Where I've Been Since May 2019

November 11, 2019

I’m just a little bit behind on my blog posts!! My last post was from Italy in May this year, a travel photography trip that was planned for three months. Sadly, a month into the trip, I had an accident and broke my arm. Unable to hold my camera let alone operate it I returned to Vietnam early to wait out the weeks until my cast came off. I made a quick trip to Australia, as soon as I had use of my arm back, to update some equipment. I wanted a more portable lighting kit so I changed over my Profoto B1’s for the new and much smaller Profoto B10 and A1X lights, which I just love using.

In September I returned to Europe to finish off the earlier trip. Being more careful this time I spent two months travelling through Spain and France, returning to Vietnam at the end of October. In Spain my main stops were Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia. I then hopped over to Marseille in France then travelled up to Paris stopping in Aix en Provence, Lyon and Dijon.

I will post some images from each stop over the coming weeks. As usual prints are available for purchase so if you see something that you like please drop me an email.

An alternative perspective on the magnificent La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain.

Florence, Tuscany.

May 17, 2019

Surprisingly compact and ridiculously beautiful, Florence, the capital of Tuscany truly deserves its “open air museum” nickname. The architecture in the city centre reminded me of Paris but for the absence of cars and scooters. Florence is a very walkable city. A lot of photography of Florence is very Duomo based and that’s the case everywhere where there are small number of “iconic” sights (think Paris and the Eiffel Tower) but looking back at the images that I made in Florence after I left I realized that mine too were quite Duomo and Ponte Vecchio based. I guess I will have to go back and mix things up a bit :))

The Arno River and Ponte Vecchio during a moody sunset.

Sunlight breaks through the clouds to illuminate grape vines in Chianti Classico.

Misadventures in Italy: Locked in an Italian Dunny and Almost Arrested

March 27, 2019

I’m currently lucky enough to be traveling in Italy and France for the next couple of months. I will make more detailed posts after the trip but in the meantime will post some images to join the dots of my itinerary.

I kicked off my tour in Venice, a spectaculalrly beautiful city that truly has to be seen to be believed. Despite it’s beauty Venice is a bit of a challenge to photograph. Getting angles and compositions that are pleasing is sometimes difficult and other than dawn and dusk there is the ever present sensor dust, I mean fellow tourists. There are of course beautiful images to be made there.

From Venice I caught my first Italian train to Cinque Terre via Florence. Usually I don’t “do “ public transport so I was way of the journey. Things started off badly when I got accidentally locked in a toilet at Venice train station. Yelling “signore, SIGNORE, for the attendant finally got me freed from my unfortunate prison just in time to catch my train.

Things went from bad to worse at a train change in Sarzana, a small station apparently in the middle of nowhere, when my bag set off some kind of detector that a Carabinieri waved over it. I quickly drew the attention of four or five police toting enough firepower to invade a small country. They asked me if I would open my bag for them. I looked at their guns and quickly complied. Perhaps there is an increase in middle aged, slightly overweight white photographers causing mischief in Italy, I’m really not sure. Next was a request for my “documents” presumably in case I was an alien. My passport copied I got a slap on the back and was sent on my way. The joys of travel!

I’m now happily ensconsed in Vernazza on the Cinque Terre eating gelato and pasta while simultaneously drinking wine, in an attempt to forget the ordeal of my first Italian train trip!

Next stop Florence.

The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge. Venice.

Tet Cometh

January 08, 2019

With Tet (Lunar New Year) rapidly approaching, Saigon and Vietnam are already beginning to buzz with preparations for the weeklong national holiday which climaxes in the great Tet migration of millions of people traveling back to their home towns to spend the holidays with their families.

One of the many traditions of Tet that is particularly pleasing is women donning Ao Dai, the national traditional dress, and hitting the streets for photo’s to commemorate the end of one year and the beginning of another. Natural Vietnamese beauty in all it’s forms is on display in the lead up already. I made a few indicative frames in Saigon last weekend, it is after all, difficult to resist!

This year Tet will run from Friday 1st February until Sunday 10th February with life slowly returning to normal after that.

There's always a picture

December 11, 2018

I’ve been super busy traveling and shooting and not blogging too much lately. It’s easy to think that as photographer’s we need to visit exotic locations around the world to get good pictures. But there are always photo’s to be made wherever we are, it’s just a matter of seeing them. Returning home to my apartment building from a shoot recently I noticed some decent cloud around the Landmark 81 building, the tallest building in South East Asia, which was recently completed opposite my building and perhaps a kilometer away. I dropped a tripod and shot a long exposure image (below) with a 10 stop neutral density filter. The process took all of five minutes from the ground floor of my building. There is always a picture to be made!

The Landmark 81 building. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Portugal and Paris in Long Exposure

October 24, 2018

I particularly enjoyed making some long exposure pictures in both Portugal and Paris earlier this year. Paris, in particular, using the Seine River as a setting yielded some pleasing results. In an effort to keep my gear and travel weight to a minimum all of these shots were made with a Canon 5D Mark iii body and a Canon 24/105mm f4.0 L series sense. For camera stabilization I mounted onto a large Gorilla Pod with a ball head. This set up worked fine provided there was a stable object nearby to set the tripod on. A selection of my favorite longs are below.