My Holiday Snaps

The pics in this slide show are my holiday snaps. Not the usual vistas, sunsets or tourism icons just pictures I found around the corner one hot summers day.

Over the New Year break I spent some time in Melbourne, Australia with friends. Chris and Marie live in the historical suburb of Williamstown with its beautiful colonial architecture and pre Federation houses. Chris is a builder who specialises in restoring such homes and any walk around his neighbourhood is dotted with many fine examples of his skill and devotion to authentic quality. Marie is also an artisan but one I have more in common with. She's a skilled chocolatier. I eat chocolate.

Please click on the pictures to purchase as fine art prints or stock

Apart from spending time with my friends I had the intention of taking lots of personal photographs. Unfortunately Chris and Marie are too good at hosting and while I did drag my DSLR around, they filled my days with dining, wining and talk while we wandered around Melbourne and it's surrounds.

Soaking up the atmosphere of places like Yarraville, Fitzroy, St Kilda and the city's famous laneways was a real delight and I found myself enjoying it for real and not through a viewfinder. For a photographer such enjoyment is sacrilege!

This hiatus lasted a few days until a major professional cycling event passed by the Williamstown foreshore. I was still very ensconced in holiday mode and somewhat surprised to find myself meandering down there with a camera slung over each shoulder - as if they had invited themselves! As we neared the foreshore the noise of the crowd and race commentary quickly roused the photography in my veins and I was glad to feel the straps on my shoulders.

This part of Williamstown looks across the bay to the Melbourne skyline. There is a tree filled park beside the water with many yachts moored alongside wooden piers. Large merchant vessels glide past as they head into the port or off to the ocean.

The historical town centre with it's cafes, restaurants and yesteryear appeal is separated from the park by a wide esplanade. It was here that the main straight, finish line and two strategic corners of the 2012 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic were situated.

The closer we got to the foreshore I knew I needed a plan of attack to make the most of the many photo ops that would lay just around the corner. A practical benefit of shooting digital is that a photographer can make decisions about the look of the final picture after the shoot. However, the best pictures are made when a photographer's idea is realised. That 'idea' can be involved or simple - it may just be a starting point or it could be a plan with every variable accounted for. My holiday brain was quickly switching to picture mode with every step.

My 'plan' was formulated soon after I rounded the corner to see a group of riders (led by a photographer's motorbike) lean around the first turn of the course. The mass of individual athletes had become an organism of tension, sweat and competition. Though each strained to win, this corner required co-operation, skill and agility if the pack were to survive it. I wanted to photograph that.

This was a hot January day with hard overhead light, areas of deep shade, an abundance of orange, crowd control mesh and a vibrant discord of advertising signs. So, despite the colour overload that defines professional cycling, my imagination saw black and white.

A tonal but contrasty approach would suit the gritty strain and determination on the faces of the athletes. The tension and jostle as they rounded tight corners or rose to sprint towards the finish line would have had me reaching for Tri-X film in the days before digital.

Cycling is a great sport to photograph and this event featured the best of Australia's professional cyclists including the new Australian GreenEdge team. The sport is fast and strenuous with lots of movement, colour and tension. There are often many opportunities to get close to the action with a wide-angle or to stand back and create those compressed, montage-like views of the peloton and crowds with a telephoto.

Even a simple idea like shooting for black and white will improve the pictures you make. It helped me define my compositions and framing. Because I could imagine what different parts of the scenes would look like in black and white I chose my angles, backgrounds and exposures to suit. When the action passed by me I was ready.

Of course the same cacophony of colour that made me see in B&W could be the inspiration for another photographer wanting to show the full gamut of bright, wild energy. Whatever the decision it's best to have a plan - even an unplanned one!

The fantastic auto focus modes found on all brands of quality DSLRs these days are perfect for these tight, fast situations. Canon call theirs AI Servo while Nikon uses Continuous/AF-C. Both will follow focus a moving subject while ever you keep the shutter button half pressed. By using a single focus point to the side of the field of view I was able to select which riders were in focus as well as create strong, dynamic compositions.

Using the wide-angle lens was a different matter. As it was manual focus I had to preset the focus and wait for the riders to pass by. I sometimes held this camera over my head and pointed down to get a different angle. Some of these shots were made by panning with the subject using a slow shutter speed.

The event was actually a series of races held on a set course so it helped that riders would pass by the same spot several times. It gave me time to assess my shots while I waited for the next lap. It also meant I could move around the course to capture different views and actions.

For the technically minded I used a Canon 1Ds Mark3 with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens and a Canon 5D Mark2 with a 17mm f4 T/S lens. The files were made in the RAW format and processed in Lightroom 3.

Please use these links for more information on:
Williamstown,  Yarraville,  St Kilda,  Fitzroy,  Melbourne's Laneways,  GreenEdge Cycling, Streetscape Detail,  Lightroom.


Finding pictures is the theme of my next workshop being held in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens in February, March and April. You can find more information here.