project 365 - G12... 26-02-11

lippo

sorry folks... another building shot! well i do live in a city of skyscrapers. this is the lippo centre in admiralty. these twin towers looked especially good today because of the blue sky in one direction and the setting sun reflecting off a brown glass building giving it a nice, yellow hue on the other side.

project 365 - G12... 25-02-11

blue

this was taken in a restaurant in central today. i liked the combination of stairs, square lights and lattice. i find the poladroid program darkens the shots, crops slightly and changes the colour cast as well as the expected features of blurring and adding a vignette. these are not criticisms of the program, merely observations. i like the program, although i do have to restart the computer sometimes to use it; to be expected i guess - it's still the beta version.

project 365 - G12... 24-02-11

lemons

i found this bike on the side of the road in wan chai. the day was kind of gloomy so the bright yellow lemons caught my attention. it's so cool that some things in hong kong are still delivered by bicycle. this guy was delivering his lemons to the local bars.

project 365 - G12... 23-02-11

drag star

well, who doesn't like to customise their own bike?  this is one of the most flamboyant efforts i've seen in hong kong! i think there might be a clue in the words 'drag star'!?! on top of the home made paint stencils, chinese door knocker and bedazzled tank there was a black feather boa draped across the handlebars! nice.

project 365 - G12... 22-02-11

taxi

a rare sight indeed in causeway bay today, especially at 6pm! normally the line up of people is this long and there's no cabs.

project 365 - G12... 21-02-11

before and after

i thought this was an interesting composition of the 'old and the new'. in the foreground is the bank of china building (1952) and in the background is the bank of china tower (1990). at the time, both were the tallest buildings in hong kong. the tower although over 20 years old, to me still looks very modern; a tribute (i guess) to architect, i.m pei.

project 365 - G12... 20-02-11

sewing lady

again today i was trudging between streets in the lanes and back alleys of hong kong searching for something of interest. i came across this lady in a quiet back alley sitting outside doing some sewing. i really like the composition and 'feel' of this photo. i walked around the block to try and shoot her from the front; but by the time i got there, she'd gone inside. win some, lose some!

project 365 - G12... 19-02-11

undressed

this was taken in a "gallery" in soho. this projected display had two clothed models whose clothes would fly off if you waved your arms in front of them. fun for the whole family! underexposing by one stop gave me 1/25 second exposure which worked well for showing some motion in the girls 'undressing' the models. as for the hand placement; that was luck; the G12 has significant lag time between pressing the button and taking the shot. interestingly it was the ladies in the group that were far more interested in waving their arms about than the men.

pets

betty and lola

yesterday i had a fun shoot with betty and lola. what gorgeous models! check out more of my favourites from the shoot on my facebook page.

project 365 - G12... 18-02-11

going up

this is a night time shot taken in central. it's a spiral staircase leading up to an overpass near the bank of china tower. the building in the right is the h.s.b.c. building. i had the gorrilapod attached to the camera and esentially lay the camera on it's back. i used the nd function to get the exposure to 15 seconds at iso 400.

project 365 - G12... 17-02-11

lola

today i was doing a pet shoot. two lovely ladies; lola and betty. talk about hectic! these two have a lot of energy. at the end of the shoot i took the wireless transmitter off the slr and put it on the G12. i switched the camera into manual mode and set it to the same iso, aperture and shutter speed that i'd been shooting with; and there you have it! i had to focus lock on her eyes to avoid focusing on the tip of her nose. the G12 actually worked very well with the model as she was far less intimidated by the compact camera than the slr with lens! isn't she cute?

project 365 - G12... 15-02-11

two by two

i seem to be seeking out reflections and movement quite a bit with this project. am i developing a style or am i going though a phase i wonder? anyway, this was shot indoors today at windsor house in causeway bay. you can see the reflections from the underside of the escalator. i took a few shots but the pair of girls in uniform worked best.

project 365 - G12... 15-02-11

under construction

home again! i've lived in hong kong now for over 12 years and it really feels like home. so when people have bad things to say about it i can sometimes be defensive. however, no city is perfect and sometimes hong kong can be smoggy, dreary, noisy and not very pretty. here's an example; it's the land reclamation project where the old star ferry pier used to be. it's not a beautiful sight, but i thought it was at least a little photographically interesting with the cranes backed by the the high-rise buildings.

project 365 - G12... 14-02-11

two step

well today was another day spent in transit. harbin - beijing - hong kong. i was looking for inspiration in between flights in beijing when i noticed some pretty nice reflections on the floor. i took a few shots and this is my favourite. i know it's fairly plain and simple, but there's something about it that i like.

project 365 - G12... 13-02-11

temples

this was taken in the older part of harbin where there are several very old temples. it was taken right around sunset. i liked the way the sun was shining through the silk flags. i used fill flash which gave them an extra boost. i got a few shots that i liked today, so it was a tough call to select this one. if you would like to see the ones that didn't make it, you can check out my 'b sides' set on flickr.

project 365 - G12... 12-02-11

sunset

still in harbin where this shot was taken. this was leaving a siberian tiger park at sunset. growing up in australia where all the native flora is evergreen, it always invokes a sense of 'real' winter when i see trees without leaves. of course, being -20C invoked a real sense of winter too! the sun looked great poking through the trees. on the technical side, i seem to be developing a new habit with the G12 when shooting handheld. rather than adjusting the exposure with exposure compensation, i'm framing - then moving the camera until the meter adjusts to an exposure level that i want - pressing exposure lock - re-framing - then shooting. i find it much quicker, more convenient and fairly accurate.

project 365 - G12... 11-02-11

ice

tonight was the harbin ice and snow festival and the coldest temperatures i've ever been subjected to! it was -25C (-13F) when this shot was taken. both my slr and the G12 performed perfectly. once i got the hang of it, i was able to access all the functions on the camera with thick gloves on. battery life was shorter than normal but not as bad as i expected. this was shot with a tripod and minus one stop of exposure compensation.

project 365 - G12... 10-02-11

travelator

today was a day spent traveling. hong kong to beijing to harbin. snow and flight delays meant that i was either in a cab, train, plane or airport, making the subject material a little thin! i shot this whilst killing time in beijing capital international airport between flights. i sat the camera on the hand rail of the travelator and used the nd function and iso 80 to help me achieve a one second exposure.

project 365 - G12... 09-02-11

round

for those of you that live in hong kong, you may recognise this location. it's inside the ifc shopping mall. i like the converging lines on the ceiling and the combination of ramp and stairs in the foreground. i've decided after some experimentation that 1/8 second works best for me to achieve the motion blur that i like.

an update folks! i'll be away for about five days and may not have access to the internet. so it may be monday or tuesday before you get to see the next shots. but expect something a little different. two words - ice, ice baby!

project 365 - G12... 08-02-11

distinguished gentleman

hong kong is such a melting pot, there are so many different types of folks here! one of my favourite types is the distinguished gentleman. i saw this prime example in sheung wan today. he was styling the three-piece suit, trench coat, felt hat, cravat, leather brief case and cane! and... although he was 70+, he didn't need the cane as a walking aid; it was purely a style statement! very cool. my first reaction was to run ahead and shoot him as he moved toward me, but then i had a flashback to a scene from the movie "the thomas crown affair". now by shooting him from behind, he retains an air of mystery. i'd also like to say a big hello to those following my blog from south korea!! thanks!

project 365 - G12... 07-02-11

going down

i took this at hong kong international airport today. i was trying out the 'miniature effect' on the G12. this simulates a 'tilt and shift' look by having only a very small part of the frame in focus.  i was looking for an interesting point of view... i think i found one. looking straight down with my feet in the frame, now it was a game of patience. waiting for someone of interest to walk through the area of focus and hoping no one else uninvited came into the frame. after about 20 minutes my wish was granted when these three ladies in red walked past!

project 365 - G12... 06-02-11

overpass

i've taken a few shots of the overpass that flows down between the buildings in kennedy town. i like the clean, simple composition in this shot. i like how (although the arrows on the signs point left) the lines of the road lead you to the bottom right corner of the shot and the tree branch reaching back up. well that's how it went for me anyway!

project 365 - G12... 05-02-11

ben

i had lunch with a group of friends today and took a few shots. this turned out to be my favourite. i used the largest aperture to get the shallowest depth of field possible. being back-lit, i needed to use fill flash but reduced it by one stop so it wasn't too harsh.  the subject was best-man at the man in the background's wedding.  also, the girl whose reflection you see in his glasses is his fiancé! so it's the composition and the characters in this shot that make it for me.

project 365 - G12... 04-02-11

light trails

i took a walk along the waterfront this evening, scouting positions to shoot the fireworks. i shot this on the way home between the macau ferry pier and western market. i tried to come up with a reasonable composition first with the overpass and such. it was only just dusk so i could only get a 4 or 5 second exposure in manual. i wanted a longer exposure so i switched on the nd filter mode which allowed me to get a 15 seconds; much better for the light trails. ironically, you could not take this kind of shot with a polaroid camera.

project 365 - G12... 03-02-11

scooter

pretty much everything i need in hong kong is east of where i live. so that's where i'm usually headed when i'm out and about. so today i headed west towards kennedy town for a different view. i'm finding all sorts of interesting things down quiet lanes and alleys lately. i found this scooter with lots of character and a racing number, so it must be fast! i liked the combination of the yellow/green colour of the bike and the deep green doors behind it. i took one shot without flash and this one with fill flash; it looks much nicer.

******** kung hei fat choi ********

project 365 - G12... 02-02-11

cat

i was walking along hospital road today when i spotted this cat in the park. i stalked him for a while looking for an interesting angle. these alley cats are usually pretty nervous around people so i couldn't get too close. eventually i found a nice shot through the hole in a concrete fence. it meant that i had to get an exposure reading on the subject, use the exposure lock function, re-frame the shot, focus, then shoot.

project 365 - G12... 01-02-11

prison break

i saw this guy today, taking a break and reading the paper. i shot him through the railings of a fence. the bars in combination with the concrete wall behind him gave the shot a prison feel. i've discovered that by wandering around, pretending to take pictures all around my subject i seem to be able to shoot them without getting too much attention.