Redcliffe View of Morton Bay Night Time Photography Series

A night time photography session of the Redcliffe view in Queensland, overlooking Morton Bay, produced some beautiful and moody images, thanks to the moonlight dancing in the sky and on the water, during April 2011. 


This original seascape photography series, some using time lapse shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds, capture the detail of the moon's dance on the water, giving the reflections an incredible amount of life that you don't normally expect to see in a night time photography set. 

Night time photography forces the viewer to find the beautiful detail in the smallest amount of light-filled space. Click on each image to view a larger edition of each photograph. All images have been produced to the highest quality possible, with granular elements removed, leaving a clean and crisp effect on some of these images, reminiscent (and having taken inspiration from) the Bill Henson style.

Produced by photographer Markham Lane, all images are Copyright 2011 Markham Lane. Non-watermarked copies of these night time photography images can be requested via Quaetapo Media at www.quaetapomedia.com or directly to Markham Lane at www.markhamimages.com.

Aerial phototography over Hawaiian Islands

A recent trip to Hawaii for the first time had us getting onbaord a doorless helicopter to capture these stunning aerial photography and landscape photography images of the Hawaiian coastline and surrounding mountain ranges.

 All images Copyright 2011 Markham Lane photography. All Rights Reserved.

Aerial photography really is an adventure ride for a photographer. Competing with the elements of movement, changing lighting conditions and the force of wind against the telephoto lens makes for an interesting experience. Add to that the lack of a helicopter door and just a harness to strap you in, you can appreciate the adrenalin rush that makes aerial photography my favourite type of photo shoot experience.

To combat the elements, I use a top range telephoto lens with an image stabilization unit. This helps to capture great quality aerial photography images without the shutter shake. Looking at the images during editing, I was amazed to see such increadible detail captured within the breaking waves.

Printed at A1 size, these aerial photography images would look amazing along the plain coridoors and walls of workspace offices and boardrooms. There's nothing like a unique perspective of our beautiful planet to enliven the senses and lift your spirits. Coupled with the Great Barrier Reef, Whitsunday Islands and Grand Canyon collections, these Hawaiian Islands landscape photography images are going to make for a delightful exhibition.

For more information about collecting archive quality prints or using these or any other aerial photography or landscape photography images in your next ad campaign, contact http://www.markhamimages.com/ or call his Agent at Quaetapo Media Pty Limited on +61-9332-2028.

Colours of Our Community™ Project

Original Post Published on 15th February 2011:
What do you think constitutes a good definition of the idea of "community"? Some people in the art circles will tell you it's nothing more than an excuse to produce "bad art" and that there's really no such thing as a community - it's just a human construct of the mind, like time.

Growing up, I pondered this very question. In our neighbourhood at the time of my teenage years, there were a large amount of "community services" being offered by the local council but I hardly felt that any of them related to me and my needs and so, I wasn't able to find identity within that. I kept looking for a definition of community that related to me.

Fast forward to the first year of my adult life and I find myself walking on the same street on which I was born. Crown Street, Surry Hills. There used to be a hospital there. On this day, it was a run-down, closed off to the public, decrepit building in need of a major renovation. I looked upon it, for the first time ever, as a curiosity. So this was where it all started. What did that mean to me?

Late for an appointment, I walked on and turned my attentions back to the client I was about to meet with. I had to present some creative concepts for promotional materials to be used for their next bacchanalian dance party.

And that's when I felt it. Somehow, for the first time, I felt a sense of belonging. It just felt right, being in that space. A sense of connection, not only to the hospital and the street it was on, but also for the creative people living and working in the area around it. That's when I began to see the colours of my community...

"Colours of Our Community" is a trademark of Quaetapo Media Pty Limited ABN 77 091 248 663

Additional Edit Published on 8th June 2016:

Many years later, at the start of the digital revolution in 2006, I picked up the camera again and began shooting, only this time it was a digital SLR. It was with a Canon of course, because they're simply the best kit on the market.

Guided by a conversation I had with one of my photography idols, the genius William Yang, I decided to embark on a photo essay of the local community in and around Oxford Street, the LGBTQI community in Sydney, their friends and supporters. It led me on many different paths - a fascinating ten year account of the personalities and events that make up the full spectrum of the colours of our community - and it presented many challenges along the way.

These challenges were both internal; with my own creativity, my confidence, my ego, with developing my own style, with exploring other styles and other forms of photography while honing my editing skills - and externally; the challenges of cashflow in a world drowned in a tsunami of image content, with balancing the needs of my significant other with the job at hand, with seeking recognition for my work and acceptance from my contemporaries, mentors and the wider community for my style which is sometimes labelled as "community art" which apparently carries little significance or described as "too commercial" and therefore not even worthy of the categorisation of the term "art".

Well, it is my form of photographic art and I pushed through regardless, knowing that my account of this ten year period has historical significance and while some pieces are fine-art worthy, others are editorial or commercial in nature and I'm ok with that.

Now I'm at the conclusion of this ten year journey, I'm preparing my first exhibition of the entire collection and publishing a book to accompany it. It's due for release in early 2017. And as it's a book about our community, I think it's only fitting and quite natural that the community could be called upon to help take the evolution of this concept into the light.

For now, if you could share this post with your networks, either on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or anywhere you think would make a difference, please go ahead. Later I will be offering pre-sales of the book to help fund the printing and shipping of the book and prints for the exhibition.

Love and light always,
Markham

Shot by Markham Lane photography

Portrait and lifestlye images, as Shot by Markham™ Markham Lane photography studio is located in Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst NSW in the Sydney Eastern Suburbs. The portrait photography and lifestyle images contained here have been used by my clients as actors headshots, business profiles, personal profiles, for their websites, social pages, portfolio and as a gift for mother's day or valentines day. Go to my website to view a larger selection of the Markham Lane portrait photography portfolio.

All images Copyright 2011 Markham Lane photography

http://www.markhamimages.com/

Shot by Markham™ is a trademark of Quaetapo Media Pty Limited.

http://www.quaetapomedia.com/

Sydney photographer Markham Lane provides portrait and lifestyle photography services.

Copyright 2011 Markham Lane. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.markhamimages.com/

A Photography Mosaic of Your Life, With Added Inspiration

In my life, photographic inspiration comes from many sources but the strongest visions ever generated, seem to come from interactions with my "creative muses". A photographer's muse provides a different level of inspiration than the standard person you meet. It's kind of spiritual - a deeper, heart-felt connection and an instant recognition that we have a shared understanding and perspective of the creative process. My creative muses are Adrian Van Winklehof, Kamini Morrish and Greg Ruggeri.

Here are three original artworks that pay homage to them, as "told" through a mosaic of images from my personal life.

All images are Copyright 2011 Markham Lane photography. All Rights Reserved.

My Links

I am building a new section to my blog for directory listings and relevant links. Here is the first one:
Photography Blog Directory

The Australian Blog directory is here: The Australian Index

My business partner has an interesting blog about things that inspire him about business and building e-commerce websites and SmartPhone Apps. Take a look at:
The Art of the Quiet Achiever

Our multimedia company is http://www.quaetapomedia.com/

I am constantly updating my Facebook page with relevant information about my latest photo shoot, video production or artwork in-progress. If you would like to see more images and less words, become a Fan and Find Us On Facebook

Creating an Original Artwork on Canvas: Process Anatomy

I think I tried to stuff too many jobs into this month and that's why my life has been so hectic for the past four weeks! Still, I think there's some benefit in providing you with an insight into what it takes to create an original artwork, printed on canvas, using photography as my paint brush. My latest creation, titled "Constructed Sydney" is the basis for this blog post.

Here is a copy of the final original artwork, which has now been printed with archival quality canvas and inks:

"Constructed Sydney" is an original artwork designed and signed by photographer artist, Markham Lane. Copyright 2010 Markham Lane photography. All Rights Reserved.

It all started with a brief from one of my favourite clients, to fill a space in the boardroom of his new office building, located at Sydney's Circular Quay. While the brief was simple enough; "Something with the Sydney Habour Bridge, in black and white, that matches the dimensions of the light-space in the room next door", producing something original, that I would be proud to sign my name on, filled me with dred.

It's the same every time ...and I think it's got something to do with my own high standards for creating art. Having spent years travelling the world, studying the greatest artists of all time, I want my work to somehow live up to my own ideal of what is "great". I want my work to be different, to be (at least) a little original. To have the Markham twist, telling a story, big picture, little picture.

He loved the idea of "photography as the paintbrush", which suits me at the moment given how my creative talents are in this zone. I came up with an overall concept - historic architectural Sydney, embedded within the structure of the Harbour Bridge - to which he agreed to take a chance on me and commissioned the artwork. 

While I tried to share with him the process to develop, he offered the only caveat - that he didn't really want to be involved in the artistic development on the final piece, "Not wanting to step on your creative license" was the way he put it. Well, that's a dream situation for an artist, so I entered into the process with gusto.

Here's a visual representation of the process, to make that concept come to life:

The first step was to collect an image of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, along with all the images of "historic architectural Sydney". You may not be able to see it here, but on the final artwork (210cm x 70cm) the entire canvas is covered by a title mosaic of buildings located in Sydney. Each tile is about 8cm x5cm. Some buildings were built recently, with others from as far back as the early 1800's.

Two months later, I had enough images collected to build the mosaic tile. All images were originally photographed in colour on blue sky days, (during a post-drought period, a blue-sky was difficult to arrange) as I still wanted to produce a colour version of the artwork, before completing the process for my client in moving to black and white.

Using Photoshop to merge image layers at high resolution made the "superMac" grind to a halt in the dying stages. Aparently the "scratch disks were full". Hell, I have no idea what that means either but there was a lot of tinkering with the computer by my awesome partner to get it working again. Three days later, and voi-la!!

Original artworks, printed on canvas, using photography as the paintbrush, is the realisation of my life's passion. In understanding the process anatomy, you get an opportunity to come into my world, to see what my crazy "Time is Art" philosophy is about and hopefully enjoy something great to look at too.

Markham Lane photography website is http://www.markhamimages.com/ and he can be contacted via his Agent, Quaetapo Media, on +61-2-9332-2028 for interested parties requiring any of his photography services.

Landscape photography - the latest addition to the "Sunrise Sunset" series.

In our busy lives, especially when we live in major population centres, getting an opportunity to reconnect with nature enlivens our spirits. I believe it is this condition that makes the appeal of landscape photography so undeniable. Add to that the heady mix of a colourful sunrise or sunset and you end up capturing a landscape photography image worthy of archival printing.

Copyright 2010 Markham Lane - All Rights Reserved

Here is the latest example added to my landscape photography series, "Sunrise Sunset". This image was captured by me on Saturday 16th October 2010 up at Lake Munmorah. Looking over the lake, the sun sets behind a disused coal-fuelled power station.

I love the juxtaposition of this image. The manmade objects overpowered by the full force of nature helps to put us and our existance, into perspective.

More landscape photography examples of my work can be found on my website.