MY LIFE IN IMAGES

Every year in around November the outdoor Sculpture by the Sea festival takes over the Bondi to Tamarama Coastal Walk with amazing, quirky, abstract and beautiful sculptures. I’ve missed it for the last couple of years but this time made the effort to get up at 5am and head down for a dawn shoot. Despite the early start there was already plenty of visitors and many photographers, probably because it was the last weekend.

I was hoping for a gorgeous sunrise as a backdrop but unfortunately some offshore fog prevented the sun from appearing. However the conditions did  provide a moodier feel and as the sun rose higher in the sky, shades of pink and orange started to appear in the clouds. One of the most popular sculptures was a giant tap (faucet for my American readers) facing the ocean, it required much patience to try and get images without anyone creeping into them.

I also took the opportunity to dabble with some handheld HDR. The image below was created using 5 handheld exposures and HDR Efex Pro.

All of the images can be found in the set on Flickr, you can also buy selected prints, posters, greeting cards and more from my RedBubble portfolio. If there’s an image you love but it isn’t on RedBubble then just contact me and I’ll sort it out for you.

Every year City of Sydney council hosts the Art and About exhibition in various streets and public spaces around Sydney. One of the most popular exhibitions is Sydney Life which takes over the central walkway of Hyde Park North. Images are blown up to giant bed-sheet size prints and hung between the trees that line the boulevard.

This is the first year I’ve been eligible to enter as you have to be a citizen or permanent resident, so I’ve entered the two images you see here. Hundreds of entries are received and the competition is very stiff but if you don’t have a go you never know.

Last Sunday was another sunny winter’s day and I hadn’t been down to Bondi for a while so jumped on the scooter and went down for a stroll. It’s still not quite warm enough for many to venture into the sea other than the surfers, but in the sun it was t-shirt weather. I wandered around part of the Bondi to Bronte walk taking photos back toward Bondi on the way.

I also took the opportunity to try out my new Sigma 10-20mm Ultra Wide Zoom lens, it’s great for landscapes and with the polariser filter the colours just look fantastic (if I say so myself!). Here’s to heading back to the beach in summer…..go take a look at the full set of photos.

Every year around this time one of the most famous suburbs of Sydney hosts Sculpture by the Sea. The exhibition is outdoors and runs the length of the Bondi to Bronte walk which is about 3km and hugs the side and tops of the cliffs and beaches which form the route. I visited on the last day and as expected it was ridiculously busy as everyone turned up at the last minute.

The subjects were pretty varied ranging from strange abstract shapes, to huge rocks wrapped in fabric, to something a little more identifiable such the dogs above. Unfortunately it was a bit of a dull cloudy day so the light was a bit flat. Because of this some photoshop work has been done to bring out the colours and there’s a bit of cropping too. Visit flickr for the full set.