Sydney Winter Festival 2014

To be honest, I wasn't sure what the hype was but the Sydney Winter Festival wasn't that great and there wasn't much to do there. It kind of reminded me of Vivid with its colourful lights, but even Vivid wasn't that great. Or maybe I'm just too over complicated? Hmmm...  However, I didn't come out to enjoy what the Winter Festival had to offer, but to rather use it as an opportunity to finally shoot something with my newly bought Fuji X-T1.

A collection of All Things DC

To One Sixth Oz,

This is no hobby. It is an addiction. And once you start collecting there's no turning back. We all know how expensive this hobby is and I would like to thank you guys for your sincere honesty and respect when selling figures in our Facebook group. It is very unfortunate with what happened today to one of our fellow members, and I hope that we have rid any other scammers from the group and continue to grow with an undying passion for our hobby and give respect and honesty towards all members of our community. Let us move forward, and hope that no such thing ever occurs again. 

Reflective Blogpost: We are just past halfway. Did you realise?

We're now seven months into 2014. That's just half a year gone (Duh!). I realised this as I was editing my latest wedding album Sandy & Cheung whilst listening to Time by Hans Zimmer. I am amazed at how fast time has flown. Is it because I'm too occupied with work and uni? I'm not sure. But I what I do know is that seven months into 2014 I have learned quiet a bit. To be a bit more specific, I have learned quiet a bit in the areas of photography. 

It has not even been more than a year since I started working for Sutoritera as a photo editor, and in my time here I have culled through many thousands of photos and edited them accordingly. I am still learning. And I am always learning. Each album that I have come by has challenged my creativity, especially when it comes towards off-camera-flash photos - something I am still working on at the moment. 

Every single wedding album I have gone through, I have been exposed to different and difficult lighting situations in certain events of the wedding day. Sometimes the photos are too green because of the lighting within our client's houses. Sometimes everybody's faces are pink, yellow, red and green because of receptions like Villa Capri. I have grown to learn that these things will be inevitable on the day of the shoot. These are the external environments that we cannot control, and thus we must compromise and do our best to ensure that photos are still being taken, even if they are going to look like rainbows and colourful unicorns. Wooo. As an editor, when I come across these photos they are the most painful thing to fix up. Hell, there was even a time where I had to black and white the whole ceremony because of the horrendous yellow and green faces formed by the Churches' walls and coloured glass windows. But as I said, some things are just inevitable. 

While that may be the case however, each photo, each album and each shot that was taken on the day by Sutoritera's photographers, I have seen and learned from them. I observe their framing, imagine where I would be standing to get that shot as well as asking myself what that photo will mean after I take it. In other words, what story am I telling? Because I have not officially shot a wedding yet, I also sometimes find myself looking at their camera settings in different lighting situation to get the gist of what appropriate settings will be used in this environment or that environment. I hope when the day comes and that I am able to shoot a wedding that what I have learnt and what I have been exposed to comes into play effectively. 

***

Since I've already gone all reflective about this year I may as well continue. Since my time as a photo editor  I have been asked this question many, many, many times. "How did you get your job?"

This story goes way back. But to keep it short, my cousin who is now a photographer for Sutoritera, used to buy a shit load of camera gear and had a high end DSLRs. He took lovely photos and my interest in photography sparked from there onwards. Eventually he met a guy called Dan and I met him soon afterwards when my cousin took me out to North Narrabeen to shoot the sunrise. After meeting Dan I followed his blog and was updated with photos he posted and stories he wrote. And hence why this blog exist. I was inspired to just do more than take photos, but to write and reflect upon each photo, and the experience I felt when taking them. Eventually, I began to assist him on pre-wedding shoots throughout my senior years of high school until the completion of my HSC. I enquired about how I was interested in working for him after relaunching his brand from "Daniel K Cheung" to "Sutoritera". 

... And that's my life story. Whoop, dee, dah.

Here's a few wedding albums that I've completed.  

Mini Blogpost: My First Camera - Fujifilm X-T1

I've never owned a "proper" camera before...surprisingly. So I wasn't surprised at the reaction I got yesterday from friends on instagram yesterday when I posted a photo of my XT-1 captioning it, well..."my first proper camera." Oh and, when I say 'proper' I mean that I've never owned a DSLR or a CSC where I could take advantage of all it's features -  i.e interchangeable lens.

Before the XT-1 I was using my Fujifilm X100. It's a small digital compact camera with a fixed 23mm. And thus, with a fixed lens I was unable to explore photography beyond the scope of the 23mm due to the x100 not having an interchangeable lens feature. This did somewhat, however, force me to experiment more to move up closer towards my subjects when shooting. I could say though, it's an ideal travel camera to shoot stills, but anything that involves a moving subjects - don't bother shooting it. The x100's auto focusing is horrendous. Literally.

I have in the passed been fortunate enough to borrow friend's and cousin's Canons and Nikons for shoots but  found them very inconvenient due to it's size and weight, until finally I was introduced to Olympus' OMD EM5. It was a light weight system, with the design of DSLR's. However, being an X-Shooter I wanted something similar but only Fujifilm. So when Dan of Sutoritera got his hands of them I took it out for a spin, and after the first few minutes immediately I knew I had to have it.

So here I am a few months later with the XT-1 thanks to Sydney's CBD Digidirect store. Fortunately, I placed an order for the camera while they were having a ten or fifteen percent off sale and got it for $1439.00. It currently retails at $1599.00 Body Only. If you're interested in one keep posted on their Facebook updates as they have sales regularly.

For a full review on the XT-1 you can have a read of the following articles by Dan:

Fujifilm X-T1 Review - Initial Impressions

Fujifilm X-T1 Review - 8 Hours Later

Fujifilm X-T1 Review - The ideal travel photography camera? 

Mini Blogpost: Post Vivid at Grill'd

Vivid lights left us quite drained. Our legs were sore from all the walking and we were hungry. So we trained it to Townhall Station, got off and made our way to Grill'd. Thank god it was open till late. 

Love is in the air at Vivid 2014

Let me be honest here; Vivid 2014 wasn't that great for me. Much of my friends who went for the first time were underwhelmed and a tad disappointed. And I couldn't agree with them more. My first time at Vivid was last year. I felt the same way as they did - underwhelmed and my impression of the night was a mere "meh, that's all?. As a result of that, I only strolled around Circular Quay instead of heading down to Milsons Point where I could have taken some extra photos of the Harbour Bridge lit up.

The Q on Harris

Have you been to the Q on Harris? You should. It's a ten minute walk from UTS' main building. Located in Ultimo, 597 Harris St, it's a small little cafe that serves great tasting coffee.

F.U.K U

I remember sitting at the Q on Harris, discussing over coffee what restaurant Loc was going to host his 18th at. He knew he wanted Japanese, but he also knew that there was budget. There's always a budget. At the end of the day however, I didn't think how much we spent mattered. We just wanted to have fun and have more food. 

Fuku Restaurant Sake and Wine Bar is located at Shop 1103 Level 1 6444 George St Sydney. Food was delicious and it was very nicely presented, however service was slightly inconsistent at times as we had to ask the manager twice or even more on when one of our dishes would arrive. Despite that, the night was one filled with fun and very interesting topics were brought onto the table with Van hushing everyone due to its inappropriate contents. 

Cornerstone Bar & Food and Sydney's 19th Biennale

"Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow" - Imogen Cunningham. 

Qube On Bay: Fujifilm XT1

In the past Fujifilm had impressed us with their retro looking-styled cameras. Most notably, this can be seen in their x-series such as that of the x100, x10, x20 and much much more. And with the release of the Fujifilm XT1 there is a continuation of Fujifilm producing nice sexy cameras...

.... I have a thing for sexy cameras.

At the moment I currently own a Fujiflm x100. As you should be aware by now, all my previous blog posts were all shot with the x100. I've never owned a DSLR in my life, but I hope to in the coming months. While the x100's 23mm equivalent 35mm fixed lens forces me to experiment with how I shoot it can sometimes be a limitation to my style and photography.

I've had many chances to use a DSLR to shoot and thankfully I took every opportunity presented to me because much like Dan of Sutoritera, who recently converted to mirrorless cameras and for other reasons asserted here, I have found carrying a DSLR can be tiresome, burden to one's shoulder and back, and extremely heavy. His 'main catalyst' to this problem was to pick up a mirrorless camera. His first being an Olympus OMD EM1 and his second the Fujifilm XT1 I believe.

So after walking into work a few days ago, there it laid. The XT1 with it's 35mm f1.4 attached. It was a chance to use a DLSR that did not require me to lift. It was just sitting there. Calling me. Tempting me to pick it up and use it, much like Frodo and the one ring.

So I did.