Leave Only Footprints - The Journey

[radar]

Leave Only Fooprints - The Journey

It is very fitting for me to talk about my journey around the anniversary weekend of the DSLRusers forum. I joined the forums back in June 2005. The forums have helped me along on this journey of mine.

The DSLrusers certainly has been the online community that I have been the most involved with. From this great community, I have learned lots from the photographic side as well as the processing side of things and made some friends.

It is also a good time to talk about my exhibition, which I have called Leave Only Footprints - The Journey. Here again, it is quite a coincidence that opening night was very close to the forums anniversary. Opening night was just this last Friday 6 August 2010. I organised opening nigth as a fundraiser for the Leukaemia Foundation. Any proceeds on the sales of the prints on opening night will be going to support this great organisation. We had about 75 people at the opening and we sold 12 prints on the night, way more then I had even imagined. I haven't done the final figures yet but I will have raised well in excess of $2000. We also figure in the Newcastle Herald social pages, not sure if that is good or bad

Over the last few weeks, I have been extremely busy getting the exhibition ready, picking photos, processing, printing, matting, etc. I haven't had time to participate much on here lately. I kept planning to write this leading up to the exhibition but by the end of the day, I would be falling asleep on my keyboard!

So here is my photographic journey, via these fine forums.



Back in 2005, we were organising a trip to Africa and I decided that is was time to get back in photographic after taking a 20 year break, other then just the standard snap shots . A good friend of mine got me onto one of the forums benefactors at the time and I purchased a Nikon D70s. Having always been a lover of the outdoors, I set out to start taking photos of the area around Newcastle.

I started attending some of the mini-meets in Sydney, meeting the virtual forums members in person. One of the first images I was very happy with was entered in one of the challenges - 10 sec Exposure. It was this photo of the Bogey Hole that I entered and actually won the challenge. I got the message when I got back from Africa and I was totally stocked with the result.



I have this photo in my exhibition. It is one of the best sellers. This photo really rings true to a lot of the inner city Newcastle residents. I obviously got the image re-processed with the current software and the print looks great. It doesn't matter that it was taken with a camera that has "only" 6 megapixels.

The wildlife in Africa also got me really excited with the photographic opportunities that are out there. We love to travel and now having my camera with me was certainly a must-have.



Landscapes were certainly my first love and still are but I also love wildlife so there is never any shortage of photographic subjects as we travel the world. That is probably the best reason I like to call myself a nature photographer.

I have tried my hand at a number of different types of photography such as macro, which I will do if I find the right subject, some portrait photography, thanks to these forums and pet photography, goes with my love of dogs, as some of you know that we love golden retrievers and labradors.

I tend to like working solo, just being out there, hoping for that special moment, that special light. I also really enjoyed the mini-meets that the forums organised, when I could make it to Sydney. I was never one to post a lot of my photos out on the Internet but if I posted them anywhere, it was on these forums. The feedback that I got was always much appreciated, both good and bad. That is one thing I like of these forums, the members here will actually look at the photos and will give you some honest critisism. From these comments, I believe it has made me a better photographer.

Getting to see the breadth of work also posted on these forums pushed me to achieve higher goals. I always enjoyed submitting a photo to the challenges and seeing how good/bad it would do. A lot of the members here have been inspirational, look at Wendell for example, listen to Matt K. with his breadth of knowledge and so many others that I can't even name them all as I'm sure I would forget some and I don't wish to offend by omission

So my journey continues, shooting as much and as often as I can. I have become much more selective now in what I shoot and also how I shoot it. I know I'm not perfect and I have plenty to learn, that is one of the great things of this journey.

I have also started doing some black and white conversions on some of my images and I really enjoy these. So far in the exhibition, I have received some good feedback on these.

So I leave you with a selection of the images that I have in my exhibition, fifty of them I have on the walls at the gallery. If any of you are in Newcastle and I know a few members of the forum are, make sure to come and visit me at Gallery RAW. I should be there Thu-Sun 10-4 till August 29. I have a story for every photo in the gallery, so I can talk your ear off, if you like .


Merewether Baths Pumphouse


Nobbys Moonrise


Pencil Pines Sentinels


Flowing Fury, Liffey Falls - Tasmania


Vigar Wells Dunes - Mungo National Park, NSW


Misty Kluane - Yukon Canada


Family Reunion - British Columbia Canada

I've done a few b&w for the exhibition, here are a couple more.


Cazneaux's Tree - Wilpena Pound, South Australia


Going Softly

If you want to see more of what is in the exhibition, you will just have to come and visit me at:

Gallery RAW
202 King Street
Newcastle, NSW
http://www.galleryraw.com

Just kidding most of the images can be seen on my online gallery at:

http://www.leaveonlyfootprints.com.au/E ... 0509_UE7qZ

I hope some of the DSLrusers can come and visit.

Cheers,

André

[Alpha_7]

Congrats on a great opening night sucess, and for a very worth cause! I'll do my best to pop in and see it for myself =) You've already wet my appetite with a great selection of wildlife and landscapes!

Good luck for the rest of the exhibition! Here's to many more sales!

[surenj]

Congrats Andre. This is a huge achievement!

Will make an effort to get there. Maybe Thursday...

[Willy wombat]

I like what I see here a lot.

Congrats on the exhibition

[Matt. K]

Liffey falls....WOW!........Family reunion..........WOW! Cazneauxs tree....WOW! I'm going to try and get up to Newcastle to see the rest of these fabulous photographs. Andre....you are an artist.

[biggerry]

Nice work Andre, I will try and drop in on my way past one day. All your images look great, even on the phone!

[radar]

Thank you everyone, your comments are very much appreciated. It would be great to have any of you visit. I'll put on a nice coffee(or tea) for any DSLrusers that visits

[aim54x]

Congrats Andre. You have some amazing pictures!

[surenj]

I am probably dropping in around 2pm Thursday. Shhh.... Don't tell work

I will confirm tomorrow.

[radar]

Shhh.... Don't tell work

Secret good with me

[gstark]

Andre,

Congratulations on a wonderful and successful opening night.

Your images here are truly wonderful, and a tribute to your skills. I hope that you sell heaps, and most of all, that you truly enjoy what the exhibit can bring to you.

[radar]

Thank you Gary,

I hope that you sell heaps, and most of all, that you truly enjoy what the exhibit can bring to you.

It was a lot of hard work to get there but it is truly enjoyable to see people coming through the gallery and actually loving some of my photography, very rewarding, even humbling at times.

I certainly have learned heaps from the experience.

André

[gstark]

André,

was a lot of hard work to get there

.....

I certainly have learned heaps from the experience.

As an aside, what would it take to prepare a short text describing how you went about the task of preparing for the exhibition? I'm thinking in terms of apart from the photographic processes involved, and more along the lines of how you approached the gallery (or galleries, most likely) and get them to agree to display your work, and then the various processes that you engaged in the preparation of your images for display: selection, printing, mounting and framing, etc ...

I'm sure that if you were able to try to document the processes, that would be of great interest to many other members here.

[radar]

Gary,

I'm sure that if you were able to try to document the processes, that would be of great interest to many other members here.

I guess you can now add mind-reading to your résumé

I had thought of writing an article about the process that I have gone through, since it is still fresh in my mind. As I sit in the gallery, I'll start writing about this and then submit to the forum. As you say, it should be of interest to others.