Fotodudenz's Blog

Leica M9

2012-01-30T21:15:00.001+11:00

Cliche Crepe, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

I was a very lucky boy today.

Today I got to play with my friend Ravnish’s Leica M9. And by strange coincidence he wanted to have a go on my new Panasonic 7-14mm lens. So a temporary trade agreement was reached.

It was awesome.

It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fucking awesome.

But that awesomeness comes at a price, $7000 to be exact, that’s a lot of rolls of film and developing.

That’s also a lot of cola bottle lollies, over 593kg to be exact.

But if I had the money I would own one in a heartbeat.

I even did a little lens wideness comparison between the 12mm on the M9 and the 7-14mm on an Olympus EP3. As you can see it’s not that much wider, about 7º. So that works out to be $1000 per degree for that extra wideness. That heartbeat just got a bit longer. Can’t do video on a M9, longer again. Don’t have the money, call it, time of death 9:14pm.

Panasonic 7-14mm

2012-01-22T11:04:00.001+11:00

Yellow, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

As you may have noticed I have bought a new lens for the Olympus EP1, I have been trying to get wide on it without spending too much dosh, the 12mm is ok on there but it becomes a not so wide 24mm and there was that bloody fisheye which was soft as shit. I have been secretly (or maybe not so secretly) lusting over the Panasonic 7-14mm since I got the EP1 and watching them sell on eBay for about $800 used, so I thought I’d check the price on B&H and there it was new for not a whole lot more, so I bought one.

I do feel slightly dirty about the whole thing. I did say I wouldn’t invest more money into the Micro Four Thirds mount because it “would be dead in a couple of years” and I could have bought a shit load of film for $800, especially since Kodak are in the throes of death and I may have to give up my beloved BW400CN for shitty XP2. Plus I feel bad for the Xpan which has pretty much been ignored since September, I must do something about that. The lure of digital has been strong recently also, people taking awesome photos on their Fuji x100s as well as Leica M8s and M9s. So I sat down and told myself that an EP1 is very similar to an x100 and I can’t afford a M9 and if I get the 7-14mm it’s wider than the 12mm on a M8. And... SO THERE!

I like the 7-14mm. It’s wide and as you know, I like it wide. I took it to the aquarium the other day and it performed quite well in the low light but I what I really want to know is why they make it a zoom? Has anyone actually used this lens at 14mm? And what I wouldn’t give for a little vignetting! Just a bit. Oh and hyper-focal focusing would be nice also. Video on this lens is very exciting, I have shot a few already and I will definitely shoot more. So yeah, it’s a pretty kick-arse little lens and I’m quite happy with it.

In other news... nothing really. It was my birthday the other day. Ambre and I are going to Tasmania later this year and I’m still thinking about going into the Outback sometime soon. Work is surprisingly busy for this time of year. That’s about it!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-09T22:23:00.001+11:00

Macgregor #9, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

I thought I'd better write a post for the new year considering I didn't do one in December.

Hi.

How are you?

Oh me, I'm great.

Ambre and I spend Xmas in Canberra with her Dad and Bella the dog, we were only there a couple of days but I managed to shoot a couple of frames, like the one above.

One day between Xmas and New Year we went and checked out the Heide Museum of Modern art and there were some awesome rings there.

Then on New Years Eve Eve Mike told me about some photos he had seen of an awesome abandoned place somewhere in Melbourne. After an hour or so of investigating we gave up and I send a SMS to a couple of people and one of them knew where it was, so the next day we were off to Frankston, my first time.

I also managed to finish Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition and Battlefield 3 and do absolutely no scanning for my Japan book, I still plan on finishing it this year.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

MJ.

David

2011-11-15T09:30:00.001+11:00

A man and his Toyota., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

You're probably wondering who this old fella is I have been taking photos of.

He's not my Dad, Grandfather or Uncle, I'm not related to him at all. His name is David and he's a customer who comes into work. He likes to have a chat and one day when I successfully identified the difference between a Salmon and a Trout it was all on.

For the last few months he has wanted to take me fishing, he's been fly fishing for over 60 years so he knows a thing or two about it and a couple of weeks ago we organised a day. So last Monday he came and picked me up at 3am, no that isn't a typo, 3am. And we drove out to a private lake that he fishes at near Kinglake. He fished and I wandered around and took photos and video, of him mostly.

Then we drove around a bit looking for rivers to fish in and we got to the Steavenson River and we walked up it for a kilometre or two.

It was a very long day but I had a lot of fun, I am pretty sure we both did, lots of laughs and I learned A LOT about fly fishing. Not bad for a 79 year old.

Unsensored11

2011-11-03T14:28:00.001+11:00

G'day Ray, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

I finally decided on an image for Unsensored11. I actually had decided on one already but I changed my mind on the tram this morning. I took it way back in 2007 when I first came to Melbourne and I first met Ambre (That's not her in the photo) so it's not only a popular image and one that I like, it also gives me good feelings when I look at it.

UNSENSORED11
Collingwood Gallery
292 Smith Street Collingwood

Opening Night:
Friday 25th November 2011 from 6pm

Exhibition dates:
Saturday 26th November – Wednesday 7th December 2011
Midday – 6:30pm Monday – Friday
10am – 6pm Saturday & Sunday

Originally uploaded 20/02/2007

Good Night New Zealand

2011-10-18T22:24:00.001+11:00

Good Night New Zealand, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

It’s official, I’m one of those assholes who don’t update their blog, but I am in no way sorry because if you really gave a fuck about what I had to say you’d be following me on Twitter and would have “Liked” me on Facebook.

As you know I went to New Zealand back in August, that was pretty cool, actually, cold. On the last weekend I was there it snowed, a lot! And so for the last couple of months I have been slowly uploading my images. At first I wasn’t happy with what I had captured, I shot a lot of black and white and when I showed friends the photos on the iPad they reacted better to the colour shots. I like black & white, fuckers

Anyway the image above is pretty much my last “official” shot from my trip around the South Island. Don’t get me wrong, there are more shots from before and after my road trip that I will upload soon enough.

I didn’t take many photos of Christchurch broken, the snow had a lot to do with that but I also felt confused. Part of me wanted to record what happened and part of me didn’t. Also part of me wanted to kick people who I saw taking photos of earthquake damaged stuff in the face.

I finally got to see Hanging Rock, it was pretty cool. Here’s a photo that I took:

What else have I been up to? The BIFB11 ended a month or so ago and I now have 6 massive Xpan prints at home taking up precious space. So I am currently mustering up the courage to ask a local cafe if I can put them up on their wall, will let you know how that goes.

Unsensored11 is just around the corner, we postponed it this year due to BIFB11, it opens sometime in November. More about that soon.

If by some miracle you didn’t see it, here is the video I made about my trip around the South Island:

That’s about it, see you next month I guess.

21 Signs You’re a Photo Douche.

2011-09-08T19:20:00.003+10:00

My response to this: http://rising.blackstar.com/21-signs-youre-a-real-photographer-now.html

1. You have friends? lol. And if you are with these “friends” at some sort of “social gathering” and they hand you their camera, you’re a photo douche.

2. If your camera has a screen, you’re a photo douche. Also if you say “My camera doesn’t have a battery”, you’re a photo douche.

3. Wait? What? Someone had sex with you? Kids? Don’t you mean cameras? Anyway, if your kids call you a photo douche, you’re a photo douche. I was going to say if you have kids you’re a photo douche but I know people with kids and not all of them are photo douches.

4. If the salesmen let you handle the merchandise by yourself, you’re probably too fat to get anywhere fast or they just can’t be bothered with your inane questions that you could have answered by looking at the fucking website. You’re a photo douche.

5. You use the word bokeh, you’re a photo douche. Also if you arrange flowers just to take a photo of them, you’re a photo douche.

6. A gorgeous woman with a digital SLR brushes you - and you only notice her camera, you’re probably a gay photo douche.

7. See 6.

8. You in the back row of a concert with your camera instead of up the front in the pit, you’re a photo douche.

9. Photo lab workers ignore you, you’re a photo douche. I bet you also ask for colour profiles, if so you are a MEGA PHOTO DOUCHE. And I hate you.

10. You’re married? lol, I guess that makes you a photo douche.

11. If other photographers follow you they probably just want to mug you and sell your gear so they can buy a real camera like a Hasselblad.

12. If other photographers ask your opinion about gear when they see you at camera stores it’s because the staff did it so they don’t have to talk to either of you. You are both photo douches. Oh so this is how you made “friends”! See 1.

13. If you watch movies about photographers, you’re a photo douche. The exception to this rule is “War Photographer” which is about a photo douche, so you’re safe. Oh and Apocalypse Now doesn’t count.

14. See 6.

15. If you’ve ever ask anyone what aperture or shutter speed they shot at, you’re a photo douche.

16. If you wear a photo vest, you’re a photo douche. Actually if you wear any kind of photographic related item on your person, you’re a photo douche.

17. If the subjects of your photos aren’t victims of a firing squad, you’re a photo douche.

18. If you call your camera a point-and-shoot, you’re a photo douche.

19. Penis envy. See 6.

20. Your spouse? Fuck that is almost as bad as using the term “fiance”. If you use the word spouse or fiance, you’re a photo douche. Also if you use the word “panties”, you need help.

21. If you have more than 1,00 followers on Twitter and you’re just a fucking photographer, you’re a photo douche.

AND ONE MORE, JUST FOR LUCK!

22. If you write a stupid fucking list like this, you’re a photo douche!

Fotodudenz at Ballarat International Foto Bienale 2011 #bifb11

2011-08-20T10:18:00.001+10:00

Fotodudenz at Ballarat International Foto Bienale 2011 #bifb11, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Melbourne Silver Mine
First Floor, above Woolshed Clothing
48 Armstrong Street North, Ballarat
Corner of Mair and Armstrong Street North (map) (facebook)
(Venue 38 on your BIFB11 Broadsheet)

Opening hours:
Saturday 20th August 2011 – Sunday 18th September 2011
Monday – Wednesday (open only by arrangement)
Thursday – Friday 11am – 5pm
Saturday & Sunday 10am – 6pm

Ah fuck! Not again!

2011-08-17T12:17:00.001+10:00

Ah fuck! Not again!, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Got snow?

2011-08-15T07:53:00.001+10:00

Got snow?, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

New Zealand Roadtrip 2011

2011-08-13T10:52:00.001+10:00

New Zealand Roadtrip 2011, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

OMG words!

Hi.

Well I got back from my little tour of the South Island last night, what a trip! I wanted to write this last night but fuck I was tired, I had been driving all day.

I started in Christchurch on Monday and headed towards Oamaru via Timaru. I spent the night in Oamaru and the next day I drove to Cromwell via Ranfurly. I stayed at an amazing place on Lake Dunstan called Pisa Range Lake Resort. From there I went to Clyde and then on to Roxburgh where I had one of the best meat pies I have ever tasted. From there I went to Gore, Invercargill and I finally made it to Bluff.

After spending the night in Bluff I headed to Balclutha, with a few hours to spare I headed south to Owaka so I could see the Pūrākaunui Falls. I then had to go back to Balclutha and then to Port Chalmers via Dunedin. Thursday night I stayed at a backpackers near Port Chalmers called Billy Browns, it is a farm house and the huge lounge was kitted out to look like a farm shed, I had the place to myself which included the whole hill! Friday was basically the big drive from Dunedin back to Christchurch.

So I am quite happy with my effort. This trip was 5 days, 1643 km and 11 rolls of film as well as some digi shots and video.

Cheers,

Matt

Yesterday's sunrise near Port Chalmers.

2011-08-13T09:06:00.001+10:00

Yesterday's sunrise near Port Chalmers., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Where I hung out last night in Port Chalmers.

2011-08-12T17:51:00.001+10:00

Where I hung out last night in Port Chalmers., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Between Clydevale and Waipahi

2011-08-11T21:03:00.001+10:00

Between Clydevale and Waipahi, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Last light in Bluff

2011-08-10T18:43:00.001+10:00

Last light in Bluff, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Lamp Post - Near Ranfurly

2011-08-09T20:35:00.001+10:00

Lamp Post - Near Ranfurly, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Paradise

2011-08-09T19:42:00.003+10:00

Paradise, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

'Select' Mens Hairdressers - Oamaru

2011-08-09T06:57:00.001+10:00

'Select' Mens Hairdressers - Oamaru, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Street photography: Timaru Style

2011-08-08T17:58:00.001+10:00

Street photography: Timaru Style, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Oamaru: Steampunk capital of NZ

2011-08-08T16:29:00.001+10:00

Oamaru: Steampunk capital of NZ, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Christchurch's newest amusement ride

2011-08-05T21:09:00.001+10:00

Christchurch's newest amusement ride, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Dairy not Milk Bar

2011-08-05T11:33:00.001+10:00

Dairy not Milk Bar, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Dangerous Bitch

2011-08-04T17:48:00.001+10:00

Dangerous Bitch, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

This is my Nana. She doesn't like to have her photo taken.

2011-08-03T15:57:00.003+10:00

This is my Nana. She doesn't like to have her photo taken., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Except for when she doesn't know.

2011-08-03T15:57:00.001+10:00

Except for when she doesn't know., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Packing for NZ. The undies are just in case I take a photo so good I shit myself.

2011-08-01T18:34:00.001+10:00

Packing for NZ. The undies are just in case I take a photo so good I shit myself., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Mordialloc Pier

2011-06-22T09:10:00.001+10:00

Mordialloc Pier, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Yes! I have used the Xpan again this year!

Actually this was taken a few weeks ago, but I shot with it this past weekend and really enjoyed it. I think I have Xpan-fever again.

So to celebrate Xpan-fever I have started hires scanning my negs from when I went to Japan in 2006 with the intention of actually doing something with them. I'm going to make a photo book. I figured 5 years is a long enough wait.

In other news I'm planning a trip to NZ in August to continue my South Island project. Stay tuned.

The Pano Awards 2011

2011-05-18T09:24:00.003+10:00

The Pano Awards 2011, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

This year I entered 9 images in the contest and got 5 bronze awards.

I hope I don't sound like a sore loser but I really think they should change the name of the contest to "The Landscape Awards", because big, bright, colourful, over-processed, panoramas of landscapes seem to fare the best.

I also entered 3 photos that were taken on the Lomography Spinner 360 which were completely shit-canned.

Here are the images that won Bronze.

Oh who am I kidding, I am a sore loser. I think maybe they need a "B&W non-landscape panoramas with people in them" category, judged by me of course.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day pt. 2 #pinholeday #pinwide

2011-04-25T22:16:00.001+10:00

The Shrine of Remembrance, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS DIGITAL PINHOLE IMAGES.

This post is kind of a sequel to the one I posted on the Melbourne Silver Mine's site.

Well I didn't end up going out and taking photos on the official Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day but I did go out today with Mike aka aeonmouse today for some 'holing and a bit of a wander and I think I wore the poor fella out. We walked from Webb Bridge in Docklands to The Shrine of Remembrance.

Using the Zero Image I mostly took photos of the Webb Bridge and The Shrine of Remembrance but shot a couple of random ones along the way. I took a couple of shots of each subject just in case I got the exposure wrong.

I am slowly adjusting to the pinhole way.

The above photo and the one below were taken on my Olympus EP1 and Wanderlust Pinwide cap. I'm going to go into work tomorrow and develop my second batch of large format negs, wish me luck!

MJ

Photographic Therapy?

2011-04-18T22:06:00.002+10:00

My new Zero Image 4x5 Pinhole Camera, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

Wow.

Almost 2 months since the last post.

So what’s been happening? Not much.

I have been thinking about this post for a couple of weeks now. I uploaded a photo taken with my EP1 and Pinwide cap a couple of weeks ago and I called it “A pinhole a day keeps the doctor away” and I thought “Wow, that’s so fucking true”. You may or may not know this but when I was 19, way back in 1999 my Mum died. I have always been into video but a year or so before she died I (I really hate this term) got into photography seriously. She died, I had recently moved back to New Zealand, I didn’t have a job and I didn’t know anyone but I had a camera. Actually I had two cameras, a Canon EOS 50 SLR and a Canon Powershit A5 Zoom. I knew how to point them and push the button but I had no idea what all these numbers and shit meant, so I thought I’d better find out.

So I bought some books, looked and some websites and wasted a hell of a lot of film. It proved to be quite a distraction from the fact that I had just lost my Mother. Then I got a job at a photo lab, wasted even more film, bought some more books and enrolled in some night courses on photography. Met some like-minded people, bought some more cameras and lenses and suddenly a few years had passed and I couldn’t remember the last time someone asked me how I was doing. Was photography my therapy? I think it was.

Apart from being a very good distraction it also ensured that I would be behind the lens and not in front of it, just where I wanted to be. And it proved to be the perfect hobby, take photos during the day and read about photography and look at other peoples photos at night. And then along comes thing this called Flickr. I was involved with photo.net but it always seemed to be more about the gear and less about the photos. I have gone off topic.

So anyway a couple of weeks ago I upload that photo “A pinhole a day keeps the doctor away” and I took a look at myself and I thought “Wow, I am actually really fucking sick”. I was in mourning. Not for a person but for a place. I was mourning for my home town, Christchurch. I was seeing images on TV, Facebook and Flickr of my home town all but destroyed and I was sad. I was seeing photos of the Cathedral and other well known building destroyed and feeling sad and a sense of loss but then, in some sick way I was also jealous of the fact that I was not there to take my own photos of the place. I did think about going to Christchurch in the early days but I did not want to be an extra burden on the very limited resources of the city. Recently I have seen photos taken by people on holiday in Christchurch and it fucking disgusts me. I am so angry I want to cry, at least have the decency to get out of the car!
Anyway! What am I doing to cure myself this time?

I am a lazy photographer. I shoot film but a machine develops it for me. And after some good results from the Pinwide cap, the first time anything related to pinholes has gone well for me, I bought a 4x5” pinhole camera from Zero Image. I have never used a large format camera before, I have always had less that average results from pinhole cameras in the past and it’s been a long, long time since I have developed my own film. So it’s been an interesting learning curve for me. I am also dealing with feelings of abandonment as my girlfriend Ambre has gone away on a cruise for 4 weeks leaving me to fend for myself :) My first 4 shots taken on the pinhole, purely for testing purposes have turned out far better than expected, so that’s a boost to the old photographic ego, specially after I very nearly chucked a tanty in the dark room and packed it all in.

So there you have it, Photographic Therapy, if only I was better with words.

MJ

ps Should I end up in the nut house could someone please print this out and give it to my doctor? It might help. Cheers.

Christchurch Earthquake 22/02/11 #eqnz #chch #nzquake

2011-02-23T12:44:00.001+11:00

Square Vertical 12mm, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Fuck.

Wow.

For once I am speechless.

My Dad and Nana are ok, but Dad's house, home, is apparently a mess. "Shit everywhere" in his words.

The friends that I have heard from are all ok.

I feel utterly useless being roughly 2500km away. I really want to get on a plane but I am told I don't need to do that.

What can I do? Not much.

I can share with you photos I have of stuff that isn't there anymore, like the Cathedral above and the corner of High Street and Hereford St below.

A mate of mine Logan took this photo yesterday of where another mate of mine Ben's recording studio used to be.

And Logan also took this video of the CBD 1 minute after it happened.

and last but not least a photo of Shag Rock, another Christchurch icon, gone.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/solomonswishbone/5467199621

Good luck Christchurch.

That's all for now.

MJ

Hi. (Third post for 2011)

2011-02-18T21:44:00.002+11:00

The Tree of Life, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

Jesus McChrist it's almost a month since the last blog entry and the last one didn't even have a photo! Sorry! No really, I am.

Did you know I am on the Facebook? You can like me and shit if you click here: http://www.facebook.com/fotodudenz. I update that more often than here at the moment.

Anyway, the photo. I took this last week when I went photo walkies with Rhys on Thursday. I had the Voigtlander and the Xpan with me and really struggled, when I shoot with the Xpan I think I am thinking about how long it takes me to scan the films afterwards, plus it was loaded with color film and I wasn't thinking in colour. Does anyone else behave like that? Plus I think I was just in a 12mm shooting mood.

I finished the roll off wandering around Richmond yesterday.

I am thinking about going to NZ in April. I was thinking about doing a bit of a tour around the mysterious North Island but I think I want to shoot more in the South Island, way down south, Dunedin is the furthest south I have been. I might even hire a campervan.

Here is a shot from the Xpan taken about a month ago:

MJ

Unnerved

2011-01-21T01:14:00.002+11:00

OMG.

Another post with photos.

Today I went to the National Gallery of Victoria to check out Unnerved: The New Zealand Project. It's an exhibition put together by the Queensland Art Gallery of Kiwi artists, painters, sculptors and video artists and, of course, photographers but with a twist. It's a bit dark, you won't find any highly details paintings of Milford Sound, portraits of early settlers or sheep or any of that shit, it was gritty and the exact opposite of what New Zealand tourism shoves down the throats of the world.

Two photographers caught my eye, the first was Lawrence Aberhart he had some amazing B&W wide angle images that really resonated with me. The other photographer was Mark Adams, he was represented by one massive unstitched 360º image of Dusky Bay, brilliant. It's possible that I've had my head so far up my own arse for so long that I haven't heard of either of these two guys but that is about to change.

That's all from me for the moment, I have to get up in 5 hours or so.

MJ

The Abandoned Motel

2011-01-09T17:02:00.001+11:00

Abandoned Motel #2, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

As I mentioned in my last post Mike and I found an abandoned Hotel/Motel while we were looking for another location. When we managed to penetrate the well secured perimeter we had a bit of a look around. It was pretty much how the California was when I first went in there with Barb, lets hope they don't let this place get as bad as the California is now. I didn't take as many shots here as I did at the brickworks but there are a few, so keep an eye out for them.

Here is an exterior view.

The Brunswick Brickworks

2011-01-05T14:21:00.001+11:00

The Brickworks #4, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

So yeah, how ya doin'?

On Monday I went to Brunswick's famous Brickworks with my mate Mike aka thelazywanker aka aeonmouse and yeah, it's a cool place. I shot a roll through the Voigtlander & 12mm and a couple on the EP1, I used it as a spot meter mostly and it worked out quite well.

Then we went looking for some other place but we didn't find it, problem was neither of us knew where the fuck it was, but on the way we found an abandoned motel, schweeeeet! It was pretty grotty, took a few snaps on the Voigtlander & EP1 yet again and then Mike got scared so we had to go. True story bro.

So keep an eye out for those!

MJ

Xmas Time Lapse

2010-12-28T23:36:00.001+11:00

Turn, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

How was your Christmas?

Ambre and I spent the extra long weekend at Wattle Point, the place where I shot this video. While we were away I had a few feeble attempts at time lapse photography, they all turned out a bit shit and I don't think I will post any. This image was supposed to be a time lapse video but it was too short and didn't look very good so cheated a bit and I laid the images on top of each other in Photoshop and made a fake star trail image. It's not to bad considering it's fake. Here's a real one:

It was supposed to be a lot longer but for some reason the bulb exposure stopped at 8 min, maybe it's the EP1's maximum exposure time? Yet to investigate.

Cheers,

Matt.

Best Shot of 2010

2010-12-15T10:17:00.001+11:00

G U G G E N H E I M M U S E U M, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

Flickr are doing their "Best shot" group again this year and it got me thinking, what is my best shot of 2010? I have taken quite a few shots that I am proud of this year. There was NZ back in January, Canberra in April, New York in September and plenty more in between. What to choose... or maybe I haven't taken my best shot of 2010 yet?

Here are some of my favourite shots from 2010, including the one above, in no particular order.

Last photo from the USA

2010-11-28T17:45:00.001+11:00

Xpan House #2, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Some of you will be thinking "Yay!" and some of you will be thinking "Boo!" but either way here we are at the end, the last photo from the USA. At some stage I will go back through them and upload any "duds" I might have missed.

I though I'd share with you all a few of my personal favourites from our trip:

The long awaited final US blog post.

2010-11-08T18:44:00.001+11:00

Here it is, the long awaited final US blog post. In case you didn’t know there has been a delay because on the second to last day in New York I caught something, the Yanks call it stomach flu, I call it Hell on Earth. To make matters worse I didn’t get over it until a couple of days after we got home and then when my body was at its weakest, I got the actual flu. So I have been “sick” since Tuesday the 14th of September. Not fun.

So, where was I?

The day after the last blog post we went to Coney Island, it’s about an hour south of New York by train. Quite a lot of the trip was underground but when the train surfaced we got to see bits of Brooklyn flash past. We had a wander around the boardwalk and I had a nice conversation with a older couple who were enjoying the sun. It turns out he was one of the original Coney Island Ice Breakers and she hadn’t been to Manhattan since 9/11, which was exactly 9 years to the day.

We left Coney Island and headed back to New York and went to Ground Zero, the World Trade Centre site. It was very strange, there were lots of people there, there were flowers on the fence, some people were holding up placards with information about loved ones that had died on them. It was so quiet, no cars and no honking because the police closed a lot of the surrounding streets. The light was magical too. Then a lone piper started playing Amazing Grace, it was all getting a bit much. We then walked along the water to Battery Park and I got to take photos of people interacting with Charging Bull.

On Sunday we got to see quite a bit of the city via an open top double decker bus. I spent the day on one in Sydney once and it was a great experience so it was a bit of a no brainer, I think Ambre even enjoyed it. It was a bit rainy but everyone had some tacky plastic ponchos to wear. We got off the bus at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. What a place! Photography is allowed. Brilliant! I love taking photos of people interacting with art, it’s one of my favourite things, I wish we could have spent more time there but we had to get out because they were closing.

Monday. Monday was a big day. We started off the day with some brunch in the Financial District. Then we walked through Battery Park to where you catch the ferry to The Statue of Liberty, bought tickets and then joined the at-least-an-hour-long queue to go through “Airport Style Security” to get to Liberty Island. And there she was, the symbol of New York itself. I took a few photos on the ferry on the way and a quite a few more of people posing with the statue. We then headed back and I took a few more photos and even managed to use the Spinner for the first time after lugging it around for days, awkward fucking thing. Then we went on another slightly different tour of the city while the sun was setting. I then got to eat one of KFC’s Double Downs. We then jumped on the night tour bus which went around a bit of Manhattan and a bit of Brooklyn.

Tuesday morning. I won’t go into details but I am pretty sure my body forgot the meaning of the word solid. I spent most of the day in bed, Nurse Ambre did a hell of a job of looking after me. We didn’t get to go to the Empire State Building or get to cross the Manhattan Bridge. In the afternoon I got as far as the bridge but crashed and there was no way I was going to get up it. Defeated. Wednesday was no better but we had to catch a plane to Los Angeles. Here’s a handy little bit of travel advice, if you ever have to endure a 6 hour flight feeling poorly, upgrade to first class, it worked for me.

We arrived at Disneyland and checked into our room, but later that night, Ambre got it. So the two sick-sicks spent most of the next day in bed, we did manage to muster up enough energy to walk around the park for a bit but after a bit too much spinning in the teacups and chlorine fumes from It’s a Small World we were done. The staff at the resort were nice enough to send up a tray of ginger ale, water and crackers to keep us going. The next day we went on a few more rides including my favourite, Indiana Jones and my new favourite, Soarin’ over California.

The next day we had to check out of Disneyland and check into Loews in Santa Monica. We had to wait for our room so we sat in the lounge and watched the sea mist, Ambre ordered a bowl of home made chicken noodle soup, it was like heaven. Then the sun came out, a sign for sure, so we ordered another. We then walked south towards Venice Beach, probably a little too far as the crazies started getting a bit too crazy. I actually managed to shoot a couple of rolls. That night I ate one of the best steaks of my life.

On our last day, Sunday, a friend of mine Ben and his girlfriend Nina took us out for breakfast, went for a bit of a tour around Santa Monica and then just hung out in the sun at the resort. What better way to end our trip, especially when you feel like shit.

So there you have it. The long awaited final US blog post. This has taken me weeks to write, but at least I have nice film images to illustrate it with. I still have a few rolls to upload yet so stay tuned.

Cheers,

Matt

New York Trip - Some more thoughts - An update even

2010-09-11T09:05:00.001+10:00

9/11, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi. Today was our 5th day in New York and was a bit of a write-off because I had a migraine early this morning, my 3rd in a week, must be time to up the meds.

On Tuesday we walked from the Lower East Side where we are staying to B&H Photo via the deli where Meg Ryan had an orgasm. B&H was cool but not as big as I was expecting, they've got nothing on Yodabashi Camera in Japan. It was nice when they asked for my phone number and I was already on their system, I felt just a little bit special. Ambre wanted to go shopping so we caught a bus for an hour to butt fuck nowhere where there was a massive mall, truly a "If you build it, they will come" situation. Wednesday we walked through Central Park and visited the Guggenheim and wandered around the city a bit more. Then Matthew needed a nap because nasty Mr Jet Lag finally caught up with him.

Thursday we went to Times Square, I wasn't expecting anything like that! It was massive and busy and noisy and I was totally overwhelmed! But I did remember to take some photos. From there we went to nerd heaven, the Apple store on 5th Ave, from the top it looks like a glass cube but that's just the entry, underneath it's an orchard. Ambre wanted to buy an iPad but I needed to know if it needed activating on a computer like my iPod. To cut a long story short I am typing this blog entry on it now. Then we visited the toy store from Big with the big piano you stand on. Tom Hanks wasn't there, thank God.

And then we come to today. I don't feel bad about doing fuck all today, we are on holiday after all. We got the washing done and bought some clothes, I normally buy clothes once a year. In Australia I am an XL but here I am just an L, sweet. So I am onto my 7th roll through the Xpan and 3rd roll through the Voigtlander. I am ahead of my 1 roll per day holiday minimum and I know I won't shoot as many rolls as I did in Japan but I am pretty sure my "keeper" ratio will be higher.

A side note my other hobby, eating. The food here has been good. The portions are big. My ice tea addiction has pushed through to the next level. Ambre and I have been frequenting a nice little Frenchish restaurant nearby. I still want to eat at Hooters, IHOP and White Castle. I also want to try a KFC Double Down, it's two chicken patties with cheese and bacon between them, but I want to wait until we are at the airport near one of those handy portable defibrillators. Today I tried Yoo-Hoo, strange stuff. Coke tastes different here.

I need to shoot more video.

That's all for now, MJ.

New York Trip - Some thoughts

2010-09-07T19:11:00.002+10:00

Manhattan Bridge, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

I say a few thoughts because it's far more comfortable to lay on the bed and type this on my iPod than it is to sit on the floor using the suitcase as a desk and using the Eee PC. Please don't expect a blog entry like this every night, Ambre crashed at 8pm and I have some time to kill

Isn't that a brilliantly cheesy cliche shot? I love it.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well as it turns out it was too comfortable and I fell asleep. Stupid body clock, I don't respond well to daylight savings time changes let alone this.

The flight to LA was good, I love how disco Virgin planes are now, it reminded me of the movie Soul Plane. How good are those touch screens? I watched Crazy Heart, Role Models, Ironman 2 and Parenthood. Oh and I even dozed for a bit, that never happens. LAX was far less intimidating than what I was expecting, not a machine gun in sight! Our hotel room in LA was massive and cheap and felt like it belonged in The Sopranos. The flight to JFK was a lot quicker than I expected, it may have had something to do with wifi on the plane, I watched The Hot Chick. JFK was beautiful, I could have burned a roll on the walk to baggage collection but I wasn't sure how well it would go down, with security and with Ambre. I couldn't hold on any longer and just had to take a couple of shots at baggage collection. Waiting for a Taxi was interesting thanks to the two female taxi coordinators yelling at the cab drivers. Where we are staying has an amazing view of the Manhattan and almost the Brooklyn bridge. The Xpan and the Bessa are loaded, it only took me a couple of mins to get into it, bizarre stuff just started happening before me. Two old drunk men sang My Girl behind us as we were walking along.

Oh well, time to get up, it's 5:20am and we are wide awake, I think we might catch the sunrise.

This was taken at Virgin America baggage collection at JFK.

nüdel. men's packaging

2010-08-29T17:32:00.003+10:00

nüdel. men's packaging, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

It's been a big couple of weeks for me, photographically speaking.

First there was Unsensored.

Then there was The Xpan Book release.

And then Blurb want to pay me to use "4 Days in New Zealand".

And now... *drum roll*

One of my photos is appearing on a crotch near you!

My friend from the old country Morgan, owns nüdel. men's packaging and a little while ago he asked me if I would like to submit an image for his line and I of course said yes. They haven't been officially released yet so stay tuned!

Photo by Morgan Williams.

See my original image here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotodudenz/51127765/

The Xpan Book - Done!

2010-08-18T14:13:00.004+10:00

I almost can't believe it, it's done.

Check it out.

Buy a copy even! The money is going to charity.

The Xpan Book by Edited by Matthew Robert Joseph | Make Your Own Book

UNSENSORED10 - Starts tonight!

2010-08-13T10:56:00.003+10:00

UNSENSORED10 - Starts tonight!, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Come and see this and other images IRL.

See you there!

Sorry.

2010-08-02T14:12:00.001+10:00

Sorry., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

I have been a bad Flickr friend.

It's almost been a month since I actually shot anything and over a month since I've blogged anything.

I really am sorry.

I think maybe I am saving myself photographically for New York & LA in September, the same thing happened when I went to Japan in 2006.

The Xpan Book has also been taking up quite a bit of my spare time. There is only 1 photographer left who hasn't submitted their photo information so I am kinda waiting on him and 1 photographer hasn't chosen their images yet, me. I am also stalling a little on the introduction.

That's all for now.

MJ

Lomography Spinner 360° Review

2010-06-27T22:06:00.001+10:00

36" - That's how I roll., originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

I did a bit of a write-up on the Lomography Spinner 360° and other rotational cameras. You can read it here:

http://silvermine.org.au/2010/06/lomo_spinner_360/

That is all.

Matt

I'm Excited! - Lomography Spinner 360°

2010-06-11T22:37:00.002+10:00

Lomography Spinner 360° - Lomography Shop-1, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

I'm excited!

For a few years now I have been lusting over the Globuscope. It's a 360° panorama camera that uses 35mm film and it's probably one of the strangest looking cameras ever made, it looks like a silver microphone and has even been used as a movie prop, as you can see here in Ghostbusters 2.

Anyway, I recently read that Lomography has released a cheapo version of the Globuscope and I got excited, just like Big Kev. I may have even peed a little. So I bought one.

So I guess at some stage in the recent past I forgave Lomography a little for their evil ways, especially what they did to my beloved Widepan. At least they're promoting the use of film.

So expect to see some 360° panoramas around here soon.

Cheers,

Matt

ps. Dear Lomography, Sorry for stealing your image, so to make up for it, here is a link to your site, are we cool? MJ

I have had some good news!

2010-06-10T17:22:00.002+10:00

Bronze, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

I have had some good news. I entered 6 images into The Epson International Pano Awards and so far 4 have been awarded Bronze merits. I am very happy with the result, it has made me want to continue shooting panoramas because lately I have been thinking about other formats. The 4 that won, in order of points received as as follows:

"Bye Bye Birdie" was 2 points off a Bronze merit and "Formerly the 12 Apostles" is yet to be judged, fingers crossed it does well!

UPDATE!

Formerly the 12 Apostles was just awarded a Bronze merit.

Oh dear.

2010-06-09T14:56:00.001+10:00

Enter, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

Oh dear.

It's been a while, hasn't it.

I wish I could say I have been far to busy to post doing all these wonderful and amazing things but that simply wouldn't be true.

I have been taking photos as you may have noticed Even some of bloody cats! Not actual bloody cats, normal cats.

That one up there was taken on Sunday at an abandoned carpark here in Hawthorn. Bloody amazing, I'm going back with the Xpan and some gumboots!

People keep on asking me how I am finding the EP1, I still like it, I will never love it because it's not film but it's ok to use. I'm not fond of the fisheye on it though, does anyone want it?

The image below was taken a couple of weeks ago in Fed Square here in Melbourne.

Ok you can go now.

Cheers,

Matt

Holga Palm Trees: The Movie

2010-05-10T22:17:00.002+10:00

Holga Palm Trees, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Also available on:

http://vimeo.com/11617635

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GpirI9fTyI

As Unsensored is coming up, Ambre wanted to shoot some fresh Holga Palm Tree photos so we went to Palm Tree Land aka St Kilda and I shot a little video.

Enjoy!

Pro-Optic 8mm Fisheye

2010-05-08T15:04:00.001+10:00

Pro-Optic 8mm Fisheye, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I've been looking at getting a wide angle lens for the Olympus EP1. The Panasonic 7-14mm and Olympus 9-18mm were tempting but I hate the thought of spending that sort of money on glass and then in a few years having to pretty much throw them away because the mount no longer exists. So I have been looking for a cheap alternative. And I think I found it.

It's called the Pro-Optic 8mm Fisheye.

They are also sold under other names like Bower and Samyang, but the Pro-optic version is, for some reason, cheaper. I bought an EOS mount version and an EOS to m4/3 adapter off eBay. It'll work out to be just a bit over AU$400 landed which isn't too bad and if I really like it, I can sell it to some poor Canon sucker and upgrade to a 7-14mm and if I don't like it, I can sell it to some poor Canon sucker and buy myself some lollies.

Unsensored10

2010-05-04T10:28:00.001+10:00

The Bridge of Web, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Unsensored, the film only photographic exhibition is coming up again for the year and I'm trying to decide what photo to exhibit. I have had two spots for the last couple of years so I'm not sure if I'll get two again this year. Help me decide.

or maybe even

Help me decide. Text your vote to...

KIDDING!

Wattle Point, Gippsland, Victoria.

2010-05-02T15:52:00.001+10:00

Sunset at Wattle Point, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

I want to bitch and moan to Olympus in a blog post but I also want to quickly post some still images from Wattle Point.

That place was a little bit of paradise and only a couple of hours from Melbourne.

http://www.wattlepointholiday.com.au/

I am still yet to edit a video about Kangaroos.

Here is a photo taken on the way, in Sale.

7 short time-lapse videos

2010-04-26T21:52:00.001+10:00

7 short time-lapse videos, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Flickr doesn't appear to be playing the video correctly so you can also watch this on Vimeo or YouTube.

http://vimeo.com/11228061

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYBGBosXH28

We just got back from a few days away at a place called Wattle Point and as well as burning through a couple of rolls of film (which I will start uploading in a couple of days) I shot a few time lapse videos. They went ok except for a couple of problems. 1) The rain & 2) The short battery life on the Olympus EP1 (Something that I need to look into if I want to shoot more).

There was also an abandoned garage to explore, stay tuned.

My Kit - 3 years on.

2010-04-22T09:25:00.001+10:00

My Kit - 21/04/2010, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

It's been over three years since I uploaded My Kit and there have been a lot of changes. I'm not feeling very well so it's going to take me a while to write this.

The biggest non-kit change is that I am no longer living in NZ, as you may have noticed I am now living in Melbourne with the love of my life, Ambre. I may have mentioned this once or twice.

Kit changes.
Cameras have come and gone. I bought a Voigtlander Bessa R3A & 40mm not long after the first photo was taken, I sold that recently. I also had a Kiev 60 & 50mm Flektogon for a while, that has also gone. The Olympus EP1 is very new, still getting used to it, so many settings to play with. I finally got myself a Ricoh GR1, I have wanted one of these for years and I finally found one at the right price.

Stuff that's still there.
My Yashica D. That's not going anywhere, I don't use it as much as I used to but I still call it my lucky camera. The Voigtlander Bessa L & 12mm, I love that lens, so wide, so very, very wide. And of course the Hasselblad Xpan and 30mm, despite the 30mm's head being on the eBay chopping block a few times it's still here and I'm going to keep using it the way I am using it and I don't give a fuck.

Other shit.
Nokia 6110. Not getting lost and uploading photos directly to Flickr and Twitpic is brilliant. iPod Touch. The world at your fingertips, I think I want an iPad. Speaking of Apple products, iMac still going strong after 2 years. Tupperware. If only they made neg holders. Little red pills. They may make me a little absent-minded and I thought I was dying when I first started taking them but I haven't had many migraines either.

I was kinda surprised how little there was in my kit this time around. The 350D and lenses have gone along with my desire to shoot bands, everyone here in Melbourne is a fucking band photographer, big whoop, it's not hard. Things I would like in the kit. Oh where to start. A Leica M8 would be a good start. Maybe a Hasselblad SWC or Rollei Wide, I'm not picky. A 6x17 camera and with it the patience to reload it after 3 or 4 frames and then the patience to scan them, it's hard enough mustering up the energy to scan Xpan films.

My head is about to explode so I better go.

Happy shootin'!

Adaminaby, NSW

2010-04-08T18:11:00.003+10:00

Rooted in the Sky, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

I have been obsessing about this place for over 4 years.

It all started with when a Flickr contact of mine smallstakes uploaded this photo:

(Untitled by smallstakes)

Trees sticking out of the water! Amazing! I had never seen anything like this, apart from maybe on TV and in photos of the Salton Sea in the USA.

Well on Sunday I had my chance. Ambre and I were in Canberra for Easter, which is only 2 hours drive from Adaminaby so we went. Ambre's Dad drove us in Buttercup. We arrived and to be honest, I was shocked, it was nothing like I had imagined it, dry, desolate and ugly. The trees, on the other hand, were awesome, I have a thing for dead trees and abandoned petrol stations, which I also got a crack at. I wandered around for about and hour and took a few photos, Ambre didn't even get out of the car. We then drove on to Angler's Reach, about 10min drive away, more dead trees but actual green grass.

We left and on the way back to Canberra, Just out of Adaminaby there was an abandoned petrol station, blissssssssssssss.

If you want to see some awesome photos of Adaminaby, check out Zane's stream, he's even got one taken on an Xpan.

(Adaminaby #7: hell (by zane&inzane)

Canberra Trip - Easter 2010

2010-04-05T22:00:00.001+10:00

Passengers, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Ambre and I have just returned from a short trip away to Canberra for the Easter long weekend. And guess what?! I shot film! Amazing! We were shown the all the sights by Ambre's Dad from the comfort of his yellow Mazda 6 that we dubbed "Buttercup" for him. Ambre hadn't been there for a few years and I hadn't been there since 1991, so it was quite a bit different for me, but all of the major bits were in the same place.

The National Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery was brilliant, must shoot more portraits. We also went to Masterpieces from Paris at the National Gallery of Australia featuring Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, not my cup of tea but seeing Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles" in real life was, what a mad cunt. Also seeing Jeffrey Smart's "Corrugated Gioconda" and "Waiting for the Train" was amazing, especially when I am considering his work, as well as others, in the back of my mind when wandering taking photos. We also went to the Australian War Memorial which appealed to my love of big metal things that blow shit up.

On Sunday we drove to a place called Adaminaby, a place I have been wanting to visit for about 5 years, basically it's a lake with dead trees sticking out of it, I know it doesn't sound like much but I shot a couple of rolls there.

So as I touched on earlier, I shot some film, on the Xpan and Voigtlander Bessa L & 12mm and as you can see, I shot some digital too. It was nice shooting film again, after playing with the EP1 for the last couple of weeks but it was also really nice to upload something when I got home so I could write this post. Aren't I nice.

The EP-1: One week on.

2010-03-18T17:59:00.001+11:00

My Olympus EP-1, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Ok, so it's been a bit over a week since I got it.

I'm not ashamed to say that I like it.

But don't take that as me "going digital" because that simply wouldn't be true. I still very much adore the wide end of my angles and panoramas. My lack of anything even remotely wide for this camera should at least keep me in the good books of the film shooters, I have to shoot film if I want to shoot wide.

On Sunday I had a read good chance to see what the camera is capable of as a friend of mine Ash was having a gig at a pub. I shot quite a few stills and "moving stills" and even put them together into a shot video.

The Voigtlander 40mm Nokton kicked the 14-42's ass in terms of image quality, which it should, but I am not fond of the new 80mm focal length and 1m+ working distance. This combined with a friend of mine in Christchurch buying a Panasonic GF1 & 20mm 1.7 and showing me his results with that lens has forced me to put it on eBay. It's only logical. It's also a bit of a pain in the arse to focus.

Umm, I think that's everything.

Keep cool.

A not-so-nothing shot?

2010-03-10T15:15:00.001+11:00

A not-so-nothing shot?, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

I had just eaten my lunch.

I was wasting time on Facebook.

Then, A-ha! I remembered that I had my new camera at work.

Outside the Sun was shining.

So I thought I'd go out to my camera testing spot and see what happens.

My new Olympus EP1

2010-03-08T22:49:00.001+11:00

My new Olympus EP1, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

I did it, I bought a digital camera. And even though I am a big film fan, this is the 6th digital camera I have owned. In order of purchase, Canon A5 Zoom, Canon G2, Canon D60, Panasonic LX1 and Canon 350D. I can't explain 100% why I wanted to buy it, part of me wants to do some video, part of me wants to do some more time-lapse and part of me wants to just play.

It arrived this morning, as it is Labour Day here in Victoria I had the day off work and got a good chance to play with it, it was pissing down with rain for most of the day so I didn't take it outside but took lots of boring photos around the house. I'm not a zoom lens fan but the 14-40 seems ok, though, I don't plan on using it much, I have ordered a Leica M to Micro 4/3rds adaptor so I can use my Voigtlander lenses on it. There is a big shutter lag and it's especially big if you shoot with one of the Art modes, I am quite fond of the Pinhole mode so far. I like the 16:9 ratio, always have, not quite normal, not quite pano.

So first impressions are good. Don't freak out, I'm not about to ditch film and sell the Xpan or the Bessa L & 12mm, though I am considering selling the R3A and 21mm soon. I have the day off on Thursday so I'm excited about shooting something outside, hopefully it won't be raining.

Laundry Checkers - Xpan and SAM2010

2010-03-04T14:42:00.001+11:00

Laundry Checkers, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

Just a quick update today as I only have 3 min left on my lunch break.

I had a wander around on Monday with Rhys and took the photo above and some images for the Melbourne Silver Mine's Shoot-a-Miner portrait competition, more details here: http://silvermine.org.au/shootaminer/

I also thought I'd share an image I took a few weeks ago of a burnt out car near the Heavenly Queen statue:

And another one I took on Monday:

ps. I'm loving these big blog images.

pps. Still waiting for my EP1!

Index from yesterday & weeks ago & NEWS!

2010-03-02T11:18:00.001+11:00

Index from yesterday & weeks ago & NEWS!, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Shot a roll on the Xpan as well.

In other news I bought an Olympus EP1, purely for the video.

And maybe a little commercial stills work.

4 Days in New Zealand Video

2010-02-28T14:24:00.003+11:00

I have been watching quite a few brilliant videos on YouTube and Vimeo lately, like this one and this one and I have been feeling quite inspired, so I thought I'd make a bit of a slideshow of my images from New Zealand. I used iMovie and it took me a couple of hours, but, I am afraid that wasn't enough, I think I want to get back into it and do some video. It has been a few years, 4 to be exact and I am amazed how far it has come. So within the next few weeks I'll pick up a digi that does nice HD video, like an Olympus EP1 or Panasonic GF1, so that I can use my Voigtlander lenses on it and see how we go.

Floppy

2010-02-20T14:16:00.001+11:00

Floppy, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Xpan Love: NZ & Mueck

2010-02-14T12:45:00.001+11:00

Roadside Thingy, originally uploaded by fotodudenz.

Hi.

Not a lot to report, but I thought I'd keep you posted anyway.

Yes I am still uploading photos from our trip to New Zealand last month, I did take a lot of photos remember?

I have fallen in love with the Xpan again. Which is good, I didn't really want to sell the 30mm and buy a Leica M8, honest.

Also I finally worked out how to make my blog bigger, bigger in terms of the size of the posted photo and the width of the content on the screen, yay for me!

Still waiting for my proofs from Blurb, they should have been here by now.

I have also been uploading some photos from the Ron Mueck exhibition that is currently on at the NGV here in Melbourne.

That is all.

Matt

Sand-blasted, Tauranga Bay, New Zealand.

2010-02-05T08:29:00.002+11:00

Sand-blasted
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

View Large

We could see these trees from The Great Beach House, where we were staying in Tauranga Bay, which is just out of Westport on the West Coast. I couldn't quite get to them as they were on private property and there were people around so I just had to shoot from as may angles as I could get to. There is another shot of them that I quite like and I will upload that one eventually. If you're in the area, go and stay with Michael and Yvonne. Michael's bread is the best!

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/listing.php?listingId=64187

Here is another couple of shots from the Xpan that I quite like:

4 Days in New Zealand

2010-01-30T00:10:00.001+11:00

4 Days in New Zealand
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Here's your chance to see my images before I upload them to Flickr!

4 Days in New Zealand
Photography by Matthew Robert Joseph

1 photographer.

1 very understanding girlfriend.

1 20+ year old 4x4

4 days.

1350 kilometres.

2 amazing bed & breakfasts.

1 century year old pub.

12 rolls of film.

Equals one of the best holidays I have ever been on and some of the best photos I have ever taken in the country I was born. All of the images in this book were taken in New Zealand over the course of 4 days in January 2010.

www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/1161675

The Sky - Hasselblad Xpan & Book.

2010-01-27T14:03:00.001+11:00

The Sky
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

It's been just a bit over a week since we got back and I have finished scanning everything, but I have not yet finished editing the Xpan images. It's been hard not uploading everything at once.

I have also been working on a book of our trip, the title page and introduction are done, I have nearly finished laying out the images and I have started the captions. I hope to get it finished and uploaded after the weekend.

This image was taken just out of Lake Tekapo.
View it Large

I am also quite fond of this one that I took in Westport a couple of days later.

First Xpan shot from NZ - Motor Camp

2010-01-24T12:00:00.001+11:00

Motor Camp
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

View it Large

I just couldn't wait any longer.

This was taken just outside of Lake Tekapo.

I love the sky in this area.

New Zealand Voigtlander indexes are up!

2010-01-19T14:03:00.001+11:00

Index #1 Voigtlander NZ10
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

NZ Tiki Tour 2010

2010-01-15T23:43:00.002+11:00

NZ Tiki Tour 2010
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

It's about 1:28am and I am tired, I have driven about 350km today but something is urging me to get this blog post done, so forgive the spelling and grammar, I have.

Over the last 4 days I have driven about 1350km, and we're not talking about highway driving, we're talking about driving over hills and mountains, through passes and around bays, sealed and unsealed roads. And not in some fancy car either, a 20+ year old manual four wheel drive that misses and lacks a lot of the grunt that the newer cars have on the roads these days, but it did pretty well considering.

We went from Christchurch (E, there is an A under there somewhere) to Lake Tekapo (B), then Lake Tekapo to Blackball (C), then from Blackball to Tauranga Bay (D), then from Tauranga Bay to Christchurch (E).

Oh yeah, I took some photos too. May have even takenme awesome ones, bah, who am I kidding, of course I took some awesome ones, which you will start to see being uploaded from Tuesday.

I really must go, about to break the record for the world's longest blink.

You will find the shots that I took and uploaded from the road and the ones that I will upload in this set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotodudenz/sets/72157623214371014/

Cheers,

Matt

ps. It's my birthday on Sunday, I am turning 30.

Natural - The New 21mm

2010-01-04T14:40:00.002+11:00

Natural
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Here is a shot from the first roll of film taken with the Bessa L and my new 21mm lens. It was interesting getting used to this lens, a couple of times I had to zoom out with my feet and a couple of times I really had to resist taking it off and putting the 12mm on, but I just HAD to take a couple of shots with the 12mm, for reference of course. The Ektar behaved strangely, the light wasn't the best but everything has strange over-saturated look to it, almost like someone has slightly changed the hue. Not sure what colour film I am going to use in NZ now, maybe Reala.

Here is the index from the day.

Penguin Itch... by Ambre

2009-12-28T12:11:00.001+11:00

Penguin Itch...
Originally uploaded by ☆ Ambré ☆

Here is a video Ambre made on Christmas Day on my LX1.

I have gone less wide.

2009-12-27T13:07:00.001+11:00

Yes, the rumors are true.
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Yes, the rumors are true, I have gone less wide. I'm not giving up the the Ultra and Super wides, I'm just exploring other options. I love the GR1, but to me and as it has been pointed out by others, to me 28mm is my equivalent of 50mm, it's just no wide enough and sometimes, believe it or not, 12mm is just too wide *gasp*. So for my upcoming birthday I bought myself a 21mm. The in between lens, between my 12mm and my 40mm. So in a few days it will have made the trip from B&H in New York to here, just in time for our short trip to New Zealand. This time I will be showing Ambre the West Coast, which means the West Coast of the South Island.

MERRY XMAS!

2009-12-25T10:36:00.001+11:00

MERRY XMAS!
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Cooliris Photo Wall

2009-12-23T10:26:00.001+11:00

I'm on the German Flickr Blog!

2009-12-12T13:24:00.001+11:00

I'm on the German Flickr Blog!
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

"Unstitched" got a real bollocking in the views department last night and at first I couldn't understand why, then I noticed a couple of hits from Flickr's blog, but not in the English version that my browser defaults to but when I switched to the German version, there it was. Woo! Thanks Flickr!

http://blog.flickr.net/de

Last Night's Sunset

2009-12-11T13:40:00.001+11:00

Last Night's Sunset
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Sorry to interrupt your scheduled image upload but I just had to upload this one. Ambre and I were at my favourite Swedish restaurant where the view of the sunset and the city was quite spectacular. Lucky I had my GR1 with me.

More photos from the film here:

Big weekend of shooting

2009-12-10T09:18:00.003+11:00

And what a big weekend of shooting it was! Ambre was away on a meditation retreat and I was left to fend for myself. It started on Friday night, I went for a bit of a night photowalk with Barb, Ross and Mr Rukenfigur himself, Chris. I took the Bessa R3A loaded with Superia 1600 with me and realised, if I sell it, I won't have anything to use at night anymore. I got a few nice shots. Then on Saturday I met up with Karen in the afternoon because she wanted to have a turn on the Xpan, I'm not sure if she is fully convinced yet, give her time. And then on Sunday evening we had the Melbourne Silver Mine Christmas party, I wasn't in much of a party mood and I'm not into lawn bowls at all so I was a little bored, lucky there was nice light and I had a couple of cameras with me. Monday was dentist day and after a clean and scale I asked him if I could take a self-portrait in the chair, he said it wasn't the strangest request he had received, my mind boggles.

The image above was taken on Friday night, a group of kids wanted me to take their photo in front of the old Melbourne Museum and the image below was also taken later on Friday night.

Crossing the Abyss of Discontent by Tony Bridge

2009-12-06T14:32:00.003+11:00

I just wanted to share with you some wise words on being a photographer by New Zealand photographer Tony Bridge.

http://www.thistonybridge.com/2009/12/01/crossing-the-abyss-of-discontent

And also share with you a recent photo of myself, taken on my camera by supacrush

Refuge - Explore?

2009-12-02T13:17:00.001+11:00

Refuge
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

This recent photo of mine has received a lot of attention since I uploaded it last night and actually made it into the elusive Explore. I wish I knew why. I only took this to pass the time as Barb and I were waiting for the rain to stop.

The Station

2009-11-27T18:20:00.001+11:00

The Station
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

On Thursday I went for a bit of a walk about the city and Collingwood with Barb. I have been seeing some great square format images on Flickr lately and so I thought I would take the old Yashica D out, it's been a while since I used it last and it felt a little foreign to me, but as per usual, I was seeing things in wideboy mode and pulled out the Voigtlander & 12mm. Though when I got to work today and scanned my negs they appeared quite underexposed, so I'm not sure if the camera's meter is a bit out or the scanner at work is having an issue, I will have to investigate further.

Here is my index sheet from the day:

Kodachrome: A Eulogy

2009-11-23T22:31:00.003+11:00

Wot? No photo?

Yeah.

The second installment is up in my series of "Films they never should have stopped making" on the Melbourne Silvermine website.

Here is a link: Pow!

I wasn't planning on making #2 Kodachrome but recent events forced me to.

Hope you like it!

Oh ok, here is a photo.

The Hasselblad Xpan by Matthew Joseph aka Fotodudenz

2009-11-17T09:46:00.001+11:00

The Hasselblad Xpan by Matthew Joseph aka Fotodudenz
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

It has taken a while but I have finally updated and upgraded the old Hasselblad Xpan page, it was starting to look very old and dated, because it was! But that didn't stop people from reading it! I'm out of touch when it comes to web design and Ambre had bought the iLife '09 pack for the Mac and so I thought I would give iWeb a crack and I am quite happy with the results. I had to use a basic text editor tweak some of it and a FTP program to clean up the uploading but other than that it was great. Now I think it's time to clean up the main page.

Here is a link: http://www.fototheque.com/xpan

Oh and here is a recent photo I took.

It just so happens to fit into Flickr's newest and hottest group "fenced, empty lots with long grass and graffiti, join now to avoid the rush.

Untitled - It was hot on Monday

2009-11-11T10:02:00.001+11:00

Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

I went out shooting on Monday with Rhys. It was hot. We walked around the Yarra for a bit, checked out the new Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was very hot. Went to Carlton. Went back to the city. Had a Parma and a jug of coke, it was very cold, talked some shit. Walked to North Carlton. Not the best idea, it was extremely fucking hot. Got delirious. Evaporated some ice tea into my mouth. Went back to the city. Evaporated some cider into my mouth. Talked some shit. Said bye to Rhys. Went home. Took pants off Set AC to NZ in June (really fucking cold) and put on Transformers II.

Oh and at some stage I took this photo.

My new camera: Noblex Pro 150

2009-11-06T14:38:00.001+11:00

My new camera: Noblex Pro 150
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

> Don't tell my Dad or Ambré!

2500th image on Flickr!

2009-11-04T14:53:00.001+11:00

Art.
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

It's not a particularly interesting image but I just thought I'd let you all know that this image is my 2500th upload to Flickr. Which I think is not too bad for a mostly film based stream. This number of course doesn't include ones I have uploaded and removed, but there aren't very many of those.

Car Detailing - Preston Photo Walk

2009-10-30T13:53:00.001+11:00

Car Detailing
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Yesterday (Thursday) I met up with Ziz and Barb and we went for a bit of an photographic excursion to Preston, it was Barb's first time out there, my second and I'm sure Ziz has been there once or twice before. We got off at Regent Station and walked back towards Preston Station. I was shooting on the Xpan and the Voigtlander Bessa L & 12mm and I think we all got some shots to share. Look out for the carpark of awesomeness.

Here is an index of the shots from the Voigtlander.

Pompeii - The Exhibition.

2009-10-25T10:50:00.001+11:00

Pompeii
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

I wasn't supposed to take this photo. On the way into the exhibition they had one of those annoying "No photography" signs, but I didn't see it. Most of the exhibition was as boring as bat shit, took me about 10min to wander through all the crap and then to the good stuff! Dead things! (Well, representations of dead things) The lights were coming on and off in a cycle so I waited a round to work out the pattern, this fella lit up so I took a shot, then I waited another round and took this shot, happy, so I joined the queue to look at the others. I even checked my setting at some point so double happy.

Corrugated

2009-10-24T10:38:00.001+11:00

Corrugated
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Solei

2009-10-23T15:07:00.001+11:00

Solei
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

I thought I had fucked this one up completely. I saw these two sitting there, the 40mm was on the R3A, I loaded a roll of BW400CN, I checked that the ISO was set to 400 after my disastrous long weekend of fuck-ups at Wilson's Prom, I wound it on, set my aperture, half-pressed the shutter button and the exposure display in the viewfinder was doing it blinky-blinky thing which is the camera's equivalent of waving it's hands at me and shouting "Yo, yo, yo, your exposure is wrong you fucking idiot!", I ignored it and took the shot. Then my brain kicked in a said "Full sun, 400 speed film, F5.6, the shutter speed will be in the thousands", looked at the shutter speed and it was set to 2000, what I set it to when I wind on the film, thought to myself "Fuck it" set the camera to F8 and took another. Then the train pulled up and we all got on, all of this happened in the space of 30 seconds. Phew!

I can haz filum!

2009-10-22T12:10:00.001+11:00

I can haz filum!
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Just arrived from B&H, should keep me busy for a while.

Just another day at Photo & Video.

2009-10-20T09:41:00.004+11:00

~~Sorry that there is no embedded video or image at the top of this post, YouTube's share thingy wouldn't work so here is a boring old link.~~ I worked it out, yay for me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM9KpOYq31M

A little birdy (Who also goes by the name of Kate) shared this little video and so I thought it was only right to share it with the rest of you. It was shot at Photo & Video International, where I used to work in Christchurch. I would have to admit, out of all the places I have worked, it was definitely the most fun. If you look closely you can see Gary with my ex-girlfriend at 1:08 and Alex the Russian at 1:46 (He used to be a big Contax man but appears to have Canon DSLR now). You will also see glimpses of the lab I used to work in and the computer I used to answer the emails at. Enjoy!

Unstitched Squeaky

2009-10-15T09:25:00.001+11:00

Unstitched Squeaky
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Ambre and I had a fantastic time at Wilson's Prom, it's about 200km south east of Melbourne on the coast, we stayed at a place called Yanakie. There is some beautiful country down there, not as beautiful as New Zealand but still quite beautiful. I mostly took photos of the landscape, sunsets and shit but there were some other interesting things along the way, as you will see.

As for this photo, this one didn't turn out as well as the others for a couple of reasons. Firstly I had just loaded my roll of Ektar into the camera but I forgot to set the ISO to 100 so I quite happily underexposed 3/4 of a roll. It was quite hard to get the colours to look uniform but I think it did quite well considering. The second reason was I was trying too hard, I was going around corners and varying my distance from the rocks, next time I am going to draw an imaginary line in the ground and stick to it.

So you should expect to see a few more photos from the trip over the coming days. Here is another of my favourites.

Looooong Weekend

2009-10-10T18:01:00.001+11:00

Looooong Weekend
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

We have just taken off for a few days to Wilsons Prom. The wind turbines were amazing and so is where we are staying, this is the view.

The Warehouse

2009-09-22T18:18:00.001+10:00

The Warehouse
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

I had almost forgotten that I had taken these images. I took them a couple of weeks ago when I was wandering around Docklands with a few of the guys from the Melbourne Silver Mine. This was the easiest one I have done because there was a painted line on the ground and I used the vertical girders as a guide. More of these in the future, I promise, but maybe of more interesting stuff.

Ballarat Foto Binnale - Lower Hall

2009-09-20T14:49:00.002+10:00

Lower Hall
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Guess who is sick again!

Anyway, I went to Ballarat on Wednesday to check out the International Foto Biennale. I caught the train in with Andrew aka Lonely Radio, Chris aka Bullseyephoto, Chris aka Ziz and Vinnie aka Museum of Dirt. We wandered around for a few hours, checked out some exhibitions, took some pics and ate some lunch.

I took the Xpan and a Voigtlander with me. I was just starting to feel unwell so I was forcing myself to take photos because I hadn't been there before. I got a couple of ok shots with the Xpan, but I'm not very happy with the colour, it was expired Kodak 400 VC, serves me right for using expired film, it took quite a bit of work to make the VC look V. I did however take a few on the R3A with the 12mm that I am very happy with.

Under the Bolte

2009-09-15T14:39:00.001+10:00

Under the Bolte
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

On Sunday I went for a bit of a photo walk around Docklands with Rhys aka Serge Marks, Andrew aka Lonely Radio and Chris aka Bullseyephoto. We came across a few interesting sights along the way, including; a murder scene, a hang out for gay flies, a monkey and a shark propelled balloon.

I had intended to do some more vertical Xpan shots as per my instructions from Ambre but I had actually loaded a half used roll of B&W in it and had not cut the end properly and it jammed! Can you believe it? First time ever for the Xpan. So I ended up taking some shots on the Bessa L with the 12mm, I even did one of those unstitched panorama things but I haven't put it together yet, will do that soon.

Tomorrow I am headed to Ballarat with a couple of others from the Silver Mine as the Photography Biennale is currently on, I haven't been out there before so that should be interesting.

Mum

2009-09-08T14:50:00.001+10:00

Mum
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

This is my mum.

May 30, 1999.

This is one of the last photos of her.

She didn't look sick to me when I took this image, but she was.

She liked rainbows and this one was being made by a crystal hanging in a window.

She died 3 months later.

When I see a rainbow I think of her.

Vertically Challenged

2009-09-04T22:28:00.003+10:00

Vertically Challenged #2
Originally uploaded by fotodudenz

Back in June I was complaining about a photo I fucked up because it was quite obviously a vertical composition and I didn't bother turning the camera on it's end and shooting vertically. This led to Ambre issuing me a challenge, I am to shoot two rolls of film through the Xpan and I must shoot each frame vertically. Well, three months later, on Thursday I finally got around to it and in all honesty, I think it went well. It was really difficult not to shoot horizontally, there were some images that were just screaming out for it but I would take a second look and either shoot it vertically or not at all. I am calling the series "Vertically Challenged".

We also went to the Dali exhibition that is currently on here in Melbourne, I have to be honest, it was a bit of a let-down. There was this massive lead-up, you knew something big was coming, but alas, no "Metamorphosis or Narcissus" or "The Persistence of Memory". The whole show felt like I was looking at B-sides with no real big hitter at the end, no climax.