26 - 35mm

Over the past 18 months, I have been blogging and going through all my film photography work from 2010 till now. Mostly all the photos I have taken and used in the blog have been with my Mamiya 7. But when I first started shooting film, it was 35mm format that I shot. So this blog post is going to take it all the way back to the very beginning and the first couple of years before I made my way into medium format film.

Rewind back to 2010 and I was living in Canada. At that stage I had just been using a small Canon digital point and shoot which I enjoyed due to its compact size and decent quality images but was looking for a change and to really delve into photography. I then discovered Joel Birch's (of The Amity Affliction) 35mm photography work. I was so impressed by the results and look he was getting plus that I decided I wanted to get a similar camera (he was shooting with an old Minolta 35mm camera). I also wanted to learn the basics of photography from the ground up after coming from a digital background with no notion of what ISO, shutter speed and aperture really meant.

After arriving back in Australia a few months later, I was fortunate to get my hands on two Pentax SLR’s from an old guy who lived in the same town at my parents and had completely upgraded to digital. So with my two new cameras in tow and some expired slide film, I started my film journey. It was very much trial and error in the beginning, especially with the mixed results with expired film and using multiple cameras. But you can’t expect perfection straight away (and I definitely had my times of frustration haha) but slowly and surely, my photos started to improve. I was shooting lots of stuff close to where I was living with a mixture of Kodak and Fuji film stocks and using a small one hour lab in Brisbane, Queensland. Unfortunately the lab closed down within six months and I was left with the dilemma of working out where I could send my film to for development and scanning. Then along came Jonathan Canlas.

Jonathan Canlas is an American film photographer now based in Hawaii but was then living in Utah. I can't remember how I came across him but his photos mesmerised me with a very unique to it. I remember looking at his photos and thinking how it was possible to get such results while shooting film and how none of mine looked even remotely that good. But it was his helpful and educational pdfs that really taught some important lessons. It opened my eyes to new techniques about shooting film, various film cameras and equipment and most importantly using a good film lab.

Back then before he had started his own lab, The Film Lab, he was using Richard Photo Lab. He basically gave the ins and outs about the lab and why they were so good. So once I had finished a few more rolls, I decided to roll the dice and send some film to them to see how they turned out. And boy was I impressed. It’s definitely important for the photographer to take a photo that is compositionally impressive with the right settings but there is just as much importance in the film development process. In the end, the scanning process is one of the most crucial stages and getting that right goes a long way to making sure a photo looks amazing. So once I got that first delivery of scans, I was amazed. My photos looked a million times better then the shitty one hour lab and really gave me confidence in wanting to photograph more and improve. For more than five years Richard Photo Lab was my lab of choice and I was never disappointed in their results. I've only just started using Indie Film Lab for my past two orders and am currently waiting for the scans for one of those orders (images coming to the blog soon!).

So once I started using RPL, my photography dramatically improved. I was inspired to shoot more and I started to develop more of a look and feel to my work. Over a number of years I photographed a whole bunch of different things and learnt so much about using a camera and photography in general. So it’s great to go back and look at where I started and the path of my film photography career. I put below some of my favourite photos that I took during that time.

25 - Bowlarama 2016

Another February has come and gone and once again the Bondi Bowlarama was back in town. I was lucky to head down there on the Thursday afternoon with my mate Christian to see some of the skaters practicing from the competition held on the weekend. Here is a selection of medium format and digital images I took.

Shot on a Mamiya 7 w/ 80mm f4.0 lens and Kodak Portra 400 and TMax 400 film.

Shot on a Fuji XPro-1 w/ 35mm lens

24 - Down South

In the past month or so, I was fortunate to take a little day trip down the coast just south of Sydney with my friend Alison. The plan was to explore a part of the NSW coast that I hadn’t really seen plus visit all the ocean and rock pools along the way. So that’s what we did. Nine pools from Coalcliff down to Wollongong. We got some sensational weather and although it did get pretty windy, it was a great day out

It’s also always really nice to get out of the city once in a while and go exploring somewhere new. It refreshes the mind and the body. Makes you appreciate some of the beautiful landscapes that are so close to Sydney and how lucky we are to live in such an amazing country.

I managed to put together a short video of the adventure plus took a whole bunch of photos on my Mamiya 7. Destinations are in the following order:

1-2: Bald Hill Lookout

3-5: Wombarra

6-9: Coledale

10-11: Austinmer

12: Bulli

13-14: Woonona

15-17: Bellambi

18-19: Towradgi

20: North Wollongong

21: Continental (Wollongong)

A little road trip to visit some ocean pools along the Wollongong coast.

23 - Keep Sydney Open

All Sydneysiders would be familiar with the lock-out laws brought in by the NSW Government in 2013 as a result of ‘alcohol related violence’. What most people wouldn't know is the media led hysteria campaign and subsequent ridiculous band-aid laws that were established by the then state government to 'curb' alcohol related violence in major entertainment precincts such as Kings Cross and the Sydney CBD.

Fast forward almost three years down the track and many people in Sydney have had enough. Once thriving entertainment and night-time precincts are now nothing more than ghost towns. Many great pubs, bars, nightclubs and surrounding shops and small businesses have fatally suffered and in turn closed due to decimating drops in footfall and visitation. The thriving music scene that once occupied Sydney has slowly started to die off due to music venue closures and the extreme restrictions placed on surviving establishments which has made it difficult for young, fresh bands to cut their teeth and make a name for themselves. On top of that, money hungry and human degrading places like Star City casino have profited from the demise of these former great night time areas while also amazingly being exempt from lock out laws that have destroyed many businesses.

So on Sunday February 21,  Keep Sydney Open brought together 15,000 people in solidarity to rally, march and let their voices be heard by the NSW state government. The rally began in Belmore Park and the marched continue up Castlereagh and Elizabeth streets with everyone congregating in Hyde Park for some passionate and informative speeches from various representatives plus live performances by well known Sydney bands.

These are just a small collection of photographs I took on the day which really demonstrates the pride and passion that many Sydney folk have in their city and maintaining a first-class nightlife.

22 - Yashica Mat 124G

Last year I had been looking into getting a new camera. I love my Mamiya 7 a lot but the only limitations seemed to be with the lack of minimum focus, especially when taking portraits. I had done a portrait series with the Mamiya 7 with great success but only being able to get within a metres distance was not close for me with other portrait ideas I had.

I was researching various other medium format cameras including the Pentax 67, Hasselblad 500 and some others. But then I saw a guy selling a Yashica Mat 124G. It was a decent price and the examples sent through looked impressive. But after talking to a friend, Andy Braithwaite, he suggested giving his Yashica Mat a go first before making a purchase.

I went and met up with Andy and picked up the camera. He gave me a few pointers about how to use it and then I went ahead and started shooting. For starters, the Yashica is a TLR, which means it has two lenses, one for focusing and one for shooting/capturing images. You operate the camera by looking through the viewfinder on top and the shutter button is at the button of the front of the camera. I always wanted to use a TLR because they look so cool and remind me of amazing photographers of previous generations.

But they are tricky to use. Because it is a TLR, everything is back to front. If you move the camera to the right, the image in the viewfinder moves to the left. So composing is very tricky because you natural move in one direction to compose but you actually have to think about it and go the opposite direction. I found myself missing critical moments for a photograph because I was trying to get the composition right. But if you were to use this camera enough, you would get faster and be able to use fairly easily.

During the time I borrowed the camera, I was dating a great girl named Katie (you can see some photos of her in this post). Over the next couple of months, we went on little adventures up to the Central Coast, the Northern Beaches, Little Bay and lots of other spots around Sydney. I put a couple of rolls of expired film through the camera to test it out at first, which are the colours photos. Once I was comfortable enough using it, I put a couple of rolls of black white. I was quite happy with how all the photos turned out but realised after a couple of months that it wasn’t quite the right camera for me. I still felt my Mamiya 7 was superior in many different aspects and I couldn’t really justify the cost of buying one, especially when I am trying to keep my gear down to a minimum for travelling reasons.

But it was a a great experience and I managed to capture some great photos along the way.

21 - 2015 Wrap Up

So I’ve decided to do a wrap-up post for 2015. 2015 has been an up and down year in terms of photography for me. I’ve definitely photographed and travelled a hell of a lot less then 2014 and 2013 and spent the entire year in Australia with my head down saving money for my next trip.

But on the upside, I did manage to design, fund and print my first ever photography publication (Into the Desert) back in June plus I’m in the final stages of putting together my next photography series due for print in early 2016.

I’ve also had great intentions for new photography series and general portraits which for a number of reasons have not worked out (lack of motivation mostly) which in hindsight I should have worked on making a reality. But I’ve met some really great people this year that have become friends, done a bunch of little trips around near Sydney and taken some great photos too. So here are my favourite pictures from the year just gone.

2016 is going to be a big year. I’ll be turning 30 in June so I wanna make every moment and day count. I’ve already had new inspiration for a couple of photography series to work on and some outstanding ones to complete in the first few months. Plus continue to do more cool collaborations with fellow designers and photographers. I’ll also be heading overseas again to the US in the early/middle part of the year (but for how long? who knows!). I’ve got big massive plans for that with an eventual publication as an end result. It’s hard to explain how much I am looking forward to going travelling again and tying it in with new photography ideas.

So thanks for a great year legends and hello to an amazing new year full of potential and exciting new adventures, yew beauty!

20 - Australia in colour 02

Another cold day in the city has me thinking back to warm, sunny days of spent at the beach and exploring during summer time. I always tend to photograph less during winter so here is a selection of images taken at the beginning of the year from Sydney and Noosa. Can't wait until summer comes around again.

Noosa Heads, Queensland

Sydney (Coogee Beach, Clovelly Beach)

Numskull (Elliott Routledge) - Newtown, NSW

19 - Bowlarama

The Bondi Bowl-A-Rama is a skating event held at the Bondi Beach bowl every year in February. It brings to Sydney the best current professional skaters and also well known and loved skating veterans with plenty of prize money to be won.

I first attended it in 2012 and have been to the event every year except for 2014. Over the years I have taken a number of photographs of the skater spractising and also during the competition itself. I’ve shot 90% of the images on black and white film with a mixture of 35mm and 120 film.

Bondi Beach - Sydney, NSW (2012 - 2015)

18 - Family

I’ve been very fortunate to grow up in large, loving family. As the oldest of four kids, my mum and dad always made sure we were well provided for plus also making sure we had a great education. For the first nine years of my life, we were up in Cairns in Far North Queensland before moving down to Woodford in South East Queensland (about an hour north of the nearest main city, Brisbane). We were also very lucky to have two parents that had travelled a lot. My first trip overseas was Fiji when I was seven plus over the next 10 or so years we got to go to the USA, China, Bali and the UK/France. It has definitely rubbed off on me and my two brothers and sister with travelling being one of our biggest passions.

I took these photos while at home on the farm for Christmas last year using the timer on my Mamiya 7. They perfectly sum up our family with the inclusion of our loving and faithful dogs - Roly, Rusty and Cimba. My parents farm is such beautiful location and is always nice to visit for some much needed downtime away from the the busy world of city life. Can’t wait to get back up there again soon.

17 - Throttle Roll 2015

Throttle Roll is an event that brings together custom motorcycles and lifestyle. Held on the first weekend of May at Vic on the Park in Marrickville, it showcases a fantastic array of motorcycles, cars, music, denim and of course beers. This year the weather really turned it on with a stunning day on the Saturday which is when I went to check it out. A couple of rolls later and the result are the images below.

Shot on a Mamiya 7, 80mm f4.0 lens and Kodak Portra 160 film. Developed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab in California.