This morning we had the first group mountain climb with the new Weekend Adventure Hikers Facebook group. More people turned up than expected which is exactly what I was hoping would happen. After that some of us had breakfast then Tom and I worked on his Triumph motorcycle.
There are two things that have made more of an impact on my photography than anything else and that is the gear I now use and the processing styles I have chosen.
For the last two years I have almost exclusively been shooting in landscape orientation with a 35mm equivalent lens and a single, lightweight and compact camera, and this has given me an enormous appreciation for consistency in the photographs I make. My photographs finally feel like they are truly "mine".
Before 2013, it's like I had no vision whatsoever. It was a free-for-all of focal lengths, orientations and post processing styles. Other than my portrait work, the DSLR and zoom lens was the ultimate consistency killer in my pictures.
Fast forward to now and no matter what I take, if it's a good photograph it feels like it fits perfectly alongside entirely different photographs because the perspective is the same and my style of framing is consistent.
Discovering VSCO also had a profound impact on the way my photographs feel. Before this, I would change all kinds of settings in Lightroom and as a result each photograph felt different, not a part of a whole body of work.
For a while I was using Kodak Portra 400 colour and Ilford HP5+ B&W emulations but have since swapped to Fuji 800Z and Kodak Tri-X. As a result of using VSCO, my colour and tonal range is consistent.
The added benefit is that I know what I'm going to get when I'm out in the world ready to make a photograph. It's like using film because the film decides the colours and black and white tone for the most part. You have to make sure the subject matter works, and you let the processing set the mood, and you only tweak one or two things like exposure.
There's nothing more disorienting than looking through a body of work and finding that it doesn't actually feel like a body of work. While it may not become your whole way of shooting, I strongly encourage anyone struggling to find their way to reduce all gear options to a single focal length and camera and shoot that way for a good many months.
You may hate it or it, if you're like me, it may transform your photographic journey entirely.
My sister and I drove out to Cunningham's Gap to climb Mount Cordeaux at sunrise. The weather report wasn't great, and it turned out worse, but still ended up being a beautiful view, despite being rained on as we made it to the bottom!
Springbrook Warrie Circuit
As I get older, it's becoming more and more of a joy to meet people who embrace the early hours of the morning, whether it's meeting for breakfast at 8am on a Sunday, or heading out onto the road to climb a mountain at sunrise.
The "morning person" persuasion seems to invoke a sense of adventure and enthusiasm for spontaneity in life, starting with an early rise into the world. These people seem to have an intangible thirst to get up and do things.
This has become an all too important aspect of life in the last few years as I discover what I'm truly passionate about doing each and every day.
South East Queensland from Mount Greville (facing generally south)
I work four days a week in an office, and while I enjoy the work, I cherish each weekend that I can get outside in the sun. Hiking and climbing the mountains in South East Queensland has become a huge part of that, and I want to extend that to overseas.
So I created a Facebook group exactly for the purpose of pushing this lifestyle of weekend adventures, incorporating fitness and photography into the hiking.
If you are an enthusiastic hiker or photographer who loves sunrise mountain climbs, photography and/or fitness based hiking in the South East Queensland area, don't hesitate to join my Facebook group to see photos, discuss hikes and join events.
Spontaneous solo climb up Mount Mitchell.
Breakfast with Simon, Hannah, Rhys and Jeremy yesterday morning then a wander through the city.
Continuing the new tradition for hiking a lot... These are from a group hike up on Mount Greville, east of Main Range in Queensland.
I was out in the forest again today with Dash, hiking the 17km Warrie Circuit down in Springbrook National Park. Legs are tired, but it's great to be out away from the city.
As I get more and more into hiking, I'm treating each hike as training towards bigger hikes. I'd love to get into overnight and multi-day hikes with camping eventually, especially in mountainous locations I'm inspired to visit from other photographers I follow.
Just a regular breakfast, bridge, city, street kinda day with Simon and Hannah.
This weekend seems to have been about climbing mountains. I bought some new hiking shoes yesterday and on a whim decided to drive out to Cunningham's Gap again and hike up Mount Mitchell on the south side of the highway.
This morning I left home at 4am with the intent of climbing Mount Cordeaux to the main lookout, about 1,100 metres above sea level. To my surprise I met another photographer named Fred McKie, who does anything from commercial photography to architecture, lifestyle and landscapes.
We both ended up walking the extra 30 minutes to Bare Rock north along the ridge from Mount Cordeaux lookout.
Had breakfast at Blackstar with Simon, Hannah, Alex, Cameron, Rhys, Tyler and Fiona this morning then wandered into the city.
I met up with Simon and Hannah. Simon just bought the Leica Q 28mm fixed focal length camera. It is fantastic, and I sincerely hope Leica releases a 35mm version. These aren't actually from the camera, though.
Met up with Simon and Hannah in West End for breakfast then wandered into the city.
After seeing the Shrine of Remembrance, we headed back through the city to the hotel, stopping for soup at The Soup Place (Degraves St) and hot chocolate at Koko Black. I had a stunning sunset flight home to Brisbane.
We turned around after dinner at Split Point, where the lighthouse is. They filmed the classic Australian TV show "Round The Twist" here. Then Hannah, Simon and I wandered Melbourne on my third and last day. I managed to get a few good street photographs in. More photos to come.
