A disclaimer: I’m not a photographer and I have no plans to be. Taking photos is just something I enjoy. Recently I bought myself a fancy-pants camera and have been having fun/temper tantrums learning how to use it.
On Saturday a friend and I were booked into a four-hour photography course. It started pretty early, so I thought, if I have to get up early on a Saturday why not just get up super early and go and take some photos? I thought some photos of the sunrise as it hit the Story Bridge and the buildings of the CBD would be quite lovely.
I had a particular spot in mind, so at 5.40am was in the car heading there – but best laid plans – I missed my exit and instead went over the bridge and ended up at Kangaroo Point, underneath the bridge…it turned out to be a happy accident because the view from there of both the bridge and the city was beautiful anyway.
On the advice of a lovely photographer who I’m lucky enough to work with I have been playing with taking photos using aperture and shutter priorities – just to get myself out of the auto-mode comfort zone and to become familiar with what the right settings are. This has been a useful exercise – although it doesn’t offer as much control as the manual function and so sometimes the results haven’t been what I’m after.
Here’s a few photos from my morning session, when I was “shooting” in aperture or shutter priority.
I like this one the best, in particular the way the light is hitting the bridge. The people doing the bridge walk must have been enjoying the spectacular view. They kept waving to me – very excited to be up there I guess.
Hanging around in the mangroves under the bridge.
The sun is a spotlight on the beach.
So that was my morning. I then went and left the beautiful weather and sat in a dark room for four hours to learn about the very basics of photography. The course was useful – some stuff I did know, some I didn’t – but it was theory only. I learn best by doing, so I decided to take myself back out that afternoon for sunset, and finally try out the manual setting. This time I didn’t miss my exit and made it to the spot I’d been aiming for in the morning.
More people climbing the bridge in the afternoon.
I don’t have a tripod so I was leaning against a fence and smushing the camera against my face for stability – this is probably the most in focus shot I got. And finally, took this with my iPhone just as I was leaving:
Sure, it’s a bit grainy but it’s probably my favourite. What’s the point of having a fancy-pants camera when an iPhone can do this?
So that was my Saturday from sunrise to sunset. The photos are not award-winning, but I had fun and it was great practice.
Lovely shots! Congrats
Thank you!