The final entry for the course

Well the video doesn't show the images very well, and you can't see the text. Here are all the images in JPG format. But really to do them justice they need to be seen in print. This can be done at the Epsom library until the 2nd of December.

The course has been everything I wanted. I started not knowing how other photographers works was better than mine, and what I needed to improve on. Since then I have learnt to be more patient, to take my time with a photo, come back if necessary and wait for the right light. I have dabbled in areas that I never thought I would. My level of confidence has risen dramatically and I feel I am more able to cope with situations I get into to make an image. I know my camera more intimately, and have a craft I can build on to tell the stories I want to.

Here are the images that are the final portfolio.

Enjoy...

Its done and here is the video

I have the book from the printer and I like it. The images are a very good quality and the mood and flow of the book is good. The fact it is only sheets folded and stapled doesn't make the end result too cheap, and I am pleased with the process. As my photography gets better I will be able to repeat this process and have it bound as a beautiful work of art.

I thought it might be a nice touch to say a few words about the portfolio, excuse the quality as there are file size limits to what I can upload.

The Book of Familiarity

I didn't like the photo albums I could afford and I wanted a book. Then I remembered my local printer, would he be able to print a copy of my images in a book. I gave him a call and yes he could. So I had a crash course in using Indesign and started to add images to pages. I added some text as well to support the story. I created a PDF and got a test print done.

Well, the images needed some work, but the quality was good enough, and overall it had a good look to it, low cost but still with a sense of elegance. I touched up the images, and changed one image to another. Some of the text needed a rework but a few days before everything was due I had it back at the printers to print...

I waited and worked here on my visual diary.

Final Edit where it falls into place

I did prints of all the images I had and layed them out on the table. I took my time and started to see what would go together. Once I had them grouped I then looked at how they could be sequenced. What would be my opening image, how would they flow to the last image.

It took a couple of days of playing with them, a good distraction from how I was going to present them which was still undecided.

This is the part I really like, and when I say really like I mean REALLY like. It all came together in a moment of joy. The story unfolded and I had a series of photos that told a story, my journey of familiarity through Auckland..

More presentation woes

I thought "yes Trade Me will have the answer" and I started searching for a photographic portfolio. I found the $17 plastic A3 folder but too cheap and it wouldn't do my prints justice.

I started to think maybe I should just put them in a box with white gloves. Mount each image on card and have them loose in a box. But where would I get the box? Simon had some ideas and I thought of talking an ordinary cardboard box and applying a textured coating to make it pop.

But after a few days I came back to the portfolio, I wanted a book to capture a moment in time in my progress as a photographer, and something to remember Auckland by. I looked at book binding but again I came up with the cost issue, but the quality of some of them is beautiful.

http://www.barbaraschmelzer.com/books/tuibrandplan.php

I never asked how much, these will have to wait.

so back to Trade Me and I found a simple black card A3 folder. They could even put one of my prints in the cover. This was going to cost around $40 then the prints on top, still too expensive...

Presentation and portfolio

With around 30 images to work with to get my final 15 I started to think about how I would present them. The idea of a photographic folder didn't appeal yet it would make it easy. I looked online and talked with a friend who did weddings. I found some amazing high quality portfolios but they were very expensive. Here is a site that was recommended to me.

http://www.queensberry.com/albums/digital-flushmount/


The only problem with these is the cost. Getting an album and then getting the photos printed professionally would cost hundreds of dollars, outside my budget. I looked at how I could print at a lower cost and decided that it would be the most cost effective to print to my own Epson R2880. Even with buying 25 sheets of quality A3 paper would cost around $80, but this worked out to around $5 a print, cheap compared to a pro lab, or even Harvey Norman. Yet it was still too expensive...

Final shots and starting to edit.

I had to start editing and after spending hours with around 90 photos I had it down to just 24. But I still needed something else, I didn't have everything I needed. An extra night of shooting and only 10 days before the portfolio is due, but it was worth it.

At Wynyard quarter there are these water reed ponds. At high tide, and with a good sunset something beautiful can be captured.

Simon had told me about how the moonlight does weird things, so I wanted to see what I could do with it. Here is my first venture into shooting the moon. It was very tricky to get the exposure right.

This shot is one of my favourites. I had taken a number of shots that I really liked, and I was standing there enjoying just being, breathing in the experience. As I was enjoying the moment I glanced at the dark sea, and noticed how the light from a motorway light was casting ripples. I wondered how it would look in a photo.

It looked good.

Enough of the sea and mist

I had enough sea and parks with mist to sink a small battleship and I needed something else for the portfolio. Something that captured the urban and concrete that Auckland has. I shot down at Wynyard Quarter over three days from late afternoon to just after sunset. I was able to capture some of the old container buildings, with shadows and curves that intrigued me.

Bold and foreboding, if only I had got a person in front dressed in bright red.

I love the shadows and how the light highlights the blue. I was trying to use a ladder for this shot, but it was too unstable so I ended up with the tripod on a step.

If only this pair of steps had a sun setting behind them, but I ran out of days to shoot and I had a portfolio to create.

Getting my focus

When I first started taking shots at night I would often have out of focus images. I found it hard to look through the viewfinder and see clearly enough what I wanted in focus. I tried using the auto focus but the camera struggled with being able to know what to focus on.

But with shooting so many nights and having to wait around for the light I played with the live view function. Eureka, I could finally fine tune my focus and make the images crystal clear, and sharp as a pin. I feel in love with photography all over again. I could even zoom in on the image and make a specific part of the subject what is in focus, and with a very shallow depth of field this became a valuable tool.

This shot was taken with f1.8 and the focus is exactly where I wanted it to be.

More shots and the learning of waiting

I spent a number of nights where I would wait for the shot. No longer was I taking many photos on a location, but instead I was taking only 5 or 6. Where I would have taken 20 to 30 only a few months ago. I took the time to get the correct focus, the time to get the correct exposure, and the time to get the composition, just right. Sometimes this created a great image, and other times, well at least the elements were correct even if the subject was a bit bland.

Yes, the side of a motorway, but I had to climb a fence that blocked the way in. Even the kids wouldn't come with me, "its illegal and the police will arrest me". Lucky they didn't and I got to walk along the side of the motorway.

Shoot and reshoot

After reviewing my images I knew I had to go back, and for quite a few days I was up at 5am shooting, and then again at 7pm, hoping for that golden light. Some times were quite depressing, the light wasn't quite right, or I had forgotten something, such as a remote shutter release.

I added Mt Eden into the mix to see if I could build on my shots of lines, maybe a path might present itself, or a cityscape at night. I liked what I could do with the long exposures and the way light and movement can be captured.

Here is an image at night, maybe something I could work with.

I was lucky with this shot, the end of day was drizzly and overcast, but it meant that the clouds were very low. This shot of the path was taken around 6pm and you could see the low clouds drifting over the path.

Deciding the title

I thought about why it was so important to me to capture Auckland in the way that I was. I realised that with moving to Queenstown one of the things that I will miss the most is the familiarity I will leave behind. I have lived in Auckland for almost all my life. I know her quirks, the places that the tourist wouldn't. From this loss a photographic series was born. A series on Auckland called familiarity. The brief to capture images that are a little unusual, capture the beauty of the everyday Auckland that I know.
Here are some of those images.

Under a jetty at Herne Bay


Under the harbour bridge

Another jetty at Herne Bay

Only those who live in Auckland will know where they are, and even then maybe they won't..

My shot list

I decided I needed a plan, a shot list that would make a portfolio of Auckland. I wanted to capture the everyday places, not the fantastic sunsets, or seascapes, but the everyday that Aucklander's take for granted. I had some shots of Cornwall Park that showed the park in a different light, the misty look. after some thought I came up with a plan and went on a recky to visit the places and get ideas on the shots I would take. It took a couple of days but finally I had a shot list. Here it is;

1. Devonport wharf at - sunset

2. Cornwall park early morning - sunrise

3. Herne Bay jetty and around the small bays - sunset

4. New walkway along motorway and Victoria park tunnel - night

5. Wynyard Quarter around the containers - sunset and sunrise

6. Under Harbour Bridge from first turn off after bridge heading north - sunrise and sunset

These areas are where I feel comfortable, I feel that they have a story that I can capture in a photo. My only worry is will I have enough time to make the photos and then edit and print them....

Final decision

Do I shoot using the studio, or do I take  a punt and try landscapes where I am at the beck and call of the light?

At the beginning of this course I had an idea in my head of doing a series that was about the diversity of Auckland, not just the people, bu the places as well. I had not got the chance to do anymore on the idea, and this was going to be my last chance as part of the course. I decided to bite the bullet and carry on with landscapes, and expand and work on the idea of the diversity of Auckland.

After having a look at some of Rita's amazing landscapes I knew that I had to pull something out of the hat, what could I do that would be unique to me...

Portfolio review

After thinking about the work involved with doing more landscapes I toyed with the idea of doing still life instead.

Final portfolio for the end of the course

With the last four weeks of the course here and a final portfolio of 12-15 images to be produced the first thing I wanted to do was go back over all the photos I had taken. There are over 2000, but I have noticed that I take a lot less photos now, and the quality is a lot more. A good reflection of what I have been getting out of the course.

I decided for this part of the course that I would not do any more research around photographers. Having done so much on the last part I thought it was time to focus more on the actual making of photos, from making the photograph, to editing and photoshop work.

I spent a few hours going through my library of images and it became apparent that I had a few good landscapes, so to build on these for my portfolio seemed a good idea. Here are a few of the landscapes I have taken that I like.