Trying something new

I rush everywhere. From my bed to the bathroom in the morning. From the front door to the car. I even rush the milk to my cup of tea. I never used to, but it's come with having Miles and Ryan and always having to be one step ahead of them. It's also come from perpetually having something else that needs to be done (i.e washing, cleaning, making play dough).

Last Wednesday night was no exception. I'd organised to meet new friend and photographer Kyle Simpson at the Portarlington Pier for a bit of a casual landscape shooting. And I was running late. And I couldn't find Mile's shoes. And at one stage I couldn't find Ryan (he was under his bed). I threw them in the car messy faces and all, dropped Miles with my mum, and got the peir out of breath and frazzled.



And there was Kyle, standing serenely and quietly, taking in the sunset. I'd never met Kyle in person before, and he must have thought who's this crazy lady coming up the pier with a toddler under one arm, a camera under the other, and her hair all squiwiff. Hi, just me.

Kyle is a master landscape photographer. You can see his work on Flickr, Redbubble and the Bell Street Gallery. The way he captures the swirling, misty sea leaves me breathless. I wanted to go shooting with him to learn a little more about the art of landscape photography.



And boy did I learn! Not only did I learn about polarizers, waiting for the tide, and really long exposures (that's how you get that super swirly sea effect), but I also learnt I don't think I'm cut out for landscape photography. I loved capturing the sky and the show it was putting on, but I kept wanting to point my camera at the people on the pier. I wanted to capture the fishermen, tell their stories, steal them and put them in my camera.



Plus I couldn't stay still long enough! I'm used to rapid fire photography where the subjects are moving, changing every second. Not a slow moving sunset that wouldn't give me a cheeky smile. I thoroughly enjoyed the change, and will no doubt give it a go again. But put a person in front of the pretty sunset, then that's absolute magic to me.




*Meaghan