Fraser Motorcycles' Ducati Launch Party in Perth

Fraser Motorcycles is one of the biggest motorcycle retail chain in Australia. They carry some of the biggest motorcycle brands like BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Yamaha and Buell.

Last week, Frasers held a party at the Llama Bar in Subiaco, Perth for the official launch of the Ducati StreetFighter bikes in Perth.

I was hired as the official event photographer by Frasers. Taking along my trusty second shooter friend, Charlene, I also invited another bike-crazy photographer friend, Geoff, to assist me and join us for the shoot.

Here are some of the photos we took at that party:

The excellent Fraser Motorcycles staff


The bike still under the cover
(Photographer: Geoff)


Ian Blackley from the local radio station Mix 94.5 was the MC for the night




(Photographer: Geoff)




(Photographer: Charlene)




..and obviously the media and the press were there too for the event

Here are some of the static display of the a red Ducati and a white one




(Photographer: Geoff)






(Photographer: Charlene)

For all the Perth Ducati bike lovers, you can visit Fraser's Ducati website here.

Love that bokehToo!

Charlene and I have this friendly competition about shooting the the best bokeh picture. She recently wrote something about our friendly competition in her blog post. We were scouting the Caversham house compound for an upcoming wedding shoot when we spotted this beautiful, well lit vine with gorgeous red leaves. You know, I have this thing about autumn leaves. I am crazy about the bright red, yellow, orange and brown colours in the leaves during autumn. I just love the beauty of this particular season. This is also why I create this nickname "autumnleaf" for myself, and named my photography business Autumnleaf Photography.

Each year, I would attempt to snap a few photos of some autumn leaves. Here are some of the ones that I have done over the years:

2009:


2008:


2007:


Charlene has some really beautiful autumnleaf images with great bokeh. Do visit her blog site to see for yourself.

Chinese spectacle for students on Chinese New Year Day

Students of Winthrop Primary School were treated to a colour lion dance performance this morning. The performance was held at an assembly and was organised as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations welcoming the Year of the Rat. Some pre-primary students donned the traditional chinese costume called qipao added to the festive mood.

The students marvelled at the acrobatic performance presented by the Chow Kwoon Yarn Yee Tong lion-dancing troupe.
The two lions even did a few laps around the assembly hall with students trying to touch them for "good luck" and picking up scraps of lettuces from the floor after the lions 'Picked the Green'.


The green here referred to the lettuces which were tied to a piece of string which also had a red packet attached. The string was hung on the wall some 2 to 3 meters high, and the lions 'ate' both leaves and red packet. Lying on the floor the leaves were 'chewed' by the lions while the ensemble played to a dramatic rolling crescendo. The lull was broken as the lion exploded back into activity while spitting out the lettuce leaves. This symbolic act of blessing by the lions, with the spitting out of the leaves, signified that there will be an abundance of blessings in the new year.

To sell or to give away photos - that's a difficult question

Recently I've done a shoot at the Perth's Biggest Office Party, a not for profit event that is run each year in the Perth CBD. Several thousand people turned up for music, fashion and of course beer to help support this years charities Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and The Greater Good Foundation. The highlight of the night was the fashion show showcasing fashion and jewelery from around Perth.

With all these interesting things happening, it was relatively easy to get some really great shots of the event, the models in the fashion parade and as well as the performers.



Now, here comes the big question... when I am being approached by the subjects who ask me for the photos, do I just give them freely or do I actually charge them a fee? The argument goes both ways. We can argue that I should give them freely as it was actually a non commissioned shoot. I was given a free press pass. Like many photographers there, I had access to many places which allowed me to capture some really amazing shots. As an amateur who is starting to go into freelance photography work, this was like serving my apprenticeship. So naturally, I would love to market myself and my service. Giving out free high resolution photos does seem to make sense.

Then again, I was told by my peers (other photographers, both professional and amateurs) by giving out free hi-res photos, I am actually responsible to help destroy the market. I can also see the logic to this side of the argument.

I really don't know which way I'll end up going, but right now, I feel that I should charge for the hi-res photos even if it mean just charging for a really small and nominal sum.

I will love to hear any comments from you readers about your views and opinion on this subject matter.

Some Wedding shots I took

Becoming a Wedding Photographer?

Lately, I have been so busy doing post processing of photographs I shot recently in two weddings. Both weddings were for colleagues of mine at work. Well, I am still officially an IT guy, not a true blue wedding photographer yet.

Wedding photography is not as easy as I thought initially. Other than the pressure of getting the "money shot" during the big days, there is also the post processing and presentation to be done after the actual shoot.

For the last couple of weeks, I have done nothing but post processing the wedding shots that me and my buddy photographers have captured, sort the photos and arrange them for slide shows and finally burn the photos into DVDs for the wedding couples - 2 to be exact.

I think for the next couple of blog posts, I will share my experience in different aspect about wedding photography. I hope sharing this experience may prompt many to think about doing wedding shoots and how to get prepared for a shoot.

If you are interested to see some of the shots I took, you can find them in the following Flickr address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnleafphotography

More photos from the beautiful Williams Bay, Denmark.

This place is so beautiful and I couldn't help taking heaps of photos of the place. Trust me, I haven't done justice to this place.

These 2 photos are taken at section of the bay called the Elephant Cove, also known by Elephant Rocks (The rocks looked like elephants from high elevation).

Perhistoric Earth? Hosted on Zooomr

I took these 2 shots during sunset. It was a cloudy day and was drizzling a little.