Dale Travers Photography Blog

If you’ve been following me for some time, you may have realised i’ve travelled a lot. A few years ago the urge to travel, skate and shoot photos around the world was a priority of mine. Not only to skate all those amazing places but to develop my photography and learn how to shoot in just about any situation.

Every monday on my blog i will show a travel photo from some of my journeys around the world including local spots in Australia like Darwin, Townsville, Brisbane and Alice Springs to overseas like Japan, London, Budapest, California, Vienna and the Netherlands. Anyway here’s the first post.

30 of May 2006 i travelled from Darwin to Airlie Beach via Alice Springs and Airs Rock.

A shot of me in front of the unlimited speed sign with a 1ltr NT beer and my skates. Check out the old on camera flash.

Kings Canyon is out there somewhere and it’s a great place to visit. We took a chopper ride to check all the falls but here is one from the top showing the overhang and shear rocks faces.

 

More posts every monday.

 

It’s been pretty hectic week. We worked some 12 hours days this week. Although they are long hours, working for a photographer is always an adventure and something new everyday. Even though i do my own shoots in between assisting work, i still love assisting and working on large projects.

We spent 11hours on day one and 6 hours on day 2 shooting this machine. It’s a small machine but it has a few reflective panels and we had to light it accordingly. Large softbox overhead for a nice wash, 2 lights on umbrella’s for a white back round, Magnum head for a bit of separation from the top left, grid from top right to light a small important section at the back of the machine and last one was a fill softbox from the front left to bring up the shadows. A great challenge.

Environmental portrait for a safety induction brochure. Ashley wanted a nice clean back ground as the final product needed a explain all the gear he was wearing and what it does. We got him to stand on the little mound and shot from a low angle to maximise negative space. Magnum head as the key light and large softbox as a fill light. Fairly simple shot but getting out on these construction sites can take a while and you also have to have a white card and all the right PPE clothing.

Last week the company i work for had the pleasure of trying out the new Phase One IQ180. Touch screen digital back(like an iphone), 80 megapixel. We also had a few lenses. Man it sounded amazing. This camera will set you back 60 Grand. There are lesser megapixel ones on offer which we will be testing out in the future. For an Australian photographer to own this camera, they must be shooting high end advertising work on a regular basis.

We had a shoot with Australian idol singer James Johnston in the city. He wanted gritty laneway feel to the photos so they chose Burnett Lane. It offered a range of backdrops and small doorways we could use in a short period of time. Here’s Ashley and Michael from Full Frame going though some of the images Ashley just photographed.

After an hour of driving we made it to our second location. I’m not going to reveal where this is because the cops patrol it all the time but it is an amazing warehouse that was built and not finished. We could have spent all week shooting in this place but after being visited by 2 set’s of cops and the security guy after we had cleared it with the agent selling place, we only spent the day here. Below is another BTS photo of James busting out on his guitar. This was the only set Ashley photographed with his instrument.

I’ll try and get one or 2 images Ashley shot from this camera and post them on my blog so you can see how amazing this camera really is but for now i just have my BTS phone photos.

Thanks for reading

I have been fighting everyday for a few years to become a photographer. What are you willing to do?

This week I have had a few jobs pop up that i couldn’t cover and i have contacted various people I know on Facebook as up and coming photographers to either ask them to cover an event or come along to assist on a basic trial. I was thoroughly disappointed. I often hear about photographers always wanting jobs and wanting to make money from their passion but when I comes down to it ” Are you willing to work hard for it?” I can only come to the conclusion “NO” I’m sure this isn’t everyone but I’m hearing lots of no’s instead of yes’s so I guess it comes down to, what are you willing to do to become a photographer or work for a photographer? I’ll tell you about what I have done.

Here’s me assisting our photographer by holding a scrim overhead. We were shooting this photo for about 40mins at a water treatment plant. It was really hot and smelly but we needed the shot so we did whatever we could to get it.

My goal over the past 4 years is become a full time professional photographer. I have travelled the world shooting and was shooting photos for 13 years before that. Only in the past 4 years have I decided to dedicate my life to making it a profession. So, what do I do? Always say “YES” to everything. This means putting my life on hold, when I get a call from the photography company, no matter what it is I always go out of my way to change my plans and help out. I mean anything!!! Are you willing to do that? I quit my full time job and changed it to casual so I could say Yes to advancing my photography career. I bought a bigger car so i can bring all my gear so no photoshoot or assisting job was to big or small. I spent thousands of dollars getting my kit up to scratch so I could produce the quality that is needed for professional work. I spend every waking hour on the internet educating myself on better photography and photoshop practices. Again I ask the same question “What are you willing do to?”

I was chatting at work today with the photographer I assist with and our impression is that younger photographers seem to not want to work. Being a photographer is a great job but no means an easy one. I have arrived in my situation by doing just about any job for paying and for free over the years just because I love it. I don’t love working for free but sometimes doing a portfolio shoot can get a great contact that will get a huge paying job down the track so you gain skills by doing that non paying shoot and maybe a new client in the future.

This was a shoot for QUU Water. Ashley is sitting in dirty muddy water and i’m standing is really really deep mud. Not to glamourous.

We also came to conclusion that we are not going to chase people into this job. If we ask you for your help or cover a simple event or come along to help out, I’ll only ask once then I’ll move on. Getting into this industry is hard enough as it is, if you prove to us your keen and willing to say “yes” then there’s your foot in the door.

Thanks very much for reading my little article and if your willing to do just about anything to make your passion a full time paying job in Brisbane, then please leave a comment because right now I’m getting pretty pissed off with the “photographers” that are disappointing me.

You do some crazy and weird things as an assistant, my boss sent me this with the quote ” At least we haven’t made you do this yet”. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time..

I shot this photo 2 years ago up the sunshine coast at Alexandra Headlands Skatepark. It was a damn hot day and my friend Jamie Stenner was out here from England on his honeymoon with his new wife Rikki. What better way to spend your honeymoon than travel to Australia and fit in some skating.

Well this shot finally went to print in latest issue of Be-Mag Magazine printed in Austria and distributed world wide. Always proud when my images hit print.

Jamie Stenner, Invert, Assisting Rikki Stenner, Alex Headlands, QLD, AUS