May 21

It's been a pretty slow week so I don't have too much to show. I mentioned in my last post about the fatal that I photographed, so I guess I may as well start off from there.

This was a pretty tragic accident. The ute, on the right, took on some traffic, crossed some double lines, tried to take over the cars, saw some incoming traffic and swerved back into the lane he was originally in. When he got back in the lane he swiped another car, hit a truck then went head on into this van. The driver of the van died instantly with the ute driver surviving. The van is covered up with tarps as the driver was still inside upon our arrival.

I find it strange that amongst all this carnage and death, it looks so peaceful and beautiful in the background. The low setting sunlight gives the grass a beautiful golden shimmer.

You can see by the markers the car skidded a long distance before finally hitting the van. 

The beauty of photography is that it has the power to lie. Unlike video or moving images, photographers capture an instance, a moment in time. This image appears as the police man is taken by the scene and he leaves with his hand over his mouth. The truth is, he's coughing. That's it. Being news photographers is a pretty powerful position, we have the power to shoot an image in a different light and be biased the way it looks and tell a completely different story. 

I didn't actually shoot that much from this fatal. At other accidents i've been at I normally shoot the crap out of it. Lots of different angles and views, but for this one, it was different. I came back to the office and I think I only had about 10-12 images. Not as many as usual. Enough of the fatal. 

Went to a small town the other week called Builyan. There's a main street, a few houses and a school. The school has 20 students from prep - year 7. This is the Principle teacher Damien Hoare, we were promoting the town and I guess we started at the school. Really nice school considering it's out in the bush. 

Nothing too special in this shot. Just the local pub in Builyan. 

Last week we did a story about people who have a phobia for dentists, can't remember what it's called but its something like dentophobia. something along those lines. We wanted to make a menacing looking photo of the dentist and we asked him to put on some scary props to add to the image. He popped on some head piece and magnifying glasses that make him look super creepy. He gave a good facial expression too that really helps. I placed the flash under the Dentists face which sorta gives him a scary shadow behind him but also adds shadows on his face that make him look freaky. Kinda like when you put a torch under your chin when telling ghost stories. I had a bit of fun back in the office and shopped one up just for fun. 

This is Hippo. Not his real name but he goes by the name. He is planning to ride around Australia to build awareness of cancer. The plan is to raise funds so he can build houses for families who are dealing with cancer. Kind of like the Ronald McDonald houses, but they have an age limit, where people who are under a certain age are allowed to stay there. He wants to build houses for adults and not just children. He wanted to do it as he lost his wife a few years ago to cancer. He wasn't allowed to live in the Ronald McDonald houses as his wife was not a child. People need to be with their loved ones when they are going through a tough time in their lives.

Last image. nothing too special. 

Promoting some gallery that is opening in the next few months.

I'm done. There isn't really much to say this post. Been a quiet few weeks. Bit uninspired. Hopefully the next few weeks will be more exciting and I can give you some more photos! until next time.

Ciao. 

Horsin' Around.

There's a reason for the title, last week, or maybe the week before, I attended the Calliope Campdraft. What is campdraft? I'm not too sure exactly either, but what I saw was guys and girls on horses chasing cows and making them run a circuit for points. Essentially like herding cows, pretty good fun, nice country folks out there too. The event ran for two days and I spent a lot of hours there taking snaps, luckily I had a pretty quiet week that week and could afford to sit around and watch all the action.

Never realised how majestic, powerful, graceful and intelligent animals horses were, like, i've always known horses are pretty cool, but seeing them just herd up these animals and literally get in the way of these angry, scared cows and take hits from them, they truly are dedicated animals. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the skill of the rider too, but these horses. Really very impressive. 

 I did feel kind of bad for these cows, beasts, as the locals would call them. The cows are brought into a pen, and the horse and rider have X amount of time to pick out a cow they want in the herd, and try to single it out. Once the cow has been singled out, they have to give a call to the guys who open the gate, the cow runs out the gate and the horse and rider has to guide the cow around an obstacle course in order to score points.

SO yeah, that's my horse day. Was really a lot of fun. Before I forget, I have one more horse, but not related with the campdraft.

This guy and his horse got into the finals of Polocrosse in Qld. Polocrosse = polo x lacrosse.

So that's the end of my horses, what else have I been up to? There was a dance performance I attended a few weeks ago. Dance Around the World. Sort of like.. a whole bunch of performers who dance according to different countries. If that makes sense. So, lots of traditional dance and costumes. That's what it was at first, until it became a lot of interpretive dancing.. then I got a bit confused.. any way, photos.

I like how you can immediately tell which ones are the interpretive dancing performances...

There have been a fair few accidents in GLA lately, I think I covered 3 in a week, which is basically how many I've covered in 7 months of being here, now i've doubled that amount in a week. 2 crashes were non fatals, with the third being a fatal on the highway. I haven't got any photos from the fatal, as i've left them at work, but i'll put those up in my next post hopefully, if I remember.

This crash here was a head on at a T-intersection, don't know who was at fault, but all i'll say is that there was a P plater involved. Actually, thinking back, that fatal was caused by a P plater too - who didn't die, killed a 54 year old minding his own business. They're the worst ones.

Just to be clear, i'm not sure if this guy was involved or not, I just like his expression at the scene. One person was sent to hospital with head injuries. There was a massive head crash on the drivers side windscreen, where the person has obviously flung out from their seat and smashed their head on the windscreen. Not wearing a seatbelt maybe? no idea. 

From car crashes to sport, stock standard. I like how before I started this job I have ZERO sport in my portfolio. I'd say that a good 40-45% of my folio now is sport related. All news agencies want sport in their folios. Can't ay I don't have enough now.. Anyway. Sport. Rugby Union. 

This one was pretty scary. I had done a similar shot in my older post with some girls hitting the hockey balls at me as I stood behind the net, however, this one was scary cos she was good, and she hurled that ball right at my face. Even though i'm behind a net, seeing that ball come straight down the lens is a little nerve racking. The goals have a metal base, so when the ball slams into it, it makes one HELL of a noise. Earplugs were the way to go on this shoot. lucky I always have some in my bag.

 I really like this shot for a lot of reasons. The look of him, the light and the ball. But for all the things I do like about it, I hate that it's in his backyard. Why? cos he had just finished school and couldn't get to a local rugby park, I wish we had more time so i'd drive him to one to get the shot, but, doesn't matter.

That's about i for me. Thanks for reading =]

until next time,

Ciao.