If it was up to me, I’d stick with candid shots over posed portraits. A candid shot captures the energy and the ambiance in the room better than any posed photo ever could. Take Bryce, for example. Have you ever tried getting a six month old to pose? It’s right up there with pulling teeth. He’s a baby – he won’t stop moving and, when he does, it’s probably because he’s got gas. Those times don’t typically make for an appealing photo.
Sometimes, you can prep all you want to get the perfect photo. You can easily spend an hour checking your equipment – your focal length, your aperture, your ISO, your flash settings…
And sometimes, all you need to do is grab your camera, run to the front door, and capture a moment, a million years in the making. Mother Earth is often your best subject.
While Taronga Zoo might not have the most amazing collection of animals or the most stunning of enclosures, it has a view that is unmatched. Appropriately named, Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning beautiful view. Located across the harbour from the Sydney CBD, it’s a must do for locals and visitors alike. It’s just across the harbour from the Sydney CBD, easily accessed by ferry from just about anywhere on the harbour. Passengers disembarking at the ferry wharf, located on Bradleys Head Road, can enter the zoo via a gondola lift or connect with local State Transit bus services. Sydney Ferries offer a combined “ZooLink” ticket, covering ferry fares, park entry and gondola ride. Good value, for a good day out, especially if you’re visiting from overseas and want to take in a bit of Aussie wildlife without straying too far from the CBD.
Once a year, Salesforce.com puts on a program that works with youth from under-resourced and low-income communities who want to learn about entrepreneurship. By joining the corporate world for a week at regional Salesforce.com offices and learning from employees and mentors, Biz Academy provides hands-on experience and real-world business experience. Hundreds of Salesforce employees donate their time, their experience, and even their hard earned money to help these deserving young individuals achieve the goals that they’ve set out for themselves.
In Sydney, Biz Academy 2011 partnered with BBall4All to bring a fun and active twist to the program. Working with Bob Turner (BBall4All Director, and ex. Sydney Kings player, coach, and GM) and Steve Carfino (OneHD NBL commentator and Sydney Kings legend), the program centered around how the fundamentals of sport can be incorporated into a not for profit program that encourages good health , education, and social habits. I had the fantastic opportunity to donate my time to this great cause, and capture it all from start to finish. There was even a bit of wheelchair basketball thrown into the mix to test the teams, and push them to think outside the box. Below are just a few of the photos from the week.
The Canon 5DmkII is a good camera. Actually, it’s pretty great. As my workhorse camera body, I’m always on the look out for firmware upgrades that add additional functionality. Last week, Canon released the latest edition of the firmware for the 5D and…nothing.
Ok, that’s not entirely true, but when all the dust settles, the ‘new functionality’ isn’t all that exciting. It fixes a few bugs and increases writing speeds to Compact Flash cards. Exciting right?
The firmware update (Version 2.0.9) incorporates the following improvements and fixes.
With the 7D on the market supporting 60fps video (and for a fraction of the cost), you’d think this is a feature that they’d push out to 5DmkII users everywhere – at least to tie us over until Canon tries to convince us to upgrade to the 5DmkIII, whenever that might be. Sure, the 7D doesn’t hold a light to the 5D in terms of still photography, the 60fps video is definitely a ‘nice to have’.
At the end of the day, it’s still an improvement on the previous firmware version. You can find instructions and the firmware upgrade here.