Unsensored is a photography exhibition showcasing the works of analogue photographers. The exhibition opens this Friday night at Collingwood Gallery and runs until the 25th August.

I will be exhibiting a photograph taken with the 1954 Voigtlander Vito B I picked up in an op shop for $40. The photograph I am exhibiting was taken in northern Peru earlier this year. With the blaring desert sun and no meter I maxed out the camera at f/16 for 1/300 of a second.

I hope to see you there. Opening night is the Friday 13 August at 6pm.

Despite the fact that it was a freezing cold winters night here in Melbourne I thought I would check out “the light in winter” at Federation Square. With no way to meter I decided to try some long exposures to capture the projects in Federation Square. Unfortunately it is underexposed, however it gives me a pretty good indication that the camera functions well and my seal replacement was a success!

I will next try out Shanghai GP3 120 Black and White film. I look forward to posting the results here shortly.

Tomorrow nights event “Shoot A Miner” is a portraiture event that encouraged members to get out and shoot one another. Several of my photos will be shown, most of which I photographed with my lovely little 1954 Voigtländer Vito B, using black and white film which I then processed in my bathroom. Several members of the group also photographed me during various meets.

Details are below, all are welcome.

Shoot A Miner 2010
Thursday 6th May 2010, 6pm onwards
Horse Bazaar
397 Little Londsdale Street, Melbourne

Melbourne Zombie Shuffle 2010

The Melbourne Zombie shuffle is an annual event where a diverse range of individuals dress up as zombies and walk shuffle their way through the Melbourne CBD. Similar events also take place in other cities around the world.

Saturdays Melbourne Zombie Shuffle was the largest known event to date anywhere in the world with more than 4000 zombies attending, the event continues to grow every year. The creativity, time and effort put into some of the costumes makes it worthwhile attending even if you are not one of the 4000+ people dressing up.

More pics from the day can be viewed here.

Recently I purchased a beautiful looking 1953 Voigtlander Vito B camera from an Op Shop. I had it serviced in Lima, Peru whilst on holidays there recently. It has been an enjoyable challenge shooting without the aid of any light meters, focusing screen or rangefinder. I have been guessing the aperture, exposure and focal distance resulting in some blurry and/or under exposed shots. Whilst picking up my digital SLR is much more convenient, I occasionally going back to the fundamentals and appreciating the art and science that is photography.

At about 1am the other morning I finally realised that I had a full roll of film and everything necessary to develop it in my bathroom, so I quickly got to work. About half way through I realised it was not as easy as my university days when I had access to a large darkroom, pre-diluted chemistry and temperature controlled taps. About three-quarters of the way through I was convinced that I had probably stuffed it up and would not yield any results from the film. The first few frames unraveled from the reel were absent of images, but then to my surprise images started appearing us I unraveled it further. When I tell people I still shoot film sometimes they look puzzled. They do not understand how much more satisfying it is to unravel a roll from a tank and see developed images as opposed to downloading photos off of a memory card. The physical actions involved in loading the tank, mixing the chemicals, the smell of the chemicals, agitation and hanging the negatives in the shower are a world away from clicking a mouse.

This weekend, I look forward to shooting a few more rolls of Black and White film and processing them in my bathroom. Stay tuned for some more pics.

One of the first sights seen was a large drawing of a cactus, this drawing is believed to pre-date the Nazca lines. It is believed to have been created around 500 BCE. The Islas Ballestas are home to millions of birds, their droppings produce guano. The Peruvian government collect and export approximately 2000 tonnes of guano from these islands every four years.

The remnants of Cyclone Laurence will provide some interesting wind conditions for the race. I wish Jon & Bugalugs a safe and rewarding trip.

My aim was to create a more user friendly site that I can easily update. I will now tweak it in preparation for my upcoming trip to South America. I hope to post blog entries, photos and gps tracks whilst on the move.

I welcome any feedback you might have about the new design or any suggestions for wordpress plugins that work well for travel blogs.