Photo Review December 2014 - February 2015

Picking up a new camera in the departure lounge duty-free is not generally a good idea. Sure you may pore over the manual on the flight out while everybody else is watching movies or playing games on their seatback displays, but really there’s no substitute for a proper, extended period of hands-on shooting experience with new kit before a big trip. But that’s just what your editor intends to do immediately after we put this issue to bed. (In mitigation, I plead half a century of picture taking experience and the fact that the camera is my sixth from the same maker, so the overall handling characteristics promise to be familiar.) While I will indeed work my way through the manual on the 13-hour trip to Los Angeles, my more…

They may be plentiful, but birds are easily one of the most challenging and elusive photographic subjects. As anyone who’s tried to capture one of these skittish creatures knows, their rapid and unpredictable movements make it supremely difficult. Perhaps it’s no coincidence then, that Photo Challengers consistently had their best results when the winged ones were not in flight. That’s certainly the case with our winner Chris Melloy’s amusing untitled image of a row of Crested Terns taking a break from fishing. Chris will soon receive a Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 250 AW (RRP $345) to pack all his gear in for his next photo adventure. We liked the way our first runner-up, Jenny Stephens captured a pair of Sea Eagles against the sky. And keeping the background simple as…

Most of the time we photographers crank up the shutter speed as we strive for the sharpest possible images. But sometimes the ‘decisive moment’ is closer to the decisive movement. Your challenge is to create a picture that conveys a sense of movement by using a shutter speed that is no faster that 1/60th of a second. As always, we’re particularly impressed by images that avoid the obvious subjects, which in this case might be flowing water. But don’t worry, if you’re really keen on a flowing water picture, just make it as beautiful as you can and we’ll understand. à Please review the rules and email your entries to photochallenge@photoreview.com.au. Deadline for entries is 28 February, 2015 and the winning pictures will be published in our June-August 2015 edition.…

Joshua Holko encountered his first iceberg in, appropriately perhaps, Iceland. It was 2006 and the Melbourne native was at that stage still earning a living in the corporate world. But when man met ice, a passionate interest was born that would lead him to a new career as a photographer of the world’s polar and sub-polar regions. Asked what it was that first drew him to the bitterly cold and remote ends of the earth, he said, ‘It was a combination of factors. One of the big things was that when you’re that far north (or south), you have hours of golden light for photography. Where I live in Australia, we have really harsh, contrasty light most of the time. You only get nice soft light for two minutes or…

You’re from Canada, but as one of the winners in Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ promotion, you were a wildlife caretaker on Kangaroo Island in South Australia for the first six months of 2014. How did that come about? I was in Argentina, working as an adventure tour leader in Patagonia, when someone on Facebook suggested I apply for ‘Best Jobs in the World’. There were 48,000 applicants from all over the world for the wildlife caretaker position [and another 300,000 applicants for the other five positions] and I got it. Why did they choose you? Good timing. Maybe a bit of luck. The clincher was my lifestyle. I’m an adventurer and a storyteller through photography, video and some narrative writing for my travel blog (www.greggoesglobal.com). They were…

Life’s Mosaic  by Mark Dafey Canon EOS 5D; EF20mm f/2.8 USM; 1/125s;f/11; ISO100 Jerusalem was one of the last places I wanted to visit after seven years living in the Middle East. I wanted to explore and stay in its Old City - a goldmine for photographers. This is the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount, just outside the Old city walls. It is one of the Muslim religion’s most holy sites and can be seen with Judaism and Christianity’s holiest sites in the same day. à Don’s response Judging from the near absence of shadows on the figures just off-centre, photographer Mark Dafey captured this image at midday - which isn’t often the best time to be taking pictures. And yet this image works very well thanks, as…