My New Name and New Home

Dear Friends,

Greetings and Salutations! I have some very exciting news and an apology for you.

I’m sorry about the lack of new posts over recent weeks. I now operate under a new business name and, as part of a more targeted online strategy, have created a new online home.

The site http://www.travelphotographyguru.com is still under construction, but is functional and I’d be very pleased if you’d visit by clicking HERE.

All of my previous 400 odd posts have been moved to the new site. And, as well as being the place to read my latest posts, there’s an expanded Workshop and Portfolio section. I should also be able to announce a very exciting addition to the site by the end of the week.

The best news is that a lot of the hard work and long hours are over. I can now reclaim a few more hours of my day and get back to blogging. You can expect regular posts on my new site on an almost daily basis.

Thank you so much for your patience over recent weeks. I hope to see you at my new site on a regular basis.

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Glenn Guy, Travel Photography Guru

Rising Sun_Uluru_Central Australia

Hasselblad 503CW Camera and Hasselblad 150mm Sonnar f4 lens with Kodak Professional Ektachrome 100VS film

Here’s a most untypical view of Uluru, a photographic and tourist icon in Central Australia. I’ve been fortunate to photograph the rock at sunrise and sunset; in bright and inclement weather; at midday and early evening. I’ve walked around Uluru, but have never climbed it. It never fails to awe me with its beauty and power.

The above image was made shortly after sunrise as the quick rising sun began to warm the landscape. With most folk either sleeping or shooting from the designated sunrise location, I continued around to the opposite side of Uluru and position myself for a very different experience.

The dynamic diagonal line of the rock and the shape of the trees produce a strong silhouette while the presence of the sun adds a sense of hope and explores the notion of time within the still photograph.

You haven’t experienced Australia until you visit the Uluru/Kata Tjuta National Park. Do all you can to visit and, when you do, ensure you stay for at least 4 days. You’ll need that much time to explore the many wonderful photographic opportunities offered.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Detail_Mungo National Park_NSW

Leica M7 camera and Leica 35mm f2 Summicron-M Aspherical lens with Kodak Ektachrome E100VS film

Mungo National Park in far Southwest NSW, Australia is a fascinating location for exploring and photography. It’s an ancient, arid landscape that many thousands of years ago was part of a huge inland lake system that supported a range of flora and fauna and, as a consequence, the regions indigenous people.

This image was made at the end of a long day’s exploration. I’d photographed the sunset, which rendered naturally sculptured elements on the dunes into surreal, vividly colored forms. The light lingered for at least 20 minutes after sunset and produced a soft, warm glow to the landscape. Noticing the tuft of grass, on the top of a mound of sand, I moved in for a close up. It’s a straightforward image that relies on the color contrast between the grass and sand, the repetitive pattern of the lines and the bizarre relationship between the seemingly disparate elements of grass and sand.

This small tuft of grass, isolated by the surrounding sand, acts as a metaphor that could suggest a range of thoughts including the following:

• The risk to our way of life posed by a changing environment

• The ability to survive, despite your environment

• Your ability to grow, despite hardship

• People that seem to have nothing in common, co-existing peacefully

The vivid color saturation associated with Kodak Professional Ektachrome 100Vs film did a great job of portraying the strength of color in this image. I’ve employed Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop CS4 (I processed this image prior to upgrading to CS5) to process the scanned transparency to reproduce, as accurately as possible, the colors recorded by the film. A strong vignette was added to help draw the eye towards the key foreground elements.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Branches and Sky_Treasury Gardens_Melbourne

Canon 5D camera and Canon 85mm f1.2 L series USM lens_Exposure Details: 1/125 second f1.2 ISO 100.

How can you possibly photograph a forest? More than likely you’d have to move so far back and shoot from above to include it all in your photograph. But from that distance you’re unlikely to capture the grandeur of the forest or the more intimate moments that occur within it. You can’t really understand anything by looking at it from a distance. Perhaps its better to journey into the forest and, through a more detailed examination, become a part of the environment into which you’ve journey.

So, how do you tell a story about a forest? Sometimes by photographing a single tree or even a leaf. And the same is true for city parks and gardens, such as Treasury Gardens in Melbourne where the above image was made.

Wanting to explore the upper portions of the tree I moved in close and photographed upwards, concentrating my attention on the junction of branches in the lower centre of the image. Careful focusing and a shallow Depth of Field (DOF) placed further emphasis on the area in question.

Initial image processing of the original color file was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 3. It’s possible to produce lovely black-and-white, monochromatic (strictly speaking that means one color, such as a sepia tone) or split tone images in Lightroom 3. However, as was the case with the above image, I often prefer to apply such changes, particularly split toning, in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Incoming Tide_Loch Ard Gorge_Great Ocean Road

Hasselblad X-PAN II camera and Hasselblad X-PAN 30mm f5.6 lens with Fuji Velvia 100F film

Can you see the crashing wave in this image?

Shot on a wind blown, overcast day this image of Loch Ard Gorge is a favourite location for tourists along the Great Ocean Road. Famous for a range of shipwrecks, including the Loch Ard in 1878, the rugged cliff faces and enclosed nature of the landscape were well suited to the panoramic format. The wide-angle lens exaggerated the foreground elements and, as a consequence, increased the sense of diminishing perspective in the background.

I made the above image with the wonderful Hasselblad X-PAN II camera (no longer made) with the amazing Hasselblad X-PAN 30mm f5.6 lens. When used in conjunction with the panoramic format the wide-angle characteristics of this lens open up a world of interesting photographic possibilities.

The original color transparency was scanned then imported into Adobe Lightroom 3 for basic processing. Adobe Photoshop CS5 was employed to convert the color file into black-and-white and then to apply a lovely warm, chocolate tone.

It’s all very well to travel along the Great Ocean Road to The Twelve Apostles. But rather than spending most of you time in the car, travelling to and from, consider taking your time and spend 2 or 3 days breaking the trip up into smaller sections. That will give you time to stop, walk and explore. You’ll be able to stop for decent meals in one of the numerous seaside towns along the way and, for the more intrepid, discover secluded locations most tourists well never know.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Looking Seaward_Whisky Bay_Wilsons Promontory National Park

Leica MP camera and Leica 21mm f2.8 Elmarit Aspherical lens with Fuji Velvia 100F film

Quite light at days end provided a great opportunity to explore the relationship between the various elements within this scene. There’s a lot of information within the foreground shrubs and rocks. Their inherent color, shapes and textures provided a fairly complicated foreground. I had to be careful to position myself so that I could find the best arrangement by which I could do the following:

• Illustrate each individual foreground element

• Contrast the softness of the scrubs against the hardness of the rocks

• Ensure there was sufficient space by which the viewer can navigate their way, from element to element, and then pass through to the island in the background. The small patch of sand at the bottom left of the frame provided a nice pathway into the image.

I’ve employed Adobe Lightroom 3 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 for image processing. The vivid color saturation associated with Fuji Velvia 100F film helped lift the otherwise subdued color palette. I’ve increased that saturation further during image processing. If I were to make a fine print for display I’d work to reduce the degree of saturation, particularly in the aqua/blue and magenta colors. But this is a small image, viewed on the web, and I doubt the extra punchy color will upset too many people.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

As Above_So Below_Port Campbell_Great Ocean Road

Canon 5D camera and Canon 85mm f1.2 L series lens_Exposure Details: 1/4000 second @ f8 ISO 400.

I made this image late one afternoon in Peterborough on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. I drove down to the seaside, right next to the golf course, for a walk around. It was bleak and very windy. Just before I arrived back at the car the sun came out. I turned around and noticed the beautiful, fluffy clouds standing out against the dark, brooding sky. I ran back to the beach to make the above photograph. I made sure I timed tripping the camera’s shutter release with the waves breaking onto the rock outcrop, just off the shoreline. Moments later the sun disappeared behind a cloud and the scene’s luminosity diminished.

While the image features water, rock, sky and clouds it’s really an exploration of light, tone, shape and moment.

Image processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 3 and Adobe Photoshop CS5.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Pic of the Week_Afterglow_Oberon Bay_Wilsons Promontory National Park

Canon 20D camera and Canon 20-35mm 2.8 lens @ 20mm. 1/100 second @ f5.6 ISO 100

Here’s a nice secluded spot: Oberon Bay on Wilsons Promontory National Park. Photographers can only access this beach by hiking along a relatively easy, extremely well marked track for 3 hours from the Telegraph Saddle car park. Alternatively you could undertake the moderately difficult 2 1/2 hour coastal hike from Tidal River.

Once there you’ll be well rewarded with great views along this lovely beach. But be aware the prom is known for wet and, at times, windy weather. The evening I made this photo was extremely windy. I was constantly pushed backwards by the incoming tide, propelled onto the beach by the near ferocious winds.

I’d moved back almost to the dunes to make the above image. This allowed me to introduce the shapes of the foreground creek together with that of the distant hillside and islands to the fantastic sculptured cloud formations above.

Image processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 3 and Adobe Photoshop CS5.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Shapes_Curves and Shadows in Architectural Photography

Canon 5D camera and Canon 24mm f1.4 L series USM lens. Exposure Details: 1/200 second @ f16 ISO 800.

Here’s a photo with which I’m happy. It’s nominally an architectural photograph, as it features the bottom part of a sculpture at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. But really the image is an exploration in abstraction utilizing shapes, curves and shadows to shape the image.

In fact the shadows have been used to link individual man-made elements within the frame. And, of course, there’s no shadow and, therefore, no shape, without light.

So, while I prefer to photograph under low light conditions, both indoors and also outside in the landscape, the above picture is an example that, with care, it is possible to make compelling images outside under very bright conditions.

Basic image processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 3. A warm tone and gentle glow were applied in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Landscape Renewal_Wilsons Promontory National Park

Canon 1D Mark II camera and Canon 24-70 f2.8 L series lens @ 24mm. Exposure Details: 1/50 second @ f11 ISO 400.

I love Wilsons Promontory National Park. Situated on the southern most tip of the Australian mainland, its one of my favorite places for landscape photography. Over recent years several fires have adversely affected the prom’s landscape and wildlife. In response to this devastation I undertook the production of a series of photographs that explored nature’s regenerative powers at work at the prom.

The above image of a common grass tree, photographed along the Lighthouse Walk track, was an ideal candidate. While the central element was severely blackened, the surrounding blades of re-grow suggested a positive outcome to the story. In fact many Australian flora species rely on fire to stimulate the grow process.

The original color image was rendered into black-and-white in Adobe Lightroom 3. A subtle warm tone was then applied in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography