colour

Colour in December Pt 4 - Outback

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I had the pleasure of travelling to Central Queensland for Christmas this year. I wish I had taken more photos (and let’s face it, who doesn’t), but for me at least it was more a situation of learning more about the environment I was in and the people that inhabit the space moreso than photographing everything.

In saying that, I did manage to take a few photos.

This is big sky country. The land is obviously ancient, the climate harsh, the people who farm the land warm and inviting.

Bottle trees (above, below), dot the rangelands which were previously dense scrub. They stand as imposing sentinels.

Some aspects of this environment ring closer to western USA than Australia, like this cactus (above) and the old yards at dusk (below)

Originally built between 1880-1885, the Dingo fence is over 6000km of fencing with the aim of preventing dingoes moving into the fertile south east of Australia. It’s still actively maintained to this day.

Colour In December Pt 3 - Aquarium

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The Solitary Islands Aquarium sits a few hundred metres inland from Charlesworth Bay, near Coffs Harbour. Small by any standards, the aquarium run by Southern Cross University is a place I’ve been to many times, but never ceases to inspire. Shooting here is never the main intention but is very easy to do, with a wide array of subjects to photograph in a small space.

I’m still finding colour very hard to work with. It’s not a natural process for me at all - every process I do from start to finish is with a black and white photo in mind. Persevering with colour for a month is a good problem to have - I’m testing my boundaries, what I like, what I want to do with my work, how I will continue in the future.

Colour in December Pt 1 - Brisbane

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I don’t not shoot colour - I just prefer to shoot black and white. It’s a thing I’ve been doing for so long now that I don’t even need to think about it. I see scenes and photos with the final black and white image in mind. So when fellow photographers Skye and Teneille dared me to shoot colour for an entire month, I couldn’t say no. Travelling to Brisbane last weekend was the perfect chance to get shooting out of my comfort zone. And the truth is, colour is hard - editing colour is a whole different kettle of fish to the normal process, and things take longer (for me at least).

Turns out I spend a lot of time looking up in cities. Also the first and last shot were taken with the 35mm f/2.8 Nikkor-S. The others were shot with the XF 18mm f/2, and all shots wereactually taken with the X-Pro 3.