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

RAW - Is an informative blog website run by Perth based professional photographer Tristan Judd.  A couple of weeks ago Tristan put the word out of an exciting competition based around the name of his website "RAW".  The concept was staggeringly simple.  The execution of the task...challenging.

Simply supply an out of camera image and the same image after post processing...simple right? To make the challenge all the more enticing there are some awesome camera bags up for grabs from Thinktank Photo. Check out Tristans review here.

So after deliberating for far too long what do i enter, how much post processing should i do. I ended up with the image above.  I wanted to take something new for the photography competition as i get bored of my photos very quickly, and i believe my best photo will be my next one.

It was Good Friday when i went for my first visit to the derelict and abandoned Power Station for the first time.  Such an incredible building to photograph in terms of its heritage listed architecture and then the abundance of graffiti throughout.  The challenge artistically was to find  a focal point in a landscape that was covered in glass and graffiti. 
It was so visually busy it was almost distracting.  Technically the biggest challenge i faced was the enormous range of stops between shadows and highlights.

I was pretty happy with this final image and i still cant decide if i prefer it in colour or black and white, though i've choosen the colour option to highlight the difference after post production in photoshop.  Regardless of the result of the competition it got me thinking about photography in a new way so its been a really enjoyable challenge.

The RAW photo blog by Tristan Judd is full of reviews and interviews and i was fortunate to be one of the first interviewed several months ago.  You can read my interview here.

Finally as a side note, does anyone recognise the "Monster Image" on the left.  It is none other than the internationally famous "Beastman" - Brad Eastman.  I love his style and iconic images that can be found scattered throughout Australia.