Characters of Australia

F6.3 shutter speed 1/500 taken at 200mm with 18 - 200 mm Tamron.

There are wonderful shots to be taken when people are not posing. Somehow the naturalness of a turned head or slumped shoulders conveys such a lot about the person.

Two of the pictures included today are of men busy at the Australia Day event.

The first is of an axeman preparing his blade for the competition. He was seated in the shade with the sun just catching his hat and his shoulders but as the shot was taken in RAW I was able to pull up the dark shadows in ACR without blowing out the highlights. The fact that you cannot see this man's eyes does not worry me, the body language shows the concentration that would be in the eyes. The success of a woodchop depends very much on the keenness of the blade. This axe is a lethal weapon!

F 6.3 Shutter speed 1/500 also taken at 200mm with 18-200mm Tamron lens.

My second character is a smithy, he was working at an old forge so the heat must have been quite unbearable. He looks exhausted and he also looks quite typical of the men of the bush. A true outback character. I caught this shot of him as he turned from winding the handle of the mechanical bellows that blew air under the burning coals to heat the metal he was working on.

Finally a fun shot of a collection of mini characters who were only 30cm tall ....

F 6.3 Shutter speed 1/400 at the full tele end of the 18-200mm Tamron lens.

The piglets were all dressed up in their racing finery for a very special race that they ran once every hour. A dish of milk was placed at the end of the run which was arranged in the same way as the run we have to take to check in at the airport before flying anywhere! The piglets would be released from a small fenced off end of the run and since they had done this a few times already they knew there was a reward at the end of the trail so off they would trot with the audience calling out to their chosen pig but occasionally they would all turn around and head back the way they came! Everyone, including the piglets, enjoyed the fun!

AJ