This photograph was taken a while ago whilst on Holidays in Hawaii.  Honolulu is the largest city on the Hawaiian islands with a population just under 1 million.  Personally i didn't connect with the city of Honolulu or the Island of Oahu.  It was over run with tourists, poor over priced restaurants and crowed tourist attractions. 

The second week i spent on the island of Kauai and had the opposite experience.  Quiet, peaceful, friendly people and amazing scenery combined with an ideal tropical climate made for paradise.  I hope to dig out the archives some more photos from this amazing island as i couldn't of had two more contrasting travel experiences. 

The photograph in question was taken along the picturesque waterfront of the tourist precinct of Honolulu with the sky rise hotels dotting the background.

This photo was processed using Adobe Photoshop CS5 with the Nik Software Viveza Plugin filter to help enhance the contrast between the sky and the clouds without the use of a polarizing filter.

My trip to Ranthambore National Park was an incredible experience.  Though i unfortunately missed seeing any wild Tigers i got to see a number of other wild animals in their natural habitat.  Due to weight restrictions i opted against taking my large telephoto as i couldn't justify the significant weight for limited use. 

Getting the right balance of photography gear vs versatility is a challenge.  The other challenge i faced on this trip was that i had been suffering from some significant lower back pain in the weeks leading up to this trip around Rajasthan so i made a choice to travel as light as i could with just the one DSLR body and three lenses.  The lense I ended up using for about 70% of my shots was the 50mm F1.4 which is an incredible lense. The other two lenses i brought on the trip was my 14mm aspherical fish-eye and a versatile 28-70mm F2.8 Sigma EX series zoom.

This shot of a mother and her young offspring was taken on the 50mm as the Monkeys stayed remarkably still as the Canter bus rolled alongside.

This is a quick shot i took from a shoot for the Perth Demons WAFL Club at their end of season corporate sponsors golf day. It certainly looked to be a fun day with food, beer and a social competition that no-doubt turned more serious as the day went on. 

This photograph was taken on the T behind the lake at the entrance of the course.  I'd never been to Collier Park Golf Course and it certainly appeared to have some challenging holes for amateur hacks like myself through to seasoned pros.  Most shots i took on the day focused on getting in front of the player and capturing their face and expression but i like the composition of this photograph and if you look carefully you can see the golf ball in mid flight directly above the golfer.

This shot was taken in the picturesque mountain town of Dalat in the south of Vietnam. Having taken a scenic cable car voyage to the top of the mountain where the Buddhist Monasteries dotted the hillside I came across this couple having their wedding amongst the carefully sculpted gardens which were meticulously maintained by the monks that called this place home.   I wanted to test out some of the colour profiles that were pre-set as a test to using this filter to batch process a series of portrait shots for future photography shoots in Perth.  I thought this would be the perfect image to shoot as I wanted to test how the fine details in the white clothes of both the bride and groom held when the remaining colours were enhanced.  

Overall I found the highlights stayed together quite well and was able to boost the saturation of the green tones of the foliage both in the foreground and background of the key subject matter.  This plugin is very kind to skin tones and naturally smoothes out blemishes and softens the skins complexion subtly without over doing it and becoming a glamour style shot.  I can highly recommend “Portrature” as photoshop plugin or a stand alone program.  I also believe its available on Aperture as well.

Round 13 of the WAFL saw the East Fremantle Sharks take on the Perth demons who after a stretch of great form came into the game with considerable confidence.  The game was an arm wrestle throughout the match with neither side being able to gain ascendancy until the fourth quarter when the East Fremantle Sharks turned a 3 point defecit into a 6 goal to 2 final quarter to run away with the game finishing 85-68.

Reece Palmer did his chances of being recalled to the Fremantle Doclers no harm with a tireless display through four quarters gathering 34 touches while former West Coast Eagle & Western Bulldog Andew McDougall impressed for the visitors.

Sports photography in varying lighting conditions can be difficult.  At East Fremantle Oval the best place to photograph from is near the large Grand-Stand as the sun is always behind you ensuring you don't get any lens flare and players faces are in sun not shadow when running towards the camera.  However this same grandstand starts to cause a large shadow over the field in the third and fourth quarters.  This means that my daylight light balance needs to change to cloudy white balance to account for the change in light temperature.  I prefer to do this manually rather than set to AUTO as i keep more control over the colour tones of the final image.

In a perfect world lighting conditions for sports photography would be for a "bright" overcast day.  A thin layer of evenly dispersed cloud ensures that you won't have to worry about harsh shadows in faces or bodies and enable consistent shutterspeed and exposure values.  My preference is for over exposing by 1/3 of a stop to get detail in the shadow parts of the image then bring back the highlights from my RAW (.CR2) file in Photoshop CS5.  If lighting conditions are consistant through the game i can then batch process the images to quickly apply pre-set RAW profiles and watermark's to all images.

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Recently i got down to photograph the South Fremantle Power Station.  Wow - What a sensory overload.  Wall to wall graffiti, every square inch of the ground covered in broken glass, spray cans everywhere...It was amazing.

I cant wait to go back.  I was so in awe of the place, i found myself just watching and exploring rather than just taking photographs.  I desperately need to go back soon and shoot the Heritage listed building again and focus on sections that i missed or take from another angle.

It wasn't until it was almost dark that my photography partner Leo and I discovered the staircase that took us to the upstairs section that opened up another range of stunning photo oportunites.

The photographs above have been processed using HDR (High Dynamic Range) overlaying three different exposures of the one setting to bring out such vibrant colours, intensity and  contrast.  After the RAW files have been HDR processed using photoshop CS5 the resulting 32bit images were then processed a second time using the Photomatix plugin filter which amplified the HDR result even more. 

The final stage was to convert the image to 16bit and then use the dodge and burn tool to create focus points in each of the images.

I think this building would be very intimidating and powerful in Black & White as well.  I need another trip down ASAP to re-shoot.  For a personal project this has been really rewarding and challenging shoot.  I still think I'm yet to get the best out of the building as far as graffiti and architectural photography goes.  As its really is one of the best places to photograph in Perth or even Western Australia.

This trip has tripped a switch within me and I'm keen to explore some of the other unused heritage listed building througho

With news of the impending cyclone Bianca coming to wreak havoc on the city of Perth, Western Australia i was salivating at the thought of the capturing Perth's best storm photography since the storm that tore through Perth's Western Suburbs in March 2010.

Fortunately for Perth and unfortunately for storm photographers cyclone Bianca had faded dramatically by the time it hit Perth and we received little more than a good soaking for our lawns.

What cyclone Bianca did provide was some dramatic cloud formations that i knew would create powerful landscape images.  Heading out on Saturday i was looking for a good vantage point to capture the sky's looking into the sunset.

My first stopping point was Point Walter, though with the focal point being either the Sandbar facing North or the Jetty facing East, it wasn't right.  Moving on i started heading to either Leighton Beach / North Fremantle or Cottesloe where i knew i could look straight over the Indian Ocean as the sun set.

On the way, I stopped in-between Blackwall Reach in Bicton and the Bicton Baths.  This beautiful stretch of river is so scenic and the wind had died down making for ideal conditions for landscape photography.

The image above is at a little beach landing where people store their boats.  This shot is a 9 image stitch created in Photoshop CS5.  I also used a neutral graduated filter to help emphasise the power that mother nature can create when angry.

As with all my photographic expeditions lately, whenever i seem to get a landscape that I'm really happy with i manage to break something in my rush to get the photo.

This time shortly after this set of photos was taken the leg of my tripod wasn't secure and it my canon DSLR smashed onto one of the boats smashing the graduated filter.  Little damage for a great shot unfortunately but i must remember to not rush so much and enjoy the landscape photography experience a little more.

The latest free wallpaper on offer features the textures and colour of the amazing and exotic fruit from Bali, Indonesia. This shot was taken up in the mountains of Bali while i was on a cycling tour from Kintamani down to Ubud. Can highly recommend the cycling tour as it's a great way to experience the way the Balinese live.  Its a gentle ride down the the mountain and takes in the local villages and Balinese people living their traditional lifestyles.  If you are going to Bali and are interested i can recommend: www.balibintangtour.com

For this free wallpaper and others for computers and moblie phones such as iphones please visit the free wallpapers link.

In January I have been fortunate enough to be able to take some time off and travel to Bali, Indonesia. These images were taken when I was presented a unique opportunity to go inside a family commune on the outskirts of Ubud.  Hidden behind high walls was a small congregation of basic accommodation and buildings.

It was fascinating to discover how these people live and associate with each other.  Generations of family living in close proximity to each other with a hierarchy of buildings dedicated to God, the elderly grandparents (pictured here) as well as food and meal areas and special recognition for chickens who are important in their culture.

I absolutely love the faces of the elderly grandparents i have photographed in these two images.  To me it feels like you can see the wisdom and experience in every contour of their face. Being invited to experience the way of life for these traditional Balinese people was probably the highlight of my trip.  These type of experiences are what makes travel photography so rewarding, particularly when you visit cultures and places that are so different from our western lives.

Travel photography is so enjoyable and as an Australian, I feel so lucky to have Asia on our doorstep to offer amazing experiences and photographic opportunities.  Bali is only 3 hours flight from Perth and in less than a day you can leave behind the demands and hectic lifestyle of a modern western city and feel like you've traveled back in time where people live such basic, yet happy and fulfilling lives. It often makes me question who has it better?  Yes i have plasma TV, ADSL internet, brand name clothes...but for what?  Are we any happier than these traditional people who live off the land and live in a tight community where family is everything?

I always come home asking myself these questions and that's what i love Asia for.

For more images from my latest trip to Bali, Indonesia: Click here