Your Brisbane: Past & Present

Thanks to images sourced from the archives of the Queensland State Library and the John Oxley library, I have begun a photographic project that compares old photographs of Brisbane with current photographs taken at the same location.

Where possible, I am replicating the viewpoint of the original image, although sometimes this is impossible. Over time things tend to change, and buildings and trees mushroom where none stood before, or once quiet roads are now too busy with traffic.

As a preview, I can show you what I mean. Below is a photograph printed in the Brisbane's daily newspaper, The Courier-Mail, in 1913. It shows the Winchcombe Carson wool store that was completed in 1911, and gives an idea of the size of the building, which takes up a whole block. It was used, of course, to store bales of wool prior to them being loaded onto ships at the nearby Teneriffe Wharves.
(Photo: courtesy State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library)

The building still stands; now converted to much sought after (and expensive!) New York-style apartments.

(Photo: the foto fanatic)

It was not possible to provide exactly the same perspective. This photo had to be taken from the middle of a busy road using a wide angle lens. I suspect that the original was taken from a higher position, and probably using what we now call a view camera, where the lens can be moved independently of the camera body. This prevents the distortion that arises from having to angle the camera upwards to capture the entire building. My image has been adjusted in Photoshop to reduce this distortion as much as possible. If this isn't done, the buiding looks like it is falling over backwards.

TFF
See my new blog here: http://yourbrisbanepastandpresent.blogspot.com/

Taronga Zoo

On a recent lightning visit to Sydney, I went to Taronga Zoo for the first time in many years. The magnificent site of this zoo, with its great views back across the harbour to Sydney, is worth the admission price alone. Someone told me that the giraffe pen had the best views in Sydney:

And by the way, this goat also has luxury accommodation in one of the most expensive cities of the world:

Generally, the animals seem to be well treated and healthy. It is always a shame to see wild animals in captivity, but these days the zoos have valuable breeding programs and research departments that contribute to animal welfare. According to Taronga Zoo, their Asian elephants were saved from a life of begging in the streets of Thailand, and so I would prefer to see them interacting with the public at the zoo, rather than continuing to live in those circumstances:
However, this Burmese tiger seemed really distressed, and was continually pacing backwards and forwards inside its glass-walled enclosure:
I guess zoos are neither good nor bad, but necessary. Animals in the wild are still poached for meat or killed for profit, and their natural habitat is continually shrinking. At least at a zoo, they are treated humanely and have the best food and medical attention available. Because of this, and because they are separated from their natural predators (including man), many animals have longer lifespans in captivity than they would experience in the wild.

But you can't help but feel some sort of empathy for them as they sometimes look so forlorn:

I certainly wish we had better communication with the animals - I'd love to know their thoughts.

TFF

Witches Falls National Park

This is Queensland's oldest national park, having been declared in 1908. It is situated on Mt Tamborine, to the south of Brisbane. Mt Tamborine is just west of the Gold Coast, and over recent years has developed its own tourist persona for those people who prefer mountains to beaches.

As part of photographing the wedding of some friends, I stayed on Mt Tamborine for a few nights and had the opportunity to explore the park. The park has views west to the Great Dividing Range, and the sunset at the end of the afternoon was sublime:


During the day in the park, the sunlight filters through tall trees to provide dappled light on the rainforest floor:




As well as trees and other rainforest vegetation, there are an enormous number of large boulders in this park. It looks like giants played marbles there back in the dreamtime:

As you can see, the boulders have become covered with liken over thousands of years. Sometimes they are taken over completely by the root system of trees, showing how hardy these rainforest specimens are:

Naturally, the rainforest is home to many birds and animals The song of the whipbird and the peacock are never too far away, and even the ravens get a look in:

Changes

After reviewing its initial six months existence, I am changing the structure of The Foto Fanatic. Posts will now be less frequent, but hopefully more meaningful. Rather than posting every weekday, I will now post only when there is a new topic or image to discuss; thus avoiding repititious subjects and less interesting topics.

The blog is certainly continuing, so keep a lookout for us!

TFF

Home builders

This spoonbill pair is busy tending to a nest in a Brisbane wetlands. Like many bird species, the male spoonbill is slightly brighter in plumage than his female mate. The elaborate plumage at the back of his head (it stands erect when he is courting) and the yellow splash on his breast have helped him attract his mate, and now they are a breeding pair. The male seems happy to stand and watch while the female does the housework - where have I heard that before?

Nature photography is quite difficult, but very rewarding. It is a challenge for the photographer to find the habitat containing the subjects to be photographed, and then to find a vantage point that will allow a reasonable opportunity to see and photograph the birds or animals. It is of paramount importance is not to harm them or disturb their environment, and the photographer has to be short on the creature comforts and long on patience to obtain usable images. Most animals and birds in the wild are easily disturbed, and unlikely to stay around for a clumsy photographer thrashing through the bush.

Balance

This ibis seems to be balancing quite precariously on a tree stump, but probably has its eye on something in the way of food somewhere below. But the balance I wanted to talk about today has more to do with the balance of the image within the frame, rather than the balance of the subject. This picture is fairly unusual, in that there is an isolated vertical subject within the frame, which itself is in portrait format.

For a couple of reasons, the subject should not be placed centrally within the frame. It is recognised that the human eye tends to focus on certain places within the frame first. If you were to draw two imaginary lines parallel with the vertical edges of the frame, so as to divide the image into three parts; together with two more lines, this time parallel to the horizontal edges so that the image was divided into thirds along that axis, then where the vertical lines and horizontal lines intersect are the parts of the image to which the eye is drawn. This is commonly known as "the rule of thirds", but rather than a rule, it is a guide to help with composition. If the subject can be placed accordingly, it is generally more pleasing to the eye than if it was just plonked in the centre of the frame.

TFF

What's in the bag?

Now we need to think about how to transport your valuable equipment around, and there are many choices to consider here. The first point to think about is whether to select a hard case or a soft case. Hard cases are more secure and provide better protection (some are even waterproof), but weigh more and are more difficult to transport, although you can find ones with wheels. On the other hand, soft cases are easier to carry, but may not hold as much or provide as much protection for your gear.

I would hazard a guess to say that most photographers, most of the time, need a camera and a couple of lenses; possibly a flash; and the usual accessories such as extra batteries and flash cards. Many manufacturers make bags of different sizes and configurations to suit. The one pictured easily holds the equipment mentioned above, and has movable soft partitioning to allow for the best protection for each item. Bags like this can be carried as a back-pack or as a shoulder bag.

TFF

Zoom lenses

Here we have a range of zoom lenses. Compared with prime lenses, they are much heavier and bulkier (and dearer!) but the zoom function really makes each one the equivalent of a number of prime lenses. Modern computerised optics have made the resolution of the top-end zooms every bit as good as that of prime lenses. But there is still a trade-off with the zoom lenses that cover an extra-large range of focal lengths - it is still quite difficult to obtain top image quality with these lenses.

The lenses here are 70-200mm f2.8, 18-200mm f3.5, 24-70mm f2.8 and 14-24mm f2.8. They really fall into two categories - firstly, the 18-200mm zoom is really a one-lens solution for those times when you want to carry the least amount of gear with you; what is generally called a "walk-around lens". It will cover most photographic situations reasonably well, but you can not expect the very best image quality at all focal lengths. The three other lenses cover approximately the same total focal lengths as the 18-200mm, but do give better resolution. Obviously, you are carrying more weight and would be involved in changing the lens on the camera if you chose to carry these with you instead of the 18-200mm. However, if you are aware in advance of the photographic circumstances, you may not need to carry them all with you.

TFF

Lenses I like - primes

The advantages of prime lenses are that they are generally small and light in comparison to zoom lenses, and they are usually faster (open to wider apertures) than all but the most expensive zoom lenses. The camera I use happens to be Nikon, and that is largely because I have accumulated Nikon lenses over the years. Good quality lenses last a long time, whereas newer camera models will appear quite frequently. Most photographers build a collection of lenses that suit their particular photographic style, and change cameras as often as technology and finances allow.

The lenses in this lineup are: 105mm f2.8 (macro), 85mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4 and 10.5mm f2.8. These are all fast lenses, and if you went out on a shoot with just these in your bag, you would have a fairly light bag of equipment that would cover most eventualities except for long telephoto. Prime lenses were always the staple of photographers until relatively recently, and that was based on their image quality. Prime lenses are a lot simpler, and therefore cheaper to build, than zoom lenses. Of course, they don't offer the flexibility of a range of focal lengths like a zoom lens does, but you can use good old-fashioned foot power to frame your images.

TFF

Photographing Children #5

For the final in this series about cameras and kids, I want to discuss opportunity. Cameras usually are trotted out for Christmas and birthdays, maybe the occasional school play or sports day. But kids are such a source of valuable images that it is advisable to have your camera close at hand always. Often when I am out taking photographs I look to see if there are kids around, because if there are, it usually means photographic opportunity. For children in the family, my experience is that they love to look back on photographs of themselves when they were younger, even if they pretend that they don't. However, I once was asked by a friend to take some portraits of his two daughters, which I was only too happy to do. He loved them, but one of the girls had just lost her baby teeth, and her big smile showed that she was missing her two front teeth. She still hasn't forgiven me for taking the photo. But generally, even photographs like the one above, of my nephew Jonathan practicing his flute, are looked on fondly in later years.

A word of caution though - you do need to be careful about taking photographs of children who do not know you. If you do not know the children and they are with adults, it is wise to ask permission before taking any pictures at all. Strangers taking photographs of children can be a hazardous occupation these days. Even though photographers generally have the legal right to take photos of people in public areas, I would not take pictures of children if the adults with them objected to it.

Photographing Children #4

The best way to involve children in the photographic process is to engage them in a game or activity that they like. This removes their attention from the camera and gives them something interesting to do, rather than a static pose. The resultant image is much more interesting too. Naturally there will be times where you may need a more formal portrait, but even in those cases it is better to involve them in something that is fun for them before you take the picture.

In this photo, Britney was already on the swing, but I asked her to see how high she could swing while pre-focusing my camera on the spot where I wanted the shot. This caught her sense of fun immediately, and led to the natural-looking smile that you see. And she loves the image too, because she can recall the excitement of being on the swing when she sees the photo.

TFF

Photographing Children #3

Another cool thing about photos of kids is when you can compare them to photos of the adult. As an example, on the left is a photo of my niece Sarah as a child, playing croquet in her back yard in the afternoon sun. Then, on the right, Sarah, now a beautiful young woman, prior to leaving her parents' house for her wedding, just a couple of weeks ago. I must note that this image was taken by TPO (The Patient One), my spouse, who uses a camera all too infrequently.

The first image was taken on film, and the second is a digital image. I have scanned many of my older transparencies and prints to digital files, now stored on my computer's hard drive.Today's photographers might have an easier time archiving their images for posterity; although in saying that, we just don't know what technology will be around twenty years from now. Perhaps we'll be converting our digital files into a new format that will allow us to store all our images on a pin head.

TFF