Hi Everyone,

This is a shot of an old jetty which is next to the famous Busselton Jetty.  There are so many photos of the Busselton Jetty out there that I decided to try a different angle.  This was taken during a Spring morning and I just love the subtle pastel colours in the sky.   Each wave seems to have its own indvidual colour in this photo as well.  So cool.

Hopefully its shows that a photo doesn’t have to have a multitude of elements in it to make it effective or attractive to people.   Simple compositions quite often are the best compositions of all.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

The shot was taken with a Canon 24-70mm L series lens using my Canon 1Ds MkIII.

One of the bad things about summer here in Perth is that I hardly ever seem to get out and take any great photos, because there are simply no clouds.  One of the great things though is that I go through and review what photos are on my hard drive unreviewed and gathering dust.

It gives me time to dig up photos that I might have missed on  my first review of the shoot and tinker with them a little more.  There have been numerous occasions where I’ve managed to dig up some amazing shots sometimes years after taking them.  Its a great reason why you should never delete anything.  Ever!

This shot was taken in the South West of Western Australia about 3hrs from Perth.   Its been sitting on my hard drive since 2008 and I’ve only just discovered it this evening.  You can imagine my joy when I saw this photo.  I loved it and just had to work on it straight away.

If you like this example of Australian landscape photography and you’d like to see more please visit my Australian landscape photography page.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

There is a really funny story behind this photo.  Its an old decommissioned church were I train at once a week.   As I was standing outside with the instructor he asked me, what do I look for in a photo?   I looked around, looked up and pointed at the steeple and said something like that.   I then said my goodbyes and started to head off to my car.

I’d only taken a few steps when I realised that I’d just identified a great photo and walked off without doing anything about it.  Crazy right?   I ran to the car grabbed my Fuji X100 a camera that I carry everywhere and pinged off a few shots.  I am so glad that I did as the result is a pretty cool photo.

Are there any lessons learnt out of this experience?  I think so.  Always, always take a camera with you where ever you go.  If I don’t have my normal camera I have my Fuji.  If I don’t have the Fuji X100 then I always have my iPhone 4S.   Remember the more times you are out there taking photos the luckier you get.

What are you waiting for?  Its time to get out and about and get some photos.

Thanks for reading,

Jamie Paterson

I was lucky enough to visit the Monte Bello Islands off the North West coast of Western Australia.  They are extremely remote and very hard to get to because of their distance from mainland, approx 100kms.  The Montes are most famous for being the site of three atomic bomb explosions during the 1950s and have been off limits to the public until only a few years ago.

These days the radiation limits have fallen dramatically and you are allowed on the islands for a suggested a hour at a time and you’re not supposed to pick up any metal either.   I wish I had read that before I was picking up engine pieces off the beach.

I managed to spend a few hours above the islands in a helicopter with the doors off and got some great shots of the Monte Bello Islands.   The best thing is I didn’t glow at night time afterwards either!

There is still quite a bit of infrastructure there from when the British were using the islands for their atomic testing, with bits of cars and engine blocks spread across the main island.   The main nuclear shelter is still standing as well.

I hope you enjoy the photos.  Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

Is the beginning of the Canon 5D Mk3 marketing ploy or are we just being teased yet again?   Chase Jarvis posted this on his blog about an hour ago.

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2011/10/canon-5d-markiii-camera/

Your thoughts?

Jamie

What are you looking at here?  A dinosaur eye?  A bunch of colours and patterns?  Nothing?  I love photos like this because they cause us to stop and think, to gaze and ponder.

Australian Landscape Photography

So would you like to know what it actually is?   Its part of a coastal mangrove in the North West of Australia, about 100Km south of Karratha.

The little green half moon shape is actually a mini island and the surrounding white parts are salt that is left behind as the tide recedes.  The red bits on the top of the photo is the actual coastline.

When I saw this scene below me as I was flying in the helicopter I knew it was going to be an amazing aerial photograph, I just can’t believe I subsequently forgot about it and left it on my computer for six months before I found it again.

How Did I Get The Shot?

First things first, I managed to get a ride on a AW139 helicopter then I asked the pilot to fly at around 1500ft as this seems to be a pretty cool height for aerial photography.

I was using my Canon F/1.2 50mm lens which is sharp as a tack and my Canon 1DsMkIII.

The settings were:

TV Priority – 1000sec

ISO 800

Aperature – F5.6 (ish)

That gave me an amazingly razor sharp shot.  Remember as I was shooting directly downwards I didn’t have to worry too much about depth of field.

I hope this helps you out.  If you like my Australian landscape photography please click on the link.

Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

Why Do I Love This Photo So Much?

I have an extremely strong connection to this photo and it really took me ages to work out why.  I’ll admit its not the world’s greatest landscape photograph, but it still really drawn me in.

It Invokes An Emotion Within Me:

When I took at the two ladies just standing there and looking out into the sunset it makes it really easy for me to place myself there and feel what I imagine them to be feeling.   I imagine them to be looking at the sunset, with awe, wonder and contentment and I can feel all those emotions right now because of them.

Orginally I was going to remove the ladies and I must admit I spent quite a bit of time doing so, but the more I did it the more I realised the whole photo actually revolved around them and their actions.

What do you think?  Do they add or detract from the photo?

If you enjoyed this photo and would like to see more Australian landscape photography please click on the link.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

I was so lucky to be able to capture this landscape photograph of Cable Beach in Broome.   It was sensational, exciting to watch and even more importantly it lasted for ages.

How many times have you been out for a sunset shoot only to have it disappear often within minutes?

Frustrating right?   It seems like in Perth we get less than 5mins to capture the best sunset light possible before it actually disappears.   This means you have to be super organised and super quick to make sure you get the shot you want.

The flipside is that because we are used to working so quickly here in Perth quite often when we go somewhere else to capture a sunset we are able to photograph lots of different points of views during the same sunset as we can move so quickly.

From memory this sunset seemed to last around 20mins so I was buzzing around the beach catching as many different shots as possible.

What should you do to be organised during short sunset locations?

You have to be organised and really quick.   Turn up to your location at least an hour before sunset and work out two points of view that you’d like to shoot of that location.  Why two?  What happens if the light is better from one point of view?  You want to be able to instantly switch across to the other one without having to think about it.

Take some test shots of each point of view to make sure that you’re happy with the composition, again you probably won’t have a lot of time up your sleeve so pre planning your composition is only going to help you out when sunset happens.

If you do at least those two things you should be good to go when sunset arrives and then prompty disappears!

Any other suggestions?  I’d love to hear them!

Happy Shooting,

Jamie Paterson

Ocean Beach in Denmark, Western Australia is a breathtakingly stunning beach and it never ceases to amaze me every time I visit it.

Just look at the crystal clear water in the inlet its just fantastic.   Ocean Beach has some amazing surf and its rarely crowded, on this particular day there were only three people out in the surf having a blast.

Wilsons Inlet which is pictured is also a haven for fisherman and lots of fish can be caught as they run in between the ocean and the inlet.

I’m so thankful that places like this are only a few hours from my home here in Perth and I realise I’m truly blessed to be able to experience places like this and to be able to bring my Australian landscape photography to you.

To get this shot I used the following equipment:

- Canon 1Ds MkIII

- Canon 16-35mm F/2.8 lens

I shot this in manual mode and used the following settings:

F18

ISO 100

Shutter – 125th of a sec.

I hope this helps you in your shooting.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask.   If you would like to see more of my Australian landscape photography please click on the link.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

Hi Everyone,

I am extremely proud to be a part of this Art Auction which is being held to raise funds for reaseach into cancer affecting children   As a father of two very young boys and surviving a very brief and lucky scrape with cancer this subject is very dear to my heart.  So when I was asked to donate a photography I had no hesitation whatsoever and provided a 40in print of Cottesloe Beach to the auction.

If you are in Perth and would like to attend the event please do so.   If you are in Perth and can’t make it please spread the word.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson