I was shooting a conference in Adelaide and the client wanted a group shot of all the delegates. The original plan was to do the shot outside at a nearby park, but time was running short so the request was made to setup a shot as close as possible to the conference room, in 15minutes. The stairs in the foyer was the only practical location and the main problem was that it was so dark. I found a vantage point on  the next level up and set up the speedlights along the balcony to flood the space with a light from the left.

The 5 Speedlights used for the main illumination

Speedlights aimed around the group

The Final Group Shot

One of my favourite aspects of being a Photographer is how on an assignment I can visit a subject for a few hours where they often completely open up and leave with a deep insight into who they are and what they do.  Recently, I shot a very interesting person for the Australian Womens Weekly. Her name is Leonie Sheedy and she is one of the founders of CLAN, a support and lobby group for survivors of Australian orphanages. We found a location near where she lived in Geelong at one of the many  old orphanages across the country of which many are derelict buildings. In an eerie coincidence a young boy and girl came to play in the front yard of the building as we were completing the shoot. They were almost like the ghosts of the children who used to live here. Shot on my D3x, 14-24 Zoom, SB900s and David Honl light modifiers.

Leonie Sheedy, Advocate for Survivors of Australian Orphanages

With photography gear, sometimes I suffer from price fatigue where it can just seems normal to spend hundreds of dollars for that little bit of plastic/metal. I did a shoot recently where the weather forecast was for constant rain and I needed protection for my speedlights. I have many accessories for the speedlights, mostly form David Honl, but I really wish he would develop a waterproofing system as good as the product I ended up using……Sandwich bags from Glad.

My Highly Technical Moisture Protection System from Glad Bags

Rain, Mud and Trucks

Final Shot

Other Final Shot

I have been interviewing ACMP photographers across the country for a video series that will be available through the acmp’s new website and youtube. The intention of the series is to remind people that even though camera technology is making capturing quality images easier, that doesn’t make up for the world of talent and experience that comes with commissioning a professional photographer. Here is Michael Amendolia’s video, we plan to have 6 up for the upcoming website launch and add them monthly.

In my never ending search for the perfect case, I have been using the Think Tank Airport Airstream for the last few weeks for transporting my camera kit around the country. Needing a larger case for the Speedlights than my old filter case, I have tried the Think Tank Urban Disguise 60, then opted for the Think Tank Airport Antidote V2.0 backpack. The airstream is for me the perfect case while the Antidote is 90% there.

A real test came the other day when I was shooting in Central Queensland in a trip that took 2 hours on a big plane, 2 hours on a small plane, then 2 1/2hours driving on roads that gradually reduced from normal road, single lane bitumen, to gravel track with big patches of fine bulldust and plenty of cattle grids, heading to find drilling crew so I could shoot their truck for a calendar. You know you are getting remote when the landscape starts to resemble a sci fi movie.

The test was this was the first time my Airport Airstream had to be put through the hold of the small plane and then through to the luggage carousel and I have to say it performed fantastically. It is a soft bag with a stiff deep frame that protects the gear very well from every angle. I was watching the luggage handlers and because the bag has handles on 3 sides, I saw it was easy for them to lift and there wasn’t a “swinging throw” which I have seen being used on my Pelican cases.

I have caught about 10 flights and not once has it been asked to be weighed, there is real benefit to having a case that doesn’t look like a camera case. Fully loaded, it is double the weight (14kg) allowed for carry on luggage (7kg).

A few things missing for me on the Antidote are, it would be great if it had slip pocket to safely sit in the Airstream’s handle, if the backpack straps folded away or could be removed completely, if it could be 1-2 inches shorter, and if it could have subtle lateral compressions straps to keep the outside pocket thin, it would be perfect. Otherwise it holds my 7 speedlights and David Honl accessories, Elvis Parr softbox brackets brilliantly.

Think Tank Airport Airstream with my Nikon D3, D3x, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 35mm PC, CF Card holders and a Lacie 320GB Rugged hard drive

Think Tank Airport Antidote with 4 x SB800s, 3 x SB900s, 2 x SD8As, 1 x SU800, and David Honl Light Modifiers

After 6 hours travelling.......still not at the location but I found a very volcanic looking hill

I work closely with all my clients and when I travel I often let my clients know where I will be just in case they have any requirements where I am heading. With my latest trip to Perth with Nikon, I organized with Mercedes Trucks to shoot one of there customers for their 2010 calendar. The company is Cropline and they mainly transport grain in the south west of WA.

I spent the day with the MD who is a big result producing 22 year old who drove me to their facilities and customers south east of perth. All shot on my D3x and D3 and my fleet of speedlights.

Cropline Argosy C Train shot with Nikon D3x 24mm PC lens and SB900

Farmer Bruno and Driver Dean assess the canola crop, shot with Nikon D3x and 2 x SB900 in Interfit Softbox

Yesterday I did my best to give 2 entertaining and informative talks with lighting demonstrations about how I use the Nikon CLS speedlight system for almost everything I shoot, from individual portraits to Road Trains.

The first was at WA tafe to about 60 students of their 3 year course Photography course and the second was at Team Digital with about 70 photographers, some of who had travelled from over 400km away.

I firstly talked about how I came to use the system and why I think it is so special, I showed samples of difficult shoots that the speedlights did what other flashes couldn’t, walked guests through lighting diagrams of some of my shoots, then gave a live demonstration using CLS features such as high speed sync and TTL then showed off  the light modifying accessories I use.

Photojournalist friend David Dare Parker was my original subject for the lighting demonstration but he went to great lengths to get out of it by getting stuck in the freak dust storms in Sydney.

Thanks to Julie Kimpton at  Nikon and Ben Walton at Team Digital for their passionate support of the event that helped make it a great well attended success. Thanks also to the plucked from the crowd subjects Owen and Gerard for being my subjects.

WA Tafe Speedlight demonstration

WA Tafe Speedlight demonstration

I am shooting the Mercedes Trucks calendar at the moment where each month  a different client is featured.

The latest truck to shoot was for Viking Express, they run trucks across the country and have B triples that they run from Adelaide to Perth (but aren’t legal on Victorian roads). I wanted to shoot the B triple but could only legally do it offroad, so we found some clear area that could accommodate the massive vehicle near the depot. That day 2 SB900′s had arrived to replace 2 of my SB800s that were about to die. I ended up using every flash I had to light the truck, here are some pics.

Setup begins

The light is getting about right

Unretouched possible final file

I can often have as many as 10 jobs on the go at any one time with some lasting many weeks. It can be difficult  and tedious to keep track of expenses and I used to list the expenses within iCal on the days of the shoots.

I found a very user friendly, comprehensive and simple application called JetSet for the iPhone that makes keeping track of all jobs a breeze. It offers logical organizing of receipt categories, options to photograph the receipt, and it uploads to job summaries to google documents. Here are some screenshots.

Jetset main screen

Job details

Dear friends of ours have a beautiful girl who has Cerebral Palsy and she has benefitted from the ground breaking work of the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC). The services they provide are world best standard which unfortunately leads to long waiting lists for families to get there children in to the centre, sometimes missing critical years where the work would make the biggest difference.

I have been a longtime supporter of the centre and the latest support was providing Photography services to the CPEC drive day at Sandown where guests enjoyed hotlaps in some spectacular sportscars. Here are some pics.

CPEC Drive Day

CPEC hotlaps

I hope people noticed by website address at 235km/h