Post Anzac Day

Leica Q-P Checklist

In the bag

• Blower
• Spare fully charged battery
• Clean soft cloth
• Lenspen + soft brush
• Zeiss lens wipes

Checklist:

• Camera is clean dust specks removed with blower.
• Lens is clean with no visible dust specks or stains.
• Leather cover is attached and locked.
• All photos are deleted.
• Focus mode is set to single-focus.
• Focus rectangle is in the middle.
• Display settings are set to EVF Extended.
• Exposure compensation is set to 0.0.
• Shutter speed is set to A.
• Macro is OFF.
• Focus ring is locked.
• Aperture is locked at A.
• In Live View make sure level gauge, histogram, overexposure blinker and all meters are visible. Press OK button to change the view mode.

Anzac Day - 2019

Soldiers are humans, they are real. 

They fight on fake identities, be it religion or nation. 

That is the tragedy of war, a real human killing another real human. 

When looked at this way, war becomes utterly absurd. 

As they were dying I don't think they wanted to be remembered as soldiers who sacrificed their lives for us to have peace. 

That would be no more than our delusional thinking to comfort ourselves. 

No, that is not what they were thinking when choking on blood. 

They would want us to remember they died needlessly. 

They would want us to value peace and understand the true meaning of it.           

Opera House in Autumn

For me a good picture is like a poem, it must invoke emotions otherwise not accessible via reality.

Sardines

Near the Luna Park

Framing - an analysis

This picture has 3 repoussoir objects, the church on the left the apartments on the right, and the wall at the bottom. Hence these foreground objects draw viewers gaze into the middle section with diminishing depth towards the horizon.

There is a subtle difference between the two. The picture on the right was taken from a vantage point more on the left, hence the church occupies a much bigger area. Despite this seemingly minor difference, the picture on the left draws our gaze directly in the centre of middle section, hence with no trouble our gaze reaches the horizon.

The picture on the right however is harder to look at, instead of gently steering our gaze towards the horizon, this picture makes us stuck on the left, somehow our gaze doesn't want to steer away towards the centre of middle section. This is because we pushed the repoussoir on the left (the church) too much to the right, as a result, it pushes the middle section further right, taking it away from our attention span.  It is harder (with an effort) to let our gaze driven to the horizon in the picture on the right. 

Tip: In order to see this effect with your own eyes, just click one of the pictures to enlarge, then quickly flip them by rapidly pressing the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.

Hidden forever

A picture often matters, not because it is extraordinary and complex, but because it is deceptively ordinary and simple. I often see beauty in ordinary things. Those I need to capture are the ones I want to keep to myself, the ones others should not see the way I see them, as if I want to lock them in a world they remain hidden forever, yet they are there if you really want to see them.

Emotions

For me a good picture is the one that come about effortlessly as it evokes emotions engraved deep inside my psyche. It is not about rules or how I want people perceive my pictures. It is all about me, how I want to remember my emotions.

You cannot take good pictures for the sake of taking good pictures. Good pictures require you to surrender, they are images of a different reality agonisingly more beautiful than your world, they won't let you in, unless you leave your pride and worldly intentions at the door.