The Techniques

I am an amateur photographer. I think this becomes obvious with the words I choose to describe how I take a photo, that and some of the images I produce! I love playing around with the settings on the camera to see what happens. I have taken some dreadful photographs doing that. Its just experimenting. I like to see what happens when I change the ISO, the shutter speed or the aperture. It turns out that these three things form the exposure triangle and are very important apparently in getting a good picture. But what is a good picture. Professionals these days delibrately over or under expose their shots to evoke a certain mood. It is a creative choice. One man's underexposure is another man's masterpiece. A blurred shot might be on purpose. A crisp shot with good exposure might be classic but it might miss the message. The rule of thirds is there to be broken, rules of colour mught be broken to purposely be jarring, patterns, close ups, different angles, perspectives, backgrounds, the same scene shot a thousand different ways.

Take your camera with you everywhere you go

I am amazed at what I have noticed when driving through Dubai. I always have my little point and shoot in my bag but when I am driving of course I cant take a photo. I saw a lady in a red dress and very high heel black shoes on her mobile phone walking a dog in 38 degree heat. What was the story there? I saw a huge blood red setting sun behind half finished buildings. I saw the rising moon in front of me and the setting sun in my rear vision mirror. The overpass I was on and the surroundings were golden. I wondered if there would be a lens that could capture the moon and the sun - I guess not, I would have had to have stitched it together using a panoramic instrument online.

Yesterday Jeff was driving and we were travelling through the desert. Jeff braked and started driving slowly (a rare event) because there were camels on the road either side of us. I whipped out my camera and took a few photos and enjoyed the sight of camels and trucks on the road together.

Practice makes Perfect

There is only the idea of perfection and the striving for perfection. Practicing gets you nearer and nearer to perfection. I have read many times that taking photos every day is the only way to get new ideas, better focus, different angles, learn about the camera you hold in your hand and get a good image. I remember the day I got hooked on photography. I took what I thought were some very nice photos of the kids at Oatley Park. I loved both the process and the result.

The great thing of course about digital is you dont have to print or even save everything but you can experiment. Be brave. Know the rules and break them too.

So everyone get their cameras out and start taking pictures- you too Mum. Where is your camera?

Attention to Detail

A photography exhibition has to be as wanky as possible. With that in mind I offer a few musings: A photograph can reveal as much about the photographer as the subject. You often wonder what the photographer was thinking, what is the story behind that frozen moment and what was the photographers input or thoughts at that time. Why were the they there? Photography is about capturing light but it captures so much more than that.

For our exhibition we should have canapes, sparkling wine and appropriate wierd music.

Keeping it simple

Good Advice. As this is our first ever exhibition, we have many ideas flowing in. I love them all. I think a key to success is to keep it simple and not have people have to do loads of work to make this happen. The most improtant thing is that everyone get a chance to show their three photographs. A hint as to the theme I am leaning towards is in the title of this blog. How about a theme of Limitless. No Boundaries. Submit what you want. Your best work so far. Present it how you like, framed, unframed, presentation is part of the art, black and white, colour, subject of your choosing, photoshopped or not, experimental, traditional. If you can let your work express the theme of Limitless.

Of course even when there are no boundaries, by necessity there have to be some. Those are 3 photos only per person, the size - I am suggesting a maximum of A4. Thats it. What do you think?

There are still things to be decided, the date and how the work will be exhibited in the space provided, the prize - 1 for adults16 years and over and 1 for children who enter 15 years and under, I am in favour of 3 judges.

I am hoping this is a party and a great opportunity for discussion. I look forward to comments.

The Beginning

Hi everyone

I created this blog to document the journey of our first ever photography exhibition to be held in August 2010 (actual date to be announced) at the Chalker Mansion. I also created the blog so there could be a forum for creative input and debate as there is so much passion about art and limitations, fairness and so on. I hope everyone visits from time to time and adds comments so that we can create a really wonderful exhibition that everyone feels a part of. I invite all comments and lets keep them clean, heated comments welcome.