Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
24.12.11
It has been an eventful year for us here, and we wish you a very merry christmas followed by a happy new year — see you in January!
Flash Mob!
9.12.11
I have no idea what this was for but while I was running some errands in the city today I found myself swamped by hundreds of people in their cozzies! It pays to always have a camera on you!
UNIFORM
11.5.11
I’ve been hinting at a “secret project” for a couple of weeks now on Twitter, and here it is. It’s for an upcoming competition whose theme is “uniform”, and the first thought that came to mind was a gentleman from the Salvos that I used to see at Central station. He would have his fold out table and fold out chair, and he would sit on Friday morning in front of the gates at Central Station and collect donations. His name is Tom, and here he is:
Introducing Harustudio
2.5.11
It is with great pleasure that I introduce our latest creation, Harustudio. My wife, Iku, has always been a huge part of my work, and we’ve decided to partner up and create a boutique weddings, family, and children photography company. We offer the same friendly service you can expect with me, excellent prices, and beautiful photography — so head over to our new website at www.harustudio.com.au.
Short-listed in Head On 2011!
I am very happy to announce that I have been short-listed in this year’s Head On Portrait Prize.
Captured
Two of my images, both taken during this year trip to Japan and Hong Kong, have been selected to be part of Ultimo TAFE’s Captured: Graduate Photography Exhibition, which is part of the Head On Festival.
A Photo Editor interviews Dan Winters
14.4.11
Dan Winters is, by far, my favourite portrait photographer, and certainly someone whose work I admire greatly.
Japan and Hong Kong
6.4.11
Just got home today from a brilliant 17 days in Hiroshima and Hong Kong, introducing our son to his grandparents and great-grandparents. Despite the recent tragedy in north-eastern Japan, the people in Hiroshima seemed perfectly normal; but for the days following there would be groups of people calling for donations at busy street corners in an insistently loud but completely polite way. And I was told since courier services restarted to the Tohoku area and Tokyo, people have been sending boxes of bottled water to friends and family, making it hard to buy bottled water in the city.
‘HOME’
8.3.11
This is the final image of a short series called ‘HOME’. Check out the rest after the jump!
New ‘ASIAN’ Images
27.2.11
Four more images uploaded for ‘ASIAN’, Karina, Vi, James and Cecilia. Thank you for being part of this project! ‘ASIAN’ is a long term project and I am looking for people of Asian heritage who self-identify as asian to participate. If you are interested please call or email for details.
Joey L with the Mentawai
Fantastic behind the scenes video of photographer Joey L with the Mentawai tribe of Indonesia.
New Images
30.1.11
Just a quick post to say that I’ve just added a couple of new images in the portrait section of the portfolio, and have added two new people, Ada and her mum Yvonne, to the ‘ASIAN’ website as well. Enjoy!
Using Camera Movements
28.12.10
I promised in my last post about my Nikon PC-E 45mm tilt/shift lens that I would talk about using camera movements, so here it is. Camera movements aren’t very commonly used any more, but they are tremendously powerful and It’s worth shining a light into how it can work for your photography.
Rise, fall and shift are pretty simple concepts, and are well explained in the Wikipedia article on the View Camera. Tilts and swings, however, are the two that are most confusing and is worth exploring.
Our Christmas DVD
27.12.10
A few posts ago I mentioned that we decided to get a bit creative and make our Christmas presents rather than battling the crowds to buy them, and here it is!
Nikon PC-E 45mm f/2.8
26.12.10
One of the things that got lost with the popularity of 35mm and medium format cameras is something called “camera movements”. If you’re scratching your head at “camera movements”, you probably know what I’m talking about, but know it under a different name: tilt/shift lenses.
A sneak peek at our Christmas presents
14.12.10
This is usually the time we battle the crowds to do some last minute christmas shopping, but this year we couldn’t bear the thought of hitting the crowded shopping centres with a pram and a baby. So we decided to make something special to give away.
Introducing ‘ASIAN’
6.12.10
I’ve kept this project fairly low key up until now, but I’m proud to announce my new portrait project called ‘ASIAN’.
Website problems with IE
2.11.10
Apologies if you are having problems with navigating this site using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Patrick Demarchelier with Emma Watson for VF
11.5.10
I love this — all those assistants and operators and screens and computers, but at the end of the day it’s a master photographer, his subject, a hassleblad and a single light. Beautiful.
And introducing…
We’re having a baby! Such is the power of photography that they gave us these print outs in a little wallet sized window sleeves just like a school photo — which is perfectly apt since this is the first image of our child. Barely three months since conception, touch under 6cm big and we have [...]
Natsuko and Derek
At the end of March I had the very great privilege of photographing my good friends Natsuko and Derek’s wedding…
Not your typical car commercial
6.4.10
And that drifting! Make sure you check out the making of video. (Originally from Chase Jarvis)
This is my goal
This video beautifully illustrates what I want to achieve in life and career — to so thoroughly master a skill that even the most boring task looks beautiful. I love the way he irons with no wasted motion, every move of his hand is vital and necessary to the production of the end result. Fantastic.
Technology in Photography
5.3.10
We all know that technology changes lives, but for photography it sometimes amazes me that until digital came along (and for a while after as well) the basic essence of photography really hadn’t changed since it was first developed. A camera was basically a light-tight box that lets light in in a controllable way, while [...]
New Website
15.2.10
Chances are you’ve noticed a few changes to this page, we’ve launched a new website! I’ve been wanting a site that really shows off my photography in full screen glory, but without using Flash. A bit of inspired poking about led me to this page, where a very talented web designer called Eirik Backer had [...]
David
27.1.10
David is a composer and conductor who is the Musical Director of the Oriana Chorale and this is one of a series of shots I did for him recently.
Nikon D300s Video Test
25.1.10
This video was shot and edited in a couple of hours on a lazy Sunday in and around the Sydney CBD area. It isn’t all that exciting, but it was good fun and it gave me a chance to really play with the video function of my D300s. Overall I am happy with the quality [...]
Nikon D300s
24.1.10
This weekend I picked up a new Nikon D300s from European Cameras in Drummoyne, very exciting! I’ve been desperately wanting to play with video ever since the D90 came out, and after playing with the Canon 5d MkII’s video it has just made it worse. I’ll go into detail about the video function in the [...]
Marc Johns
17.1.10
Inspirations come from many places, and I find that I am often more inspired by things non-photographic. I rely pretty heavily on blogs and RSS feeds (speaking of which, have you subscribed to mine?) and Google Reader to track and hold onto things that float through the blogosphere that catch my eye. I was reading [...]
Greta
Over the holidays a good friend of mine came to visit, and of course I had to get her into the studio! I asked her to show me how she would describe working as an English teacher in South Korea and she immediately raised her hands to her face in imitation of the kids she [...]
Movember
This has been a long time coming. Every year a good friend of mine participates in Movember, a charity where men grow mustaches (or a “mo”) and raise money for men’s health issues. And every year he participates he has a special deal where if you donate more than a certain amount you get a [...]
Andrew Zuckerman's Bird
28.12.09
I was just reading through A Photography Blog and I came across this: It’s by Andrew Zuckerman (who did Wisdom) and I can’t imagine the kind of time and patience you’d need to shoot birds in flight in a studio! But the results are well, well worth it. More on his website.
Magic Light
20.12.09
Last week I was fortunate enough to be working up in the Gibraltar Range in northern NSW for a magazine spread, and on the way home at the crack of dawn we drove through some of the most amazing country and the most amazing light. Here are few of the images I shot.
Portfolio Refresh
15.11.09
Portfolios are like wardrobes, they need to be cleaned and refreshed every so often. With all the new work I’m producing I thought it was time to shake things out a bit and see where I’m at with my photography. Choosing images for a portfolio is — for those of you who have never had [...]
New Work
Over the last month I have been working very hard, and I’ve got a few new pieces to show. First is a new portrait that I have shot: These mark a bit of a change in my stylistic direction, moving to a more dramatic feel with the lighting and the treatment. Next is an image [...]
I Love Film
6.10.09
While it would be difficult to find a working photographer these days that don’t shoot digital, it would also be hard to find a working photographer that will tell you that they completely hate film. It often doesn’t make sense to work in film any more now that digital has started to come of age, [...]
Homeless man at Martin Place
20.9.09
I was out at Martin Place today with the camera and he came up and started asking me about photography. He wanted me to take some photos of him, and he had a good giggle when I showed him the photos on the screen. He had nothing but his pants, a pack of tobacco and [...]
It's always nice when you see your work out in the wild
2.9.09
This is one of the posters I did for Sydney muso Sarakula, based on the photography and artwork I did for his latest album ‘City Heart’. Incidentally the ‘City Heart’ album launch is on tomorrow night at the Supper Club, I’ll be there, come along if you want to hear some great music!
The Refined
9.8.09
Big big congrats to my friend Geoff from Refinery, who have just launched their blog, The Refined. Some great stuff, I had a good Sunday giggle at this post: http://www.the-refined.com/2009/08/relax-its-advertising/. Good stuff mate!
Website makeover
18.7.09
Regular readers might notice the change, I’ve just launched the new(er) version of this site. The old one was a bit messy visually, and I made a point of giving the site more structure. And a few fancier bells and whistles. And I also gave my portfolio a refresher, pulling out some older images and [...]
Website Update
6.7.09
Had a bit of time this weekend to do a little website upkeep, and I’ve updated the Wedding page with my last wedding that I shot, and I also put up a page devoted to my ‘Hiroshima’ project. Also did a little nip and tuck to the layout of the site, nothing that you’d notice [...]
Waiting Time
30.6.09
I’m writing this on my iPod Touch right now, my main computer is currently exporting a ton of images from a shoot I just finished editing. My poor first generation MacBook Pro is struggling under the weight of Lightroom and big RAW files, and it takes the best part of an hour to export a [...]
Back to Work
23.6.09
Well I’m back in Sydney and I’m straight back to work, got a couple of jobs to finish up and deliver. I got word today that the album cover project that I worked on (more on that in a later post) has been printed, and it looks great! I’m very chuffed about that, it’s not [...]
Japan in 4 days!
4.6.09
I’ve been busy wrapping up all the loose ends and unfinished projects in preparation for my trip back to Japan in just 4 days. We’re flying at some impossible hour in the morning on the Sunday, and while most people would be busy packing, or repacking, on the Saturday, I will be shooting a wedding. [...]
LUMINOUS Festival
27.5.09
Tonight was the opening of the LUMINOUS Festival, a festival of music and art that has been curated by Brian Eno, at the Opera House. One of the big attractions was the Lighting of the Sail, a series of images that’s projected on the Opera House, and my friend and I decided to go down [...]
Working with (busy) people
16.5.09
When I shoot for magazines I often deal with subjects who are very busy, and can only spend a short about of time in front of the lens. Often I don’t get to see the location before the shoot, and only get a few minutes (if that) to have a look at my surroundings before [...]
Just got hold of my new printer
12.2.09
I’m not a printer reviewer, or indeed a reviewer or any kind, so don’t take what I say here as anything more than a guy with a new gadget! I just took delivery of an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer, which retails for about $1500 but I got mine for $1129 from Landmark Computers in [...]
Annie Leibovitz At Work
26.1.09
Just a couple of days ago I bought a copy of Annie Leibovitz’s new book, At Work, where she discusses her history and her work ethic, and why she makes the choices that she makes to produce the images she has. I’m only half way through so far, and the bits I’ve read has been [...]
Elle
30.12.08
This is part of a series of photos I’m shooting for a personal project called “My Favourite Place”. The premise is pretty simple, I want to shoot people in their favourite place, somewhere they have some connection to, and to show them interacting with the environment. It isn’t meant to be a landscape, these are [...]