Innholdsfortegnelse for October-November 2023 i Australian Photography

Five years into running The Mono Awards, and it’s safe to say our love of the black and white genre continues to grow. And clearly yours does too, as it’s now the biggest competition we run in terms of entries - nudging an astonishing 4,000 images entered this year. It seems strange in a way - a genre of photography that, visually at least, is pretty much the same as it was in the film days, and yet black and white photography continues to draw a new generation of shooters. Along with the seasoned names who continue to refine their craft, there’s a huge collective push that’s carrying black and white photography forward in Australia. So, alongside the talented winners and runners-up in The Mono Awards, we’ve also tried to…

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PRESENTED BY WINNER MARK DITCHAM Mark, a solo dad of four, has been a photographer since childhood, but his passion has grown over the last 15 years while living in remote regions of the Kimberley. During this time he found the opportunity to develop his photography skills by taking his young family out walking in nature each day after school. This allowed the kids to burn off excess energy, while giving him the chance to experiment with his photography whilst unwinding in the beauty of the bush. Mark currently lives in the Mid-West of WA with his family, and enjoys traveling out east during school holidays to camp, connect and photograph the interesting environments of the Mid-West region. instagram.com/landlight_photography/ HOLDING. This shot was taken during a sunrise shoot in a strip…

Today’s modern cameras are packed with all the technology you can think of. From advanced subject recognition, to stabilisation and advanced picture styles, the sheer volume of features and functions on offer can be quite bewildering….and maybe that’s a problem. Do modern cameras actually get in the way of taking a photo - the oldschool way of envisioning a scene and capturing it in its pure essence? Well, if so then maybe one solution comes in the form of the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. As its name suggests, this is a DSLR that can ONLY shoot black and white. No shooting colour and converting the image later - you’re in the mono game from the off, and there’s no going back when you purchase this camera. It’s an interesting proposition…

I always loved photography, but it wasn’t till my children flew the coop and I retired that I finally felt I could indulge myself. I took lessons, hoping to be taught how my first digital camera worked. I signed up as a beginner - but was put in a class with two professionals and two young things who were all over the tech side of photography, talking about ISOs and F-stops till I was thoroughly daunted. That first night, our assignment was to take a self-portrait. In at the deep end, trying to work out how to set the new camera up on a tripod and use the timer, I was in tears and nearly quit. However, I don’t give up easily, and the next assignment: ‘Fire, Earth, Air and…

This image started as I was trying to establish a homemade studio in my shed on our rural property. I was using a simple setup: a frame, a bedsheet backdrop, and some beautiful natural window light. My daughter, ever ready to take part, had dressed up in her favourite outfit of the day and settled in front of me on a stool - a bundle of restless energy. Whilst I was adjusting my settings and moving around my daughter, frantically seeking the best angle of light, our unsuspecting and ever curious pet cat Tiggy wandered into the shed. She was used to photoshoots - the cat that is. I had been documenting my daughter and my sons (and by default our pets) for their whole lives. My obsession with capturing…

PRESENTED BY Now in its fifth year, the annual competition continues to draw the cream of the crop of our region’s black and white photographers. This year, a cleverly composed street photograph by Tebani Slade, a ‘simple but complex’ image of a grass tree by Mark Ditcham, and a wonderfully camouflaged leopard photographed in India by Tony Sernack have shared honours in the competition, which saw photographers compete for $12,000 in cash and prizes across three categories, People, Places and Animals. Over the next 30 pages you can see the winners, runners-up and top 40 images in each of the three categories of the competition, along with judges’ comments about why the images that won were chosen. We’re hugely grateful to our star-studded judging panel, made up of Anthony McKee,…

PRESENTED BY WINNER TONY SERNACK Tony Sernack is a freelance photographer living in Sydney who says his passion for photography started with his high school photography club. Over the years a home darkroom and black and white were very much part of his life, as was travel. He has shot a number of assignments for the New York Times and International Herald Tribune as well as for other publications and magazines. While his photographic interests span a wide gamut of subject matter, Tony’s strong leaning is to reportage and capturing the key elements of a situation that tell the story. Tonysernack.com NOW YOU SEE ME. The photograph was taken in Jawai in Rajasthan. This place is famous for its leopards who live in peaceful co-existence with the local shepherds, the Rabari.…

The latest addition to the DJI family, the Mavic 3 Pro shares the same body as its predecessor, the Mavic 3 from 2021. Where it stands out is as the first folding drone equipped with a trio of onboard cameras. The Mavic 3 Pro is available in two variants - the Mavic 3 Pro itself, which will set you back $3,099 in its cheapest form, and the Mavic 3 Pro Cine, which retails for around $6,900 as a combo. The Cine is identical except in its support for Apple ProRes encoding (422 HQ, 422, and 422 LT) and the inclusion of 1TB of internal storage to handle that footage. The Mavic 3 Pro features a unique gimbal-mounted camera system boasting a wide-angle and telephoto camera like its predecessor, the Mavic…

SUBTLE TWEAKS “I have recently become interested in wildlife photography and this shot was taken not far from home in the Lockyer Valley, in South East QLD. The image was made on one of my first outings with a new Tamron 100-400mm lens. I would love some feedback on the shot”. ANTHONY’S TIP: Hi Craig, I reckon this photo is very good for someone who is just starting out in wildlife photography, but there are two small suggestions I would make that would improve this image. The first would be to lighten the corella’s reflection in the water; our eyes naturally go to the brightest part of the picture (the bird, not it’s reflection) but if you were to select just the bird’s reflection and then used the Curves tool…

SIZE Size is a great thing to play with in photography, and there are so many ways you can do it – from making tiny objects appear huge, to making huge objects appear tiny! From clever use of perspective to interesting size comparisons, these were our favourite shots this month. THIS MONTH’S WINNER HELEN ROWBOTTAM Broome boabs at sunset EDITOR’S COMMENT Helen Rowbottam says she was taking photos of the setting sun between the boabs on a plain outside Broome WA, when she noticed the smaller boab in the distance. “I was originally going to remove it in post, however, I like the way that it helps in emphasising how big the Kimberley is,” she says. What the two trees also do is anchor the frame – giving a sense…

PRESENTED BY WINNER TEBANI SLADE Tebani Slade is a fine art, street and documentary photographer. A former graduate student of the Queensland College of Art, she holds a Masters of Distinction with the NZIPP. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been recognised in awards and selected group exhibitions, including Women Street Photographers New York, and Kuala Lumpur and the Indian Photo Festival. She has been a finalist in the Head On Photo Awards, and recently a finalist in the Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize. She says photography has given her great power and courage to travel and explore, making connections with people she otherwise wouldn’t. Tebani.com.au BUBBLE FUN. When I captured this shot I was living in Spain in the coastal town of Sitges. I would often walk along the…

The world is a beautiful tapestry of colours, where nature’s wonders are displayed through lush landscapes and fluffy clouds. However, far from this appealing and colourful landscape, a different kind of opportunity can be found in urban landscapes of concrete and steel. And, when you combine this with black and white photography, it can bring an entirely different feel to these locations that many of us live in. It took me years of experimenting and learning about photography, and dealing with colour, before I truly grasped the creative potential of black and white. Over time I’ve reevaluated how I approach photography, colour, and design, leading me to embrace a new path, and today I specialise in black and white architectural photography. So, if you’re needing a fresh spark or inspiration…

Although my photography usually focusses on watching tiny birds through a long lens, I also enjoy taking portraits and I love the way that monochrome can highlight texture and mood. This image, Secrets, grew in my mind as I watched a workshop at Knox Photographic Society (KPS). Other members were photographing each other snapping the book closed and capturing the puff of talcum powder that shot upwards - they captured some beaut images that way. Other ideas came to my mind as I watched, and when I spotted Mario quietly watching the proceedings I knew he’d be the perfect subject. I was stoked when he agreed to be a model. I wanted to photograph Mario’s profile as he held the book open and blew the powder. The scene was lit…

Congratulations to Rosie Richards who has won a 12-month subscription to either Australian Photography or Capture magazine for taking out Image Doctor this month! AP has been celebrating the work of Australian photographers for more than 70 years. Published quarterly, Capture is Australia’s leading journal for emerging and professional photographers. Find out more about AP at australianphotography.com, and Capture at capturemag.com.au. HOW TO SUBMIT AN IMAGE • Email entries to: imagedoctor@australianphotography.com with “Image Doctor” in the subject line. • Include your name, image title and up to 150 words about how you created it. • Only one image per person per month. • Images must be saved in JPEG format. Maximum file size is 5MB. Include your name in the filename of the image. • An Australian address is required…