Sustainability Project

What does sustainability mean to me?

I've been asking myself this question for a while now, and I am going to enter a competition with this same subject (due in a few weeks). I'd love to get peoples opinion on my images and will take any suggestions seriously!!

Thanks in advance.

I've tried to think about what I do in my life to try to be more sustainable. Apparently if we all keep living the way we currently are, we need about 6 earths. We've only got one, so we all need to make changes in our lives to decrease our impact and be more sustainable. The classic images you get when you search online for sustainability are all a bit cliched in my opinion. I didn't want to take photos of small children holding growing plants, of solar panels, or wind farms or globes. I thought about things that impact my life directly. I have tried to take photos of things that are personal to me and give some indication of what I am trying to do to be more sustainable.

On the technical side. For the first time I (finally) downloaded the Photoshop CR2 raw converter so I have taken these 3 photos from raw files and processed them myself. Happy with the results and how quick and easy it was! I should have been doing this for ages!! I also took the first two shots using my big external flash in a somewhat studio style setup. It has been a fun challenge.

Here they are:

Photo 1: ... and three veg

From Sustainability_Project

Photo 2: Live Local

From Sustainability_Project

Photo 3: Double Garage

From Sustainability_Project

If you have any comments or questions please comment below. What does sustainability mean to you?

Perth Street Photography

I was in Perth (Australia) for work a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to take some street photographs. I used my point and shoot camera (Canon Powershot S95), a fabulous little camera which allowed me to be fairly subtle and less in-the-face than the big 30D. It was quite challenging taking photos of strangers in their rush hour heading home, but it was fun too, particularly playing with the strong contrasting light.

Starting off with a quick self-portrait (well, a partial...)

From Street_Perth

Girl at a bus stop (challenging bright light behind)

From Street_Perth

I like the shadows in this one, and the fairly severe expression on this womans face!

From Street_Perth

Look at those shoes!

From Street_Perth

Sneaky photo not looking through camera viewfinder.

From Street_Perth

Strong late afternoon sunlight and great facial!

From Street_Perth

Sleepwalking

From Street_Perth

Nice light separating my subject here from the background

From Street_Perth

Blurry but I like it

From Street_Perth

Still got a ways to go with street photography, but it's definately fun to try!

Light

Popped out today for a quick (20 minute) shoot to get a start on Assignment 3 for People & Place. It has been raining on and off so there were some great clouds in the sky, and I thought I might get a few overcast images for my planned bridge shot. I was busy shooting away thinking the photos were ... ok... then the sun broke through - awesome light. My favourite - dark clouds with sunlight breaking through. Here's a quick (unprocessed) shot...

From Miscellaneous

Great fun. That should mean one ticked off for this project, if I'm happy with my images as I look at them tonight.

Assignment 2: People and Activity

I have chosen to photograph at a music festival held in my home town of Adelaide. The festival is called Womadelaide and is held yearly in March. It attracts very large numbers of locals and interstate visitors. Everyone gets out their 'Womad' attire and enjoys a fabulous weekend of listening to music, dancing, eating fabulous food, shopping for unusual gifts and generally enjoying the lovely outdoor atmosphere. I have attended before and I love the atmosphere which is what I have tried to capture in this assignment.

Photo 1. Couple viewing Womadelaide program
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 70mm, 1/1000sec, ISO 200, natural light.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 2. Women at Fig Tree Stage
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 70mm, 1/180sec, ISO 200, +1/2EV, natural light.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 3. Girl in tree
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 55mm, 1/45sec, ISO 200, natural light.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 4. Mexican hat
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 24mm, 1/90sec, ISO 200, 580EX, -1/2EV, natural light.
Music provided by Marshall McGuire.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 5. Hula hoop
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/19, 55mm, 1/60sec, ISO 200, +1/2EV, natural light.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 6. Trio
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4.5, 24mm, 1/125sec, ISO 200, natural light.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 7. Sunlit couple
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4.5, 70mm, 1/250sec, ISO 200, +1/2 EV, natural light.
Music provided by Martha Wainwright.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 8. Girl Reading
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 70mm, 1/500sec, ISO 200, natural light.
Music provided by Yasar Akpence Harm'de.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 9. Woman Dancing
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 70mm, 1/1500sec, ISO 200, -1/2 EV, natural light.
Music provided by Yasar Akpence Harm'de.

From Womadelaide_2011

Photo 10. Dancing Girls
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 24mm, 1/30sec, ISO 800, -1 EV, natural light.
Music provided by Ash Grunwald.

From Womadelaide_2011

Strong and contrasting lighting proved challenging for this assignment. I took a lot of photos over the weekend trying to capture different aspects of the festival, good people expressions, and make the most of the varying light conditions. I really enjoying photographing this fantastic festival, and am quite pleased with my selection of images of the 3 days.