Managed to get out of town this weekend just gone with the family and we headed for Marysville in country Victoria. The aim was to take our two kids up to the snow for the first time. Lake Mountain Alpine resort is only about a 20 minute drive from Marysville so snow fun it was!
My other aim was to get the camera out for the weekend too and have a much needed shoot with hopefully some wonderful settings. I was having too much fun on the toboggan with the kids to drag the camera out so only got the happy snaps as far as that was concerned but did manage to duck away on the Friday night to Stephenson's Falls, which was very close to where we were staying, and is also one of the highest falls in Victoria.
It was getting on to dusk and stupid me had forgotten to pack the tripod for the weekend so hoped for the best with my shaky hands. Found some solid ledges to lean on and the light was really nice so pulled out the slow shutter speeds to enhance the effect of the falls.
There was also plenty of friendly locals (of the feathered variety) who would come and greet us each morning. The kids had a blast feeding them fruit, biscuits, seed, chips - whatever was around these birds tended to eat it!
Not too far from where we were staying was a somewhat famous sculptor by the name of
Bruno Torfs who has an amazing property filled with over 200 of his sculptures in the densely packed grounds out the back of his workshop. One of those places that you could go back to time and again and find something new on each visit. I managed to get quite a few good images of his people sculptures - some look almost lifelike.
After driving up and down the mountain for the two days beforehand and seeing some wonderful photo ops (tired kids don't get the need for a photo op!), I decided to venture back up the mountain early Sunday morning to a lookout point that boasted a fantastic view back towards Marysville and Melbourne. I think it was about 4 degrees celcius when I got the point but the scenery didn't disappoint. I snapped off a couple of quick frames and realised that my trusty D200 was disappointing me. A nasty black smudge was appearing on each frame I had taken - change of lens showed the smudge in the same spot; not good! I realised that something had gotten onto the sensor and I was not prepared to do major surgery in the back of the station-wagon half way up a mountain side. I did manage to salvage a shot that I quite like.
Apart from one of the kids being sick in the car on the way home (gotta love that smell), a good trip was had by all. I think I missed a few opportunities as a result of not bringing my tripod (something I realised about 45 minutes into the drive). Will just have to make the effort to head back again soon.
More ramblings soon...
Berk
Well, I was given all of about 2 minutes "face time" with my model. In messing around setting up the shot she had grown bored and I only managed to get a couple of keepers out of it all before Abby decided there was much more interesting things to do in the back yard. Prima donnas... I dunno...
No socks or jocks for this dad! 
The above image was shot handheld (1/80th @ f2.8) at ISO 1600 with available light in an dingy office environment that would have otherwise warranted a flash setup or tripod to achieve a similar result.
You can see in this above crop of the top image how little noise there is at this ISO. There is no editing to these images except cropping and resizing and are straight out of camera.
There was also plenty of friendly locals (of the feathered variety) who would come and greet us each morning. The kids had a blast feeding them fruit, biscuits, seed, chips - whatever was around these birds tended to eat it!
Not too far from where we were staying was a somewhat famous sculptor by the name of Bruno Torfs who has an amazing property filled with over 200 of his sculptures in the densely packed grounds out the back of his workshop. One of those places that you could go back to time and again and find something new on each visit. I managed to get quite a few good images of his people sculptures - some look almost lifelike.
After driving up and down the mountain for the two days beforehand and seeing some wonderful photo ops (tired kids don't get the need for a photo op!), I decided to venture back up the mountain early Sunday morning to a lookout point that boasted a fantastic view back towards Marysville and Melbourne. I think it was about 4 degrees celcius when I got the point but the scenery didn't disappoint. I snapped off a couple of quick frames and realised that my trusty D200 was disappointing me. A nasty black smudge was appearing on each frame I had taken - change of lens showed the smudge in the same spot; not good! I realised that something had gotten onto the sensor and I was not prepared to do major surgery in the back of the station-wagon half way up a mountain side. I did manage to salvage a shot that I quite like.
Apart from one of the kids being sick in the car on the way home (gotta love that smell), a good trip was had by all. I think I missed a few opportunities as a result of not bringing my tripod (something I realised about 45 minutes into the drive). Will just have to make the effort to head back again soon.
I had the good fortune on Sunday to tag along with my good friend Peter (from Panos Photographics), who was shooting for Goal Weekly magazine, to the soccer. I've spent a couple of years taking photos of the Aussie Rules version of football but have never peered down the lens at a game of the round ball. Grabbing all the necessary gear we headed down to Bob Jane Stadium in Albert Park for the clash between South Melbourne Lakers and arch rivals Melbourne Knights.
With the game underway I quickly got to shooting anything and everything. Whilst understanding the rules and knowing the general flow of the game I find myself struggling to stay up with the action in some cases. I guess I was trying to liken it to AFL shooting where I can predict the flow of the game and each play is a bit more smooth than soccer. I found the game would suddenly take off and I would miss a header or a kick that would have proved a great shot. Lessons well learned though which is all part of being a good sports photographer - understanding the sport you are shooting.
I eventually got into the swing of things and even managed to try out one of my newer lenses - the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8. I've had this lens for a little while now but have not really had much of a play with it. I must admit I was very impressed. The focus was fast and the zoom dial very smooth and easy to turn. I was able to zoom into action as it moved away from me and keep the players framed without getting too much background in and the constant f2.8 is just awesome for keeping up the exposure the way you want it when zooming in and out. Highly recommended if anyone is in the market for a mid range zoom.
In the end I couldn't let my trusty Sigma 300mm f2.8 prime go unused. The light began to fade but still some good action was played out right in front of me (one of the downfalls of a long prime is this type of action is hard to capture). 
Please have a browse around the new site and come back regularly to see what we're are up to.
Hope I can get back one day with the good gear and get a proper panorama.
You have to be dead on with the focusing (when using it at f1.8) and it is something I am going to have to work on with regards to portraits as the eyes are the most important and if you move off the focus spot the whole feeling of the image is gone. Not the greatest portrait of Kylie (hello stare-y eyes!) but the light was gorgeous and gave me a chance to get the camera out.
