Tag Archives: #kevinsinclairphotography

Keeping the Creative Juices Flowing

May 24, 2020 by kgs03 | 0 Comments

In these times of working from home, and with the recent relaxation of the rules regarding COVID19, there has been a real temptation to go out more on the weekends. However, we have exercised restraint as both Marie and I don’t want to have the virus as we are older and therefore more suspect to being hit harder.

So how have we been maintaining our interest in photography? We have had limited trips into the city on the last couple of weekends to do some street photography. I have also been practicing compositing using Photoshop to create altered reality images. This has been a lot of fun.

Here is a sampling of the images:

This one is really quite simple. The cranes and the circus rider sculpture with a texture overlay. The texture was some spider web in the corner of one of the windows at home.

Again, this is a simple image. The background and the woman walking through. The woman was taken from a street photography image. A texture was applied again created from spider web taken at home and manipulated in Photoshop.

The great part about having many images in my library that I haven’t used is it gives me a great selection to choose from for composites. The background scene was taken in Melbourne and the flying fish was taken up near Redcliffe. The texture was created by manipulating an image of water in Photoshop.

This image features a lot of manipulation. However, it is still only a composite of three images. This works for me as the window says “Smith & Daughters” and in the foreground are two young women who may well be sisters. The texture is an image of purple light onto a wall and manipulated in Photoshop.

Another three image composite. The texture was an image of the back deck at home manipulated in Photoshop.

This is a simpler composite being only two images combined. The background building has been posterized in Photoshop and the curves adjusted to get the effect. The bicycle wheels and pavement were placed on top using the hard light blending mode to achieve this effect.

How have you been keeping your creative juices flowing?

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Staying Home to Stay Healthy

April 19, 2020 by kgs03 | Comments Off

A lot of things have changed since my last post. The COVID19 pandemic has resulted in the need to stay home to stay healthy. Fortunately I am able to do my work from home and have adjusted well in that regard. However, the same hasn’t been true for my photography.

Also, out of the blue, Marie’s hard drive containing her photos died. I spent time on restoring a backup to her new hard drive. However, some images were lost due to some issues with the backups. So it has been time to revisit our backup strategy to try to avoid a similar recurrence.

The photos I have made lately were when we drove past Forest Lake a few weeks ago and stopped to see the surface covered in a green plant. The City Council is trying to restore the health of the lake and this is a part of the process. Here are some images:

An overview of the lake
A close up of the lake surface
Looking towards a shore line and a water hen
Creating an abstract image out of a close up of the lake surface

I haven’t entered images into the last two monthly competitions conducted by the Brisbane Camera Group. In resigning from all my roles at the club, and the impacts of social distancing, I have lacked motivation to participate in the competitions.

One of my aims over the coming weeks is to further my photography education through online courses. I am hoping this will stimulate my creativity. In the last week, I watched a couple of Brook Shaden clips on YouTube. She illustrated how she created an image of herself coming out of a wall and the post processing involved. While it wasn’t an in depth presentation, it was enough to make me start thinking of the possibilities.

Lindsay Adler also has some interesting material on YouTube. I watched one clip where she explained how to look at a studio image and to work out how many lights were used to create the shot. While I don’t do much studio work, this was still very insightful on how lights are used to create various looks in images.

Well, that’s all for now. Until next time, stay safe – stay healthy.

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2019 – The Year that Was

December 22, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

Well, the Brisbane Camera Group Annual Competition has finished, and it was very much an anticlimax for me. I was the only member to compete in the print section of my grade, so I received awards for first, second and third in each section I competed in. In the sections where grades did not apply, my images didn’t get close to a win.

To see the photos I submitted into the Annual Competition, please visit my Gallery. All my images were submitted as prints.

The club celebrated its 70th Anniversary as well as the annual awards at a dinner function earlier this month. As part of the celebrations a photobook was produced. I am very proud that a couple of my images were chosen for inclusion within the book. You can view a sample of the photobook here.

In the awards section of the evening, I was recognised for scoring the most points in my grade for the monthly competitions. I received a medallion for this achievement. Also, I received the Patron’s book prize for my service to the club in 2019. This award was a big surprise as I didn’t think I would receive anything other than the medallion.

At the start of the year I set the target of becoming an A Grade member for 2020. This was achieved even though I experienced a couple of rocky months with my entries. Over the Christmas break I will reassess and set a new goal for 2020.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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A Quick Update

September 26, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

It has continued to be busy with Marie’s dad in rehabilitation. Little time has been available for photography, especially new work. This month at Brisbane Camera Group the competition topic was “Framed”. I submitted three images into the set subject for judging.

Artist at Work

The image above was awarded an Acceptance. The judge thought the woman was a distraction and that the image had been over worked as there was some halo effects in places.

Through a Window

This image was awarded a Merit. It was praised for the placement of the people within the frame. It was also acknowledged that in camera multiple exposures can be quite difficult to create and this one was a success.

And The Cock Crowed

This image was also awarded a Merit. The judged commented that it was sharp right through the image and was a great example of “framed”.

Overall, a satisfactory night’s performance and these results keep me on track for promotion to A Grade. With one more month to go, I can’t afford to slack off.

That’s all for now. Until next time, keep on creating!

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The Best Laid Plans………….

August 30, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

Phew! What a month it has been. As can happen, the best laid plans come to zero. Our lives were turned around on Sunday 4 August when the Police phoned and told Marie her father had been involved in a motor vehicle accident. They said he was in hospital and that he was okay. We immediately stopped what we were doing at the time and went straight to the hospital.

As the evening unfolded and we spoke to the medical staff in the emergency department, we were not certain how the future would unfold. Would he pass away, or would he make a full recovery, or would it be somewhere in between? Being 92 years of age, his chances were not rated highly. The Neuro Surgeon told us he had a bleed on the brain and some fractured vertebrae in his spine.

Given these circumstances, we cancelled our planned 5-week overseas holiday so we could be here to assist in his recovery and adaption to life without a motor vehicle. Now, he is in rehabilitation and progressing well. Accordingly, photography has been less prominent in our lives as we have spent a lot of time visiting him and attending to some of his affairs.

I am pleased I had devoted some time to choosing images for the monthly competitions so I could submit entries for while we were away. This meant I just had to send the images to the printer for them to be ready. For the August competition I submitted my entries into the Open section. The results I obtained were very pleasing. Here are my entries and the results:

Cloud over Marseille – (Merit)

Three Doors – (Merit)

Burlesque Babe – (Honour)

As I mentioned last post, the opportunity to learn about Photoshop from Andy Cross through Maud Street Photo Gallery over six Sundays was too good to pass up. I completed the last three modules since last post and now need to get my notes up to date and indexed so I can find the techniques I need during my workflow. As with most things, if I don’t use what I have learned, it will be forgotten and attending the course will have been a waste.

The September competition topic is “Framed”. The definition we have been provided with is:

Framed refers to using elements of a scene to create a frame within your frame. For example, you might shoot through a doorway, pulled back curtains, branches, fences, tunnels, or arches to highlight your subject.

I have worked on some images that fit this definition. They will likely be the ones I submit to the set subject category rather than the open category in September.

Until next time, keep on creating!

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Learning Opportunities

July 31, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

Where did the time go? Seems like the last few weeks are one big blur! There haven’t been many opportunities to get the camera out and make some images. From having a week and a half off work due to the flu and spending the last three Sundays attending Photoshop lessons, very little time has been left over.

The deadline for submitting images for the monthly competition seemed to approach without warning and caught me unprepared. Therefore, I quickly scrambled three images I entered in the annual competition last year and submitted them in the monthly open section. I was disappointed all three images were only awarded acceptances.

I think this is a valuable lesson though. Just because an image performed well in the annual competition, there is no guarantee it will perform well in the open section of the monthly competitions.

Leanne in the Ring – this image placed second in the People section of the annual competition last year. The judge indicated there were some lighting issues with the image especially around the hand gesture. This area is a key focus point of the image that we want the viewer to look at and the hand is not lit well enough to draw the eye.

Preparing for Winter – this image placed first in the Social Documentary/Photo Journalism section of the annual competition. As an image in the Open section, it didn’t hit the mark well enough. The guy throwing the piece of wood is too dark and needs to be lightened so he is more a point of focus in the image. Some of the lighter areas could be darkened to draw the eye through the image.

Weaver at Work – this image placed third in the Social Documentary/Photo Journalism section of the annual competition. The judge indicated this may have worked better as a black and white image due to the varying strong colours in the background which distract the viewer.

Photoshop is a tool I have used but struggled with in the past. My prior education has been via Google searches to find out how to do what I wanted to achieve. The opportunity to learn from Andy Cross through Maud Street Photo Gallery over six Sundays was too good to pass up. To date, I have completed three modules with three modules to go.

Marie and I are going on a long-awaited break soon so I am working hard to prepare my competition images for while we are away. Also, I am aiming to prepare images for just after we get back. This will reduce the pressure and make it easier to start reviewing the images we have returned with.

Until next time, keep on creating!

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30 Years

April 23, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

This month just seems to have been busy! I ran out of time to prepare images that met the Brisbane Camera Group monthly competition topic of “Transportation”. As I could use images from the annual competitions that hadn’t previously been used in monthly competitions, I decided to enter three in the Open section.

Two of my entries received acceptances and one received a merit. I was hopeful of a better result but I think effort to make new work in the set subject rather than pulling out old images for the open section will push me harder and build my skills better. The images I entered are below.

Romenade du Paillon (Acceptance)

Scanno Exit Reflections (Acceptance)

The Strongest Man (Merit)

At the Brisbane Camera Group Presenters Night, we were given a taste of photo books in all their shapes and sizes. My eyes were opened to the creative efforts some people make with there books. The following week we had a “workshop” session and I discovered websites and software available to create photo books and the various services that will print them.

While I had no plans to get involved in photo books when I attended these sessions, I came away motivated to give it a try. One of the options I was impressed with was the books available through chatbooks.com. This seemed like a great way to dip my toe into the water for very little cost. So, I picked 30 images from the week Marie and I spent in Caloundra in February to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. I have titled the book “30 Years – February 2019”. I am now eagerly waiting for it to be printed and delivered.

Marie has been working on her skills in taking in camera multiple exposure images. On our last photo walk, I have also been giving this form of photography a go to see what I can do with it. Doing it on a photo walk means one’s creativity is stretched to the max as you have to make the best of what is presented to you. This makes it challenging and difficult to get to come away with many “winners”. We also did a photo walk through the valley on a Saturday night which was an interesting experience.

Here are some of my recent images:

Looking to next month’s competition, the topic is “Impressionist”. The definition is “A style when the photographer tries to convey the feeling of a scene, a general impression, or suggestion of a scene. Lacking in detail these impressionist images emphasize colour over line and are often soft, dreamy, and have a painterly feel.” I am working on some images and plan to have three prints to submit for this topic. I am confident I won’t need to resort to finding images for the open section to compete in May.

Until next time, keep on pressing that shutter button!

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Celebrations and Competitions

March 27, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

Wow! Is it really two months since I posted my last update? Where has the time disappeared to? All I can say is I have been busy, and I know that is no excuse.

The Brisbane Camera Group February competition has been and gone and my result was an acceptance for each image submitted. This was not the start of the year I was looking for as I was hoping for one or two merits at least. While I understand the judge’s reasons for the acceptances, I also know they are opinions I can choose to take on board or not. Here are the images:

Church of Saint Ferreol-Augustinians Marseille – The judge suggested the image could be improved by cloning out the church behind.

Inside Galleria Umberto I – Naples. Improvements suggested included showing less of the ceiling and having a panorama style print showing the art work with less distractions.

La Pergola Nice France – He suggested less sky and a person on one of the balconies would make a difference.

In February, Marie and I spent a week in Caloundra celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. We both took many images especially of the beach. Marie has been playing around with in camera multiple images and encouraged me to give it a try. Here are a couple of my images that worked out okay.

Ice Cream Time at Noosa
Keeping a Watch
Learning to be Surf Life Savers

The March competition topic was “Movement” – “a finished image that depicts motion blur resulting from long exposure or panning or in camera movement. The image cannot be a freeze frame photo, it must show some blur in some part of the image.” I submitted two prints into the competition set subject and one print into the open section.

This was a far better month! I received one merit and two honours, so I am really pleased with these results. My “Movement” prints scored a merit and honour while my open entry was an honour. Here are the images:

Slow Dancer (awarded an honour)
Getting Ready to go back for More (awarded a merit)
Bicycle Built for Two (awarded an honour)

Looking to next month’s competition, the topic is “Transportation”. The definition is “The image must show the action of transporting someone or something or the process of being transported.” I haven’t begun to think about this topic yet. Time is running out, so I need to start sooner rather than later.

Until next time, keep on pressing that shutter button!

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What Does 2019 Hold in Store?

January 25, 2019 by kgs03 | Comments Off

It is hard to believe that January is almost behind me. Where has the first month of the year gone? Usually, January is a great time to put plans into place to achieve my goals. This year seems to be very fuzzy just now.

I have been saying my key photography goal this year is to do what’s required to move from AB Grade to A Grade at Brisbane Camera Group. What this means is I need to submit a minimum of 15 images in the monthly competitions and achieve a grade point average of at least 10. I have been asked what genre I am going to focus on. This is a tough question that I don’t have an answer for. My thought is to focus on the set subjects each month wherever possible and to do prints rather than DPIs.

The first monthly competition is in February and the set subject is architecture. The definition is “..The picture must be of a building intended for human occupation or use. It may be a picture of the exterior or interior and may be a detail of a limited part of a building or buildings that displays architectural angles and lines in a dynamic or colourful way (Monochrome allowed)…”

While I have thought of going out and taking images around Brisbane in readiness for the competition, I find now that time is running out. Instead, I have reviewed my images from the last couple of years and have decided to submit three images from our trip to Italy/France in September/October 2017.

Last weekend Marie and I attended a workshop run by Digital Camera Warehouse. The topic was blur and sharpness in the same image. They had two dancers for us to photograph in a studio setting. While the dancers were great, the backgrounds were not great, and I was left with a feeling I would not get anything out of the images.

The March Monthly Competition set subject is “movement”. Hopefully I can rescue a couple of images from the workshop to enable me to submit them. This could be a further opportunity to improve my Photoshop skills. Here are a couple of images from the workshop:

So what else have I been doing since my last post? I pondered the question: what do you do will all the images that just missed the cut for my Print Project submission last year? I decided to use a number of these images around a theme or series and apply some textures and effects to re-purpose them. Here are the series I created:

Until next time, keep on pressing that shutter button!

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Print and Mat, Print and Mat

October 24, 2018 by kgs03 | Comments Off

During the month Marie and I attended a natural light portrait photography workshop run by Ash Kashyap and the model was Helena Schutt. Portraits in natural light can be quite tricky and it is important not to have the model in direct sunlight otherwise there will be skin blow outs. Also, having the model too far into shadow can lead to flat images. Both Marie and I really enjoyed photographing Helena and we came away with some images we were very happy with. Here is a small selection of images I created at the workshop:

 

 

Each month at the Brisbane Camera Group Speakers Night, there is a digital show of images submitted by members. This show enables members to submit images they have been working on and share them with their fellow members without being critiqued or judged. For the show on 8 October, I submitted the following images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The monthly competition topic was “Old Things” – images where the central feature is an object or objects that is old. It is not necessary to be antique. I entered one image in the Digital Projected Image section. The judging was conducted last Monday night and my image was an acceptance only. The judge said the background distracted from the subject. On reflection, I can appreciate what he said and it reminds me I need to pay more attention to all the detail in my images. Here is the image I submitted:

The rest of the month was spent on preparing and printing images for my entry into the Club’s annual competition. A maximum of 24 images can be submitted over 6 categories. My entry is 23 images. The categories are Pictorial Colour, Pictorial Monochrome, People, Creative/Experimental, Social Documentary/Photo Journalism and Nature. Nature was my weakest area and I only submitted 3 of a possible 4 images. Judging of the print entries will be conducted on Sunday 4 November 2018 so I should have an idea of how my images performed after that.

Our Print Project Challenge is also due for submission by 4 November 2018. I have my 6 images almost ready but need to do further work to fix a few issues before they go to print. All Brisbane Camera Group members participating in this activity will have their images exhibited in The Maud Street Photo Gallery. Opening night will be 16 November and the exhibition will finish on Sunday evening 18 November. It is always a proud moment to have your images on the wall of a gallery – especially Brisbane’s number 1 photography gallery.

Until next time, keep on making images!

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