South-East Asia With The Fuji GFX50R

February 18, 2024 in Travel

It’s been a long time since I travelled overseas so extensively. Perhaps it was almost fifteen years ago when my wife and I did a whirlwind tour of Europe. There was the pandemic messing with things, sure, and trips to New Zealand and Fiji, but nothing substantial. So it was over Xmas the family and in-laws embarked on a four-week tour of south-east Asia.

A image from the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya, Thailand. It’s not a temple per se, but a collaborative ongoing work that is incredible to see just in terms of sheer detail, but it was this gold-leaf tree outside that caught my eye.

Coming into this trip, I was not expecting much in the way of photography. Bar a singular exception, all my photography is shoehorned into family vacations. There’s none of this carefully planning locations and returning multiple times for the perfect light and conditions—not with kids. No, what I do these days is more of a photojournalistic take on things where you simply shoot in the moment with whatever light you have. And make no mistake, there are quality photos to be made in every kind of light and of almost any subject matter.

How do you take an original photo of such an iconic location? That became the ongoing challenge of this trip. This was the exterior of one of the famous Singapore ‘domes’ with the Singapore flyer in the background.

So it is when I’m taking photos on trips like this where we are rushing around and fighting crowds in touristy areas, it can be difficult, but I tried my best to make it work and actually came away quite liking some of these images.

We started with a few days in Singapore, which was hot, of course, and humid, of course, but also rather interesting from a visual standpoint with its mix of Asian and western influences. I personally found getting out to Little India and the old quarter more interesting than Orchard Rd, but Santosa Island was nice and I think the city as a whole definitely warrants further exploration in the future.

Above are images of the Former House of Tan Teng Niah in Little India, Singapore, or simply known on Google Maps as ‘Instagram Location’. I loved this building, especially the image on the far left that looks like it was taken against a green screen. My son also managed to get a very stylish haircut nearby.

Following Singapore we had a two-week cruise around Thailand and Vietnam. We were unable to tender in Koh Samui, which was a bit of a letdown, but we did get off in Pattaya to see the very impressive Sanctuary of Truth, the floating market and so on. Next time, I will remember the golden rule that cash is still king in SE Asia.

I really loved Vietnam—the culture, the food, the myriad of colours… Hoi An in particular, which we only had an hour at, mind, was just a photography dream with its yellow buildings and colourful merchandise. Halong Bay was also extraordinary and definitely gave me flashbacks to James Bond’s The Man With Golden Gun, which I watched endlessly as a kid. Cruising around the bay on a junk was perfection.

As many a frustrated phone user will tell you, it’s very, very hard to get good photos on the popular Singapore Night Zoo tour owing to the very low light. I cranked the GFX up to 6400iso and managed this shot, which reminds of a classical painting.

The old quarter in Hoi An was packed with tourists, but I loved the colours and mix of historic and kitschy new, especially all the plastic that seems so prevalent in Vietnam. The image on the far right is a personal favourite.

We finished up the trip with a few days in Honkers (Hong Kong). My wife and I spent some time in Hong Kong for our honeymoon many years ago, and it was interesting seeing how the city has changed. There’s still a lot of older buildings and traditional Hong Kong fare in Kowloon, but there’s also a lot of modernity and change as well.

Usually I take my camera with me everywhere, but I decided on our daytrip to Hong Kong Disneyland to leave it at home and just enjoy the moment with the kids. I’m glad I did. It would have been a nightmare figuring out what to do with the camera bag all day.

While everyone was busy shooting out over at the city at The Peak in Hong Kong, I turned my camera in the opposite direction. I suppose it was also something of a dynamic-range test.

When our ship docked early in the morning at Hong Kong there was this lingering fog and a sole building lit up for NYE. It had a very Bladerunner-like feel to it.

I still love shooting with the Fuji GFX50R and my staple now of the 45-100mm F4. I actually ran a quick test in Camera RAW that determined my most used focal length on the last few trips I’ve done is actually 100mm, which in 35mm terms is around 80mm, so slightly telephoto. I suppose I do tend to zoom in to subjects to eliminate clutter and narrow down a composition, but it was an interesting discovery. In fact, 95% of my shots were at this focal length. The remaining 5% were almost exclusively shot at the other end, wide. I had been hoping this conclusion might have led me to a lighter prime lens in the GF lineup, but alas, there’s nothing light about tele primes, so the zoom will remain.

While I was in Hoi An in Vietnam I actually bumped into a photographer shooting with a Mamiya RB67 on a tripod, also with his family. Hats off to him. He must have an awfully patient wife, but it did get me thinking about pulling out the Mamiya again and giving it another go.

As for the title of this series, we had a tour guide in Vietnam (Phat) who called himself ‘Sticky Rice’. This made it easy for him to collect his group because he simply had to shout ‘Sticky rice!’, ‘Sticky rice!’ and everyone in the group would follow, sticking close, so to speak. He was so enthusiastic, so generous, particularly with my son (who can be a lot ), that If I remember nothing else, I’ll always remember Sticky Rice.

My favoruite image from the trip was taken just after sunrise looking out our Hong Kong hotel window over Kowloon. There was this soft light over the city, but it was hitting the material covering this building beatifully. It was kind of floating and shifting in this light and breeze, and looked so completely peaceful and organic in the otherwise squared and angular constraints of the city I had to take a shot or two. It still amazes me they use bamboo as scaffolding for skyscrapers like this, but sometimes natural really is best.

After all of it, I was thankful to touch down back home in Sydney, Australia. As to where my next photo excursion will be, I have no idea. I think I’m all travelled out for a while, so perhaps something closer to home. I would love to get to Karijini, even Iceland, so let’s see, but in a sense I think I also need some distance from photography for a while.

As always, thank you for reading my drivel. You can check out the full gallery of images here, or scroll down for the images that didn’t make it. There are a few. Cheers.

Skiing At Charlotte's Pass With The Fuji GFX50R

October 14, 2023 in Travel

It’s a bit of a family tradition on my wife’s side of the family to journey to Charlotte’s Pass every year. Located in the alpine region of New South Wales, Charlotte’s Pass is Australia’s highest ski resort, a small village that is snowbound during winter. Finally, with COVID well in the rear-view now, we headed down to check it out.

A ICM image of snow drifts coming through looking over the valley towards Australia’s highest ‘mountain’, Mt Kosciusko. I like the painterly quality here and sense of movement.

I knew from the outset this would be a challenging trip photographically. The village of Charlotte’s Pass is very small, every building a muted shade of brown, green or grey, with not much colour to be found. But there’s also fun in the challenge, and once again, light hunting became my go-to.

Many ski resorts in Australia closed early this season because of a lack of snow (a lot of people are amazed we do, in fact, have ski resorts at all), but we were lucky to receive a good dumping of white stuff before we arrived, which lasted out the week.

Above are a series of images of trail markers used to show where obstacles lie on ski runs. I became a bit obsessed with the way they contrasted with the blanketed snow around them. They became a fixture of my more minimal images.

Likewise, I had hoped to get some images on the way to the village via oversnow transport. However, it was sleeting/windy and the cat itself was moving faster than I had anticipated. Still, I took this rapid-fire series of shots below hoping to get the right amount of movement and really emphasize the conditions. You can see this creek became increasingly clearer as we got closer, but I prefer the original image with movement and blur.

We stayed at TarGanGil Lodge in Charlotte’s Pass. I’d highly recommend it, not only because it’s the closest lodge to the charlift, but the food was nothing short of amazing. And I’m a pretty harsh critic. The kids also had a blast with the lodge guests and the fact you never really had to queue to get on a chairlift or T-bar, as Charlotte’s only allows a fixed number of visitors at any one time.

The two images below were taken in our room at the lodge. It had the most beautiful morning and afternoon light. I’m sure most Australians my age are familiar with the blanket on the left. They were a permanent fixture of every grandmother’s house in the seventies and eighties, horribly scratchy but always warm. They also remind me of childhood ski trips, of escapism. The way the light cut across the quilt was perfection—or at least to me.

This image was taken at the ski-tube trerminal at Perisher Valley. There is, and always has been, something kitsch about ski resorts in Australia. They feel like a time capsule of sorts, perpetually stuck in the past. I thought the colours and poster here perfectlly summed that up.

As always, I found myself smiling looking over the RAW files out of the GFX50R. I’ve had it a long time now and it has never disappointed. It’s that bridge between film and digital I’ve always been looking for. It simply works. One of the images I’ve posted was actually taken with my old Samsung S20 and upsized in Photoshop using Super Enhance, as I couldn’t let it pass.

Next year is shaping up to be very interesting photographically. I’m looking to knock off two of my bucket list destinations: Iceland and Karijini National Park, as well as keep my ICM series of Sydney going. I’ll also be working on creating a print shop for people to purchase my work, as I believe so many images here would make excellent wall art, especially the more minimally inclined.

All in all, it was a successful trip, though I’m not sure my body agrees. Skiing doesn’t seem as easy these days. Head here for the full gallery, or check out some of shots that didn’t make it below.

Road Trip To Tumut: Regional NSW Landscape Photography With The Fuji GFX50R

November 14, 2022 in Travel

Recently, we headed away on a family road trip through regional NSW to the snowy mountains town of Tumut in New South Wales (In truth I was on a hunt for cherry pie…). At first it seemed the extensive flooding would put a dampener on plans, but we ended up with all kinds of weather. As is typical for these family trips, sometimes photography has to take a back seat, but I did come away with some interesting images.

It’s always best to take the scenic route to a destination, even if it adds an hour or so. I’m not sure if we were too late or too early for canola season, but I actually like the way it turned this field into a gradient owing to the patchy light.

Once again I used the Fuji GFX50R medium-format camera and the GF45-100 f4 OIS lens, a combo that has been serving me well. I used the GFX earlier this year for two weddings, and apart from a bit of sluggish AF on occasion, it worked perfectly well. In fact, looking at the files side by side with my friend’s full-frame Sony, which was also used on the day, the GFX files had so much more character and depth to them.

This was also a good test for the ruggedness of the GFX. At one stage I had it out in torrential rain, through caves, rivers, hiking up a cliff… It’s nice to know it can stand up to that kind of treatment (abuse?).

The night comes in at Blowering Dam about 15 minutes drive from Tumut. The dam was actually spilling, which I’m told is fairly rare, but we’ve had extraordinary amounts of rain this year in NSW. I was drawn to the clouds here.

We really packed it into this trip. We hiked to the thermal pool at Yarangobilly Caves, a pleasant 28 degrees Celsius. My son (8) and I also made the walk up to Blowering Cliffs, the waterfall pumping after all the rain we’ve had. We had an amazing meal at Three Blue Ducks Nimbo Fork, where my son told the chef it was the best meal he’d ever had. We checked out Batlow and came away with apples the size of mini bowling balls. We walked, drove, ate… There’s so much to do in an area most people simply pass through on their way to the ski fields.

This is a lamp reflecting light on a bedroom wall at our Airbnb. I’ve spoken about how I’ve become obsessed with minimalism and light. I look for it everywhere, even in the least-obvious places. I like the way the light made the wall look almost 3D, as if something was pressing it out like fabric.

I’ve really started to establish a common theme in my work. I know what I’m looking for these days, which is usually a combination of light, visual interest or minimalism. I tend to mix this with interesting skies I see, but what I’m really looking for is something out of the ordinary, be it some link to Australian nostalgia, or an interesting play of light on a common subject. People often think I’m crazy when they see what I’m shooting, but I am doing so with purpose. I usually start off a trip like this is a nervous state until I take my first shot or keeper. Once I have a couple in the bag, I tend to relax. Once my bag is full, so to speak, I get lazy. So it goes.

I had a strange hankering for cherry pie—strange given I don’t actually like cherries. So, we drove through the town of Young, which is the cherry capital of Australia. I finally got my pie at Wilders Bakery and it did not disappoint.

Something else I’ve started to do in these towns is head out for a long, extended walk during the early morning or late afternoon. I had not considered how hilly the town of Tumut is, so it made for quite the workout. The GFX handled the wide dynamic range at this time extremely well. You can lift shadows from near pure darkness if needs be. It’s a great way to explore a town and more or less have it all to yourself.

Heading into 2023, I’m excited about some potential photo trips now COVID is waning. Already on the cards is a long-anticipated trip back to New Zealand, another to the deep ski fields of Australia, as well as a trip to the US and also Karijini, deep within Western Australia. Keep an eye on the blog for everything. You can see the full gallery from the Tumut road trip by clicking here.

From an early morning walk near the river in Tumut. I just love the way the light was working with this particular house.

We had to polish off the trip with a stop at the Long Track Pantry in Jugiong for a cheese toastie. I couldn’t resist this shot of the rooster, the jet trail and this lone bird.

Canola Season In Regional NSW With The Sigma SD-H

October 13, 2020 in Travel

Well, who could have predicted what would become of 2020. Certainly not me. I had a big New Zealand trip planned in April, lots of photographic ideas… and then coronavirus. Everything, for everyone, changed, but like all of us I’ve tried to make the best of it. So it was I headed out with the family for a roadtrip to regional NSW right through canola country. Funnily enough, I had no idea it was canola season. It was simply a happy coincidence.

Having never seen canola before, I was amazed at how rich and vibrant the colour was. If I was travelling by myself, I probably would have been pulling over every five-hundred metres.

We started with an overnight stay in Bathurst. I headed out for an early morning walk with my Sigma SD-H and 50mm f1.4 ART. There is so much interest in Bathurst simply walking around the streets. I find that goes for all country towns in Australia.

I think I’ve come to a good place with the Sigma. Ninety-perfect of my shots are taken with the 50mm, though I do pull out the 24mm from time to time for a wider angle (keeping in mind the 1.3x crop factor). It turns out I’m always looking for a little more reach, however, so ideally the 85mm range is probably a better fit for me.

I was saddened to hear Sigma would not be releasing their full-frame Foveon camera this year, but I applaud the company for holding a product back instead of releasing something they weren’t willing to stand by 100%. I’m still keen to see what comes of it next year, or maybe the year after, though I have been eyeing off a Fuji GFX-50R. Stay tuned.

I had my wife pull over so I could shoot this out the car window. There were a group of people out of frame who must have thought I was completely mad, but this is my perfect kind of image these days. Read into it what you will.

From Bathurst we travelled to Wagga Wagga through Blayney, Cowra, Cootamundra, Junee and many towns that were little more than a general store and a pub. I love driving through the streets of these towns and looking for comps. What am I looking for? Anything with visual interest, whether that be lines, form, colour… Something that stands out, or has character. Often I find things too cluttered to pull a composition from, so it can be a trying process to find subject matter that is just right. It’s also very hard to explain to people you’re looking for more than a ‘derelict building’.

A classic Bathurst street scene with the morning sun and the old sofa on the verandah. It really sums up country living for me.

I fell in love with this purple flower only to discover later it’s a fairly prominent weed known as Paterson’s Curse.

We stayed at Belisi Farmstay near Wagga Wagga and it was perfect. If you have kids (or not), I highly recommend a visit. My kids are not terribly used to animals, but loved getting out seeing the horses and collecting eggs in the morning.

I was surprised how far the canola extends and how the colour changes according to the light. In particular, overcast or cloudy conditions actually provided the most interesting light, really spotlighting certain sections of the field and giving them shape. Like I said, I could have spent forever driving around looking up compositions.

The colour of the canola really changes depending on the weather, which did make consistency in psot-processing difficult. I think in the end I simply decided to work on an image-by-image basis and forget consistency altogether.

I lot of people think having a small strip of landscape at the bottom of the frame set against a large sky is part of my style, but it’s more of a function of the limited reach of my 50mm lens.

There’s a lot more than canola out this way, too. We visited the Temora Aviation Museum, the rather delicious (and dangerous or the waistline) Junee choc factory, as well as what is Australia’s most haunted house, Monte Cristo. My wife and daughter were happy to wait in the car for that one.

The shadow of a door handle in morning light. I thought this tied in nicely to the surrounding canola.

Windows wallpaper, anyone? There was no shortage of rolling hills.

With most Australian states closed off to NSW for travel, it seems regional trips like this are the best way to get out and explore at the moment. It’s also a good way to show the kids holidays don’t have to be waterparks and shopping malls.

Head here for the full gallery of images.

I became somewhat obsessed with this abandoned petrol station at Wallendbeen. It had so much character and detail. I must have taken a hundred shots of it from every conceivable angle.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Coca Cola sign so faded as to be almost pure white.

Tin City, Stockton Beach With The Sigma SD-H

July 15, 2019 in Travel

I have many fond memories of the Stockton Beach growing up. Located about an hour-and-a-half from Sydney, access is 4WD only. It’s one of the few beaches along the coast where you can drive along the sand and, to a smaller extent these days, the dunes.

Amongst the dunes is a strange settlement of ramshackle structures known as Tin City. At first, rising from the sand, you expect to see a Stormtrooper and a droid, perhaps an Interceptor, but it’s actually the last legal squatters settlement in Australia.

The ‘city’ started in the early 1900s as tin shacks for shipwreck survivors. In the 1930s it grew out to around 36 huts, around 11 of which stand today, and yes, people were here the day I visited. As I understand it, the huts cannot be sold, but are sort of passed down from generation to generation. Since my last visit 20 years ago, many had been repaired and added upon, some looked pretty well sorted! Fishing seems to be the predominant pastime.

It didn’t stop raining all day, which meant we did have the beach to ourselves, but it did make photography difficult. I was initially disappointed, hoping for blue skies and strong light for the high key style I use these days, but on reflection I like the way the rain added an ethereal mood to the images. It actually gels very well with the subject matter—lone buildings left out in the elements.

I also shot some of the dunes, focussing on some timber fencing that had fallen (read: been run) over. I like the minimalist feel of these images and hope to return to take more. Of course, the famous wreck was another shoot hot spot but it was, drum roll, underwater when we arrived. Next time.

Check out the full gallery:

New Zealand With The Sigma SD-H

March 14, 2019 in Travel

I’ve decided to title this latest series Long White (all images here), not after New Zealand itself, but the cruiseliner we travelled on. I was born in Auckland, have returned many times over the years, but I found travelling this way offered a new and unique perspective. It also provided the opportunity to visit many ports and cities I otherwise would never have seen, such as Port Chalmers, Dunedin, Picton, Akaroa and so on.

Milford Sound offered mood in spades. It’s a South Island must-see.

Once more I aimed to look for the unique in the ordinary and seemingly banal. I’m constantly trying to refine my compositions down, to really simplify them to their most essential elements. It was an interesting journey. In fact, I found a lot of material in the ports themselves, the higher vantage point offered by our balcony provided a sort of aerial view.

There was plenty of visual interest in the ports, the cruiseliner we sailed on offering a high perspective.

Of course, a cruise is also the perfect way to see the sounds of the South Island. We travelled through Milford, Dusky and Doubtful. They are, as you would expect, extremely scenic, especially layered in mist and cloud, the sun breaking through sporadically. If you have never been to New Zealand, and especially the South Island, do make it a priority. There’s endless photographic material.

Finding a way to show the scale of Milford Sound and its towering peaks can be difficult.

Many would say light is the most important element of photography, but I disagree. For me, composition trumps all else, and while great light is nice, it’s not essential to making an interesting photograph. Unfortunately, composition is one of those elements of photography that’s hard to learn, hard to teach and ultimately in the eye of the beholder. I don’t think even in the space of a lifetime you could master it.

My favourite image of the trip, taken in Dunedin. The city itself was full of art and life.

In terms of equipment, I took the Sigma SD-H with the 50mm f1.4 ART and left the 24mm at home. I didn’t find I had need for a wider focal length, so I think the ‘one body, one lens’ idea will carry through from now on. I prefer it this way, getting used to the one focal length and not having to change lenses, to remove one more barrier or choice, of thinking, during a composition. The more I can minimise my gear and photography to its most essential elements, the better.

As usual, the Sigma performed extremely well. The weather sealing on the SD came in useful. For the first time I had to raise ISO during our trip through the sounds owing to the dark, wet, and windy conditions. It was a real test for both photographer and camera.

A tight crop of the image above showing the impressive detail the Sigma SD-H is able to capture.

I also find myself watching a lot of film channels, such as William Verbeeck’s, Negative Feedback and so on, and idolising many film photographers as well. I’m still tugged towards film from time to time, the tones and feel, so perhaps the next trip I will take both the Mamiya RB67 and the Sigma SD-H, to compare and try to settle this once and for all.

The colours here really say New Zealand to me, the green and black and white. I think the fact this crop means the word parlour has a sense of ambiguity about it.

Am I happy with this series? Yes and no. With Broken there was only ever one type of weather: real damn hot and bright as can be. In New Zealand, you could have four or five different weather systems in the space of an hour, the darker and moodier of which don’t work well with the usual post-processing treatment for these images. As such, I worked on the more traditional landscapes as if they were just that.

I guess cohesion is the issue. I wanted a cohesive look to the images, but they seem to be in two camps: modern minimal and LOTR eat-your-heart-out. Still, I’m happy with many of the final compositions. This observational style of photography has really opened up a world of possibility for me, because you don’t need to chase light, so to speak, nor seek out grand landscapes. You’re simply looking for anything of visual interest.

Where to next? I have no immediate plans, but stay tuned. You never know where I’m likely to pop up.

There were plenty of compositions to be found on the ship itself.

These striped pedestrian crossing poles are unique to New Zealand (I think), but it took me a while to find a suitable background for one.