Outback Folk - A Bloke I Met Yesterday

Outback characters are one of the special experiences visitors to the outback can encounter. Their colourful tales of a life filled with what they consider every day events leaves many of us living in today's world amazed and enchanted.

This is Kenny Read, he's 73 and lives just outside Charleville. Kenny packed his swag, hitched his two wheel cart with his faithful horse and left his home in Forbes New South Wales at 13 years old. He made his way north working as a drover, horse breaker, station hand and any other job that came his way. He fathered 8 children, never married, bought some of them up by himself on the river bank. He drove 32,000 sheep from northern Queensland to near Sydney and wielded the whip driving this 5 horse Cobb & Co Coach.

A highlight for me was Kenny inviting me to his home and to see his shed - a pride in any Aussie boy's life. Kenny's shed is packed inside and out with his lifelong collection including 7 horse drawn vehicles.

A meeting such as this with Kenny is one of the experiences when I come into Queensland's outback I treasure.

We salute our outback characters, those ordinary men and women doing extraordinary things very day of their lives.

A Bous Photography Experience

I've just spent two days on a farm stay called Bonus Downs, 46km south of Mitchell in western Queensland.

This amazing historical property is owned by Lyle and Madonna Connolly who bought the 33,000 acre station in 1990.
It was once owned by Sir Samuel McCaughley, a pioneering settler who acquired the property in 1908 when it spanned a massive 300,000 acres. Sir Samuel quickly built the place up - within five years there was 130,000 merino sheep lining up at the 42 stand shed which employed 100 men.


When Madonna and Lyle moved to the property with their two young children, a woman had not lived in the homestead for more than 30 years.


To say it was derelict is an understatement but with the couple's fire, passion, determination and a lot of hard work the property has been restored to its former glory.

For those looking for an outback experience to keep the shutter finger occupied this could be it. While a spectacular outback sunset eluded me due to heavy dark clouds threatening rain, there was loads of memorabilia, rustic artefacts, a shearing shed with fleeces, farm activities and animals (including two ever so cute blue cattle dog pups which I admit I am a sucker for) glorious gardens and an ancient Ooline forest dating more than 1.6 million years. Thanks Madonna, Lyle and Grant - I hope to one day come back again soon.
For more info on Bonus Downs visit www.bonusdowns.webls.net





Images: Top to Bottom
One of those cute pups, Cattle during cattle work in the yards, A bunch of keys done with unlocking, Grant breaks in a horse

Challenging Photographic Experiences

Today in one of our Bluedog Beginner Photography Workshops we were asked ‘What would be some of your most challenging experiences?’ What a question? Each photography excursion presents a new range of hurdles, excitement and challenges to capture.

However it did make us reflect on one shoot on Tanna Island in Vanuatu. This was to photogaph the erupting My Yasur, one of the most accessible volcanoes in the world. Still spewing red hot lava Mt Yasur was terrifying, exhilarating and a fabulous photographic opportunity.

There are no safety rails, no signs that danger could lay ahead and as Mt Yasur continually spat rocks, some the size of cars, into the air the ground of ash we stood upon would shake beneath our feet. I asked our guide what would happen if it gave way,his simple reply was, ‘Bye, Bye.’

This image of My Yasur was taken by Nick Lancaster.
Camera Nikon D200; ISO 100; 18-200mm lens, Manual mode on bulb exposure

Depression Times for Photography

I watched with sadness a couple of nights ago a story on the once mighty USA city of Detroit, affectionately referred to as Motown, the Motor City.

The streets are becoming deserted the report said, people are being laid off as another depression sinks in.

Is it media madness? Maybe so, maybe not. What it did though was remind me of one of my favourite photographers, Dorothea Lange, who during the last depression shut the door on her illusive and well earning portrait studio in the early 1930’s and took her camera onto the streets, to the breadlines, waterfront strikes, and down-and-out people of Depression-era San Francisco.

Her images captured emotion, reality and gave us an everlasting documentary portrait of these times. Dorothea Lange's insightful and compassionate photographs have exerted a profound influence on the development of modern documentary photography. Lange's concern for people, her appreciation of the ordinary, and the striking empathy she showed for her subjects make her unique among photographers of her day.

Lange documented the troubled exodus of farm families escaping the dust bowl as they migrated West in search of work. Lange's documentary style achieved its fullest expression in these year, with photographs such as "Migrant Mother" (featured here and one of my favourite of Lange’s images) becoming instantly recognised symbols of the migrant experience.

"You put your camera around your neck

along with putting on your shoes,

and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
Dorothea Lange

How I wish now I could jump on a plane and fly to the people of Motown: be with them and document this time in our lives in a lovingly humane way.

View the Oakland Museum of California's entire Dorothea Lange photonegative collection online at http://www.oac.cdlib.org:80/dynaweb/ead/omca/

To view the program aired on the BAC Foreign Correspondent follow this link: http://www.abc.net.au/foreign

Did You Know? Photo Trivia

The world record for the highest price paid for a photograph as of 2008 was $3,346,456 in February 2007 for 99 Cent II Diptychon by Andres Gursky!
Who said photography doesn't pay!

Following that is Edward Steichen 'The Pond - Moonlight' taken in 1904 which sold for $2,928,000 in February 2006.

These are also in the top ten:

Alfred Stieglitz's, Georgia O'Keeffe (Hands) taken in 1919 sold in 2006 for $1,470,000 and his image of Georgia O'Keeffe Nude sold the same year for 1,360,000.

Richard Prince's Untitled (Cowboy), fetched $1,248,000, while Joseph-Philibert Girault De Prangey 113.Athènes, T[emple] de J[upiter] olympien pris de l'est, made $922,488.

Gustave Le Gray's The Great Wave, Sete (1857), was sold for $838,000, and Robert Mapplethorpe Andy Warhol (1987), made $643,200,

This all pushed Ansel Adams famous Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1948), down the list of top ten for making $609,600 in 2006 and last in the top ten was Andreas Gursky Untitled 5 1997, which made $559,724.

The image shown, Identical 'Twins(Cathleen and Colleen)' by Diane Arbus which was once firlmly in the top ten when it was sold for 478,400 has now been forced out and is at number 12.

Photography Tips for the Beach and Tropical Islands

We all dream!
Take me away to a tropical
island with sweeping
sandy white beaches and crystal clear waters teeming with colourful fish!
Its picture-perfect postcard material and will surely have our shutter fingers happily pressing away.

I’ve just returned from working in the Mackay region (www.mackayregion.com) and during this time I was fortunate to venture onto a few of the magnificent islands that make up the Whitsundays, Australia’s premier tourist destination.

Each day, I met people with their cameras trying to capture the beauty of the scene in front of them – unfortunately many were disgruntled with their efforts. Why? Because they weren’t following a few basic photographic techniques.

Here’s a few tips to make your next tropical getaway or beach photography session a success:
1. Composition shouldn’t be hard, you may think at first, I mean look at your surroundings!

Don’t forget the rule of thirds, moving up and down; look for lines that can lead the viewers eye such as the curving edge of the sea, a row of palm trees, or footprints in the sand; look for focal points that you can place close to your lens to give the image more depth and framing opportunities.


2. Use a polariser!!

3. Pack your tripod! Yes I know its heavy but if you
really, really want to capture a sunrise or sunset
you’ll need it.

4. Be careful with your cameras meter reading.It reads that bright sand and
shimmering water as very bright and you don’t want the sand grey!

5. Don’t forget the little things. That plate of prawns, cocktail with the sea behind, flowers, etc and macro
on the beach is fantastic fun!

6. Make sure your horizon is straight – it happens to the best of us :)

7. Don’t let an overcast day put you off. The sun is not as harsh and therefore shadows not as hard.

8. What about reflections? They can make very interesting subject matters in themselves..

9. Clean your gear well when you finish - see our Top Tip below

10. Have fun and a cocktail for me!!

Our Top Tip
If you put your tripod in the salt water (and we do) place it in the shower at the end of the day and put the plug in the bath as well so the leg extenders get a good soaking. Before removing the tripod form the shower, turn it upside down to drain the water that has filled up in the legs.

In Your Back Yard

While many of us go to great lengths planning our photography expeditions how many of us really look around in our own back yard?

I use the term back yard a little loosely, as I not only mean our actual back yard but your street, community, park or town.

Do you really know the photography experiences

awaiting you so very close to home?

While I am fortunate enough to live in an incredibly beautiful region of Queensland (also home to the oldest national park in Queensland and the third oldest in the world) I often hear people saying there is nothing to photograph where they live.

So the challenge is on! What’s in your back yard?

For those that would like to send me an image I’ll upload them onto the Bluedog Photography Facebook page. It’ll be a little fun and a great photography exercise. Just make sure the images are under 1MB and you include the details of camera, mode aperture, shutter and ISO.
Happy shooting!