71//

 

And that as they say, is that. The last afternoon of the assessment time period I went out in the surf for the last time at Snapper Rocks to get some landscape shots, as there is no surf. With the sun setting quickly behind some thick clouds I got this nice flare when I lowered the camera downto the water. I've thoroughly enjoyed the assignment and it's been a good excuse for me to go out and take photos more often. Hope you can see the work thats gone into this project and enjoyed it. Peace out.

70//

 

After looking at photographing things from perspective, I decided to experiment further with some perspective drawings. Here I simply used the horizon line technique to draw shapes that appear in worms eye, and birds eye views.

69//

 

This is a resolved piece I did for this portfolio. I drew the figure with assorted graphite, led and a touch of charcoal. Any yes, I messed up the hand, I noticed after I finished and didnt want to erase all the work I had done....

 

Graphite / led / Charcoal

68//

 

Figure, I learnt the principles of drawing the figure in another uni subject. I've continued on with what I've learnt experimented further with sketching the human figure (which I find difficult, yet rewarding when I eventually get it right). 

 

Graphite and led

67//

 

After looking into sketching portraits earlier in the project, I have decided to follow that up with further experimentation of body proportion and shape. Here, I have constructed a figure with basic geometric shapes in an attempt to make sure the body is balanced. This is a good way to simplify the human body for sketches.

66//

 

Distortion is the name of the game in this photo. I wrote 'Yo.' on a piece of paper with water paint and then photographed it with the sense of a worms eye view to create an added effect.

65//

 

Draining away. With this behance profile for Graphic Design coming to an end, I focused this afternoon of a photo fitting of a conclusion. The lines the waves draw on the beach act as a nice leading line for this image. the subtle navigation for the viewers eyes makes every corner of the photo viewable. Drastic contrast was used to make the leading lines more visible, yet still remain disguised.

64//

 

Feeling exprimental, I took a different approach to this sketch. I started not knowing where I would go. My mind was as blank as the page in front of me. Firstly I drew a cube, and then the idea of turning it into a tree came to me. It may be a bit weird but I ended up completing the drawing of a tree, made entirely of cubes. Done completely free handed with no sketch structuring. 

63//

 

So yeah, I just finished an assignment that had kept me up very late every night all week. So I was feeling relieved and happy enough to draw Mr Happy himself. Nothing flash, just a way to show how happy I am to not have to worry about that assignment any more. yay. The process for this piece was just looking at a google image of Mr Happy and free hand sketching him with a pencil.

62//

 

Spring has well and truely sprung, and Brisbane's riverfire is just around the corner. My family and I, and cousins meet the grandparents place next to the Storey Bridge to watch the fireworks spectacle. So, with that in mind, I grabbed some water paint and used it the worst way possible, to create a piece representing the vibrance of spring and riverfire. There was no need to be careful, I pushed the paint straight out of the bottle to create levels and texture in the photo. No paint brushes were used here, although I lost plenty of paint doing this.

61//

 

Moving on from typography, I've decided to look more at the art of graffiti. What I like about graff is that you only need the most basic materials to create work. Here I used pencil, a blue pen, a faithful old sharpie and pink and blue highlighters to write out the word 'Swerve'. Drawing upon the hip hop influence in this profile, 'Swerve' is a word that rapper Big Sean sent viral in the song Cliuqe.

60//

 

IOS 8 was just released by Apple, and as a person who uses the camera on his iPhone a lot I was keen to see the improvements made to the photo editting. I messed about with the lighting and highlights settings with this recent photo I took of a fishing trip with a couple of good friends. We're some where up the creek..... ha... ha...

59//

 

After being inspired by some work from one of my favourite photographers, Trent Mitchell (from his instagram feed), I went out this afternoon with a purpose of creating mood with glimpses of light. We didn't get much of a sunset, but some rays were illuminating the tips of clouds. I experimented with the white balance on this to be cold and blue, which nicely brought out the splash of warmth.

58//

 

Hey, I just realised. I haven't experimented with portrait orientation landscape photos. So without further adieu, out I went out with my camera down to the rockpools at Burleigh. In this image I really tried to make it foreground dominant. I didn't worry too much about the rule of thirds here, although I made certain that the horizon line wasn't perfectly in the middle of the frame. 

57//

 

It's all about inspiration. This is a t-shirt with a print of Kobe Bryant by The Forest Lab, that influenced a painting I did of him recently. I love and appreciate this pop-culture style of art, and watching the video (on youtube) of how this sketch was done is incredible. It's so detailed and accurate and inspires me to try new things. Oh yeah, and I love the t-shirt as well. As you can see through my feed, I have touched on a few areas of pop-culture and street art, it's an interest I've had for a long time, but I've only started attempting designs and projects recently. There's something about this particular sketch that amazes me.

56//

 

Kanye West was just in Australia performing concerts across the map. I recently finished a plainting of Kanye (check the feed). I'm increasingly becoming interested in typography. All the pieces came together for an another attempt at freehand typography. I used a chorus line out of Kanye West's song, 'Theraflu'. I found this difficult to say the least, but I find these sort of challenges and experimentations enjoyable.

55//

 

Okay, so this is another one of my entries into the Monster Children Photo Competiton, and will be the last one I post here, but I just want to show you what I've been up to with respect to some of my work. This, for what ever reason I can't really explain, is a personal favourite, referencing my connection with the real Gold Coast. It's hard to believe that if I was to turn left I would be slapped in the face by one of the biggest cities in Australia.

54//

 

This was my second of five entries I submitted into the Monster Children Magazine Photo Competiton. I've posted this one in the travel section.I took this earlier in the year in Santorini, Greece while looking out into the vast Mediterranean Sea and absorbing an unreal sunset. The experience was insane, everybody was completely silent in pure amazement and appreciation when this little boy on his father's back threw his hands up. It almost looked like a religious moment. 

53//

 

Today, I entered Monster Children Magazine's prestigous photo competition, this was one of my entries. For this photo I submitted in the action category, my goal was to choose something that was unique to other photos I had taken. I really stretched the contrast on this one, used a slow shutter held by hand (no tripod security), and took it from an angle that's fairly unseen to most. It's a slight birds eye view taken at Duranbah beach on an afternoon moments after a powerful storm rolled though. I like shooting slow shutters hand held as I really find it challenging to get results while withstanding elements of wind. Fingers Crossed.

52//

 

So, I've been doing some reflecting over all the stuff I've learnt this semester so far in Graphic Design, especially the theory and information with respect to photography. In the tutorial where we were introduced to Adobe Bridge Software we also spoke about highlights and shadows, and making sure they were balanced correctly. Furthermore we spoke about how photos appear differently on print and screen. That got me thinking about a few photos I've taken recently about managing highlights. The extreme over exposure was done on purpose for this particular image, I was inspired to try this after looking at photos taken by Woody Gooch (a photographer from Noosa who I draw plenty of inspiration). I really like this photo but I felt it conflicted with some messages we were told in class. Now, I'll be the first to say that I took that information on board and applied it to every photo I've taken since, but like all rules, they are made to be occasionally broken. It was an lengthy editing process to ensure that the figures in the foreground didn't appear too washed out (it was also strictly kept for screen viewing). I try to apply a variety of established composition and aesthetic appearance rules to my photos, as I am forever trying to improve what skills I have, while always being open to experimentation and influence. I am going to show my tutor this photo in class next time and get her opinion, because I think this works.

51//

 

To further illustrate my experimentation with close up composition I would like to show this photo from this afternoon. I like to think this photo sums up the photography aspect of this Behance profile. I really get a kick out of taking surf photos that portray a mood, whether that be positive or negative. Every time I go out into the water with my camera I have a goal in mind, I've already thought of photos I'd like to attempt to capture. However, as with all things involving mother nature, you never have that much control. Then again, maybe that lack of control is a good thing. I like to think this photo simply portrays positive vibes. Gamma vignette was also applied here.

50//

 

Gloomy late afternoons. I slowed my shutter speed down just enough to gain a better sense of motion. In this little late afternoon photo session, I focused on tighter composed images, and with this surfer having such a relaxed and lazy style, all the variables seemed to come together for this one. The light was poor so I used black and white in this instance. Also, I've decided those watermarks annoy me, so I'm not going to keep applying it. 

49//

 

Continuing on from my earlier experimentation with typography I thouht I'd have another go. This time I was inspired by the unique font style used on ASAP Rocky's mixtape 'Live Love ASAP' cover. I adapted upon that to sketch out the names of some of the members of the ASAP Mob. Completed with a faithful old Sharpie.

48//

 

The hardest thing about lightning photography that I've learnt the hard way is that a combination of things have to go your way. You have to be pointing your camera at the subject, have a shutter speed that doesn't make the shot too light or dark, and it has to be long enough to capture the entire streak. I experimented with a faster shutter speed with this photo, compared to the previous post, which made me feel fortunate when this strike ripped through the sky right in front of me. It was pretty crazy and dangerous, the strike engulfed the sky over the top of me and the thunder clap was loud and instantanious.

47//

 

Well, well. It's getting to that time of the year again where the storm cells start popping up on the radar. the change of season is definitely upon us and as the weather warms up, so does the action in the sky. We had our first storm of the season down on the Gold Coast and although it was a bit of a fizzer, there was some lightning on show. Although I do love taking these sorts of photos, it is pretty dangerous. I stood in the open, on Burleigh Hill and holding a camera thats fixed to a metal tripod. The results are worth it I feel, but the potential risk is surely evident and known. I had to use a slow shutter to try and time the shot with the quick and unpredictable strike, while keeping in mind an appropriate speed and apeture to bring out the colours in the sky.

46//

 

Type, take 2 // Inspired by Joel Birch's work, I set out on my first real typography piece. Opting to keep it simple I drew my outlines with pencil and then applied ink with a marker pen. For me tyopgraphy is clearly different from graffiti. Graffiti is often debated as to whether it should even be considered art, or an expression of opinion, or a degrading and ugly trend. Anybody can 'tag', but as I learnt with this attempt, typography is a highly skillful and difficult form of art. I appreciate Joel Birch's work even more now after finishing my first typography piece.

45//

 

One aspect of art I've always been interested in is graffiti/typography. I've admired the typography art of Joel Birch, lead singer for the Amity Affliction, for a while and for this project I thought I'd give it a go. I used this sketch as a bit of a warm-up, to sharpen some skills, calm myself down and focus intensly on the task. 'Turning Dreams into Habits' is a line from a favourite song of mine by Big Sean. 

44//

 

While sitting at my desk for hours doing assessment work, my dog, Gidget, is constantly beside me. I swear she tries to help as much as she can by brainstorming ideas for me. This is a bit of a nothing photo, but I thought this moment was pretty funny and unique, and should be captured. It also helps to have a photogenic subject.

43//

 

My whole idea behind this post (as a follow up to the last one) is to show how nice the Gold Coast really is. It's hard to believe that if you turn around and face the other way you would be greeted by skyscraper after skyscraper. This is Burleigh Cove, also known as the real Gold Coast! Shooting in the mid morning, where the light is at its brightest and harshest, some editting was done to reign in the excessive highlights.

42//

 

A setting goes a long way for a successful photo. Despite the lack of waves, I really do like this time of year. Clear skies, light winds, not to cold, not too hot. Just the right amount of awesome! I think this skyline is one of the most iconic in Australia, but that doesn't mean I like the place. My whole opinion on Surfers Paradise is that it gives the entire Gold Coast a bad reputation. Anywhere from Burleigh Heads (where I took this shot) south is the place you want to be. It is the real Golden Coast. And that was the goal with this photo, to photograph the Surfers skyline in a way that's slightly different to others - particularly by adding a foreground to the composition. That doesn't mean that Surfers isn't a bad backdrop in photos, but I tend to keep my distance. 

41//

 

As we have been using Adobe programs more and more at university, especially for creative industries subjects. I am transitioning from Apple Apeture photo editing software to Adobe Lightroom. As part of this transition I have started including watermarks, as it is something I feel is important to have on your photos that you're uploading to websites/blogs.

40//

 

So, I've realised I probably need to restrain my addiction for black and white photos a bit and post some more colour images. Here is another photo from this afternoons shoot focusing on the streaking clouds in the southerly wind. I pointed the camera into the wind and let nature do the rest, leaving me with a pretty cool photo, well, at least that's what I think.

39//

 

With strong southerly winds running up the coast in the afternoon, I pointed my camera North East and set the shutter speed to 30 seconds to create a pretty unique style of photo. I feel this may be useful to the assignment, even though it was more just personal work.

38//

 

To further illustrate my groups approach to Assignment two, I've been out and about shooting photos, trying to find inpsiration.

 

Here are a few examples of what I've been experimenting with. Note: as a group we believe black and white may be the way to go //

37//

 

 

36//

 

 

35// 

 

 

34//

 

For the second assignment in this graphic design class, we have to design a book cover. After meeting with my group yesterday I realised I had a few photos from my travels in the year that could relate to the mood of the story. After showing them, they all seemed to agree that we could somehow incorporate them into designs for the book cover and posters.

I will post a few here to show the direction we are thinking of taking //

33//

 

Serenity // Despite all the variables that can be thrown at you, the ocean is the place where I feel most at home. If you haven't gathered that by now, well it is. There are so many things you can do, and so many different ways to photograph it. It can be beautiful, ugly, happy and angry all in a short time frame. Above all though, I think it has a calming healing power over the people that call it their sanctuary. Important things in your life don't seem to matter when you're in the ocean and that is the message behind this shot.

32//

 

You may like it, you may not. I stretched contrast to the limit in this one, recovered some of the highlights and turned it into black and white. Silhouettes are, in my opinion, one of the best things a photographer can do to create a mood. The weather also plays a part in what emotion you are going to narrate in your work.

31//

 

The Golden hour. It's really only about a five minute period at the end of the day that photographers live for. It's that moment where the sky saturates itself in warm tones. I wasn't expecting much of a sunset this afternoon, but after some clouds cleared I quickly realised it would be a good one, grabbed my camera, jumped on my bike and raced down to Burleigh point. I focused on rule of thirds yet again here. I composed the wave in the bottom third of the frame, so there is plenty of colour in the background and ensured the surfer (Wade Papenfus) wasn't framed in the center of the photo.

30//

 

For some reason, I don't mind this shot from the photo shoot. My whole idea behind this shot was to try and do something nobody else would try. I told one of my group members just to go trigger happy while I thought of things to do. By having a slower shutter due to the very low light I tried to add elements of motion to the shot. Here, I have just put on my sunglasses. 

29//

 

Here's a simple edit of the previous upload. Being a black and white fan I spent some time experimenting with an appropriate filter. For this one, I lowered the contrast and experimented with shadows and highlights intensity in Apple Apeture. I found these photos useful for a new facebook profile picture.

 

More to come, still.

28//

 

In today's tutorial, we were introduced to studio photography. As a form of photography that I had never experimented with, I went into it thinking it was extremely complicated and tricky. After being explained the principles of 'beauty lighting', to my suprise I found it easy. We performed the exercise in our groups to Assignment two, and being the only one in the group who really knew how to operate a SLR, I composed the shot and picked the settings. I wanted a shot where the background was completely black with a simple portrait illuminated in the foreground. This is the uneditted result, it's a little dark but it's my first attempt, so... yeah.

 

More results from the shoot to come //

27//

 

No I didn't take this photo, but boy do I love it. Photographer Woody Gooch has teamed up with Foam Symmetry magazine to produce one of my favourite covers... Ever. Mr. Gooch has been a huge source of inspiration to my work and this cover only adds to my list of influences. He does black and white photos to perfection. However, as a person interested in design, I can't say I'm a fan of the type face used for the Foam Symmetry name,

 

 

26//

 

For a personal project I have been working on with a friend, I decided to work on some typography based logo ideas. I like this one. Perminant marker and pencil //

 

 

25//

 

Here's the finished product. My only wish was that I had some charcoal, aside from that I think its ok!

 

 

24//

 

So after sticking my sketch of ASAP Rocky on my bedroom wall, I felt inspired to try my hand at another one. This time I decided on drawing Drake. This was taken about half way through after I eventually figured out how to draw his stubble effectively.

 

 

23//

 

The last few days have been good. I have recently collaborated with a long time friend/creative genius with some awesome ideas in the works. We have named our concept 'Psych'. I can't talk about it too much, but what I can say is that we have a blueprint ready to implement, soon. This is just a simple design I made for the profile picture of our blog for Psych.

 

 

22//

 

Another photo from the session the last upload was from. Instead of experimenting further with grain I decided to play around with vignette. I feel that it is most effective in black and white shots.

 

 

21//

 

After discussing texture in a previous tutorial, I was inspired to experiment a little bit with grain. Trying to find a balance between roughness and density proved difficult, but I think it works in this coloured photo.

20//

 

On a five minute study break, at 1:30am I drew my frustration at an assignment as Cartman from South Park. Armed with nothing more than a 0.5mm pacer I made sure there was real emotion being shown in those eye brows!

 

 

19//

 

More ocean texture. Small washy waves creating unique images. A slightly slow shutter was used here.

 

 

18//

 

More texture. The texture of a basketball is a feeling that is pretty recognisible to those who love the game. Basketball is a big part of my life and the feeling of a basketball is something I am very familiar with.

 

In class today, as were instructed, I looked at textures. We are surrounded by texture, leaves, concrete floors, and the ocean. This is a photo I took of the face of the ocean. I think what makes the ocean special is its ability to show emotion through texture, it is the most photogenic form of nature. // The contrast was a focus during the editing process in particular.
 
More texture to come.

 

 

16//

 

As I continue to experiment with my photography I've tried to get more and more creative. I think this photo provokes thoughts of imagination and dreaming of scoring waves - hence the bluriness. It's meant to be like a vision; there's a perfect wall of curling water coming your way and people are paddling to get into position (this thoughts of daydeaming also influenced why the photo is in black and white).

 

 

 

Another, more detailed, look at one of my sketch of ASAP Rocky. Boy I found this difficult and my opinion of it sways every other day. To me the biggest speed bump was his braided hair style and his mouth. However, it's better than a lot of the other attempts I tried. I've also added some shading to it since I posted the first photo a few days ago.
 
Graphite and Lead on A4 //

 

 

14//

 

Love it  //  If you think about it. There aren't many car designs that are as identifyable and iconic as this machine. Long live the comby van! I think the curvature and design are unique, captivating and timeless. 

 

 

13//

 

It's been an on-again-off-again, approach to the finish of this painting, but I'm glad to say its over. I finally quit procrastinating and put the final touches on my painting of rapper Kanye West. Acrylic on canvas and inspired by stencils and street art, the same style as the Kobe Bryant painting I posted earlier.

 

 

12//

 

The rain today has been welcomed. After a heavy shower at home the droplets on the window proved to be a nice photo opportunity and I was there with my camera right beside me. Black and white to establish the mood and experimentation with manual focus was used to bring forward the rain droplets.

 

The man // 
I was listening to one of my many favourite ASAP Rocky songs when I decided to sketch him. After strolling through portrait photos I found one and went to work. This took approximately 4 hours to complete with a mix of graphite, led and charcoal!

 

 

10//

 

As part of a tutorial exercise, we were instructed to be as creative as possible when drawing a storyboard of anything. I sat there looking at the blank sheet of paper thinking of things to draw, but nothing came to me. So my thought processes went down a different path, and I decided to sketch what my perfect morning is. Waking up before sunrise and getting perfect waves all day. The storyboard only illustrates the preperation before paddling out. 

// pencil on paper

 

 

 

Months ago, I purchased a water sports housing for my DSLR. I recently received it in the mail and finally took it out for a test. I knew it would be fun but I didn't expect it to open up as many new possibilites as it would! I follow photographers on instagram, tumblr and facebook that post surf photos taken with their housing and a lot of the work seemed to be really similar and repeditive. With that in mind, I'm determined and inspired to be different and seek new angles and opportunities. 
 
I've also had a fascination with black and white photos recently, and giving the fading (yet still rich) light, I think it works well here. Taken at 1/30th.

 

 

8//

 

Further Shutter Experimentation // With the last few days providing plenty of photo opportunities, I have continued to satisfy my interest in slow shutter photography. There's something special about it, especially if it's done correctly. I also prefer to not use a tripod, and let me tell you, trying to shoot at 1/10th with strong winds and trying to stand still and track the subject, is difficult. But the results can be so worth it.

 

 

7//

 

As part of an exercise during my Graphic Design class, we were asked to illustrate a turtle showing happy emotion. This was my attempt. // Pencil and Paper

 

 

6//

 

The air is cold, and so is the water. Motion and symmetry was the goal with this photo. I used a slow shutter to obtain the sense of motion.

 

 

5//

 

Dubai has some of the most 'out-there' and extreme architectural designs I have ever seen. Seriously, there are occasions where I would stop to look and admire another building and say out loud, how the heck does that stay standing. It's an amazing thing to see, and being able to see such freedom in design (thinking way outside the square) is refreshing. I had plans for a double exposure edit job with this photo but I think my reflection did the job just fine.

 

 

4//

 

Black and White has always interested me, as has contrast. In low light situations, I've found that it creates a unique mood compared to colour that is difficult to explain... but I like how it works. Additionally, to create a moody photo, the sky can often help. That's why I've positioned the horizon in the bottom third of the photo.

 

 

3//

 

I found my painting of Kobe Bryant (NBA Basketball Superstar) while cleaning out my room. Very excited to have rediscovered it. I was inspired by stencil spray painting and street art which is incorporated into the design. Banksy is an artist that I have been fascinated by for years and his work was influential on this painting.

// Acrylic paint on Canvas. Now hanging in my bedroom

 

 

2//

 

With plenty of waves to photograph of late, I've experimented with slow shutter speeds. This was taken at 1/25 of a second and I incoprorated theories of rule of thirds and leading lines (as I think a photo of a wave centered in frame can be boring to view). This photo, and the shutter speed experimentation, provides a different perspective of a wave.

 

 

 

Welcome to my little online portfolio //
As part of a Graphic Design subject I'm untertaking I will endevour to post images here as often as possible, inspired and influenced by things that catch my eye walking down the street, things that interest me or simply things that are on my mind. Enjoy! 
To kick things off, this essentially sums up what I love to do - bodyboarding/surfing and documenting fun times. I try to spend as much of my existance at the beach and I find enjoyment in putting memories to computer screens for others to enjoy.

This photo emphasises shutter speed and composition experimentation.
Rider - Elliot Butler (Sponsored by Flux Bodyboarding, ID. Boards and Zion Westuits).