10 YEARS AUSTRALIA’S LEADING PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE …€¦ · in his life (after his family of...

ISSUE 51ISSN 1839-5899

10 YEARS AUSTRALIA’S LEADING PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE

PhotoReviewA U S T R A L I A

Photo Review AU

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RA

LIA

www.photoreview.com.au

Issue 51 M

ar-May 2012

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David Lazar Tony Hew

itt Deb Bonney

Shooting Coastal Com

pact Camera Tips

Printing Big Artistic Filter Effects

Lands before TimeDAVID LAZAR

Tony Hewitt: A Photographic Journey Deb Bonney: Staying in the Moment

REVIEWS

Canon EOS-1D X vs Nikon D4

Canon G1X, Panasonic GX1

Pentax Q, Nikon 1 V1

Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1

PLUS 7 Lenses

$9.95 Incl. GST MAR-MAY 2012

HOW TO:

Shoot superb coastal scenes

Get great results from a compact

Print big for a quality fi nish

Add artistic fi lter effects

1Photo Review AUSTRALIA ISSUE www.photoreview.com.au

editorial

Away with the pixelsWHEREIN OUR EDITOR, FOR WANT OF A CHARGED BATTERY, FINDS HIMSELF WRESTLING WITH THE DEMONS OF DIGITAL INSUBSTANTIALITY.

Photo Review editor Don Norris isreasonably certain that he took his fi rstphotograph with a well worn LeicaIIIc at age 14. Every picture from thatcamera had a sort of soft, hazy lookbecause the original screwmount lenswas heavily scratched from years inthe fi eld with Don’s geologist fatherRobert M. Norris. But using the littlecamera ignited a passion for picturetaking that is now into its fourthdecade. Convert those 40 years into thecameras he’s used most intensively andthe sequence reads: Leica IIIc, MirandaSLR, Nikkormat SLR, Nikon FM,Nikonos III, Bolex H16, Mamiya C-33,Wista 4x5, Olympus E10, Nikon D70s, Nikon D90 and Nikon D7000. A few years after taking up photography, Don discovered the second great passion in his life (after his family of course!) when a summer job in Hawaii coincided with buying his fi rst surfboard. In 1984 he migrated from his native California to Australia and these days he lives on Sydney’s northern beaches from which he not only edits this magazine but alsoruns Australia’s most popular surfi ng community website, www.realsurf.com.

FOR THE VERY LATEST PHOTONEWS AND REVIEWS

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On Twitter:http://twitter.com/photoreviewhttp://twitter.com/mr_realsurf

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On Facebook:http://bit.ly/phrfacebook

It was a very late night. And at one point I’d even thought, ‘I must stick that battery in the charger when we get home’. But there I was, half way through the next morning’s shooting and the battery indicator was in that terminal blinking phase.

I wasn’t half way through any more, I was done.Yes, there should have been a fully charged spare in my

camera bag. But there wasn’t. If I wanted to take any more pictures, they’d have to be snapped with my battered Nokia. I like taking phone pictures, but the tool in question isn’t exactly my fi rst choice for landscape work.

So I switched over to making mental snapshots (you know, where you make an effort to remember particular views because you’re camera-less). It also gave me a chance to refl ect upon the inherent fragility of digital photographic technology.

While I long ago lost the desire to shoot on fi lm, it is nevertheless the case that back in the analog era, a fl at battery would have been – at worst – a minor inconvenience for the average landscape photographer. As long as your camera was in good mechanical order and you had an ample supply of photosensitive material, the experienced photographer could make a pretty good stab at estimating the correct exposure.

Photography is plainly a product of industrialisation. While analog shooters were not really at the mercy of batteries in the way we digital shooters are, they nevertheless relied on a large and complex industrial system for the tools of their trade. (Think of all those chemical plants, paper and fi lm coating factories, camera and lens manufacturers and a supply chain so pervasive that you could buy the products of the aforementioned enterprises just about anywhere in the world.)

Ever since the fi rst photographs were produced from home-brewed materials, the process has been becoming more and more dependent upon an increasingly complex web of technology and just-in-time delivery. (Remember the havoc the Thailand fl oods and Japanese tsunami created for camera makers?) While it is quite possible to make your own photosensitive materials and to expose them with nothing more complicated than a pinhole in a light-tight box, the same could not possibly be said of digital.

At every step of the process, digital photography is completely and utterly reliant upon the most sophisticated technologies humans have thus far devised. And it is equally reliant upon those same technologies being maintained into the distant future.

I have digital images that were originally recorded to fl oppy diskette, but for the past fi ve years I haven’t owned a working computer with a fl oppy disk drive. It ’s a good thing they were saved as JPEGs, because if it had been one of the early native fi le formats, there would be almost no hope of resurrecting them. And we’re not even two decades into the digital era.

Ansel Adams liked to say that the negative was the score and the print was the performance. Digital image fi les are instructions for writing the score – and those instructions are in a language only a machine can ‘remember’. Or read.

Our best photographs contain something of us. For the most part it is enough to share these artefacts of our distinctive perspective with our nearest and dearest. Digital is ideal for such ephemera. It passes easily from camera (or cameraphone) to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, et al. And there it takes on a kind of shadowy, real-not-real, existence that is maybe one or two notches up the scale of insubstantiality from angels dancing on the heads of pins or string theory.

Every now and then, you’re going to capture an image that needs to make it beyond the twilight realm between score and performance, to something that is, well, some thing.

To that end, I have resolved that this will be the year when I produce twice as many prints of images I have laboured over. It is a modest aim, but then I am man of modest photographic talents, so even twice as many prints from me may be too many for a world awash in images.

This will be my personal response to the insubstantial thing my photography has become since embracing digital. It will be an analog rejoinder if you like, and I invite those of you who’ve fallen out of the print-making habit also to give form to your own distinct and unique vision.

One person who doesn’t need any encouragement to print her work is my esteemed colleague, technical editor Margaret Brown. Despite a packed reviewing and writing schedule, she is also a positive hive of photo print-making activity. Her depth of practical experience in this regard is once again evident in her contributions to this issue. From her usual no-nonsense summation of the factors to consider when printing to larger sizes, through her guides to coastal photography and getting the most out of shooting with a compact camera, Margaret will leave you more knowledgeable than you were when you picked up this magazine.

Steve Packer continues to uncover photographic talents to inspire you in your own work. Our cover photograph is, as you will see, a typical example of the photographer David Lazar’s (page 12) beautiful and carefully crafted images. Craft and beauty too are also abundantly evident in the eye-popping portfolio from multifaceted West Australian photographer, motivational speaker and AIPP stalwart, Tony Hewitt (page 20). Finally, as ingenue photographers go, you won’t fi nd too many with a more distinctive and coherent style than self-trained street photographer Deb Bonney (page 28).

Thank you for buying our magazine and may it inspire you to pick up your camera and capture the world as only you see it. Don Norris, Editor

contents

2 Photo Review AUSTRALIA ISSUE www.photoreview.com.au

ISSUE 51ISSN 1839-5899

10 YEARS AUSTRALIA’S LEADING PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE

PhotoReviewA U S T R A L I A

www.photoreview.com.au

Lands before TimeDAVID LAZAR

Tony Hewitt: A Photographic Journey Deb Bonney: Staying in the Moment

REVIEWS

Canon EOS-1D X vs Nikon D4

Canon G1X, Panasonic GX1

Pentax Q, Nikon 1 V1

Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1

PLUS 7 Lenses

$9.95 Incl. GST MAR-MAY 2012

HOW TO:

Shoot superb coastal scenes

Get great results from a compact

Print big for a quality finish

Add artistic filter effects

Cover image by David LazarSee page 12.

Display your images on Photo Review’s gallery at www.photoreview.com.au.

For magazine submissions,send Don a link to your images [email protected]

20

29

01 Editorial

05 Products & TrendsA look at some of the more interesting new releases from the 2012 CES show in Las Vegas, and other notable recent events in the world of imaging.

08 Photo ChallengeIn this issue we challenge readers to tell a story involving doorways and thresholds.

INSPIRATION12 DAVID LAZAR:

LANDS BEFORE TIMEIn his travel and portrait photography, David Lazar is drawn to subjects that don’t refl ect the modern world.

20 TONY HEWITT: A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEYAIPP Grand Master Tony Hewitt explains how the ‘journey of capture’ starts the minute one thinks about a picture, and doesn’t end until post-production and media choice.

28 DEB BONNEY: STAYING IN THE MOMENTStreet photographer Deb Bonney is living proof that it’s possible to unlock your creativity very quickly indeed.

INSIDE

contents


Editor Don Norris [email protected]

Technical Editor Margaret [email protected]

Trade News Editor Keith [email protected]

Contributor Steve Packer

Creative Director Darren Waldren

Publisher David O’[email protected]

Publication Manager Pauline [email protected]

Accounts Manager Heather [email protected]

Media [email protected]

AdvertisingPhone (02) 9948 [email protected]

SubscriptionsOne year (4 issues) $29.00 including GST and delivery in Australia.See page 33 this issue or phone: (02) 9948 8600 or online:www.photoreview.com.au

Photo Review Australia is printed on Monza Satin Recycled Paper with ISO 14001 Environmental AccreditationPrinted by Pegasus Print Group

Design by itechne [www.itechne.com]phone (03) 9421 8833

Distributed by NDDPhoto Review website by itechne

All content in Photo Review Australia is protected under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any form without written consent from the publisher.

Photo Review Australia is published by

Media Publishing Pty LimitedABN 86 099 172 577Office 4 Clontarf MarinaSandy Bay Road, Clontarf NSW 2093 AustraliaPh: (02) 9948 8600 Fx: (02) 9948 0144 Em: [email protected] Review website:www.photoreview.com.au

INSIDER38 HOW LARGE SHOULD YOU PRINT?

An overview of the factors infl uencing the maximum output size for your images.

TECHNIQUE41 SHOOTING WITH COMPACT CAMERAS

Not all compact cameras are created equal – we look at the features and functions which deliver superior images and photographer control.

46 SHOOTING: COASTAL PHOTOGRAPHYHow to make the most of photo opportunities when you’re close to water.

49 EDITING:ONE IMAGE, MANY MOODSHow to use fi lter effects in editing software to add artistic effects to your photos.

BUYERS GUIDE

DSLRS52 CANON EOS-1D X & NIKON D4 COMPARED

We compare the latest ‘full frame’ Pro DSLR cameras from Canon and Nikon.

LENSES

54 SIGMA 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 II DG HSM

54 PENTAX DA 35mm f/2.8 Limited Macro

54 PANASONIC LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH/POWER OIS

55 PANASONIC LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm f/4-5.6 ASPH/POWER OIS

55 TOKINA AT-X 16-28mm f/2.8 PRO FX

55 TOKINA AT-X 17-35mm f/4 PRO FX

MIRRORLESS INTERCHANGEABLES

56 CANON POWERSHOT G1XA new G-series camera with a large, 14.3-megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS Sensor, 4x optical zoom lens, 14-bit RAW shooting and Full HD movie recording.

58 PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-GX1A feature-rich, customisable, G-Micro series camera designed for photo enthusiasts.

59 PENTAX QThe smallest, lightest interchangeable-lens camera system currently available.

60 NIKON 1 V1

60 OLYMPUS PEN MINI E-PM1

ADVANCED COMPACTS

61 CANON POWERSHOT S100

61 FUJIFILM X10

PRINTERS

62 CANON PIXMA PRO-1Canon’s latest A3+ printer is more economical to run and produces better-looking prints, particularly on glossy papers.

NET EFFECT64 OUR WEBSITE FINDS

Our editor was ‘just browsing, thank you’ when he came across this basket-full of gems!

Aaron Riches

$36.00

35

Design by Impressive Print [email protected]

Distributed by Network Services

Pacesetter Satin Paper with


“no compromise”User replaceable, UV coatedquartz flash-tube for accuracyand durability

1.0 and 0.1 precision controlover 5 stops of power

Radio-enabled† for wire-free flashtrigger with Pulsar or PocketWizard®

Multiple modelling functions controlthe powerful 250W modelling lamp

DSLR friendly 5Vsync voltage

Compatible withTravelpak battery forlocation work

Remote function controlvia IR Remote option†

500r quality digital flash from only $1099With Bowens Gemini lighting there is no compromise on quality.The compact Gemini 500R features solid metal construction and the tough build quality for which the name ‘Bowens’ has become synonymous with among photographers world-wide.Performance has not been compromised either, the 500R boasts impressive flash-durations and recycle times. The 500R features precision 1/10th stop control over 5 stops of power using the twin control dials and large digital display or optional IR remote. Modelling can be user-defined, proportional to the flash power or full-on. No complicated digital menu systems with Gemini – ‘simplicity’ is the keyword here, the Gemini really is plug-and-go.Only Bowens offer; power, true portability, simplicity and ultimate durability.

Gemini 500R Two-Head KitIncludes two Gemini 500R monolights, two 10’ compact lighting support stands, two 120° wide-angle reflectors with umbrella mount, two 35” Silver/White umbrellas and a rolling kit case.Also available with the award-winning Travelpak Battery system.

FROM

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For more information and to find your nearest Bowens dealer:

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† Radio Trigger Cards and IR Remote Control available separately.

Bowens® and the power behind the picture ® are registered trademarks of Bowens International Limited. PocketWizard® is a registered trademark of LPA Design. Prices may vary by retailer.All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All models and technical specifications featured here may be subject to change without notice. © 2010 Bowens International Limited. E&OE.

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YEAR

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*3 Year warranty applies to Gemini heads (excludes accessories including lamps and flash tubes)

CRK26449PR


news

Transparent camera market changing the gameBy Keith Shipton

It’s been strange days in Australian camera retailing over the past 12 months or so, with local buyers in the main benefi ting as a marketplace which has been orderly (to a fault) grapples with globalisation and price transparency.

It probably all started after Christmas 2010 when Harvey Norman’s curmudgeonly boss Gerry Harvey came out with a call for a reduction in the GST-free threshold on private imports from its current $1000 level.

Heading up a small group of retailing’s heavy-hitters calling itself The Retail Coalition, he argued fairness and Australian jobs. This resulted in a serious bucketing for old Gerry from an unsympathetic, somewhat sceptical retailing public, and also ‘belled the cat’ on the bargains to be had online – neither of which consequences were intended in the original PR plan, one suspects!

As a product category, cameras have been front and centre in what is the emergence of a new retailing channel in Australia. Cameras are relatively light so freight is minimal; they are pretty much a global product excluding things like power adaptors and plugs; they are expensive enough to encourage consumers to shop around; they are familiar enough for confi dent consumers to believe they don’t really need any across-the-counter expert advice; and they are popular. And last but certainly not least, they have been up to 30, or even 40, percent cheaper on the internet from offshore retailers.

While most of the media and the public have identifi ed greedy local retailers as the culprits for high Australian pricing, people inside the industry know that in many cases, local retailers would be getting a better wholesale price from, say, B&H Photo & Video in New York than from the local distributors (who seem to have melted into the background in the debate).

That is to say your common-or-garden-variety local retailer would be better off buying stock from unoffi cial sources. The buying power of the top two or three Australian camera retailers gives them immense leverage when dealing with distributors.

Some smaller local retailers have indeed been sourcing stock of popular models from parallel importers, with statutory warranty support supplied by a third party camera servicing business.

So through 2011, and particularly towards the end of the year, tension has been building between camera suppliers and retailers, with the latter complaining that wholesale costs are too high to enable them to compete with the new online/offshore channel.

And the distributors have slowly and partially responded. The price differential between Australia and Hong Kong or New York has shrunk over the past six months. Last August, market leader Canon was the fi rst to move, with ‘price repositionings’ on 95 cameras and accessories. Although some questioned how meaningful some of the price reductions were, it was seen as a positive initiative.

(Not so benignly-regarded by its retailer customers was Canon’s bold step later that month to launch its own local internet store, selling an initially limited but competitively-

priced range.)A few leading retailers made their feelings felt in

trade publications about a supplier – especially the market leader, who by defi nition the other suppliers follow – setting up in business competing with them.

Without any fanfare, other leading brands have followed Canon with lower local prices. Early in 2011, new models released in the US with a $599 or $699 price regularly used to be made available to the Australian public at $999.

But if we take a more recent popular release, the Nikon 1 J1 interchangeable lens camera, the price on the US-based B&H website is US$646 in single lens kit form and US$746 with two lenses. In Australia on the Digital Camera Warehouse website (trying to compare like with like here) the prices are $709 and $879 respectively, which is not too far off parity pricing when it’s considered the local retailer has to charge GST.

Across the board, prices of recently-released models from leading distributors have fallen relative to the US and UK pricing. Except Pentax, it has to be noted. The local Pentax distributor has been competitive or better with offshore pricing for years.

So there must have been some fat in the transfer pricing from Tokyo or Seoul, or the local marketing houses were doing a little too nicely until the internet blew their cover! Whatever the case, in retrospect it’s not surprising that there has been an awkward hiatus before the camera makers could bring themselves to respond to the discrepancy by lowering their prices.

They still continue to do a disservice to themselves and local retailers in the pricing of less in-demand photographic gear, like professional lenses and bodies, but 2012 will most likely see local prices for more popular products render the online-offshore option no longer so attractive, except for risk-taking bargain hunters.

In September, online retailing maverick Ruslan Kogan provided yet another option for said bargain hunters when he began retailing a limited range of popular model DSLRs and compacts on a parallel-import basis, from his own Kogan Hong Kong company. (His price for the Nikon 1 J1 twin lens kit, by the way, is $718 including delivery, with a delivery time of around 10 days.)

Whether the Federal Government will tolerate an obviously local company retailing and collecting money GST-free in Australia from an Australian website, with products despatched from its overseas subsidiary, remains to be seen. So far there hasn’t been a peep out of the ACCC on the matter, but unless this business model is constrained, there is nothing to stop any retailer offering local and online-offshore versions of a product at different price points.

Which is exactly what JB – one of the largest and undoubtedly the strongest of our consumer electronics retailers – proceeded to do in November.

While continuing to stock cameras supplied by Canon and Nikon from the local Canon Australia and Nikon

Australia distributors, JB now also stocks ‘Direct Import’ versions of popular Nikon and Canon DSLR bodies, lenses and other accessories on its website in direct competition with the locally supplied version. At time of writing the Canon 600D with 18-55 IS and 50-250 IS lenses was for sale in store or online from JB as a ‘Red Hot Special’ for $1230. The same kit purchased from JB as a Direct Import was $842! JB CEO Terry Smart was quoted as saying the company’s online business shot up by 80 percent after the move to Direct Import.

So how much GST will the Feds give up before they are forced to do something unpopular – given they don’t really do unpopular?

This move also puts Canon and Nikon in a very awkward position – big, high-volume national retiailers enjoy a high level of support in terms of keen pricing and marketing dollars – so what does a supplier do when they change the game as profoundly as JB has? One would imagine JB’s competitors having a quiet word to their account managers at Nikon and Canon about the price of loyalty – or some such concept.

So this is the state of play in early 2012, with the business of selling camera gear in the midst of as dramatic a change as it’s seen since digital models fi rst started bumping fi lm cameras off the shelves.

At the same time, the decade-long halcyon days for the camera makers when digital compact camera sales grew year on year are over, cut short by competition from ever more capable smartphones for your snapshooting types, and a hankering for something a bit more, well, photographic, from people who have caught the bug.

The downward pressure on locally-purchased cameras seems set to continue so long as the dollar remains in such rude good health, which would seem to be an indubitably Good Thing for Australian camera buyers.

The possible downside is a decision out of some corner offi ce in Tokyo that running local distribution houses in relatively small, high-cost markets like Australia is all too hard. This will lead to less local support for photography – both Nikon and Canon, for instance, sponsor a range of professional and amateur photographic events – slower and less responsive technical and service support, and a serious threat to the continued existence of the specialist photo retailers who work closely with them.

So for camera retailers and buyers, these are indeed ‘interesting times’.

Among 95 price reductions, Canon dropped the RRP on the popular EOS 550D/18-135mm kit from $1949 to

$1449 at the end of last year, partially in response to online/offshore competition.


news

CANON, FUJIFILM COME TO THEIR SENSORS AT CES

The CES show in early January made its debut as the annual platform for the photo industry to announce new products, replacing the annual PMA show, which couldn’t muster enough potential exhibitors to continue. It’s been folded into CES as PMA@CES – a smallish event about 15 minutes by shuttle bus from the main exhibition halls, where most of the camera companies had their stands.

There wasn’t a lot to turn the heads of the enthusiast at the event, the stand-out releases being Fujifi lm’s fi rst mirrorless interchangeable, the Fujifi lm X Pro1, and the ‘mirrorless uninterchangeable’ PowerShot G1X, Canon’s long-awaited release of a compact camera with a decent-sized image sensor.

The PowerShot G1X sports an all-new 1.5-inch type (18.7 x 14.0mm) High Sensitivity CMOS Sensor with 14.3 megapixels. Whether we needed yet another all-new sensor format is debatable, but as technical editor Margaret Brown explained, as it’s a fi xed lens camera it doesn’t really do any harm, and it is a good size.

There’s a strong rumour of a Canon mirrorless interchangeable model some time this year.

Margaret’s excellent First Look review of the Canon G1X is in this issue, page 56.

Fujifi lm has been fairly quiet locally – hiding its light under a bushel almost – but with an ever-increasing range to interest enthusiasts. Expect the brand to make a bit more noise about itself this year.

The Fujifi lm X-Pro1 has a 16MP APS-C ‘X-Trans’ CMOS sensor incorporating a newly designed fi lter array.

It is released along with three three high-quality Fujinon prime lenses (18mm, 35mm and 60mm). Fujifi lm also announced the X-S1, featuring a large 2/3” 12 megapixel EXR CMOS sensor and a newly-developed, bright all-glass, high-defi nition Fujinon F2.8 - F5.6 telephoto lens with a 26x manual zoom (24-624mm equivalent).

These join the Fujifi lm X100 which has an APS-C size CMOS sensor (12 megapixel) and a fast fi xed-focus lens.

The camera has an attractive rangefi nder styling and a prestige fi nish, and Fujifi lm’s move up-market adds some welcome additions to what’s out there for the discerning camera buyer in 2012.

LOCALS OPEN MIKE BUSINESS

A local consortium, MyMyk, has designed and commissioned manufacture of a microphone specifi cally created for DSLR cameras shooting video.

The Smart Myk is a directional microphone which works by localising the sound to the image, rejecting background noise to concentrate on the sound from the subject of the camera’s focus. It easily attaches to any DSLR/video camera, making it (MyMyk claims) perfect for professional recording, home videos, internet broadcasting, sporting events and much more.

The SmartMyk delivers HD (Highly Defi ned) quality audio which is an authentic replication of the original source, according to the MyMyk website.

‘The result is stunning sound that you never before thought possible, perfectly complementing the HD video of your production.’

Background noise has proven to be a signifi cant obstacle to shooting video on DSLRs, with in-built microphones tending to pick up everything around them.

The SmartMyk weighs just 60g, making it one of the lightest condenser microphones of its type on the market today. The body, tube and housing of the microphone are made of polycarbonate ABS material which is extremely lightweight, while at the same time remaining robust.

The SmartMyk is powered by the widely-used CR 2032 button cell battery, which provides a battery life of approximately 200 hours of continuous use.

The SmartMyk is designed in Australia by a consortium of industry professionals from the sound, fi lm and broadcast industries, combined with a team of industrial and electronic designers with major contributions from many of Australia’s leading location sound recordists and cameramen.

One of the principals of MyMyk, David Green, has previously helped develop microphones for Rode Microphones and Sennheiser.

‘Shooting video on DSLR is so important that it could be considered the next break-through in communications and media enhancement,’ David Green told Photo Review.

‘The tools as we know are still evolving. The camera manufacturers did not plan for this uptake for the usage of these cameras as video format cameras, and as such have not implemented all of the components needed when maximising the use of the DSLR cameras.

‘...Both Canon and Nikon have released cameras that have addressed some new features but they still do not have a complete solution for the audio.

‘DSLR video shooting has never been more exciting. The cinematographer now has at his hands all of the incredible tools that have been mostly the domain of a still shot photographer. Reciprocally, still photographers can use their photographic skills, now shoot in HD 1080 format and have the opportunity to become fi lm makers to make quality fi lms to view and enjoy.

‘The implementation of audio to these pictures is not a complicated leap but it does require a total re-think of how sound is delivered and captured,’ he explained.

He says that MyMyk’s R&D development program will bring a number of ‘radical new innovative products relevant to the photographic industry to the market in the next several months.’

Keith Shipton, www.PhotoCounter.com.au

The X-Pro 1 sees Fujifi lm join the mirrorless interchangeable club.

The Smartmyk - a locally designed solution for shooting high quality video on DSLR cameras.

The Fujifi lm X-S1 zooms to 624mm.


challenge

TAKE THE PHOTO REVIEW CHALLENGE 51

Portals and thresholdsOur fi rst thought for this edition’s Photo Challenge was to ask our creative photographers to seek out pictures of interesting doors or windows. But rather than narrow things down, we decided to expand the brief outward to encompass any manner of portal or threshold you might encounter with your camera. What we’re looking for are images that in some way convey the entering in upon a space through a portal or a threshold. We want

to be intrigued and curious about where a portal leads or what might be across the threshold - or thresholds for that matter. As always, we will be most interested in images that tell us a story, create an atmosphere, or otherwise go beyond the obvious.

The prize for this challenge is a Kata Bumblebee 222 UL Black, RRP $450.

Please review the rules below and email your entries to [email protected].

Deadline for entries is May 28, 2012 and the winning pictures will be published in our Sept-Nov 2012 edition (Photo Review 53).

HERE ARE THE RULES:To enter the challenge all you have to do is send us your best image (we’ll consider up to three images per photographer).1) Competition is open to Australian residents only.2) Entries should only be new images that have been taken in

response to the set challenge.3) This isn’t a photo manipulation contest, so minimal post-

capture processing is a given. Sharpening, colour correction and so forth are fi ne, but adding extra layers isn’t.

4) Please supply a copies of your original images as jpegs at 800 pixels on the longest side.

5) Please submit all images to [email protected] or preferably to the gallery at www.photoreview.com.au and be sure to enter ‘Challenge51’ in the tags fi eld. Any questions: please email us at [email protected] (Photographers whose work we publish in the magazine will be contacted for the high-resolution version of their pictures.)

6) Please put your caption(s) in the File Info (metadata area) of your image(s), or with the accompanying message. When saving your images, please change the fi le name so that it incorporates your fi rst initial and last name and the challenge you’re entering (eg, jsmith_chall51.jpg).

7) All photographers maintain copyright to their submitted image(s). Photo Review retains the right to publish submitted image(s) in the magazine and on www.photoreview.com.au.

Photo Challenge: Tools of the tradeOur ’Tools of the Trade’ challenge was inspired by the editor’s encounter with a

well-worn old brace-and-bit, and in particular with how evocative it was of his long dead grandfather. Each of our Photo Challengers responded in their own distinctive fashion. Some went for the evocative angle, others came at it head-on, but all tackled the challenge in ways that showed the application of thought and technique.

As so often happens, we thought there was a fair amount of jostling for the fi rst position, but in the end we decided that Norman Shapro’s slightly impressionistic close up of a dusty old typewriter he entitled ‘Communication Tool’ should take the winner’s spot on the podium. For his effort, we will be sending Norman a Kata Bumblebee 222UL

camera bag.Coming in second by a narrow half head, was ‘Hammer’, a nicely composed study by

Andy Parkee. And just slightly off the pace was yet another of regular contributor Zorica Purlija’s lateral concepts, namely a portrait of her husband using his headphones to refresh the tool of his trade - his brain!

Also using his brain in an amusing fashion was Robert Zappia who sent us a picture of what he rightly calls ‘The most impressive tool in the shed’. More honourable mentions are bestowed upon rural subjects from Challengers Peter Armitage and Amanda Bull.

Thanks once again to all our participants.

FIRST PLACE: Norman Shapro

Communication tool


challenge

FIRST RUNNER UP:

‘Hammer’ by Andy Parkee“My photo of a hammer is a literal interpretation of the challenge. What I like about this photo are all the surface textures – the hammer head, handle, underlying sheet, fl oor, loose rubble - they all possess a real gritty, earthy quality.”

SECOND RUNNER UP:

‘Untitled’by Zorica Purlija“This is my husband Anthony who is a psychiatrist. His tool is his mind, the music fulfi lls his soul.”


challenge

HONORABLE MENTION:

‘The Most Impressive Tool In The Shed’ by Robert Zappia“The 1.8 Metre optical telescope is an international partnership between astronomers at the universities of Canterbury, Auckland and Victoria in New Zealand, and Nagoya University in Japan.”

HONORABLE MENTION:

‘Pedicure’ by Peter Armitage“I trust this image evokes the viewer to the strength, skilful care and precision of an experienced farrier, and the sizzle, and smell of red hot steel burning into hoof.”

HONORABLE MENTION:

‘Clicking Shears’ by Amanda Bull

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Inspiration

‘I remove shades of colours in unimportant parts of the photo and boost colours in parts where I want the eye to look.’

Our World Girls from a hill tribe in Sapa, north Vietnam.


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Lands before timeBRISBANE PHOTOGRAPHER DAVID LAZAR TALKS TO STEVE PACKER

ABOUT HIS STUNNING, AWARD-WINNING TRAVEL WORK.

By Steve Packer


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Burmese Elegance In a fi sh market in Sittwe, Myanmar.

We think your travel photography is among the best we’ve ever seen. What pushes your buttons in terms of subject matter?

When I look back over my work, I realise I’m drawn to subjects that don’t refl ect the modern world. I like to capture scenes that could have been taken 100 years ago – landscape and people shots that have no bearing on the modern, civilised western world. Subjects like Buddhist monks or scenes from rural Bangladesh. They have a ‘land before time’ feel to them. This type of subject is very different from my usual life in Australia, and I enjoy capturing and sharing these scenes that most people don’t get to see.All of your work is extraordinarily rich in colour and tone. Although you’re using digital cameras,

it’s as though you’re a master of the old Fuji Velvia fi lm. How do you achieve such gorgeous exposures?

I suppose the answer is careful Photoshop work on the images to achieve this look. My goal with Photoshop is to never have the photo look obviously edited, but rather just perfectly exposed, like a painting would have been created. The camera generally takes the photo in a way that is not quite what’s in my mind’s eye, so I need to work with the colours and lighting in post-production. I remove shades of colours in unimportant parts of the photo and boost colours in parts where I want the eye to look. The same applies to brightness. I darken parts of the photo that are less important and add brightness to subjects as if a studio light was in place,

illuminating where I want the viewer to look.A good example is the ‘Monk Eyes’ photo.

I’ve de-saturated certain tones and darkened the background. The face and eyes have been brightened, and shadows on the face and robes have been darkened to give nice contrast and defi nition. I usually just enhance the natural light that was already captured by carefully making the brighter parts brighter and the shadows darker.Do you tend to take a lot of photos while travelling or are you very selective? I know you sometimes go to some trouble to capture people on location at their very best, sometimes setting up situations.

I shoot as many frames as I can to get the perfect shot. I try different angles and poses as long as the

‘ I like to capture scenes that could have been taken 100 years ago…’

Myanmar Light Late one afternoon in Sagaing, Myanmar.


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subject is keen and willing. I choose faces that have character and are aesthetically interesting.

As for set-ups, it’s true that nearly all of my people photos are posed. In close-up portraits, I like to show deeper emotions than just ‘smiling for the camera’ type poses. Since it’s quite a western concept to do this, it’s not hard for most of my subjects to give these serious, introspective looks – even though they’ll probably burst out laughing after the photos are taken.

I also like the idea of being an invisible spectator, as if we are viewing the person in their personal space, so I often ask the subject to look away from the camera. I fi nd that people generally like being given a little direction, which is fortunate because it’s benefi cial to move people into the right light or

against a better background.How important is establishing a personal relationship with the people in your travel photos?

It’s very important. I think it’s the key to getting successful portrait photos.

How do you do it? Smile, engage and be interested in the people you want to photograph and what they are doing. It’s all about your demeanor and attitude. If I interact with people and try to use phrases in their language, or comment on what they are doing through gesture and just be open and sincere, it can go a long way to gaining trust and eventually a photograph. It’s all about making the process fun and lighthearted so people can relax and enjoy being a part of it. I often hand my camera to people I’m photographing so they

can have a play with it and take some photos of their own.You obviously like travelling. Is it mainly to take photos, and where have you travelled to? I know you’re in South Africa as we speak.

Even if I was denied taking my camera for some reason, I would still keep travelling. I enjoy being around people of different cultures and seeing how people live in circumstances different to what I’m familiar with. I generally fi nd people to be happier, warmer and more welcoming in countries that are not as wealthy as the western world. I’ve been privileged to be invited into people’s homes in developing countries more times than I could count.

I’ve been to a lot of places in South and South-East Asia, including three times to India and twice to


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Myanmar (Burma). Also to some countries in Eastern Africa and the Middle East.Tell us about some of the photography competitions and awards you’ve won. It’s an impressive list.

I’ve been very lucky over the years with photography competitions. To date I’ve won seven trips around the world through companies such as Intrepid, Peregrine, Great Hotels of the World, Gap, Kumuka and Abercrombie & Kent. Last year I was the overall winner in a number of Brisbane photography exhibitions, placed second in the Shutterbug Awards and was a fi nalist in the international Travel Photographer of the Year awards for the second time.How did you get started in photography and when did you start taking it seriously? Is it now

your main occupation?My fi rst inspiration in travel photography came

after my fi rst big trip to India and Nepal in 2004. My cousin, who I was travelling with, captured some lovely photos which I didn’t necessarily see at the time. I was reminded that there was so much you could do with a camera and a good eye for capturing scenes. I then discovered more travel photography online and became involved in online forums. From 2005 I continued to experiment and learn about the art form. But photography isn’t my main occupation. I’m actually a musician – a pianist, fi lm composer and piano teacher. I’ve being playing the piano for 24 years.What other kinds of photography do you specialise in?

Outside of my personal travel photography, I’ve done a lot of actor headshots with a studio light set-up in my house, as well as family portraits and weddings.What gear do you use? For starters, what’s in your travel kit?

My current gear is a Nikon D700 and a Nikon 24-85mm f2.8 lens. The initial photos I was drawn to online were taken with a Nikon D70s, so I bought one. And I’ve stayed with Nikon ever since.Do you travel light? What would you never travel without?

I travel very light. I take my camera and usually just the one lens, and no tripod or fl ashes. I always keep my camera packed away in my bag and never on show. For the portraits, I only bring it out after I’ve

Mountain Monastery The Tigers Nest Monastery in the Himalayas, Bhutan.


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established a rapport with the subject so that taking some photos is just an extension of our experience together.Tell us a bit more about the digital tweaking of your photos?

I have no problem telling you that Photoshop plays a huge role in the fi nal output of my images. Every part of the frame gets attention. I expose, colour and sharpen depending on what the shot needs to improve it, using layers and layer masks. My Photoshop PSD fi les have a lot of layers in them because I keep adding adjustment layer after adjustment layer.

The process takes weeks. I like to work on a photo, then leave it alone so I can view it again later with fresh eyes. In the initial second of looking at the photo at a later time, I can tell straight away if it’s

successful or needs more tweaking.I repeat this process over and over until I open the

fi le and think ‘I like this – everything looks just right.’ Patience is an important quality when working in this way.You’ve indicated that you have drawn inspiration from other photographers.

I sure have. I think it’s a big part of succeeding in the arts. Being inspired by other people’s work is a great way to be motivated and push yourself creatively. Countless times I’ve seen a photo and thought ‘I wish I had taken that.’ I like to analyse other people’s photos to learn what makes them successful.

I never had any formal lessons in Photoshop or photography. I’ve taught myself and picked up a lot from online tutorials and forums.

Where to now, David? What’s on your photographic to-do list?

I have just been approached by a new company that provides innovative technical solutions to problems for countries in development and confl ict areas. They want me to be their photographer and help raise awareness and interest through photo and video media. I’m very excited about that.

Otherwise I’ll keep on doing what I’m doing, and if I’m ever asked to go on assignment for a magazine and shoot photo stories around the world, that would be a dream come true.

At the same time, I would never stop doing my music. A balance of music and photography is an ideal life for me.

‘Being inspired by other people’s work is a great way to be motivated and push yourself creatively.’

Girl With Green Eyes A portrait from Bangladesh.


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Burmese FishermanOn Inle Lake, Myanmar. Fisherman in the region have a unique rowing technique where they stand on the stern on one leg and wrap the other leg around the oar.


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Field of YellowTwo friends look out over mustard fl owers in Putia, Bangladesh.

Top Left:

Girl With Green Eyes

A portrait from Bangladesh.

Top Middle:

My Kingdom

A novice monk scans the horizon of the former

kingdom of Mrauk-U, Myanmar. Temples from

the 16th century dot the hills.

Top Right:

Monk Eyes

A novice monk in Sagaing, Myanmar.

To see more of David Lazar’s photography, visit www.pbase.com/david_lazar

10 YEARS AUSTRALIA’S LEADING PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE …€¦ · in his life (after his family of...

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