Nikon Photowalk - Part Three - Can You Dig It?

on September 12, 2018
Can you dig the fun that there is in a patch of dirt and some flowering plants? Do you remember that we are part of nature...albeit the part that pays taxes, worries about the football, and carries around $ 4000 worth of camera gear in a bag? Well, if you were part of Steve Parish's Nikon Australia photo walk last week, you had a good chance to get some spring inspiration. The last two column posts detailed some of the main ideas Steve uses for his work. The side-bits of information that he dropped were worth hearing too: a. He drives a big old 4WD car, but unlike the majority of the people who crowd my local shopping centre car park, he actually takes it out where all four wheels drive. There is a lot of nature out there in Australia that we city-dwellers just never think to go see. We'll hit a coastal outlook point and stare at the waves until the pub opens, or we'll look at the wildflowers on the evening news...but a lot of us need to pack up the camera bag and push off out there to actually see the real thing. If it's an organised tour, take it. If it's a bus to the wildflowers, book a seat. If it's just a pack of sandwiches and a wander though a national park, go do it. And keep on looking. b. Early morning and late afternoon - these bring lighting effects that Hollywood couldn't pay for. Sidelighting, backlighting, overglows. And you get them for free. Of course you also get cold, wet, hot, and dusty and you get it far from home at modern-day petrol prices...but if you want the pictures, they are out there. c. We have a right to colour and form the way we want it - and with digital capture and computer processing we are unlimited in what we can do. Shop-plug: Get a better monitor than you think you need and find out how to make it run properly. Then anything you do is valid and repeatable. d. You can recover from disaster. His experience of the floods that decimated his slide storage is awful to hear, but here he is right now doing wonderful photography. There were a number of people in the audience at the photowalk that I recognised: Michael Philips from Nikon Australia - the man who organised the show. Kingsley Klau who is the Nikon flash shooting expert. Carlos from Camera Electronic. A good man to know. Nikon the Dog. Nikon has a position in the excavation business...Stage note for Steve - never work with animals... The Punters. Everyone there with an intelligent interest in art and science and every single one of them upholding the motto of Camera Electronic and loving photography. Personal tips for Kings Park: Go during the week. Go early in the morning. Take a tripod and the camera/lens of your choice. Don't load yourself down too much. Comfy shoes and warm jacket. Wear a hat. Walk with your eyes down everywhere. Shoot more than you'll use. Don't ask the price of the coffees and lunches if you're not prepared to hear the answer. Or take a thermos and pack of sandwiches.
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