clairemakestracks-blog

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I've neglected until now to mention some of my photography inspiration. As well as some amazing Tasmanian landscape photographers I follow a lot of, predominantly female, travel bloggers on Instagram. This is mainly because I am a keen traveller myself and would like to improve my travel photography skills with a mind to creating my own blog at some stage. Many of their feeds are a colourful mix of landscapes, food photography, street photography and self portraits. I think I have a lot to learn from them as far as curating my own feed goes as I find that it doesn't really always flow in an aesthetically pleasing way and I would like to build my follower numbers. I guess part of the problem is many of these bloggers are travelling most of the time whereas I can only travel overseas maybe once or twice a year. Hence many of my photos currently are a mix of photos taken in my homestate, which should still hopefully appeal to those interested in travel, but also in my spare time I enjoying styling flatlay and vignette photos and regularly enter them in competitions, in which I have had some modest success. I am starting to think, however, that I should perhaps start a second account to separate my two photography interests so as not to alienate followers who are purely interested in travel... You can find me on Instagram: @claireturfrey

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One thing that fascinates me is people who are capturing media images that they never, ever view. They never go back to look at them. I think of these as orphaned memories.

DAVE WHITE, TECHNOLOGY ASSISTED LIFELONG RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense/the-digital-photograph-message-and-memory/5358808

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For the second half of Project 2 for the University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media unit I will look at how the tradition of paper making has survived and been embraced in a creative way in Burnie.

In a piece of good timing I happened to notice that the Betta Milk Wearable Paper Art competition’s Paper on Skin gala parade was being held on June 3.

While I couldn’t attend the actual event I was lucky enough to be able to go along to the rehearsal to catch some behind-the-scenes shots of the artists putting the finishing touches to their creations and the models trying them on for size.  

I’m also planning to do a Creative Paper tour at the Makers Workshop over the weekend to capture some paper making in action.

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For my University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media unit I have decided to narrow my Project 2 theme down further to focus on the story of Burnie’s evolution as a paper-making town, starting with the boom years of manufacturing when APPM was one of the major employers and put the town on the map.

The first few photos are what remains of the once huge factory site, and in particular, the image with the train tracks to me symbolises how things have moved on. I chose to edit this to make it black and white and quite grainy so it looks almost like it could have been an original photo from when the factory was in its heyday. 

The last image is part of the Paper Trail, which runs along the waterfront side of the entire length of the site and features commemorative sculptures.

I think the way the letters are falling over really symbolises how what was once such a huge part of the identity of Burnie has sadly fallen by the wayside. I think the sunset signals the end of an era and the lonely figures on the beach are searching for a way forward after the collapse of the manufacturing industry in the town. The silhouetted port crane and woodchip pile is a readily recognisable symbol of Burnie

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For my University of Tasmania Photography and Media Unit I have been working on developing my theme/story for Project 2: Images for a Social World.

 After my decision to narrow my focus from exploring Tasmania as whole to concentrate just on my hometown of Burnie I thought I might tweak my theme to become a story, told through a chronological collection of images that document the city’s evolution. 

To start with I thought I would explore some of Burnie’s natural attractions, such as Guide Falls and then progress to European settlement, with the rich farmland being a drawcard for the Van Diemens Land Company. I thought I might include an image of the oldest surviving building, the Burnie Inn, which was located to the park.

I couldn’t resist a snap of the ducks on the pond while I was there, it was such a beautiful day the green of the grass reflecting in the ripples of water reminded me of a Monet painting.    

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After reading about urban landscape photography for the University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media unit last week I thought I would see what I could capture on a quick wander around the waterfront of my hometown, Burnie, on the North-West Coast of Tassie.

Burnie has changed a lot over the years, from a town that relied on large scale manufacturing and was known for how polluted it was to now focusing on individual makers and making efforts to beautify its waterfront, so this might be an interesting story to explore further.

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If you take a thousand photos in a single day, you’ll still have only captured about 10 seconds of actual time.

http://photography.bastardsbook.com/lessons/how-to-make-interesting-photos/

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I’ve been having fun playing with my new camera - an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II - although I still have a lot to learn! I also picked up a Joby Gorillapod for when I’m out exploring and especially for long exposure shots.

One of my favourite features so far is being able to connect it to my phone via wifi and an app - you can see what’s through the viewfinder, adjust settings and use it like a remote, very handy for slow shutter speed shots.

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We’ve had some great rainfall across Tasmania in the last few weeks after a very dry summer which had dam levels to scarily low levels. As well as a return to renewable energy for the state it also means it’s waterfall season!

Taking some inspiration from a fellow University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media student, I headed out to find Upper Cam Falls. This is in a forestry area and not signposted at all but are close to the road and easy to find if you have some directions!

I also had a few stops along the way to capture some scenic spots on the road between Hampshire, Highclere, Ridgley and Burnie.

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I tried my hand at some street photography at Hobart’s Salamanca Market on Saturday. I could wander all day at this market, no matter how many times I’ve been before, but unfortunately this time I had just travelled down from Burnie and so arrived as stall holders were starting to pack up.

I still managed to do a quick walk through and saw a few little scenarios that caught my attention. I love catching candid moments and finding the beauty in the ordinary.  I’m also enjoying using Snapseed to inject a little more atmosphere into my images.

 I think these images tie in well with the University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media unit’s Project 2: Images for a Social World. I was going to focus more on a travel theme but thinking deeper about the “Social World” element of the project title I think I might try to work on improving my street photography skills...

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Tasman Peninsular Instameet post 3.

Our next destination was the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo, where the namesake animals captured most of my attention! Unfortunately it was while snapping away at the Devils that my camera battery went flat. This isn’t a problem I’ve had with my old Canon, which would happily go for days on end. I’m not sure if this is an issue with this type of Olympus but I’ll have to investigate and buy a spare battery!

Anyway, I relied on my Samsung S5 mini from there on, and wasn’t really happy with any of my other pictures of the kangaroos, wallabies and birds, they ended up being a bit blurry.

However, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the smartphone pics I took at our final stop, the Tessellated Pavement. I especially loved catching silhouettes and reflections in the water, including my own selfies. 

Most of these were taken looking down at my shoes and I raised my hand in a wave because otherwise just the shape of my head wasn’t very recognisable.

I was also impressed with the clarity in some close-up shots of bull kelp. I loved the texture and shape of these sitting on the rocks near some little limpets.

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Tasman Peninsular Instameet Post 2.

We had only about an hour in Port Arthur, where I could easily have spent the whole day, not having been there for just over 20 years. I think autumn is probably the most beautiful season to visit the site, with so many big old English trees. I loved trying to capture the texture of the old stone walls and convey some of the site’s history and serenity.

Our next stop was lunch at Port Arthur Lavender, where an incredible spread had been put on for us! Again I couldn’t help myself but to put my food photography skills to the test, as well as attempting some macro photography on a bumble bee on some lavender outside.

(Blog continues on next post)

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It was a big photography and social media weekend for me, with another instameet in Hobart on Sunday, May 8.

This was the largest gathering of Instagrammers I have attended, with 60 of us boarding a catamaran at Brooke St Pier and heading to the Tasman Peninsular for a day of exploring, thanks to Discover Tasmania and Hobart and Beyond.

It was a jam-packed itinerary, including a cruise past surfing locations, amazing cliffs and a seal colony at Cape Raoul before spending some time at the Port Arthur Penal colony.

(Blog continues on next post).  

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Some more pics from the Hobart Rivulet instameet with The Island Gatherings on Saturday. Something I love in photos is justaposition, in this case some urban decay set against nature, with a pop of colour.

The other shots were a chance to catch the beautiful sunset on my new camera (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II). I still need to work on learning the ropes with it but I like how I was able to catch some people and dogs in the foreground so they weren’t just plain landscapes, I think that adds some interest.

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I went to my second ever instameet on Saturday, May 7 in Hobart. I came across it through another student in the University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media Unit and thought it sounded like a great opportunity to get out and about and meet new people, even if it meant driving down from Burnie!

The event was hosted by The Island Gatherings and set off along the Hobart Rivulet from a new not-for-profit cafe called Hamlet. Of course I took the opportunity to get there a little early to have some lunch and practice my food photography skills.

This was also my first chance to try out the new camera I bought on Friday! I’ve been wanting to update my bulky Canon 600D for a while and finally purchased myself an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II. It’s so much more light and compact and while I’m still getting used to it I am pretty happy with the results so far.

Surprisingly, what I thought would be a chance to just take some nature and urban landscape photos became an impromptu exercise in portrait shots, thanks to the photogenic children of two of the participants and also a random cat that joined in the walk and nearly got itself stuck up a tree! Other than with family and friends I haven’t done any portrait style photograhy and I found I really enjoyed it. Might be something else to pursue in the future...

The contrast between the bright green grass and autumn colours was beautiful and the path running along the rivulet made for some great leading-line shots.

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For the University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media Unit Project 1 I’ve been working on honing my skills at taking selfies/self-portraits as a solo traveller.

I’d seen some pics from a friend of mine on Facebook that were taken at the Emu Valley Rhododendon Garden in my home town of Burnie and I though the autumn colours were so beautiful it would make a great backdrop.

I also thought this Japanese pagoda would be the perfect spot as I am planning to travel to Japan by myself next year for the cherry blossom season.

I deliberately chose to wear a blue coat to stand out in the image and I set up my DSLR on a tripod with a timer. There was a lot of running back and forth! Luckily my new camera has a smart phone app that I can use as a remote!

I’ve edited these images a bit in Snapseed, although the middle photo could do with the saturation being bumped up a little more.

I’m still not sure which one I like the best... 

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Here’s my personal identity mindmap that I completed as part of the University of Tasmania Photography and Social Media unit I am undertaking. It’s designed to help express who I am visually for Project 1: Selfie/Self-portrait.

I think this photo in itself says something about my character - rather than just use the Powerpoint template provided I preferred to `style it up’ a bit into a vignette. :)