Alpha Photography Blog

Event photography is almost as tension filled as wedding photography.  You get one shot at it and it has to be right.  Admittedly, the advent of digital photography has made this much easier.  However, on the day you need to be prepared and have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, otherwise, before you know it, the event is over and you haven’t achieved what you wanted.

Recently, I photographed the TedX Byron Bay event.  If you want to see some truly inspiring 18 minute presentations by some of the best minds in the world, check it out - www.ted.com.

One of the main challenges I had with this event was the lighting.  It was a fabulous event and the lighting was focused on the speakers, so it made my job pretty difficult.

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Having recently photographed a friend’s wedding, I realised again how much planning and detail goes into a wedding.

Wedding photography focuses primarily on capturing the bride and groom on their big day.  Something else though that is important are the decorations, and what has been organised to “pretty up” the event.

Every time I’m asked to photograph a wedding, I’m also asked to capture the church before the ceremony, and the reception venue before guests are allowed inside.  Someone (usually the bride) has spent hours designing the flower and table arrangements, and they rarely get to enjoy them on the actual day, so the photograph allows them to enjoy the view in retrospect.

Here are a few different images…

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Like most people, I love fireworks.  Since they banned the use of fireworks in my state of Queensland, seeing fireworks has become a semi-rare event.

Every year, as part of Brisbane’s festival to the city, the fireworks kick off the festival with a bang (literally).  Usually, I haul myself to a prime location with my camera and tripod in tow.  But this year they predicted record crowds, so I decided to enjoy the sky show from the comfort of my balcony.

Granted, there is a TV antenna kind of in the way, but you’ll get the idea…

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For most people, their wedding day is one of the most important days in their lives.  Understandably then, the photography plays a huge part in that.  It’s important then to choose where you take the photos.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I generally scope out the location before the day.  For the last wedding I photographed, here is one of the locations, and a great stroke of luck for the day itself…

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It’s been a busy week.  I’m preparing to photograph another wedding, which will make two in a month - a first for me.  This one is in Mackay (North Queensland, Australia), so it kind of throws off my usual preparation routine….

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The Christmas spirit is well and truly still in existence, and in abundance.  Each year comes stories of miracles, generosity and open heartedness.  This year is no different.

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Now for a different slant on flying - instead of being in a plane, this is as nature intended humans to fly - with a parachute!  Something I’d like to think I have the courage to do one day, these professional skydivers came down as part of the Air Show.  They skillfully followed the same path and one even decided to do a flip!

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Negative Gs, as they’re known - that would be a very off putting sensation, especially the first time you experience it.  It takes a person with no sense of fear, an incredibly strong stomach, and unbelievable concentration to fly a plane in loops and upside down.  Very impressive to watch, and just a little tricky to capture in a photograph!

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Planes hold a unique interest for many people.  What pilots can do with them holds an ever greater fascination.  Whether it’s air acrobatics, or simply marvelling at the enormous military aircraft, watching them in (peaceful) action is incredible.

Last weekend was the Australian Defence Force Air Show at Amberley RAAF Base, outside Brisbane, Australia.  It was an incredible day.  Here is a photograph of the soon to be decommissioned F1-11 doing a dump and burn:

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Fireworks are a visual spectacular.  They’re a photographers dream subject, but they’re not a dream to photograph.

A few weeks ago was a festival in Brisbane, and the fireworks are an annual event.  Each year I watch them, and this was my second attempt to photograph them.  So, tripod and shutter release cable in hand, here are the results…

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