It’s nice to know that someone out there is looking out for the rights of all us photographers, pro or amateur. The Australian Institute of Professional Photography’s (AIPP) “Competition Watchdog” William Long has recently successfully lobbied Australian Tourism to change it’s “Nothing Like Australia” photo contest entry terms which were a blatant disregard for photographer’s rights.
A big thank you to William Long and the AIPP team!
A huge congratulations to our very own SPW tutor Michael Good who recently entered a work in the Thirroul Seaside Art Festival. Competing against over 300 other invited artworks and judged by the curator of Wollongong University Art Collection, Michael won the overall, Anita Commelli Prize .
Upon seeing the work I was immediately intrigued by the process that led to it’s creation. As it turns out the process was a collaboration of two great talents and is an alternate slant on the CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) process that seems to dominate today’s photography. I asked Michael to pen a few words about his latest collaborative project.
“A little over a year ago I had a chance meeting with an amazing artist Arthur Apanski, when I was commissioned to photograph his house being put up for sale. I found it very difficult to control my enthusiasm, as every wall in this little cottage was filled with a number of Arthur’s amazing artworks. Of course being the curious type I talked with Arthur for quite some time about his works and what he had in mind for the future. This led to us coming up with a new challenge that Arthur believes hadn’t been done before. I was to get some of my landscape photos printed on to large format canvas and then hand it over to Arthur for him to perform his own piece of magic on the works.
To set the context of my trepidation I provide you with two images which easily show Arthur's amazing and very intimidating talent.
Our first projects consisted of two commissioned works. One of which was for a local builder who wanted a classic Arthur signature piece to hang on his wall. Not being able to afford one of Arthur’s original works we offered to create an artwork especially for him. This meant photographing his favourite landscape (East Corrimal Beach) and then handing over to Arthur for his interpretation. East Corrimal beach is a very classic long sandy beach with small sand dunes. A very cliche kind of landscape.
Being the first work I was going to produce for Arthur I had little idea as to how it should be photographed. To add to the mystery I hadn’t met nor spoken with the client. This gave me free reign over how I chose to photograph the landscape. Having gone to the location more than a dozen times in varying lighting conditions I felt that I had a good selection to present to Arthur. I had photographed from many varied angles emphasising many different aspects form large landforms to small detailed driftwoods. In the end I need not have worried too much as the point of the project was that I would give my own impression of the landscape. Arthur would then add to it without comment or input from myself. We wanted to see how the project could work without collaboration. i.e. I was not to produce works to suit Arthur nor would he try to enhance or compliment the landscape presented. He would simply interpret the scene and paint accordingly.
Here is the end result of the first commissioned work. Arthur's belief is that Wollongong will be inhabited by great lizards and crocodiles in 50 years due to global warming.
The second commissioned work was for a client who had inherited the family home which would be demolished in the near future and so the theme was to show the existing house being carried away much the same way as the sand dunes come and go…
Our second commission
We have since moved on to our main project which are my selected landscape works to be exhibited in the Wollongong City Gallery in 2011. So far we have produced 8 art works, some of which you can see here. This experience so far has really made me look at landscape and people photography in a whole new light. Not being content with cliche images the project has forced me to think in a more artistic way and really consider all the elements including composition, colour and textures and of course considered lighting and atmosphere. This will help my future photography grow to greater heights no doubt. Being my first exhibited work I’ve now gained a desire to enter more competitions.
The Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) has announced the winners of the 2010 AIPP Epson NSW Professional Photography Awards for NSW.
Winners were selected from 164 prints submitted by 102 of the state’s top professional photographers. Entries were individually critiqued and scored via a scrupulous peer-review judging process involving some of Australia’s best photographers. The category winners for the 2010 AIPP Epson NSW Professional Photography Awards are:
2010 NSW AIPP PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Winner: Peter Eastway, Collaroy
2010 NSW AIPP ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Winner: Charles Foulsham, Double Bay
2010 NSW AIPP COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Winner: Peter Eastway, Collaroy
2010 NSW AIPP WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Winner: Tim Pascoe, Mona Vale
2010 NSW AIPP PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Winner: John Coxon, Kotara South
2010 NSW AIPP LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Winner: Peter Eastway, Collaroy
2010 NSW AIPP CREATIVE AWARD – Winner: Liisa Kuisma, Blue Mountains
2010 NSW AIPP Photography Album Of The Year – Winner: Ryan Schembri, Pyrmont
HENRY TALBOT AWARD for services to the Photographic Industry – Winner: Jackie Dean, Epping
Winning images can be viewed at a free public exhibition at L&P Digital Photography, 96 Reserve Road, Artarmon. The exhibition is open between 9 am and 5 pm daily from Tuesday 6th April to Friday 30th April.
When Australia’s leading experience supplier Red Balloon Days approached us about trying our Beginners DSLR Photography Workshop in order to write a review, I was naturally nervous. Although I was always quietly confident that we had one of the most thorough and inspiring beginners workshops on the market, there is always that little voice that says ‘perhaps you’re just biased’. Especially now, with so many new offerings out in the market place, the pressure is on to provide the best experience possible. After all, these days more so than ever it’s all about the experience!
Well now the confidence is back in my step, but don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Red Balloon Days had to say about it.
Daniel, not sure why you’re so surprised. You HAVE got the best course in the business. I thoroughly enjoyed my time doing this course and have recommended it to others.
Not only did I learn a heap of new, invaluable information but Scott, my tutor on the beginners course and you,Ben and Wendy on the Travel and Documentary workshop, have how helped make me see the world in a whole new way!
It was that time again where Daniel and I put on our judge’s hats and began the process of choosing the top 30 images from the first intake for 2010 - Digital SLR 8 week beginner course
With just under 1000 images presented on the final night we knew we had a challenge on our hands to pick the 30 stand out images.
This final selection was based on, originality of idea, overall impact of image (mood), use of colour and composition, and technical execution.
Congratulations to all those who made the final cut!
For something just a little different, AP Photographer David Guttenfelder captures Afghanistan’s largest-scale military operation since 2001 using a unique lens – his iPhone camera coupled with a Polaroid film filter app.
Some of you may know I have a small obsession with my iPhone camera and iPhone photography applications so I really enjoyed this set of images. In particular image/slide 27, if that was my camera I’d be crying into my lowepro bag!
These images also created a huge stir and heated debate on the online version of PDN magazine One of the questions raised was “Do the images romanticise the war?” due to the washed out colors and soft focus, making them almost dreamy and beautiful looking.
Do you think the style and feel of the these images take away the the fact that they are actually images of war? Let us know your thoughts.
If you’re anything like me these images really hit home documenting the hardship and ordeal the people of Haiti had to and are still going through. Click below to see some pretty powerful images of Haiti, 70 days later.
Hot on the heels of the PX3 contest winners, and off-course our world renowned Foto Priority Top 30 …………, Photo District News Magazine (PDN) has announced their Top 30 New and Emerging Photographers To Watch in 2010.
If their portfolios alone don’t blow your socks off, then make sure you read the interviews. Now that’s dedication!
Just in case you haven’t yet heard, there is only 18 days (and counting) until the launch of the new Adobe CS5 Creative Suite, obviously including the new Photoshop. So make sure you go to the Adobe CS5 launch page and register (using your Adobe ID) for all the up to the minute info or just check out some of the buzz.
Personally I’m still happily using CS3 but perhaps upgrade time is coming soon. From what I have seen so far there are some pretty cool new features to play with, including the incredible and very cool Content-Aware Fill feature which in my mind is alone worth the money. Here’s a clip I came actoss on John Nacks blog which demonstrates it.
Watch it full screen to better see all the details, and make sure you watch it to the very end. AMAZING!
the proof will be in using it though… I’d really like to see how you still end up with crisp detail after doing one of those edits. If it does that then I’m upgrading from 3 as well. You don’t always have the circumstances for the perfect blemish free photo, so this is a great feature.
Michael, I’m thinking that nothing is perfect straight out of the box. My thoughts are that once the original ‘hard’ work is done, the result might still require some final finessing to make it faultless. I’m happy to investigate though.
Thank you to all those who have subscribed for our regular updates. We look forward to keeping you photographically inspired!
As promised, we had 2x A2 Canvas prints to give away (valued at $149) courtesy of DigiDirect.
The lucky winners are georgie@greaterdata.com.au and melissajones@aapt.net.auCongratulations to you both!
Now go and decide on an image to print. We’ll be in touch with you shortly.
Visit the DigiDirect Lab
By the way, we’ve had great reports filter in from various students that the guys at Digi Direct have really been looking after them on price and service. If you prefer personal attention beyond the slick website, pop in and check them out in the City or Bondi Junction, and don’t forget to mention SPW or FotoPriority.
…………, Photo District News Magazine (PDN) has announced their Top 30 New and Emerging Photographers To Watch in 2010.
April 8th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Daniel, not sure why you’re so surprised. You HAVE got the best course in the business. I thoroughly enjoyed my time doing this course and have recommended it to others.
Not only did I learn a heap of new, invaluable information but Scott, my tutor on the beginners course and you,Ben and Wendy on the Travel and Documentary workshop, have how helped make me see the world in a whole new way!
Fantasic courses, well done guys