This is Ken, or Dicko as i’ve known him for about 20 years. We met when I was a cub and he was a scout leader. Now i’m not a cub and he isn’t a scout leader.

He is retired and plays with the trains out in Evandale, just behind the market. He has built himself a little diesel locomotive that you can go have a ride on every second Sunday.

Renee and Nathan may look familiar to a few people, you may remember there from this wedding photo. That was years ago and now they have added Lachlan to the family. As per the wedding, standard location was thought about and then dismissed for something unique and a bit more meaningful. Enter Salamanca Market, the biggest and busiest market in Tasmania. So along with a cute 11 month old and 2 adoring parent we also had a few hundred Hobartians and tourists to work with. It was a bit of fun, one point I was walking backwards up the hill into a throng of small tourists who really were more interested in looking side to side at wooden fruit than straight ahead at the rapidlt approaching photographer in reverse mode.

Lachlan was awesome, such a great kid. This is really the best part of my job, hanging out with clients on their wedding days and then coming back and meeting the new additions when they turn up.

We spent a little time at a village called Saama, it is located on the top side of Efate about 40 minutes drive from Port Vila. There are more photos to come from the village itself, these images are from the Chiefs (last image) chicken farm. It is encouraged for the men to stay and work in the village, and if possible to create some money. The chief is leading by example and has set up a chicken farm up the hill from the main village. It is only in start up phase but there are a heap of chickens running about and strangely, a cat. It seems that the cat does not each the chickens only the rats who try to get the eggs. He does love a treat of coconut, which is fed to the chickens in these photos by Irene the chiefs wife.

Thje first thing that hit us about Port Vila was how dirty it is. after that we noticed all the colour. It was everywhere and just added a feeling of fun to the city. These shots are taken around the main bit of Port Vila, there are lots of other bits but this was the main touristy bit.

If you think people are nuts about the world cup here, you should head to a developing country. Vanuatu was World Cup crazy when we were there. There were flags everywhere, some real flags some home made, the bakeries had flags on cakes, stores were decorated, soccer balls everywhere and people had wrist bands to show their team. Even the rubbish trucks had flags on them. We stayed in an area called Seaside, the suburb included the poorest area in the city. Most of these shots were taken around the streets there. Not everyone has TVs, we discovered many community TVs were set up and left on all night so that the locals could gather and watch the games. It was great to have something to discuss with the locals, sometimes we didn’t have a choice, it was the first thing they asked us. “What do you think of Harry’s red card?”  I’m not a football person but did pay attention to all the news so i could join in conversations. These conversations lead to some amazing things including a tour of the slum like area of Seaside. More on that soon.

Heaps of blog posts will be coming soon with shots from Vanuatu. Yes there are some tropical type of photos but there are also some social documentary shots from some of the poorer areas of the main island Efate. And there will be more tutles, including our sponsor turtle.

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!

Over Easter Vikashni and I managed to get a little bit of a holiday in Cairns to see the rain and Brisbane to see the hotel room and Alice in Wonderland (expected so much more Mr Burton…) and the Gold Coast to have a little look about. Here are a few random photos of places, animals and views that we saw.

Yes, I took no photos of the beach at Surfers, we got quite wet in the rain in cairns while looking for a waterfall we could hear but the fog/rain kinda made it invisible and also saw a 500 or so year old fig tree which was surprisingly cool.

Just back from Queensland, so here are a couple of photos of Canberra from ages ago.

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???

Helen lives just past the TinPot Café in Melbourne, I did managed to get lost finding her place, but I always get lost in that little cluster of streets. Once I found Helen’s place I got to have a close look at her bird creations. They are all hand made and mostly produced on the comfy couch where she is sitting in the portrait. At the moment Helen is studying to be a librarian and has an impressively sorted bookcase too.

For Van Wonderland, Helen has created a pair of Native Hens. I did manage to see these half created when I photographed her and I’m really looking forward to seeing them completed.

You can see examples of her birds in the bookshelf and you can buy some at her etsy store.

Van Wonderland is an exhibition of work by contemporary crafts practitioners exploring a mysterious world of not-quite-real objects and creatures, based upon historic western perceptions of Tasmania (‘Van Diemen’s Land’) as a distant and little-known island at the far reaches of the globe.

This ‘new world’, full of strange and exotic flora and fauna, could be by turns beautiful and sinister – just as the strange Wonderland explored so famously by Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

Step into Van Wonderland and explore the mysteries within. And don’t forget to take your teacup.

Participating artists include Tara Badcock, The Purple Finch, Erin Tappe, Hideyo, Cat Badcock, Ghostpatrol, Megan Perkins, Omar Misa, Helen Goninon, and Anita Dineen with accompanying photography by Alan Moyle (Photobat).

Come to the opening, Friday 18^th September 2009 at 6 pm, Design Centre, Tamar Street, Launceston, RSVP by email or by 6331 5505. Exhibition open until the 18^th of October.

I ventured over to Melbourne to photograph Ghostpatrol. It’s not the first time, but it was the first time I had visited Mitten Fortress Studio studio. Another eclectic collection of bits and pieces everywhere, it is a fantastic space to get inspired. We even climbed out the window and took some photos a few floors above Elizabeth Street.

Ghostpatrol is doing something special for Van Wonderland, something that hasn’t been done at the Design Centre before. He is doing illustrations straight onto the wall of the gallery. Check out some of his work at ghostpatrol.net

Van Wonderland is an exhibition of work by contemporary crafts practitioners exploring a mysterious world of not-quite-real objects and creatures, based upon historic western perceptions of Tasmania (‘Van Diemen’s Land’) as a distant and little-known island at the far reaches of the globe.

This ‘new world’, full of strange and exotic flora and fauna, could be by turns beautiful and sinister – just as the strange Wonderland explored so famously by Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

Step into Van Wonderland and explore the mysteries within. And don’t forget to take your teacup.

Participating artists include Tara Badcock, The Purple Finch, Erin Tappe, Hideyo, Cat Badcock, Ghostpatrol, Megan Perkins, Omar Misa, Helen Goninon, and Anita Dineen with accompanying photography by Alan Moyle (Photobat).

Come to the opening, Friday 18^th September 2009 at 6 pm, Design Centre, Tamar Street, Launceston, RSVP by email or by 6331 5505. Exhibition open until the 18^th of October.

After a frantic couple of days in Hobart, Vee and I took the long way home, travelling some back roads to see what we could find.

Our first discovery was actually suggested to us by friends in Hobart, Puddleduck Vineyard. It’s in the Coal Valley just before Richmond and is a very cute little cellar door with equally good four legged friends. We tried all the wines and they are all really nice, it was hard to narrow down what bottle to buy, the Bazil Riesling won out in the end.

The Bazil is named after the famous dog Bazil, who along with Peggy are the Pembroke Corgies that run around and greet all the visitors. Bazil is famous for bing in the Wine Dogs book, and the soon to be released Wine Dogs Australia 2 features both of them.

The place has a relaxing feel to it, owners Jackie and Darren were pouring the wine and there was a really homely feal to how they introduced their wines and the on flowing conversation from there.

So, the wine is great, Jackie and Darren are great and the dogs are great. Three reasons to stop by when you are down that way. I can guarantee we will be dropping back.

We kept driving up strange roads, via Baden where I took these shots of the old hall, or church. Not exactly sure what it was.

One of the best things about a wedding expo is meeting some of the other vendors, so when everyone rushes off to the fashion parade, we tend to wander about talk to each other. On wedding days it can be a little stressful to really talk to other people who are working, and the expo is the same sort of thing.

So last week celebrant and all round nice lady Barb Youd and I jumped in the car and headed out to the newly refurbished Quamby Estate. Quamby is an old homestead about 25 minutes west of Launceston on the old Bass Highway. The weather wasn’t very fantastic, but this place looks amazing in all kinds of weather and times of the year. All the trees look brilliant in summer with the breeze blowing through them.

It was quite popular for weddings a few years ago but with change of ownership they stopped for a while. Another change of hands and there is a refreshed new venue for weddings parties or just very nice place to stay.

From a wedding point of view there are so many options for getting ready, the ceremony and also the reception. Fantastic for a couple who want to keep everything in the one place. It’s probably been about 6 years since I shot a wedding there (would show  you the photos but I’d have to get a scan of the negatives!) and it still has the same charm and beautiful view.

This visit was the first time I had been inside the main house, and I was very impressed. If you are looking for a place with luxury and style this is it. I was reminded of the Henry Jones Art Hotel and also Islington.

I think the best spots for ceremonies would be out the front on the lawn with a grand entrance from the house, or even just to the front of the reception room in amongst the huge old trees. Another brilliant thing is that there is a wet weather option too, the gazebo like part of the reception area will be well as a back up.

If you are interested in checking out Quamby for anything, give Nicole an email or call on 03 63922211.

All the art through the building is Tasmanian artists.

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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?

I first entered the Australian Professional Photography Awards in 2001, and got nothing. I had no idea what I was doing back then, I had talked to a photographer and sent in what I had. So nothing came of it, the next year I was a bit more on the ball and picked up a couple of awards, and have been getting some ever since.

This year I received the honour of Master of Photography with 1 Gold Bar from The Australian Institute of Professional Photography. I was presented during the awards ceremony in Sydney with a gold bar to be added onto my Masters ribbon.

How this all works is that for every silver award you get one point and ever gold award you get two points. If you receive 5 points with in 4 years you become an Associate, I received this in 2003. The next step is that if you receive 10 additional points within five years you become a Master of Photography, I received this in 2006. From then every additional 10 points gained within 5 years gets you an Gold Bar.

So after my name I get to put, Alan Moyle M Photog I

Just as a trip down memory lane I’ve put together a podcast of many of the award images over the years. These aren’t only APPA ones, they include images that have received awards all over the place.

Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA9F1gqW7aU[/youtube]

Another year and the Epson Tasmanian Professional Photography Awards have been run and won.

This year I managed to pick up 8 Silver awards over 4 categories.

In addition to this I also picked up

2009 AIPP Tasmanian Wedding Photographer of the Year (sponsored by Bride Tasmania)

2009 AIPP Tasmanian Portrait Photographer of the Year (joint) (sponsored by Fuji/Photoforce)

2009 AIPP Tasmanian General Photographer of the Year (sponsored by The Edge)

2009 AIPP Tasmanian Wedding Album of the Year (sponsored by Seldex)

And was named the 2009 Epson AIPP Tasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year.

Basically I’ve gone from no trophies to 5 in a day! Was kinda embarrassing going up to receive all the awards!

Big thanks to the AIPP for running the event, the judges, Zakk and Matt, Rocco, Phil K, and of course to my beautiful wife Vikashni. Plus thanks to all my fantastic clients, I am really lucky to have so many fantastic people to photography and share happy times in their lives. I love my job love sharing it with you all.

And well done to Zakk to for getting his first silver award! Click here to see it

The below images are the silver award images.

You may also hear me if you listen to ABC Southern Tas tomorrow morning and also HO FM tomorrow morning.

And my other entries that played a part in winning all the catergories are below

The last shot is of Tara Badcock’s clothing titled Theda Bara’s Cocktail Party, pink silk camisole top.

 I might blog some of the stories behind these images in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

The plan for the last few days was to get away. A weekend with out a wedding in the warmer months is a time to run away with the Wife for some quality time (as well as some business planning and photography!). Vikashni had not been to the west coast before so we changed all that with a whirlwind visit to all the major centers, Zeehan, Queenstown, Strahan, Tulla, Rosebury amongst others (Including Gormoston, which really doesn’t have a centre)

One of the best things of the whole trip was meeting Rod (last photo). Rod has a connection to my family past, much more of that in a later blog post.

Of course, Dr Frankenstein’s House of Monsters, also in Zeehan came close.

Some random images from the coast.

I thought that one post for the weekend would be fun, i’ll see if I can keep doing these most weekends, it may just be a lot of photos of my wife and the cats. We shall see.

So, 2 portraits this weekend. Doing a little bit of exploring with Jason and Catherine and we discovered this apple tree about 50 meters from the office. It is growing in concrete and lives happily there in between a few building.  Jason and Catherine are getting married in a few months, so we had fun not melting on their engagement shoot.

Sunday was another drive day, the Allen family photoshoot all the way down at The Gardens on  the East Coast.

 The reason for the shoot was Verne’s Birthday, so all the family came together for a party and photo shoot. There will be more photos soon, I just had to post this one of Verne and Nellie, it is such a sweet photo.

 On the way back we had to stop in at the Village Store and More in St Helens for a late breakfast. Vikashni and I ordered different dished from last week and were very happy with the results again. I can not recommend this place more, I just wish it was a little closer.

Last week I mentioned the singing chef, well this time I took his photo. Nick and Marika own and run the place. I purposely didn’t take a photo of Marika so that we have to go back again.

On the way home we were accosted by some duck/geese/winged birds in Avoca. These guys were not afraid about being polite and asking for food, it was more of a demand.

Somthing a little different, this podcast is from a few days I had in Croatia a a couple of years ago. I spent most of my time in the Istria area in the north. It was a spectacular place with the venetian arcitecture and agricultural areas. i hope you like it.

The Red Feather Inn has had a face lift. And it has turned out really really well!

Built in the 1800′s the Inn was one of Tasmania’s first coach inns and is now a high quality boutique hotel. The rooms are fantastic, they have a kind of modern / french provincial feel and are very stylish with their fittings and furnishings.The firs thoughts that went through my head when I had a little tour was wow. I knew the Inn in it’s previous incarnation as a restaurant and was amazed at it’s transformation. The rooms are so inviting and the baths look even more inviting. We were there early in the morning and the rooms were warm, a good thing for spring time in Tasmania! Every little detail has been individually picked and placed, I think half the enjoyment at staying here will be discovering all the little trinkets.

Out the back there is a large spacious garden which is going to be a very popular wedding and party spot. It’s fantastic and I can’t wait to shoot a special occasion out there.

The Inn is located in Hadspen just outside of Launceston on the way to Deloraine. Check out their website here.

I’m not in Crete at the moment, but not at home either… back with details next week

After Crete we headed to Folegandros, and fell in love with the place straight away. It wasn’t packed full of tourist, the whole vibe of the place was relaxed and it was spectacular.

So many churches, apparently a long time ago the ruling Turks (?) would not charge taxes for properties with churches on them… so everyone built churches!

Yeh…. GARLIC

Probably one of my favourite shots from the whole trip

So next we head off to Santorini… next week… hopefully…

More Greece shots soon

After Athens we headed to Crete, initially we were planning on heading to somewhere else but trying to get the maze of flight and ferry connections to work, Vikashni and I decided that Crete was our best option.

We stayed at three very different places0, the best being Kato Zakros a beachside village that was tiny. Fantastic to wake up to the sounds of the water and just walk a few meters to the Tavern for breakfast.

Windmill ruins, Lasshiti Plateau

We rented our car from this guy in Sitia, Mr Kazamera

The most historic monastary on Crete, Moni Toplou, is across the road from this little church.

One of the friendly patrons in Kato Zakros

Some old gentlemen having coffee who we completly managed to not have a good cross cultural conversation. Even with thephrasebook we couldn’t communicate that well, we pointed at words and phrases and they pointed at their eyes… it seems that when you go to have your afternoon sit down, reading glasses are not high on the to take list.

Ag. Georgios

The historic little town or Herakloin, not recommended to drive their at peak hour…

 More photos soon… next stop Folegandros

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.