Registered the Business...

I am so excited to announce that "Nick Hanson Photography" is now a registered business, how cool is that?? Anyways I have been on the computer late designing a new business card and I am hoping to get it to the printers today. Check it out.



I haven't posted up many photos over the weekend because the boys decided to do a snow trip down to perisher. Considering it was june when we went we had great cover. I feel another trip coming along cus I seriously miss the white stuff. I will be posting up more photos this weekend so look out for that. Feel free to comment on my photos good or bad, I love hearing from you guys.

I know this is a bit of a late post about the Sydney Vivid Festival but I figured a few quick photos of what we saw a few weeks ago might interest someone in internet land. I also mentioned it to Bobby & Lindsay when they came over to oz, so enjoy guys.

I mentioned on the previous post that I got the opportunity to meet Bobby and Lindsay. What an amazing couple, completely warm and friendly and very easy to get along with. I really love meeting other photographers because it gets me all pumped and excited. I definitely will be shooting a lot more video after seeing some of the stuff Bobby has been shooting with his 5d2.

It was the first time i got to have a play with a tilt and shift (both the 24mm and 45mm). As I was flipping through the photos Bobby has on his blog, I noticed that the blur is quite apparent on the 24. When I got the chance to play with the 45 I was thrown back by the amount of blur, it had way more blur than the 24. I think it is a harder lens to use but it creates amazing images. The shots below were taken using the 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2 and ts-e 45mm.
Quite a number of the shots below were taken on the tilt and shift, if this is not your style I apologise but I could not help but feel like a little kid playing with a Tonka truck.

Yummy Elinchrom

So much has been happening that I have not had a chance to blog about it. I got to hang out with Bobby Earle last night and one of things he said is that he is a "5 day a week blogger" which got me thinking that I really need to get off my behind and start sharing some photographs with everyone.

So as promised todays shots below were taken at clifton, an hour and a half of sydney. We used Elinchrom Ranger Speed RX AS with A head firing into a Mola Setti 28" Silver Beauty Dish with white diffusion sock attached. Mounted on a c-stand triggered with skyports thanks to John from Vibrant Photography.

Lenses

Lenses, well its that time again when I blow some money on a nice new red ringed canon lens. The condenders are the 24 1.4L, 35 1.4L and the 50 1.2L. I used the 35 1.4L and I must admit I did like shooting with it, the 85 1.2L was the other lens I played with and by far its the best portrait lens I have shot with. This thing makes people look like supermodels I mean the bokeh is really smooth and skin tones are out of this world. Unfortunately it is out of my price range, so back on topic.

I wanted a lens that will be my "go to" lens, one that pretty much stays on the camera when I want to travel light. It's my new thing now, trying to shoot light and with minimal gear. Recently I got really into the whole shooting with flashes, so of course you need your triggers, umbrellas and light stands I mean it's a must right? Well no I found more and more wanting to shoot in natural light with no flashes, and actually making an effort to find locations where I shoot. A few people influnced this and I must say Nattnee and Ben probably got me rethinking the way I shoot. That ultimately part of the fun right? To try different techniques and to challenge yourself.

With the 3 lenses above here are my thoughts on them. The 24 1.4L, canons new 24 and it has been getting really good reviews on them. The thing I am after the next lens is something I can shoot candids, portraits, couple shots. I am a little worried this lens might be too wide for me. Also another thing I am wondering is if this lens has any barrel distortion. My 17-40 on a full frame (5dmk2) distorts like a freak at a circus on the edges of the frame. The 35 1.4 after using this lens I am leaning towards this a bit. I liked that I can shoot a little tighter to the subject than I normally do. It also creates really nice creamy bokeh. Doing a tight full portait is also possible with this lens. I couldnt see barrell distortion in this lens either. This would also be a great lens for indoors in tighter situations. Last but not least the 50 1.2L this is for quite a few wedding photographers the go to lens for them. I have however seen mixed reviews on the quality of the lens itself. I had a play with the 50 1.4 a few weeks ago and for the money this is a great lens. The bokeh is a bit harsh compared to the fast L's but its a lot better than the 50 1.8. I have heard of back focus issues with the 50 1.2L which is one of the reasons why I am a little hessitant. I will be going down to wollongong later this month for a workshop and I think I might drop by Gavins place and have a quick go at his 50 1.2L. I will update as soon as try it out. Anyways I figure blog posts are not fun without photos so here are a few pics from our trip to Japan.

World Press Photo

I went to world press photo on the weekend with ben, and had a great time looking at the photographs there. Which made me think how lucky we have it here in Australia. The things some people face and go through around the world is quite sad. The photographs ranged from the Ossetia military conflict to the Olympic games.

In the afternoon we went over to sydney park to meet a few friends who were taking photographs there. We did have a bit of rain but the light was quite good and soft.







At night I had my brothers 25th birthday. I took a few candid shots of the night but I do like this one of Katrina and Josh.

Gots me a new monitor !!!

You don't know how ecstatic I am right now, its black and all 24 inches of goodness. I picked myself up a HP LP2475w ips monitor and got it at an absolute crazy price thanks to a good friend of mine. I am still getting used to the monitor but I absolutely love it.

Here is one I edited last night on the new screen. I hope you guys like it because I think it's a sweet photo of Alicia.

Commuting

I'm on the train right now writing this, I figured I would take the opportunity to write a quick post and upload up a few photos that I took recently of Phil & Eileen. Great couple to photograph and we had lots of fun with the limited time that we had. The shots were taken at a park in northbridge. I was going for a "look" with these photos because some of them will be included in my couple portfolio. Generally I shoot more naturally with less post processing but I wanted to try a few different things with this. Enjoy.