Roving-Eye Gallery update and newsletter #31 for September-October 2024

Hello to everyone and thank you to the new subscribers.. welcome aboard!

 

With the latest update just uploaded head to What's New - October 2024 | Roving-Eye.com and you can scroll back month by month for an easy catch up for previous months too!

 

I will try my best to make the newsletters bi-monthly from now on, that will make the comments closer to the latest gallery updates instead of leaving it too long as has happened a bit lately.

 

Speaking September was a HUGE month in terms of image count, and October way less.. partly that’s the way it goes in terms of opportunities and partly from a concerted effort for greater than normal numbers of shots of similar subjects.

 

The previous newsletter talked about the culling of the early parts of the portfolio to raise the overall standard of the images which keep climbing steadily year on year.

 

That cull created holes in the portfolio which I have been busy filling, hence the large image count of some image types in some months due in part to that.

 

Case in point: black and photos of people and activities at the beach over the previous few months. I feel I have a good selection of them now and so will start to cut back on that type for a while. The same for local headlands and beaches which is still somewhat ongoing but again a nice refreshed selection has been put away now to select from.

 

It’s still important to cover all bases however, even with the most familiar locations. Take the 2 examples above of the breakwall, one taken in perfectly serene conditions with the moon setting in the background as the first rays of the sun touch the rocks.. there is around a 10 minute window at most where you can get this balance. Such shots never get old for me and I pounce every time.

 

Compare that to the wild storms lashing the coast at the same spot barely 2 weeks later.. thank goodness I have the right gear to withstand these tougher shooting conditions as I love getting the wild feel as well. I love the contrast in conditions and so again, I pounce every time it gets wild too!

 

September also got a particularly large selection of whale shots that month, all from just 3 days of shooting on the water. When I say “just” that means hours standing up on the ski being jostled about this way and that constantly all the while holding and pointing a long heavy lens at where a whale was just to see what might happen to pop up next.. or not!

 

I could of course make it easier and just go out on the local whale watching boat to get whale shots but that just won’t deliver the type and range of images I was specifically after!

 

I wanted to get the whales close in to shore with a landmark or feature behind it which, to me, gives great context to the whale location running closer in to the coast as they tend to do in the 2nd half of the migration when they are heading south.

 

As I have my own ski I can stay and linger for as long as necessary as well as adjust position to maintain ideal light and composition to get what I wanted as the opportunities are very unpredictable and you need to go out a lot or longer or both.. and so I did!

 

For 3 days we had near perfect conditions for going out as the winds were moderate and the sun was out in full intensity.

 

Normally a large blank blue sky is less interesting in the middle of the day for most landscape photography but for getting whales it is perfect and the sky is just a backdrop in those cases. Nearly every other week was either very windy making it just too hard to get shots from the ski or dull making the light weak, or sometimes both!

 

So with the forecast showing 3 days in a row where it all lined up for the first time in a long time I got full into it just in case that didn’t happen again for rest of the season and I missed the peak traffic flow!

 

Shooting in that style requires a distinct effort however. It means standing up on the ski which is constantly moving and bobbing about, being unable to take shots while reaching down making regular changes to throttle and steering to track the whales movements, then quickly resume holding the camera and lens on where you think the whale might come up next.. and then see what it might do.. or not! Rinse repeat!

 

When something does happen then be prepared to shoot a fast sequence, not only to get the peak action of say a breach or tail slap, but sometimes simply to get it in focus!

 

The focus point is by far the hardest of all the factors you are juggling because your low angle to the water surface means the focus point can sometimes be only just in front of you and then to the far shore all in just a small vertical movement of the camera. The movement is inevitable as not only is there fatigue in holding and pointing a lens all the while the ski is also moving and bobbing every which way and in between you and the whale small swell crests come and go and monopolise the focus zone too!

 

Sometimes I have the whale come up and do something I was waiting for only to have an intervening swell crest pop up enough to interfere with the shot. Sometimes the lens moved ever so slightly to the side or up or down and latch onto something far away from the subject which ended up in soft focus and unusable!

 

All up between all of those factors I would say I’d easily shoot 10-20 images to get just 1 final selection, so for a final 100 I need to take 1-2,000 shots as a minimum, and that’s all done in “single shot” mode.. not using any “burst” settings as that would generate too many to wade through for the same result.

 

You can see from the shots included above the effort is worth it, plenty of nice action and by getting the whale popping up in front of an otherwise unremarkable beach background it suddenly becomes more interesting. It’s almost as if the whale is popping up to get a look at what’s happening there! I got that more than once so it’s not a random thing.

 

All up the 3 days in a row on the ski in good weather paid big dividends in terms of quality water level shots for the portfolio and something I was happy to achieve as it was one of my goals for this year!

 

Last but not least the policy to keep an eye out for black and white versions is showing up in the now regular appearances in the monthly gallery updates.

 

They work particularly well for the beach and people shots talked about earlier, and even work well for selected whale shots you can see if you go and have a look at the gallery.

 

One example really highlights how it brings so much more to the table than simply being a “black and white version”.

 

For astrophotography stars and details can really jump out of the image that were not as readily apparent in the colour original. I hasten to add that “black and white” is a very broad term, there is a vast variation in the final look depending on what process you employ, eg “Low key”, “High key”, “High structure and contrast”, “Full dynamic range”.. just to name a few of the many options!

 

I find I need to match the image to the process on a case-by-case basis to arrive at a final “look” which I like and what suits one image well can be entirely unsuitable for another image, and vice versa.

 

In the image above the candidate was the International Space Station whizzing over the rocks at the beach which is also a great example of hyper planning but also dumb luck on the spot.

 

Space station passes are well known in advance, apps tell you to the second when and at what compass bearing they will appear, how high they will arc over in the sky and for how long that particular pass will last.. Armed with that knowledge you work on creating some foreground item of interest to arrive at a final composition. dial in the settings according to current light levels and then wait for it to appear!

 

In the example here the compass bearing meant pointing towards the south celestial pole as it happened so with something of a long exposure you get some nice circular star trails to add further interest.

 

And this is where the luck on the day happens.. there was low scudding cloud threatening to blanket the whole scene but just as time from first appearance was ticking steadily and the opportunity was slipping by a hole in the cloud opened up and the start of the trail was right in the centre of the axis of the star rotation and lasted long enough to get an obvious trail before the cloud swallowed it up again!

 

Talk about luck, but sometimes you have to make the effort to do such as go out in the dark, in the wind, point the camera and then jump on the luck to be the final piece in the puzzle to fall into place and I’m happy to grab that factor with both hands.. every time!

 

Given the time of year I’d like to mention 2025 calendars which are in stock and selling quickly! In mail-friendly A4 format for just $20 they are great value to last all year and beyond!

 

As in previous years there is the Photography calendar which this year specifically features more nearby localities to make sure everyone is included!

 

Head over to 2025 Photography Calendar | Roving-Eye.com

 

New for this year is the “Sand Art” calendar! I had started doing this new form of expression and community engagement this year and was asked if I was going to do a calendar.

 

I hadn’t really thought about doing that but putting some feelers out showed a viable demand existed so a print run was done to suit and instantly sold out and then some.. and so a 2nd smaller print run was done to cover orders with just enough to show at the markets too.. so if you want one get in quick!

 

Head over to 2025 Sand Art Calendar | Roving-Eye.com

 

While not photography but still definitely a creative channel all the same I am making great progress in constructing a “Kinetic Art” piece blending aesthetics and technology into an interactive whole which I am pushing to get done by the middle of next year.. you may just like it so I’ll give it a mention every now and then.. watch this space!

 

Take care and thank you for reading this far and sharing the journey!