Something hidden in Paddington

Like a game of hide and go seek, the thrill of seek and then discovery is one of the best feelings a person can experience.

So as you would understand my excitement when I discovered that there was a hidden garden in Paddington, Sydney.

A location which is so close to me and i must have walked or driven past this place many times, I can’t believe I never knew about this hidden garden.

Located on the corner of Oxford St and Oatley Road Paddington is the Paddington Reservoir Gardens.  The gardens were opened in 2008 and designed by architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer and landscape architects JMD Design who redesigned the complex into what it is today this sunken garden barely viable below street level.

It’s a great garden, it’s like a modern day Hanging Gardens, and what I found fascinating was that there was a Coffee Stand located within the gardens.

I think I might need to come back here during the day!

Definitely worth a visit if you are close by!

Bluey Blue Mountains

On a sky blue Sunday morning, we jumped into Jolly Roger (the name of our car) and sailed forth onto our country drive.

Our destination the Blue Mountains.

Just 1.5 hours West of Sydney, Sydneysiders are lucky to have the Blues mountains as a country escape.

We arrived at the newly renovated Hydro Majestic Hotel, located in Medlow Bath (just pass Katoomba and just before Blackheath)

The Hydro Majestic has a rich history, located on the clifftop overlooking the Megalong Valley, the hotel provides scenic views for the valley.

The hotel was completed in 1891, as a health retreat, and in 1902 Australian retailer Mark Foy (Sydney Downing Centre) purchased the hotel believing the land contained mineral springs.

Mark Foy apparently even petitioned the NSW government to change the suburb name from Medlow to Medlow Bath. However by the time the hotel opened in 1904 the mineral springs had dried up…

Rich in history (inspiring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle author of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Edmund Barton (our first prime minister) died here (retired) of a heart failure. To rumoured to also be haunted...

Despite all the history and mystery around this hotel, in my view the best feature about the Hydro Majestic is literally the view. The panorama photo below doesn't do it justice.

For Photographers, the blue mountains has a plethora of scenic places, my recommendations are:

- Bleakheath  (Govetts Leap Lookout)

- Leura

- Wentworth Falls

- Katoomba (Three Sisters)

With a wide angle lens and some graduated filters, one may have many memorable trips to the Blue Mountains.

One thing to try after you have taken all your landscapes is to switch your wide angle to a 35mm, 50mm or a Macro lens and see what sort of interesting perspectives you would get.

One of our favorite day adventures, highly recommended!

Royal Easter Show 2015

The Royal Easter Show, a milestone in the year for all Sydneysiders, I don’t know anyone who grew up in Sydney that has not been to the Sydney Easter Show, be it you remember it for the show bags or for the animals but for me it’s always about the adventure!

Giant Pumpkins, Hot Chips or the sounds of the impossible carnival games are just some of the key must do’s when at the Easter show. So after a few years of absence we decided relive our childhood memories and venture out to Sydney Olympic Park.

First stop was the Art and Craft pavilion, I must admit it was quite interesting, the Art work was impressive and the photography submissions had some very good submission however I did notice some interesting phone photography…

Then to the Woolworths pavilion to see the produce, some great displays the theme this year was definitely the 100th year anniversary of Gallipoli. It always amazes me how they get the fruits and vegetables to stay so fresh for the duration?

One thing I would like to mention is I had the opportunity to see the rare 4 horned goat, amazing they can have between 2 – 6 horns this rare breed of sheep is a very old breed and also sometimes is known to be used a guard goat (GG) for a farmer’s livestock!

The rest of the afternoon was spread between watching the wood chopping, horse jumping, the enjoyable Hypnotist show and exploring the different food. 

Inflatable swords, thousands of battering pRAMS and overpriced food! Yep! that is the Easter Show i remember!

Childhood memories 60% recharged

Simon 

Whiskey Bottle Photos

So it has been a while, but i have a great post today, i have some spare time and took some photos of bottles, being a great whiskey admirer.. i took some photos of some of my favorite bottles of whiskey!

Setup does take a while be careful and lighting/flash reflections, foreground reflections, but doesn't the bottles look amazing. 

I can now appreciate product photographers and the amount of effort they put into their photos!

Glenfiddich 18 Years

Yamasaki 18 Years

Laughluin 16 Years

Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky

Ballantines 17 Years - Jim Murray gives this one the thumbs up!

Key Accessories Under $100

So what are the best accessories you can get for under $100?  $100 does not go very far in the world of photography, however you will be surprised just how useful these items are!

These are just my own personal list of items which are very useful and under $100 AUD. I am sure there other brands or models out there but the following are the ones that i have tested myself, so i can provide you with my honest opinion.

So in no particular order:

1. Pelican Memory Card Case:

Pelican are famous of their hard cases, solid built, water resistant and most important does the job. I really can't complain I know there are soft cases out there which are slightly lighter in weight but when it comes to it with all your photos stored on the memory cards protected by a hard case which gives you that extra confidence in protection of the precious photos.

The version i have caters for Compact Flash cards for my Canon 5D Mark ii however they also have the SD card version which is the same size but carries up to 16 cards. The size is prefect to slip into the side pockets of most camera bags and holds enough cards for any sort of photo session.

Price is around $30 - $40 AUD for the case, a tad on the higher side  but really invest in one good case and never worry or have the need to buy another one again, can't really put a price on good memory card protection.

Pelican Memory Card Case Closed

Pelican Memory Card Case Opened

2. Lens Cleaning Pen:

Lens maintenance does sound boring... but buying new equipment due to poor maintenance is even worst. There are many different cleaning pens out there but i find the dual brush and lens clean pen to be the most useful. It is always useful for any photo session to have a pen ready in case of fingerprints, water or just dust on the lens.

Without a doubt the most used item in my kit, pens range from a couple of dollars on ebay to branded kit ones of $40 upwards which basically does the same thing, i would recommend to change them frequently for the best results.

The one i show below is the Hakuba DSLR Pro Kit i got in Japan (different pens at different sizes), which comes with a pouch which also acts as lens cloth.

Hakuba Lens Cleaning Pens

3. Lexar Memory Card Reader USB 3.0:

If you think of the interface between the memory card and the computer as the width of a road , the difference between in speed a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 is like comparing a single lane road to a 10x lane Super Highway. Now if we assume that we have a 32gb memory card and you try and copy all 32gb worth of photos to your Hard Drive could be a time difference between 10 mins (USB 3.0)  to many many hours... (USB2.0).

With all other things being equal (HDD speed, Computer hardware etc.) USB 3.0 is a MUST HAVE especially if we are all shoting in RAW, which we all should be.

Cost of this particular one is roughly $40 AUD but the amount of time saved in waiting for your files to be transferred is well worth the price! Keep to mind there are other brands out there to consider too.

Lexar Memory Card Reader USB 3.0

4. Seagull Right Angle Viewer:

So some might think that this is a tool for the lazy photographer ... to save your back or knee so you wont need to bend down to look through the view finder. Yes it does all that, but this is also a wonderful item for studio or macro photography.  The low angles or the high angles that you need to position to get some of those shots, this enables me to see the viewfinder for most of these difficult shots.

Comes with different camera viewfinder adaptors, it is a tool which will last through time with changes in cameras or if you just wanted to lend it to your friend.

Plus with with this, you can peer around corners or over walls! If you are into Macro and Studio photography then this would roughly cost $70 AUD, it's a nice to have item.

Seagull Right Angle Viewer

5.  A Decent Camera Strap:

So remember the freebie camera strap that you get with a new camera purchase? Is it still on your camera? Well to be honest most people would say YES! why what’s wrong with it? well nothing really... it does it's job it lets the user hold onto the camera around the neck/shoulders or if you are creative you can even use it as a hand strap too.

Oh and also makes it easy as to see which camera you own for thieves, neatly printed on the camera strap in big letters: Canon, Nikon, Sony etc. and for some models they even print the 5D Mark ii/Mark iii etc. If you are a traveller, walking out at night having a camera strap which states which expensive brand camera you have would probably require some more thought.  One day I’ll blog about things to look out for, for the traveling photographer.

I would recommend two sort of straps the detachable strap and the sling strap, these will be used differently depending on the type of photography.

So lets start with the detachable strap, so the difference from the default camera strap this strap enables the user to easily detach the main strap from the camera and leaving behind a small part of the strap. So why would this be useful? Well for the studio photos or a night photographer who would be moving between handheld and tripod use. A camera strap + tripod = trouble, it is very easy for a camera to be on a tripod and you accidentally catch the camera strap and pull the whole tripod and camera down. Or another good reason is for night photographers is that during long exposure photos the camera strap and flap around in the wind and send vibrations via the tripod into the camera.

Bite the bullet and do yourself a favour and get a detachable camera strap, for good straps prices start around $35 AUD.

Detachable Camera Strap

Now, for the action photographer who requires a strong strap to hold onto the camera but also allow the user to have both hands free. I would recommend a sling styled camera strap, the one i have shown below is a BlackRapid Classic (RS-4) strap, the camera attachment screws into the tripod mount on the camera and then it stays there, the camera will hang onto your side and you can do combat rolls or jump around and you wont need to worry about dropping the camea when you need both you hands for defending yourself from lions in your african photoshoot.

I find this extremely useful when i need to climb or crawl for those photos but one point to note is that when using a tripod you need to unmount the strap and put on the tripod mount.

Price for the BlackRapid is around $90 - $100 AUD.

BlackRapid Classic (RS-4) Camera Strap

6. Camera Remote Trigger:

I can come up with many reasons for a Remote Trigger, Selfies, Time Lapse etc. but a big factor is for reduction in  camera shake for night or macro photography is well worth the price. Depending on which Remote trigger you get, from a basic remote IR trigger to a fancier Remote with time intervals and locks for bulb shots provides you more options for you to take better photos.

The one i have is the fancier Canon Remote Trigger TC-80N3 i must say RRP is over $100 but from ebay it seems there are some options for it to be around $80 AUD.

Remote Camera Timer Controller

7. Spare Battery

Yes, a spare battery, the simplest but yet most useful accessory. Nothing worst than running out of battery when you are in the middle of a photo session. Simply put never leave home without two, one in your camera and one in your bag.

Cost will vary depending on camera but i would always recommend a good brand, remember it's a battery it holds charge... it can explode....(maybe in the extreme case) Pay the extra $ for a reputable brand.

Canon Spare Batteries

So listed above are just some examples of useful accessories which can make a big difference to your photography session.  Some are essential and some are nice to have however the great thing about it is that you can slowly build up your collection.

Some key accessories i have not mentioned because i plan to dedicate a blog about them in the future are tripods, camera bags and flashes.

Do you have a favourite accessory under $100? feel free to share in the comments section below!

I hope you have enjoy this equipment blog, as mentioned above i plan to do a bit more of them because i find them very useful for my equipment research. Hope this helps you in your photo sessions.

So i took photos of a toy wedding!

Ok  ok it might sound strange and when you look at the photos below, i am sure some of you might also even think it's a bit weird... but please let me explain...

I have this friend lets call her Ms V .... ... whom is obsessed with monchhichi who for those who do not know is a monkey like toy famous around the world... from what i can find on the internet:

"Sekiguchi claims they created these characters in order to inspire respect and love in the young (Japanese) children and adults"

Now not sure the reason why my friend likes monchhichi so much however... she is good friend and she is getting married, however unfortunately she will be getting married in Hong Kong and not in Sydney... .. even although she did grow up here nevertheless, i would not be able to attend her wedding.

So i thought long and hard about her wedding gift... and it hit me she can't have a Sydney wedding... she loves monchhichi... yes like a mathematical genius that i am i put one and one together to get Two... well two monchhichis anyway...

Ordered off Amazon.. waited a couple of weeks got the limited edition wedding version and off i went, a man, two dolls, a camera and one of the world’s most wedding photogenic harbours!

Here are the results of my "experiment"

Yes, people stared... Yes it was hard to prop up the two monkey's and yes the photos turned out rather well! (Personal opinion)

I guess a bit of fun!

P.S Ms V loved the gift! she told me it was her favourite wedding gift... but the wedding is it October...

Experimental Mode

Simon

So Wedding Bells...Snaps

So it has been a while since my last blog... most probably because i have been busy with one event.... "Weddings", i.e. attending friends weddings and also planning my own wedding!

On the topic of friends weddings i had the honour of taking photos of one of my longest friends, a mate i have known since Kindergarten!

You can view the photos here:

Pre Wedding Photos

Wedding Photos

It was great fun and we were very lucky due to the wet weather!

So i was thinking in this blog i will talk about some of the key points that are important in a successful wedding photo session. Now this should not be taken as a 100% complete list but rather just some of the key points i think if you are thinking of taking photos at a wedding, you should consider:

1. Plan Ahead: Very very very and yes very important, make sure you sit down with the bride and groom weeks in advance and plan your shots, ask them if they wanted any particular shots, ask them who (e.g. Parents, Siblings, Grandparents etc.) must they get a photo with and most important make sure you know the schedule and how you will take each particular shots.

2. Prepare your Gear: Check and double check your gear as on the day you will not have time to run back to your car to pick up equipment or even worst run back home to pick up. Also consider where your photo session will be for example if you are taking photos at the beach you might consider bringing your gear on a belt with lens cases so everything is accessible and you don't need to get sand all over your gear. Another good example is understanding the type of camera settings you can prepare for, the camera settings used for daylight or indoor or night photography is different. One question i get asked all the time, you can't buy a DSLR and put it in AUTO mode and expect great photos for all scenarios...  It just pays to be organised and research how to photograph in different conditions.

3. Know your Gear: So if the Wedding is in a old church then you know lighting might be an issue, so make sure you know which lens/flash combo would do the job. Selecting the right lens is very important, even if you don't have a pro lens, try and understand where your location is and work out if you need a telephoto/wide angle, what sort of lighting is available, would you need a flash? I personally love to take my 50mm F1.4 (Yep bokehlicious), I might run into trouble if I am not close enough but if I am just attending a wedding they will have the wedding photographers to take those photos but you can be there taking friends/family photos, more "creative" photos of the wedding itself and the bride and groom will appreciate your photos with a different perspective.

4.  Have the right attitude: This to me is the most important; you have to have the right attitude, be open to suggestions, be professional, be courteous and respect the occasion. Yes it is your job to get the shot and the shot could be amazing however if you leave a bad impression to the guest or ruin the moment then it’s not worth it. Leaving a good impression, having fun with the guest, making the people feel comfortable will make the job much more enjoyable.

Just some things to think about, be it you are a pro or just a friend taking photos at a wedding, consider the points i mentioned above, plan ahead, know your gear and having the right attitude are all good points to think about before you goto your next wedding with your camera!

Happy Snapping!

Japan Gallery finally finished

I have finally completed reviewing my photos, it has taken a while but have been distracted lately and i apologise but nevertheless the photos are finally up.

The i have combined all the photos into the renamed "Japan" gallery which is avaiable at the the following link

Click here for Portal into Japan

i have combined both galleries and over time i will slowly cut down to proably just my top ten! You can help by leaving a comment below or emailing me which one is your favourite and if you are lucky it could influence my decision! :-P

So i am not sure from my previous blogs if you have not noticed JAPAN is very beautiful and very worthwhile to go, i would not say my japanese is very good or even exisitant but everyone is very friendly and lanuage is not a barrier!! so please go if you have the chance!

So i really do hope that you enjoy my photos as i don't think my photos did Japan any justice!!

I am looking for a new project to work on, Christmas is coming up and i do have some time after new years to start on a new project and i have some ideas in my mind! so please stay tuned! All i can say is that it will be Landscape shots!

Otherwise please leave a comment/like/facebook like/facebook comment/email/twitter comment or good zen! As i do appreciate your feedback!

P.S i have also included in this blog some photos which i liked but for whatever particular reasons just didn't make the gallery!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Signing Off

Simon

Ho Ho Ho!

Japan Gallery Up!!

I am happy to announce that Japan Gallery is up!

I finally finished part 1 of my Japan trip i have picked my top 20 photos from the first 3 days which was in the cities of Osaka and Kyoto.

I have to admit that i did go a bit shutter happy however if you know just how beautiful Kyoto is you would understand my "Carpe diem" moment!

I hope to have captured just some of the beautiful scenes that we saw, but i don't think my photos does it much justice!

To access the Gallery please click on the following link:

http://www.simonography.com/japan-gallery/

Or on the left menu click on the following:

Portfolio -> Japan - Part 1

Part 2 will come soon!

Please feel free to leave comments and likes :-)

P.S i have sneaked in a couple of other photos which just got cut in this blog entry below!

Regards

Simon

Back to work Mode!

A Japanese Hangover

So now we have been back for just over a week and I've had some time to reflect upon my trip.

During the week there was times, i was day dreaming that i was a Japanese Ronin roaming the streets of Tokyo enjoying the culinary delights that Japan had to offer and then i would smell smoke... and then realise i was back in bushfire season Sydney.... ... 

I went to see the doctor about it and Dr Dam said i was suffering from a common sickness called Japanese Hangover! Dam... is there a cure? i hope so!

So how was it? Would you go there again? Did you challenge a Sumo? Did you see Astro Boy? Did you catch a Pokemon?

The answers are Yes, Yes, Didn’t see a Sumo but was there ever a doubt i would loose? Astro boy lives in my heart and I don’t need to see him physically! Pokemons… are not real!! just like leprechauns, unicorns and unlimited buffets... ... there is always a closing time!!

Japan is a wonderful place and upon reflection, after surviving a Typhoon, 7.3 magnitude earth quake and the barrage of crying babies on the flight back I would still say that I enjoyed this trip.  

Some highlights of the trips are:

-  Itsukushima Shrine – a Giant red gate in the middle of the Bay, with awesome super steep mountains as a backdrop, crazy paper eating deer’s and awesome chocolate maple shaped sweets and did i mention this is a world heritage site?

-   Osaka Dotonbori – shopping crazy central probably around 10 – 20 japan sized blocks of shops and the best Octopus balls (Takoyaki) I have ever tasted!

-    Kobe Steak – Steak that melts in your mouth and not to mention it probably puts a hole in your wallet too. Is it worth the price? YES!! But… can I afford more than 10 grams? Maybe in my dreams… … (*self-mental note* I need to work harder and make more money so I can afford Kobe Steak for breakfast/lunch and dinner!) or maybe I can just grow my own Kobe Cow.. and name him Jersey… :-P

-    Sanjūsangen-dō – a Buddhist temple located in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto , officially known as Rengeō-in (hall of the Lotus King) contains 1000 life-size status of the thousand armed Kannon! Yes 1000 imagine the dusting… unfortunately no photos were allowed to be taken within the temple but please go and Google it.. a great place!

-     Food in General – now Sydney/Australian Japanese food I would consider to be quite good, but when I tried the authentic Japanese good in japan… well there is no going back, even the super market sushi (which was marked down (after 7 pm) to $1.5 AUD for 8 pieces of sushi whilst in Sydney that would cost me at least $5) was so much tastier! Ramen was excellent and yes it’s true soft-serve ice cream in japan in super creamy!

-    Whisky – Ok Whisky lovers I got to try the following: Hibiki 12 years/ Hibiki 17 years/  Hakushu Single Malt / Yamasaki 12 years and Yamasaki 18 years (special mention… it was AWESSOME!), every drop was tasty! The international labels were international prices but the local Japanese whisky’s were cheap and super tasty because it was in japan. Point to note depending on what you wanted to get, the airport (smaller range) is cheaper than outside in the city.  Japanese whisky is underrated and is the dark horse of the whisky world!

-   Theme Parks: Adventured in Tokyo Disney Land and Osaka Universal Studios, Japan has an abundant of Theme parks (Lego Land I will visit you next time!), people dress up and not just the kids the whole family dresses up makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable!

I should probably stop with the highlights before I put some of you asleep, but we had some time before our flight back and we had a time to make a list! But before I get into trouble I would like to mention of course my biggest highlight was to share another adventure with my beautiful and very very understanding fiancé!

Now I left one important point out, Japan is a great place for photography; it has an amazing range of scenic locations for the landscape photographer and also one of the biggest cities in the world for street photographers! It is after all the birthplace of Canon, Nikkon and the thousand click per sec camera button pressing technique!

I will soon upload my japan photos (I took over 60 GB (shot in RAW) and over 2000 photos) I am only up to day 3 of the trip but will try and get the photos up as soon as possible and you can be the judge if japan is the right place for you to photograph!

If you click on Portfolio -> Tokyo/Osaka

There is a form you can fill out and once my photos are up I will be able to inform you!

Ja Mata Ne (See you later)

Si-m-on

The Daydreamer!

Tokyo oh Tokyo where have you've been all my life?

So it has been 6 nights in Tokyo, we'll lets say it was a experience to remember!

The food, the people and the things to do, definitely a place to to add to your bucket list!

Some quick points:
- juiciest apples ever eaten, even for $1.50 each, it's like they injected it with a bucket of juice!
- the drains have faces on them
- Suntory - famous for its whiskey has a Suntory boss coffee which comes in a can.. One for only bosses and mangers to drink, however what got me laughing on the ground was that they have a stern looking tommy lee jones as the spokesperson.. Guess of he was my boss I will work harder!
- remotes have 12 numbers on them why? Because they can ! We should have the same I am sick of pressing the 1+2 button for channel 12 wait we don't have a channel 12 oh well we should have them anyway!

We also has our lost I'm translation moment by visiting the Park Hyatt in Tokyo located in Ginza, level 39 had awesome views too bad it was cloudy and we couldn't see 10 m outside the window however we decided to stay for tea /coffee and burgers which was very nice! And worth the visit!

Now fashion, not that I know anything about fashion or pretend but I heard that White is the new black this season (joke) ... Tokyoians are very fashionable actually most Japanese are snappy dressers I know the stereotype Japanese business man in their black suits are boring but they do each jazz it up with their shirts or ties or pins :-) but back to the common street people now please refer to my "mr speedy" photo you will know which one it is! :-) agree or disagree they are interesting!

Now to theme parks we have been to universal studios in osaka and Disney land Tokyo people have dressed up as in really dressed up I can't tell the difference between the people who work there and guests!! It is noted that Alice from Alice in wonderland is the most popular choice !

So if cosplay is your thing japan is definitely the place to be! *Gentlemen you know who you are :-p*

My highlight of Tokyo was the studio ghilbli museum, my favourite movie from them is porco rosso a movie about a man turned pig fighting air pirates is amongst other famous movies such as spirited away, ponyo and my neighbour totoro. I would say it is the Japanese Disney but classier (yeah I know big call)

Also found some lost keys let me know if they are yours!

P.S for all those who are keeping count I haves used up my 32/16/8 Gb memory cards and now down to my last 4Gb card!! Results from shooting in RAW!

Now back to osaka for round 2!

The bullet train traveler

Simon

The land of the rising sun

So after a life long dream of visiting the land where gadgets and samurai warriors ruled the land I have finally arrived!

Japan is definitely a busy place we have been here for just over 5 days and this is the first opportunity I have to sit down and reflect upon the past couple of days!!

First impressions of osaka is that it is an amazing place and there is such a great mix of new with the old. It is simply amazing!

Food is great our first meal here was ordered via a vending machine fortunately we ordered some things that we both enjoyed! Price wise it was not too bad around $8.50 for a set meal!! But the service was excellent even for a small place!

Kyoto, which is the old capital of Japan has a lot of history and beautiful buildings. I have to say that I spent my 32 GB memory card just on Kyoto... ... Not that I was embracing the Japanese culture (of being a happy snapper) but because there were so many moments where I said where else in the world will you get to see such iconic scenes!! It was also one of the hardest experiences in my life because I joined a day tour and we visited 6 sites and only had one hour per site! Which as you can imagine I didn't give me much time practice and prepare for my shots! We will see if i did well or not once I get back to Sydney!!

The people were very nice however the hotel I was staying at had very low pillows and one night I decided I had enough and went downstairs and asked for another pillow and I was told "sorry no pillows" and after some broken English/japanese angry comments I walked away confused as I thought surely a big hotel has a extra pillow!! And not until the next day when I learnt from my beautiful fiancé who goggled "why Japanese hotels don't give you a extra pillow" and the first search item that came up was "If you ask for a extra pillow it means you want a extra pillow for the "sex worker" which you have in your room !!! !!! My fiancé laughed at my embarrassment... Fortunately we left the hotel soon afterwards!!

I have attached a couple of photos taken from my iPhone.. Some weird and wacky things ( including dinosaur jerky) here but loving every moment of it!!

We will be at Tokyo soon and will hopefully get some more updates soon!!

The hungry traveler

Si-mo-n

Light Painting

Have you ever tried light photography ? It is pretty simple to be honest all you need is:

- A Camera
- A Dark Room
- A small torch

What to do>

- Work out what you want to paint
- Turn off the lights
- Set you camera to long exposure usually < 1 sec i am a purist and would leave the ISO at 100 :-)
- Set the Camera to timer for taking photos
- Click on the camera snap button and then run like crazy to in front of the camera (in the dark) and start drawing

Now this might take a couple of times however the effects could be quite cool and you will be amazed at how much you can achieve and where you imagination might take you!

Suggestions:

- Try with more people
- Try different colour lights
-  Try and light one object and then have someone else run around that object (constantly moving)

I have attached one i did, it is supposed to be my fiancé  and i :-)

Might not be perfect but it was allot of fun!

Hello World

Welcome to my blog, the purpose of this blog is to tie in with the my new website Simonography.

The website is designed to showcase my passion for photography, now i am not in any way stating my photography is any goodbut would like to take this opportunity to share some of my adventures captured in a photo with my friends.

The blog is designed to be a way to discuss, techniques, reviews and/or stories on the wonderful and wacky adventures that is part my life!

                                  Simon + Photography = Simonography