I thought it was time that I started a regular, newsletter style blog post to spread the word about what’s been happening at Girt By Sea Photography. After all, that’s the whole point of having a blog, isn’t it? I’ve been a little slack on this front, so I feel that I have some catching up to do.
During winter I seem to be spending more time at the computer and less time behind the camera than I would like. Although, when I stop and think about it, quite a few projects are bubbling away nicely.
So, without any further ado here’s a very quick rundown on some of the latest happenings, a few of my new pics, and a couple of special offers thrown in.
New Image – Rock Fishing at Maroubra
My visits to the coastline have been a little hit & miss lately. More often than not I’ve come home empty-handed after the conditions promised so much, but weren’t quite right.
Above is one of my latest Sydney seascapes, from one of the better days just recently.
I captured this very late in the afternoon on the rocks at Maroubra. An intense, glowing sunset behind the camera warmly illuminated these clouds out to the east. It took a little patience to catch the right wave, as I wanted the rock platform in the foreground to be fully covered by the wash without getting too wet myself! Luckily this all came together when the clouds were still at their vibrant best.
[Image Specs: Sony DSLR-A850, Sony Zeiss 16-35mm @ 16mm (before a slight crop), ISO 200, 0.6 sec @ f/11.0, Lee Filters soft + hard graduated neutral density filters].
Some of the winter days have been a little chillier than usual here in Sydney, but it’s still been beautiful as usual on the beaches. Actually, I prefer the quieter, fresher beach atmosphere of winter to the crowded and baking hot summer. Here are two more winter shots, both from Coogee. The first is a long exposure 20 minutes before sunrise on a freezing morning at Ross Jones Memorial Pool; and the second on a beautiful, quiet sunny afternoon.
Above: Mahon Pool on the winter solstice.
You can find more Maroubra and Coogee images in the Sydney Seascapes gallery on the Girt By Sea Photography website.
Coming Soon – New French Art Collection Prints
Australian landscapes are my bread and butter, but my love of France led me to launch a French themed photo art greeting card collection in 2014. The cards have been a great success, with 15 wonderful retailers supporting this product.
I hear that customers are using the cards not only to write on, but also for framing; sometimes buying a handful at a time. This is great to know! It also tells me that I should take a step further and make these images available as fine art prints, in a slightly larger standard size, with a frame-friendly format.
Keeping true to the French theme, it is only right to print the images on Canson Rag Photographique 310gsm, a luxury French-made cotton rag paper. This is a heavy archival fine art paper with a smooth, true matte finish, perfect for framing under glass.
I will keep the rest of the details up my sleeve for now, but there will be a special blog post once I have completed some test prints and set up the website gallery.
New England Collection greeting cards
These new photo art cards were the subject of my previous blog post, and I’m happy to say that they have been well received so far! It’s great to have the Inverell Visitor Information Centre as a new stockist, and I’d again like to thank the good folks at Me & Mr Jones and The Dust Jacket, both of Inverell, for getting behind this little project.
I am offering two free samples to the first five blog readers from the superb postcodes of 2360 & 2370 to email orders@girtbyseaphotography.com with the subject “NE Collection”. Remember to include your name and mailing address (which must have the postcode 2360 or 2370), and let me know your 2 preferred cards. I dislike spammers too, so don’t worry, you will not be added to any mailing lists. Your address is only used once to get the samples to you.
Click HERE to see the full New England greeting card collection.
Girt By Sea Mono on Instagram
I really enjoyed getting out & about for the recent Head On Photo Festival in Sydney.
During this year’s event I was particularly inspired by a “An Urban Dialogue”, a superb collection of black and white Sydney street photography by the very talented trio of Anthony Ginns, Markus Andersen and Albion Harrison-Naish.
This was easily my favourite exhibition of the festival; in fact I visited 3 times. It really opened my eyes to the potential and validity of mobile phone street photography as an art form in its own right, and I was surprised at the quality of prints that can be achieved from a humble iPhone image.
So I decided I should try it for myself, and was fully obsessed for the first few weeks.
What have I learnt so far? Well, for one thing, it’s going to take some serious practice. These guys didn’t produce such a body of work overnight. Although a little luck can play its part, I think there is clearly some effort involved in training your brain to interpret light, shadows, patterns, shapes and silhouettes in a new way. It also requires practice in observing your surroundings, anticipating a situation, and reacting instantly to capture an interesting or quirky moment as it unfolds before you. It’s also a great outlet to burn that photographic energy on a sunny, cloudless day when the sky and harsh light is not kind for landscape photography.
This has all led me to have a split personality on Instagram. Now I have a new feed purely for my monochrome work. For now there’s a mixture of older landscapes from the DSLR and my new attempts at mobile phone and street photography – like these below from the iPhone 5S:
[Above L-R: Steps & Sails, Sydney Opera House; Down From the Farm, Circular Quay; Kombi, Hickson Road; Coffee & friend, Coogee Beach]
As I find more time and confidence I’m looking forward to ramping up the mobile phone & street photography content, and to seeing a personal style evolve from my somewhat random early attempts. I have yet to print any of my B&W iPhone shots, but I’ll let you know how I go with this in a future post about my street escapades.
In the meantime you can find me on Instagram as @GirtBySeaMono, and of course the original @GirtBySeaPhoto for my colour landscapes.
While you’re there, check out the inspiring work of Anthony Ginns (@ginzasydney), Markus Andersen (@markusxandersen ) and Albion Harrison-Naish (@albionsamson).
Canvas Prints Fathers Day Offer
Here I am modelling one of my latest canvas print orders, a 24 x 38” version of “Great Ocean Glow”. These can be shipped anywhere in Australia. In fact, this one has found a new home in Tasmania.
With Fathers Day coming soon I have a special deal for blog readers. Mention this post when ordering a ready to hang canvas print for Fathers Day and you will receive a $50 discount. Offer ends on 15th August 2015 to allow production and delivery time. Visit the HOME page to find out more about Girt By Sea Photography prints and prices.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks so much for reading! I’m looking forward to bringing you the next update before too long. See you then!
Cheers,
Michael
