Issue 30 : February 2014
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Welcome to the first issue for 2014! While “Summertime” in NZ this year has sputtered into being in amongst a barrage of fronts and blustery wind usually reserved for Novembers, our readers have not disappointed with this month’s entries into our own “Summertime” competition.
ABOUT Whether you’re an enthusiastic weekend snapper or a beginner who wants to learn more, NZ Photographer is the fun e-magazine for all Kiwi camera owners – and it’s free! EDITOR Ollie Dale, ollie@nzphotographer.co.nz GROUP EDITOR Nick Harley ART DIRECTOR Jodi Olsson
Mario Marzuki’s image, titled “Different from the rest of us” really grabbed my attention because I saw that he saw an image within a highly-photographed location that some others would have missed. Plus, the image is in Portrait orientation, which means it works so much better as a cover (hint hint). And being different from the rest of us is something we like here at NZ Photographer – so many people call themselves photographers, but we like to be different, learning, immersing ourselves in photography, sharing our creativity and vision… So take that ethos into this month’s competition, and dare to be different, to see differently, and to learn something new!
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Phone Richard Liew on 09 522 7257 or email richardl@espiremedia.com WEBSITE www.nzphotographer.co.nz
NZ Photographer is an Espire Media publication
Ollie Dale Resident Judge NZ Photo
Are you passionate about photography? Would you like to be part of New Zealand's photography community? Are you keen to connect with other talented photographers? We're looking for an enthusiastic editor and competition judge for NZ Photographer in 2014. If you'd like to find out more about this awesome opportunity please visit us here.
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Next Month's Competition:
Street Photography In this issue of NZ Photographer we introduce you to the genre of Street Photography – now you have the chance to practice this wonderful art for yourself! Go read the article, and then head out to a street near you and show us your world from your point of view!
GET SHOOTING AND WIN! Photographers - This is a great opportunity to improve your photography skills and get some feedback from professional photography judges in a safe and friendly environment. Here's what's up for grabs! •
The winning image on the cover of the next issue
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A high quality print of your image and cover to immortalise your achievement for your grandchildren, courtesy of PCL Imaging
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Rules: Images submitted must be no older than 12 months from the date of publication of this issue. Entry to the competition is $5 and you can enter up to five images. Images must be no more than 100 dpi and no more than 1600px wide. Save them as jpgs in the prefered colour space of Adobe RGB (1998). If you don't know what this means, don't worry, but do Google it...●
$50 cash And of course, bragging rights and the envy of your fellow NZ Photographer fans!
Check out next month’s theme and enter at www.nzphotographer.co.nz!
WIN!
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Revolutionary Ideas How To: Photograph Street Art
NZ Photographer’s editor Ollie Dale spoke with photographer and street artist Ross Liew, aka TrustMe, about what street art is and how to get great photos.
The Cut Collective: (from L-R) TrustMe, Enforce 1, Flox, Component, Kool and Bo (front).
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What exactly is street art? Is it one thing or can it be multiple disciplines? Street Art is simply art on the street. Like conventional art, it is up to the viewer to determine exactly what they consider art is. That road cone on top of a phone booth? That mismatched paint where someone’s painted out graffiti? Maybe someone’s drain bubbling over from too much detergent down the plughole? So, you’re a street artist and a photographer? I have been involved with photography since I was 15. Though I majored in it at an undergraduate level, after a few ‘taster’ jobs I never pursued it commercially, preferring to use it in an artistic context to contribute to the rest of my work. I worked as a photography technician at AUT for over five years while completing my masters, overseeing the facilities and gear during the onset of digital technologies. To this day photography remains the biggest challenge of all creative mediums I have come across due to its inherent complexity and scientific componentry. Yet it has the ability to produce amazing results from very simplistic approaches. Case in point being the work I shot for my Masters being carried out on a five dollar, manual winding, plastic body, plastic lens film camera, with no focus and no exposure control! Beautiful.
Typically however, it is now pretty easy to categorise. Stencils (a la Banksy), and paste-ups (a la Shepard Fairey) are your most common forms, though it commonly includes stickers, graffiti, installations, interventions, sculpture and more. It has strong ties to street culture and the traditions therein. Hence the frequent subject matter of revolutionary ideas, sneakers, hip-hop etc. It can often be something addressing the issue of ownership of public space, or alternatively be purely aesthetic driven. Some parts political and some parts purely visual. In New Zealand the street art tends to be more conventional. Graffiti makes up the majority of it with stencils and paste-ups being next most popular forms. The term graffiti applies to large scale, letter based, spray painted designs and it should be noted that graffiti writers typically consider graffiti separate to street art. www.nzphotographer.co.nz 5
Who are street artists? And why do they do it? Street artists tend to be young people with an interest in art and design who may or may not be studying it at Uni. At the same time one of our crew is over 40 so it doesn’t pay to generalise too much! You could say they are people with an active interest in the shape of the environment around them who are prepared to take personal risks to contribute to the dialogue within public space and not leave it to be carried out solely by advertisers. Some do it for fame, which you can get, albeit on a very small and peer based level. It takes a huge amount of cunning, guile, courage and consistency to get even close to the recognition someone like Banksy has achieved.
Where can I find street art? Your best chances are in the cities; the bigger the city, the better your chances. Though Auckland’s feverish approach to painting out graffiti and street art means you usually find more in Wellington, Christchurch and even Dunedin. Graffiti is easy to find, good graffiti a little more difficult. Not 6 www.nzphotographer.co.nz
surprisingly secluded industrial or semi-industrial spots appeal to graffiti writers as do the train corridors. There are often legal walls in the cities which are regularly painted and repainted; these are often on the end of or behind blocks of shops in more suburban areas. Street art is similar though usually found in more public areas, alleyways, car parks, billboards. Usually the more character-filled sections of Auckland like Karangahape Rd and Cuba Street. Always keep your eyes peeled and it often pays to look up, too.
How can I photograph some street art? Always consider the context in which you find it. Street art is often placed deliberately within a context that engages or activates the space. If you can identify this then it should also be present in the photo. Having your friend pose with street art is probably not the best way to include a human element. Better, see if you can catch a candid passerby in the frame to give it a sense of life and scale. My personal preference is to shoot the inner city without any people in it, only the traces of their presence.
TK Kurikawa / Shutterstock.com
As street art often exists on walls it is tempting to shoot it directly front on. Experiment with angles to add a sense of depth to the image. Lower camera angles always add some drama. Consider shooting at night relying on available street light or long exposures and a tripod. Avoid a flash at all costs, there are usually many shiny surfaces nearby that will flare up in the photo. Think about composition. There are many classic compositional devices you can use on the street. And there is a large element of geometry in the buildings and other surrounds that can be incorporated into the photo. This can often provide a nice juxtaposition to the more organic nature of the street art. You often have to be fresh on the scene to get your photo as it will likely disappear within days if not hours. If you commute by foot or regularly walk then always take your camera. It will pay to make inner city walking more of a focus than coastal walks. There is plenty to discover and admire on an intimate level within our built up cities, so make the effort. Street art lends itself to good photo essay material. It has its own culture and once familiar with the art you can link works back to individual artists. Eventually you can see evidence of their travels through the whole city and even the country. Like many subjects, early morning and early evening are great times to shoot things on the street, the long shadows and interesting colour of the light add something a little special. www.nzphotographer.co.nz 7
Are there any other things I need to consider when photographing street art? Street art is not the domain of ‘thugs’ or ‘hoods’. The graffiti writers who paint big colourful murals are typically more mature, respectful and friendly than the common perception of a ‘tagger’. Approach them openly about photographing their work, even when they’re at work, and most will oblige. Photographing street art is not a crime. I know of a surprisingly high number of people who have been questioned over photographing street art by police and property owners alike. You’re doing society a service creating an archive of something that will be valued for its temporality in the future. Be prepared to go out of your way. To find really good stuff you may need step outside convention and really get exploring. See what you can do post photo. That is, use whatever knowledge you have of Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture or any other software that lets you alter contrast, saturation, colour balance or anything else. Vignetting is pretty fashionable right now. Check out the site of Auckland graffiti writer Askew to see some post-production work designed to bring out the best in the artwork.
Credit: Gwoeii / Shutterstock.com
Always respect the artist. Be mindful of the fact that there is someone risking fines and criminal convictions for making the effort to decorate the city. The fact that the art may not always be legal and exists in public space, does not remove the ethical element of intellectual property rights. The actual extent of legal constraints around the reproduction of street art in photographic form has not been fully tested however. A friend of mine had a stencil of his photographed with really tight cropping, leaving just the stencil in frame. This was then subsequently reproduced and sold as prints on canvas, directly competing with his own original paintings of that same stencil on canvas. Photographing street art is fine but creating a commercial exercise out of someone else’s work is morally wrong. That said there would be little issue with a photograph of street art that includes the contextual information, the wider setting and some work and effort by the photographer to create a great photo that is then exhibited and sold. Once you have a body of work consider uploading it to Flickr or another photo sharing site; it’s great to give back and let others enjoy what you have captured. Much like the ethos of the artists making the work. Ross Liew, aka TrustMe, is one of the founders of the Cut Collective, New Zealand’s most prolific and high-profile street art collective, as well as a highly experienced photographer with a photography major within a Bachelor of Graphic Design. He also taught photography at both high school and tertiary level, and recently completed his Masters in Art & Design at AUT. He also won Metro Magazine’s ‘Young Photographer of the Year’ Portraiture competition in 2007. For more go to www.cutcollective.co.nz.
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Mario Marzuki This photo is called “Different From The Rest of Us” and symbolises togetherness. A black-backed gull is perching at the tip of Otakamiro Point or “Gannet Rock” in Muriwai Regional Park - Olympus OMD E-M5 with 40-150mm zoom 10 www.nzphotographer.co.nz
Steve Harper Pasifica, Western Springs Nikon D600, 1/200 @ f11, 50mm f1.8 lens, ISO100
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Aimee Kelly Going somewhere you’ve never been before. Morrocco, Northern Africa. - Canon 5D MarkII
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Jacqueline Viljoen My family taking a walk on Waikanae beach in January!
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Grant Beedie My 6yr old daughter, Shona in our back garden in Christchurch. (Dec 2013) Nikon D3100 - F5.6 - 1/40 - iso100. I love how my daughter just did one of her ‘rare’ natural smiles, that I can never get her to do when I ask her!
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Doug Humby Tour bus decides to run before full tide along 90 Mile Beach Northland. The excitement of challenging the elements - but expecting a more exciting photo opportunity, if it got stuck!
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Mario Marzuki Gannet Rock Sunset. Gannet colony in Muriwai Regional Park (Otakamiro Point or “Gannet Rock�) - Olympus OMD E-M5 with a 12-50mm zoom and ND filter. I wanted to capture a sense of how these Gannets made a home out of a place exposed to such ferocious waves and winds. The purple colour cast by the sunset light however brings a feeling of serenity.
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Steve Harper Young Photographer Enjoying a Day at Waiheke - Nikon D600, 1/160 sec @ f22, 24mm f 2.8 lens, ISO 400. The creativity of a youthful following of the craft of photography
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Aimee Kelly Home away from home. Lake District, UK - Canon 5D MarkII
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Jacqueline Viljoen Sunrise over Flat Point Beach
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Grant Beedie Sumner ‘Learn to Surf’ Group, Christchurch Dec 2013 (Sumner Beach) - Nikon D3100 - F5 - 1/800 - Iso 800. Thought it was unusual to see so many surfers lined up, but on the sand, and not in the water!
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Doug Humby Surfers heading out at Elliot Bay Northland. Nature’s isolation with opportunity to explore the surf without compromise
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Mario Marzuki Dune grass against a backdrop of Panatahi Island in Karekare Beach, Waitakere - Olympus OMD E-M5 with a 12-50mm zoom and polarising filter. The dune grass rolls in the wind and we used to chase them as children across the beach. The warm golden tone symbolises fond memories.
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Steve Harper Cornwall Park, Dancing at the Celebrations of American Involvement WWII - Nikon D600, 1/160 sec @ f10, 50mm f1.8 lens, ISO 100. This was a fun day of music and celebrating
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Aimee Kelly London Stranger#2, Eve. Portobello Road, London. - Canon 5D MarkII
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Grant Beedie Yellow Admiral Butterfly, my garden in Christchurch (Dec 2013) - Nikon D3100 - F8 - 1/400 - Iso 100. My first time shooting butterflies so I was happy with the shot, especially the effect the cloudy background has on emphasising the butterfly and flower.
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Doug Humby The beach at Elliot Bay Northland. A record of the isolated tranquility of a privately protected environment
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Steve Harper Piha, West Coast, Auckland - Nikon D600, 1/160 sec @ f16, 50mm f1.8 lens, ISO 100. Expansiveness of this lovely space is illustrated on this typical January day.
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Aimee Kelly Early sunrise over the Thames River. Putney, London. Canon 5D MarkII
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Doug Humby Windsurfers at Eastern Beach in East Auckland. Colourful action performances on a low tide with opposing winds.
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Mario Marzuki Sunset water reflections of Karekare Point and Panatahi Island - Olympus OMD E-M5 with a 12-50mm zoom and polarising filter. The combination of warm golden tone and “hourglass� shape created by the polarising.
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Steve Harper Our NZ Christmas Tree, Manly Beach Whangaparoa - Nikon D600, 1/3 sec @ f22, 50mm f1.8 lens, ISO 50. Hoped to balance image by almost not getting the tree in the scene.
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Aimee Kelly Lone Man Fishing. Lake District, UK - Canon 5D MarkII
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INTRODUCING MPOWERPAD 2 – THE WORLD’S MOST VERSATILE SOLAR CHARGER The latest version of mPowerpad solar charger is ultra fast, expandable and features a unique removable pocket battery pack.
it is faster, expandable and extremely versatile,” said Lim Chuin Kiat, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Third Wave Power.
Singapore, 13 November 2013 – Singapore-based company Third Wave Power Pte Ltd today announced the launch of mPowerpad 2 – its latest and most advanced addition to its mPowerpad range of portable multi-function solar chargers.
What makes mPowerpad 2 truly unique and portable is the introduction of mPowerpack – a detachable battery pack that can be docked, charged, removed and carried around in one’s pocket or bag. mPowerpack not only supplies ready power on the go, it also provides users the flexibility to add more charging power as and when it is needed.
The new mPowerpad 2 solar charger charges fast – both from the sun and to devices that are plugged into it. With a battery capacity that is expandable from 3300 mAh to 11600 mAh, it can charge a smartphone up to 8 times*. It also features a pocket battery pack called mPowerpack that can be docked and removed from the main unit, as well as built-in radio, light and insect repellent. Weighing just 500g, mPowerpad 2 is half the weight and 40% thinner compared to the previous version – making it a highly portable and sustainable source of energy for users constantly on the move, within and without the power grid. “Based on users’ feedback on the first mPowerpad, especially in terms of performance and portability, we went back to the drawing board and radically changed its design. Typically, solar chargers have a trade-off between charging speed and portability, but with the innovative mPowerpad 2, you get the best of both worlds. On the outside, it is lighter, slimmer and ultra portable. On the inside,
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mPowerpad 2’s 5.4W solar panel captures solar energy really fast – just over an hour under the sun** harnesses sufficient energy to charge a smartphone. The fast charge capability also applies to charging smartphones, tablets and many other USB devices – once plugged in, mPowerpad 2 charges them as quickly as charging from the wall socket. Designed for rugged outdoor use, mPowerpad 2 has an outer shell made of sturdy high-strength plastic and sealed by a silicone gasket and grommets, making it water- and dustresistant. It also features fixture points that can be attached to bicycle or car mounts. In addition, the built-in multi-function features such as a reading light, flashlight, SOS signal (in Morse code), FM radio and ultrasonic insect repellent make the mPowerpad 2 an indispensable companion.
For home/urban users, outdoor enthusiasts as well as field professionals, mPowerpad 2 provides eco-friendly back-up power and more in a lightweight, portable package. Users can even leave the mPowerpad 2 to continue charging at a base location (e.g. home backyard, office window, car dashboard, campsite, boat deck, etc.) while carrying the detachable mPowerpack around for daily activities or work. In emergency situations where power is disrupted, the mPowerpad 2 can also provide home owners with essential back-up power, radio, light and SOS signal.
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mPowerpad 2 Ultra: 3300 mAh + 2500 mAh pocket battery pack, charger, reading light, flashlight SOS, FM radio, ultrasonic insect repellant
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mPowerpad 2 Pro: 6600 mAh + 5000 mAh pocket battery pack, charger, reading light, flashlight SOS, FM radio, ultrasonic insect repellant
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mPowerpack 25: 2500 mAh, flashlight
“With our increasingly heavy use of mobile devices, battery capacities are struggling to keep up, and there’s a growing demand for portable power both on and off the grid. mPowerpad 2 solar charger is here to meet those needs. Based on the positive reactions from retailers, we believe that this product can make solar charging relevant and useful not just to outdoor and field users, but also to the mainstream consumer.” said VS Hariharan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Third Wave Power.
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mPowerpack 50: 5000 mAh, flashlight
The company recently won the Green Technology Award at the Singapore Sustainability Awards 2013 which recognises organisations for their outstanding sustainable business
distributor list, visit www.thirdwavepower.com.
Availability mPowerpad 2 solar chargers are now available at retailers in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand at a recommended retail price starting from US$129. Prices for mPowerpack start from US$59. Worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. For more information and the
* Using mPowerpad Pro
The new mPowerpad 2 was also an award winner of ‘Fresh: A First Look at New Technology’ at DISTREE APAC 2013 which honours innovative new technology products.
** Charge times may depend on weather conditions.
mPowerpad 2 and mPowerpack models:
Contacts
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mPowerpad 2 Lite: 3300 mAh, charger, reading light, flashlight SOS
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mPowerpad 2 Plus: 6600 mAh, charger, reading light, flashlight SOS
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Media enquiries: Glenn Lim, glenn@20twentypr.com Yuen Yee Foong, yeefoong.yuen@thirdwavepower.com Distributor enquiries: admin@thirdwavepower.com
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“Every child is
an artist – the problem is staying an artist when you grow up. ” - Pablo Picasso
Have you subscribed to NZ Photographer? It’s free! Simply visit www.nzphotographer.co.nz to get a copy of NZ Photographer delivered straight to your inbox. 38 www.nzphotographer.co.nz