Last night I shot for the exhibition opening by two very talented friends, Cam Attree and Fetigraphy at C Gallery Brisbane – Naked Edge. Their latex fashion and art nude prints adorned the walls and the gorgeous folk of Brisbane warmed up the space very nicely.
Please visit C Gallery here: http://www.cgallery.com.au/
Cam Attree M.Photog AIPP is able to be found here http://www.camattree.com/ and Joel from Fetigraphy here, http://www.fetigraphy.com/
Another quick afternoon visit to Lone Pine Animal Sanctuary, Brisbane. I arrived only in time to catch a couple of the birds of prey and chat to the keepers after their show today but I’ll no doubt be back there again soon. Hope you like the images in this post, for a change I am adding some other animals. Their Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/lonepine.koala.sanctuary
Stormchase Shorncliffe
Stormchase Shorncliffe
Stormchase Shorncliffe
Stormchase Shorncliffe
Stormchase Shorncliffe
Stormchase Shorncliffe
Brisbane River from Hamilton
Stormchase Shorncliffe
This I am only uploading here on the domain, a full HD close up of a barking owl at Lone Pine Animal Sanctuary. Prints (without watermark) available on request.
Barking Owl at Lone Pine Animal Sanctuary
©Mark Greenmantle Photography
It’s a public holiday here so I ducked out to Lone Pine specifically to catch the raptor show again. The team there (birds included) never fail to give a wonderful show.
Young master Elwood last weekend was somewhat smitten with the ducklings close to home.
Brisbane river and the story bridge by night, shot from New Farm
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Mini Coopers on car rally from Brisbane Mini Garage to Wivenhoe Dam
Pre-Mini Cooper Car Rally shoot at Bartley’s Lookout, Brisbane
Pre-Mini Cooper Car Rally shoot at Bartley’s Lookout, Brisbane
Pre-Mini Cooper Car Rally shoot at Bartley’s Lookout, Brisbane
Pre-Mini Cooper Car Rally shoot at Bartley’s Lookout, Brisbane
I took my son out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on Saturday but like me, his interest was in the amazing raptor show there. I decided to buy a yearly pass to take him back more often as the array of Australian Native Wildlife there is brilliant, and he has a fascination for it that is a joy to feed.
Saturday was also the first day I had taken the chance to get a better feel for my new camera, a Nikon D800. At half the price of my previous camera, and a fair whack lighter (until the extra camera grip arrives anyway) and sporting over three times as much resolution my only worry was not being able to fire off 9 frames per second to capture high speed flybys of birds of prey. I found I needn’t have worried, as the 3D tracking system in the D800 is absolutely superb.
The wildlife images are all available as prints. Please contact me via the contact form here for details.
Glasshouse Mountains
Available in print format up to 160in wide.
Send me a request via the contact form here.
Mein geliebter nimmt auch schöne Fotos. Sie ist auf dem ersten Foto. Schöne Erinnerungen!
Over the festive season I visited North Carolina and spent a great deal of time chasing animals we do not see much of in Australian wild parks and zoos. Huge thanks to North Carolina Zoo and the Greensboro Natural Science Center for having very friendly rules for photography. Contact me if you would like prints from the following galleries. I will donate 25% of the profits from any of the following images to their respective zoo/parks. Please visit my contact page to arrange for print sales.
https://www.facebook.com/nczoo?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natural-Science-Center-of-Greensboro/124314723832?fref=ts
Brisbane storm chase, and fifteen minutes of storm exposures overlaid in ten layers.
Very quick storm chase this afternoon – till the storm chased me off with large amounts of hail on my heels.
Usually my posts revolve around things I am running around shooting, or camera related tech, so all the storm chasing sparked the thought of the risks of flooding in Brisbane again. A quick check of the dam levels was surprising. These levels were from before this weekend’s massive series of storms.
So SEQ Water stats as of two days ago combined dams for Grid Twelve on 16/11/2012:
capacity ML 2,220,181
currently ML 2,111,343
percent full 95.1
So after the absolute smashing of rain this weekend overflow??
Data: http://www.seqwater.com.au/public/dam-levels
Saturday 2012-11-17 Two waves of supercell storms swept across South East Queensland, the first mid morning, leaving the clear afternoon for enough build up to strike more storms up in the evening. I’ve uploaded a gallery of both my shots from a quick chase to Shorncliffe, as well as some radar captures and atmospheric soundings for reference.
New from http://android.wordpress.org/2012/09/19/version-2-2-now-available-featured-images-all-new-stats/
As a user of both WordPress and Android, and a constant tester of web platforms as my day to day job as a digital producer, seeing these guys team up to update this app puts a smile on my face. Updates such as featured image, one click review of site statistics, and the ability to review/cull comments, create pages or posts from your handset, all very nifty. Click on the QR code or scan it with your Android device to head to the download page. 
Friends of the Abbey Museum Present -The Friends of the Abbey Museum Present – Beowulf and the Old English Imagination
Join us on Saturday the 25th of August at the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology for Beowulf and the Old English Imagination presented Dr Kim Wilkins. Kim Wilkins is a highly successful, award winning novelist, lecturer at the University of Queensland and a self-confessed Beowulf buff.
Beowulf is the oldest epic written in English and the probably the most important surviving piece of literature from the early middle ages. Beowulf has it all! Battles with monsters and dragons; heroism and cowardice; loyalty and betrayal; blood feuds and all the gory goodness that makes even the best horror films pale in comparison! It is a work of stirring power and beauty!
This presentation considers Beowulf in the context of Anglo-Saxon England, a time of warring tribes, Viking invasions, and a much contested conversion to Christianity; and in the context of Old English literature, with its kennings, alliteration, meter, and fascinating, strangely familiar language.
The presentation will commence at 7.30pm at the Abbey Hall: 1-63 The Abbey Place Caboolture. Tickets cost $6 for guests and $3 for Friends of the Abbey Museum. Wine and snacks will accompany the presentation.
For this special event the Abbey Museum will be staying open till 7pm to give guests a chance to combine a visit to the Museum with the Beowulf presentation. This is a great opportunity to see the current temporary exhibition of artefacts and reconstructed fashions from the era of Beowulf. “Far Fetched Treasures” featuring a beautiful collection of gold, silver and bronze brooches from the Migration Period (400-800AD). Normal museum entry prices will apply.
For more information or to make a booking, please call the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology on 5495 1652 or email admin@abbeymuseum.asn.au
Via Nikon Rumors http://nikonrumors.com/2012/08/08/the-coolpix-s800-will-be-the-first-android-based-camera-from-nikon.aspx/#more-43120
The ever changing face of photography tech just took another leap ahead, with some next gen point and shoot cameras sporting Android OS for extended features, and of course wifi and gps.
Your thoughts?
I just had to say, working with talent like Riely is amazing. There’s nothing quite like shooting with brilliant dancers. Visit her page here to keep up with her work.
I had bub with me all this weekend only managed to get an hour at the 2012 Greazefest before he chucked a tantrum persistent enough to convince me to take him home. We got in a few shots on our brief stay though:
I’m keen on putting together some more fitness shots so I have a dedicated gallery for the topic.
So, consider this a model call- sports elite and gym junkies come at me!
Zac Buckley – Active Image Fitness
Not all of the below shots are from Greazefest but they’re the sort of subjects I will be heading to the festival this weekend with Elwood again for. A year ago Elwood hadn’t yet worked out how into cars he is… but this year almost 2yrs old, he’s going to LOVE it!
This is just a test to see if the members access plugin does in fact lock out non admin and contributors.
I was digging through archive folders last night for a client and came across a few shots from in and around Brisbane I felt like sharing.
Brisbane River views before dawn
My first internationally published magazine cover (Broadsword Magazine) from around 2006
Brisbane Riverside
Quick shot taken in a cave on the Sunshine Coast while scouting for locations with Violet
Quite excited at the big week ahead in producer mode at Avalde but doing the, “Hey, where’d Sunday go?”, as that weekend went WAY too quickly. Cranking cool tunes in the office with fellow Producer Aurelie and hoping you all had a fun and exciting weekend too!
The problem with sometimes playing the exact music you WANT to hear while editing is that you end up just wanting to dance instead of stay at the workstation. Thank you Jimi Hendrix.
I only just now spotted shots I took of Ch9′s Andrew Lofthouse for February edition of Runner’s World Magazine on their site. Certainly one of the quickest and easy going subjects for a magazine shoot. Thanks Andrew!
http://www.runnersworldonline.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=2734
Facebook integration to WordPress via plugin and FB apps is here. It’s a free app and plugin that works much better than one of the paid apps I have tried with no success. I’d do a ‘how to’ but with the insistence of Facebook to continually change code and methods, it’d likely be outdated next week. So please click the link above to get to the Developers page for this app, and have a dig for the plugin for WordPress here.
And because this post will mean NOTHING to most viewers, here’s a steampunk cat!
Facebook WordPress integration
Out take from yesterday’s wedding with Violet doing make up for Rio.
https://twitter.com/MarkGreenmantle/status/222894666083872769
–
M a r k G r e e n m a n t l e
Photographer, Artist, Producer
http://www.greenmantle.biz
mailto:mark@greenmantle.biz
int mob: +61 410 504 757
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/1382269/viewall
The team at Reload Media last night put on an event at Limes Hotel‘s roof top bar to host Google’s Head of Sales for Media/Classifieds Bart Jenniches launch of new products by Google and as part of the Avalde Digital producers team, Aurelie Rivelant and I were invited along and enjoyed chatting to a few very savvy SEO boffins and came away with fresh ideas for future work. Can’t wait to see more businesses making good use of the Google+ Hangouts now that the limit of members per hangout has gone through the roof! There’s a LOT of reach.
add link to facebook test
Last weekend saw my first session of mentoring more than one other photographer on a fashion shoot. Teaming up with Joel and Nick from Fetigraphy Platinum and BW Alt Images we worked with a lovely team of models, make up artists and hair dressers. I did have a little time to get in a few shots through the morning.
Joel from Fetigraphy Platinum working with the models:
Jett De Lighte modelling for Citizen Reign Latex Couture
The weekend just past found me shooting editorial for the Irish Echo, the National newspaper for Irish in Australasia. It gave me a chance to spend most of both days immersed in my favorite accent, watching and covering sports I have never seen before and meeting the Irish Ambassador to Australia (who it turns out, also shoots on Nikon).
There are daily events on all week with a good few more on St Patricks Day itself this coming Saturday. What better time to land yourselves at Irish Murphys for a pint and some great music!
Pointa le do thoill! (spelling? Ahhh I am sure it makes more sense are a few more pints)
Last weekend saw me getting to shoot the new promo photos for New York based band, Hercules And Love Affair. We squeezed in a quick series of shots before they left the hotel to go play at Future Sounds Festival.
Feedback has been great, just waiting on the publicists to release the shots so stay tuned, I’ll post them up soon.
Good news, thanks to a much needed code update from the designers of the theme we crunch to make this site, and a new code rollout from the wonderfully smart crew at WordPress, the scroll bars have made a return, however the front page slideshow is now absent without leave so that is the next task for our tame coding monkey… damn, that’s me too.
If you have access to a copy of Studio Brides (vol24) check out our photos being used full page for Cyan Reign (featuring Violet Vex) on pg95 and also for Cyan again on pg92 this time with Holly modelling a black wedding gown.
Don’t forget about our Christmas day photography special that’s on, where you can get over 50% off a family portrait on Christmas day while all your family are together. Call me on 0410504757 or use the contact page on this site to email me.
Very limited bookings available so get in quickly to secure your time with us now.
It’s not something I have quite got my head around just yet, as I really think in a much more visual way and while I try to get into the social networking mind space I usually find interesting stuff about photography online and totally lose track of my networking while I learn about something I can use in shoots. There’s good reason my wife Violet is creative director at Greenmantle Studios!! hehe
That said, I’ve installed plug ins on this site that SHOULD allow you to log in here and comment using either your facebook credentials OR now using your G+ account. It’s all run using APIs on both the Facebook servers and Google servers and other than entering my name email date of birth and blood sample of my first born, it seems pretty safe to use. There’s no freaky stuff going on I swear! Our business page is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107808593874684013817/ It’s not the prettiest URL and we hope that Google will soon update the business pages management but that is us – so go and add us there and say hello. I will be posting more images there again soon. The soon to come rollout of G+ logos on this site means you can recommend any page you see it on to Google Plus with one click. Plug ins to make that happen have been installed but nothing is showing as yet. If you want to do me a huge favor, please feel free to post a link to http://www.greenmantle.biz/ from your Google+ accounts and from Twitter.
Now then, for the budding shooters who watch this space, some TECH PRON for you (yes that was a deliberate typo – it is a PG rated site mkay) – I harp on all the time about monitor calibration and how damn important it is that your screen is showing you the right colours. This is especially important when doing photographic retouching! Well, Dell have currently at under $700, for a 27inch monitor with an ultra wide gamut showing 99% AdobeRGB / IPS / 2560×1440 pixel resolution! Now I use an older 24in Dell ultrasharp as my main monitor and it’s been VERY stable for colour – only a slight shift over four months between calibrations (it DOES have power filtered through a UPS), but the new monitors are bigger, better and cheaper. At that rate you could buy six of these for the price of one Eizo of almost the same size…. makes you think doesn’t it! Do yourself a favour, ditch the gamer screen that makes your images far too bright to match to prints, get one of these and a Color Spyder Pro and use the savings on high quality glass for your camera. The monitors are available here: http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=au&cs=aubsd1&l=en&s=bsd&sku=210-31399&redirect=1
add it to your xmas wish list kids!
Greetings from a very warm spring in Brisbane.
Keep your eyes peeled for copies of the current Queensland Brides Magazine, you’ll see our shot of Violet in blue for Cyan Reign on page 173. More images to be published soon in Studio Brides and we’ll let you know other publications as they go to press.
Violet Vex models for Cyan Reign in Queensland Brides Photo by Mark Greenmantle
Violet was published in four magazines this last month, including the aforementioned two publications, but also in Tattoo Downunder and we’re told also in a hot rod magazine we have yet to see. If you get to see either of the first two magazines and then look at the tattoo and hot rod mags, you can be sure to notice that we took quite some time seamlessly retouching out her gorgeous ink for the bridal work. It’s just another service we can offer to clients here.
For the photographers out there watching our work, take a look at image files you may have passed over through 2005 – 2008 for reasons of low light image noise rejection and if shot in RAW format at the time, push them through the current version of Adobe Lightroom again now. Here is an image that was one of about 30 shots taken with lightning from a storm in December 2005. At the time I was only using RAW Shooter Pro by Pixmantec which later became Adobe Lightroom. RAW Shooter Pro did not provide the best noise reduction algorithms and I had all but forgotten about the other files in this chase that had been rejected. Last week I pulled the folder open anew in the current Lightroom version and was very happy to see just how many more files yielded excellent print candidates.
Sandgate hosts a wealth of lovely locations for events and portrait or wedding photography. It’s also just a short 25 -45 (depending on traffic) minute drive from the Brisbane CBD and has the nearest clean sand beach with parking and quality amenities, playground equipment and pier to keep family members of all ages entertained or relaxed. A good number of cafes and restaurants provide great options for snacks or banquets. This makes Sandgate an ideal location for beach side or park weddings, family gatherings and celebrations all in a short walk or drive distance to possible function locations.
For more information on Sandgate, head over to www.sandgate.com.au for event listings, venue info and much much more.
Good grief, it appears I fail at GEEK, currently trying to merge my own site’s log in system with the OAUTH2.0 that Facebook uses so anyone logged into Facebook can comment on my site (up to date WordPress with WPBOOK plugin installed) without setting up an account….. but… the install docs do not match the Facebook install pages and if you think the face of Facebook changed a lot this year, it’s nothing compared to the developer pages. Anyone want to barter their coding genius for photography services? This is killing my brain!
In other news today, Violet Elwood and I headed to Kangaroo Point to watch the new RAAF Squadron of Super Hornets fly over the city which was fun but they took a very unexpected track behind our spot and we scored only a few seconds of clear view of all 24 fighter jets.
And, simply because cats that dance like captive bears look extremely cute, here’s an awesome dancing cat
Over the last two weekends I have the luck to be able to work with a client I already knew through connections with our roller derby involvement. The personal trainer tasked with getting the derby girls at Northern Brisbane Rollers fit is Zac Buckley of Active Image Fitness and this guy is an incredible inspiration. Zac is due to compete in the Sportsmodel INBA Qld titles and is down to such a low body fat level…. well he just looks bloody marvelous. So, now that he’s got no body fat stores to draw upon for energy what did we do? We made him run on water is what we did, and he did a damn fine job of it. Congrats Zac on your very intense work so far and we’re crossing fingers for you to win the titles.
You can find him here:
Zac Buckley - Active Image Fitness 0415644748 http://www.activeimage.net.au http://facebook.com/ActiveImage.ZBuckley
Be you just getting some long overdue happy snaps of your kids and partner, or commissioned to get some captures for clients and their families, taking a family to a comfortable parkland where kids and run and parents can relax and let their hair down is a great tool for photographers. Before you pack your camera bags for a midday lunch or picnic however, pause to consider the available light. Unless it’s very overcast and you are keen for rainy pics, hold off for closer to sunset to enjoy softer light, warmer golden hues to make skin glow and longer shadows for creative play.
model: Violet Vex - www.violetvex.com
Back lit subjects for soft contrasts, warm shadows and shallow depth of field (shot with lens settings to wide open apertures ie: f/2, f/1.8, f/1.4 or even lower) allow you fast shutter speeds if you pick your light, location and timing just right. For those with DSLR cameras, set to your lowest f/stop and switch to either manual metering, or spot aperture priority settings. Most Auto settings on modern cameras will meter for the blown out backgrounds leaving your subject little more than a shadowy silhouette, or force you to use flash which will be a cold light that doesn’t match the sunset colours, or try to get too much in focus, so if you are one to set to Auto – now is the time to try something new.
When I have loads of time to prep each shot I prefer to meter with my Sekonic light meter (mine is the Sekonic L-758DR Digital Master – usually available with free shipping from this ebay store) which allows me to get spot readings through the light meter lens rather than just an ambient light reading. Usually however if you are trying to keep up with the games of playful children just on sunset, you want to put your camera into aperture priority mode, with metering set to the smallest spot metering option your camera will allow (most have multiple spot metering settings available) and then ensure you lock your light reading with your spot meter over faces rather than near the bright sun in the background. As the meter cursor is over the face, locate and depress the AF/AE-LOCK button until you have finished recomposing the frame and have taken the shot.
Be wary of the massive lens flare that can occur with this style of shooting. Sunlight can quite easily flood a full frame even though you may not have that effect visible in your viewfinder. Should you be somewhere here in Australia, you will also note that with spring starting, you need to also be wary of snakes coming out of hibernation, that mosquitoes are already showing their appetites and that magpie nests will soon need to be avoided as well. Before sending kids out to play in long grass, it’s best to check ahead for risks.
Here are some images from last weekend at a local park – I can post full EXIF data on files on request.
Even before the global financial crisis hit markets, commercial shooters have had to contend with an increasingly difficult time maintaining pricing structures to compete with the flood of new amateur shooters. These new shooters with DSLR cameras claiming to work as professionals with amateur pricing schedules drove down the mean pricing seen by clients and pushed higher the marketing hurdles in front of established and experienced working photographers. We now see a swathe of bottom end shooters competing for jobs with the least appropriate equipment, lack of insurance, lack of knowledge of work place safety and ethics, lack of technical skills to do the jobs to brief and of course, with a lack of experience and know how to trouble shoot photographic challenges of any kind. Clients have in the last few years been so flooded with low grade imagery in both mass media and through social networking, that barely average photography is now too often regarded as good enough.
Too often quote requests come through demanding bottom end pricing suited to your average high school kid with their first digital camera. I have had to be blunt and say, “sorry, but you cannot afford me”, to several of these clients but I rarely get the chance to explain to them the costs of professional photographic equipment and commercial insurance with public liability, the value of commercial licence to imagery, the time spent not only shooting the images but for processing the files, editing and retouching files, the time spent arranging models and makeup artists and hair stylists and I don’t bother to calculate even half the time spent administering each commercial shoot. A commercial photographer has to factor in expenses for marketing, web hosting, paying for assistants and accountants and much more but most clients only get to see the few hours where the camera is to the eye.
So for the client who wants the punchy and eye catching imagery and has expectations of photography that will drive customers their way, think beyond the “who’s cheapest” mindset as it will only cost you more in the long run. Rarely will a cheap amateur reward you with a quality result so aim higher. Here is a link to a site that shows suitable pricing for commercial shooters of various types with mean pricing taken from a large pool of professional shooters: http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm
We strive to give the best value, real attention and quality possible to clients whilst being realistic about commercial costs so we quote each job on its merits and needs and image licencing requirements.
