time in a year (we didn’t forget last time, just put the wound the clocks the wrong way) Vikashni and I got up a bit later then we should have and then went for a drive to get some coffee. We were planning on just heading to Josef Chromy’s vineyard but drove straight past it to go to Dr Harry’s Clucky Chook Cafe for a Devonshire Tea. It was such a nice drive, I managed to take a couple of little snaps on the way. Plus on the way back we did stop at Josef Chromy, I think it’s impossible to drive past there without stopping, really smooth coffee, superb service and not to mention the wine.

Kaba likes to have his photo taken, he also likes, food, pats, sleeping on the bed, food, chasing the cats, stretching, food and making his eyes big so he gets food.

I’ve bought a coupleof suits from Kent, infact i’ve bought all my suits from Kent! (so if you have seen me at a wedding, this man is resposible for my clothes)  He’s one of the men who work out of Neil Pitts in central Launceston and is probably one of the best customer service people i’ve met. Always cheerful, interested and just great to have a chat to. I draged him out for lunch the other day with the plan of shooting him for my portrait of the week. But we sat and ate our sandwiches together first and discussed a great deal of things and I learnt some things that I would probably have never known if we hadn’t had lunch. Kent is into his motorbikes and is working on a sidecar so him and his other half can ride from Tasmania up to Darwin next year, he;s sold bikes and as part of that actully handed Michael Doohan a trophy early on in his career. Plus has a grat story about when Bob Dylan and his minders dropped by the store he was working in to buy some jeans.

I guess Neil Pitts is really one of those old fahioned stores, and along with it comes fantastic people like Kent who have spent a life in retail, but unlike a kid who does it on the weekend for pocket money, they have lived and breathed it their whole lives and really knkow how to make you feal great even when you have left the shop.

If you are in Launceston, go to Niel Pitts and buy a tie or shirt from Kent, i’m sure he’s love to meet you!

On Friday, Emily Boys, a third year photography student from Queensland dropped by to take my photos. She is putting together her final folio and it’s all about photographers! She has 50 to photograph, but only needs 12 for her folio. Which 12 that make it in are more to the taste of her lectures than her own favuorites. As far as final folios go, this is the best idea i’ve heard of, not only do you get to meet a variety of photographers, she is also is learning a heap about the industry and styles. I wish i had thought of it, but then again, Emily is very brave pointing that lens at photographers. I’m not sure i would have had the guts at uni to photography professional photographers.

It is always interesting to me when i have my photo taken, most of the photos of me that are about are taken by my, the one of the about me page of photobat.net was taken in the toilets of the building i work in (i can’t help it where there is good light). So to have someone else pointing a camera at me is a bit novel. The shoot was fine, a few years ago i was scared of the camera, i’m not any more, I do have a very typical “photo smile” which i really don’t like, but when i am smiling for real or laughing i take a good photo. I’m also good at serious looks.

I’ll post the shots that Emily took once I see them, but in the meantime is a shot of Emily i took after she shot me. I find one of the best ways to learn about photoraphy is to have photos taken of yourself, you get to know what it’s like to be in front of a lens and sympathise with your subjects more.

So tips to new comer photographers, have your photo taken and also go and talk to other photographers. it’s the best way to learn.

Emily website is here if you want to have a look.

Busy! I’ve had quite a few shoots over the last 10 days, starting with 3 shoots in Hobart

on the one day Sunday week ago! Plus there have been a few from last week and I shot another 3 on the weekend. I’ve been shooting babies, pregnant bellies, kids, rocks, families, a miniature dachshund, some individual portraits and a primary school!

The primary school has taken up a bit of time, the idea is to document the kids for a banner that is going to be places in the school yard and some photos to be hung in a permanent exhibition around the school. Basically, I’ve been walking around the school, popping into classrooms, hanging around the playground at recess and then some more class rooms. Ans no I’m not a stalker! It’s been great to work with the students and staff. It’s the first time I’ve been in a primary school in a long time, and I’ve enjoyed watching all the kids interactions, it all brings back memories of when I was at primary school.

I’m also really looking forward to next week, the AIPP are holding their Southern Exposure conference at Cradle Mountain, about 100 people are heading there, which istehe most people ever! The presentations should be inspiration and educational, but as usual, you tend to learn the most over dinner and a drink talking with the other attendees. I’m also hoping to get out and do some shooting around the mountain, nothing tooextreeme!

Stay tuned, a lot of posts coming up with heaps of shots. I reckon I can almost fill up a new gallery with the new shots!

But for now… some teaser shots!

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!

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).