Palanderbukta, Svalbard.
Phase One XF 150MP, Schneider Kreuznach LS 240mm f/4.5, f4.5 @ 1/1250 second, ISO 100.

Palander Bay was a surprise. With three circumnavigations around the archipelago this year, I visited many places for the first time. Mind you, I returned to some locations three times and they were completely different - so maybe it doesn't matter about going somewhere new. Whatever! As we walked up the hill towards the snow, the angle across the ice to the glacier and cliffs behind kept getting better and better. And the colour contrast between the sandy foreground and the vibrant blues of the compressed ice work beautifully - or so I think!

I'm planning to post a few photos from recent travels. I'm also planning to be more active with my photo book projects. Planning and projects are good. They make you do things by giving you an end point - and perhaps a deadline. I'm sure Better Photography magazine wouldn't happen every quarter without a deadline!

The same approach can be taken to travel photography. Let me explain...

FUJIFILM Australia is calling enthusiast photographers to enter the GFX Challenge Grant Program 2022.

The GFX Challenge Grant Program, sponsored by Fujifilm, will award 15 applicants from around the world regional and global grants to help aspiring creatives bring their imaging projects to life.

Apply for 1 in15 places for a grant of up to US$10,000 and a loaned GFX camera and two GF lenses to help you conduct your project.

Prepare and submit your Project Proposal including everything Fujifilm needs to know to evaluate your idea, like details about your image and/or video project, your objective and how the grant award would be used if you are successful. Submissions close on November 30^th, 2022.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with some of the world’s best mentors and GFX gear.

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Fogbow, Well North of Svalbard
Phase One XT 150MP, Rodenstock HR Digaron-W 32mm, f11 @ 1/250 second, ISO 50

I might be making an assumption that this photo is going to be a ‘crowd-pleaser’, something that lots of people ‘like’ or ‘love’, depending on the platform’s flavour. (Of course, a few people will read this paragraph and not like or love it, merely because I have suggested it’s a crowd-pleaser.)

But does it matter?

I like pleasing crowds. I get a kick out of a photo that gets lots of attention. I figure most photographers are the same – it’s human nature! However, the rational side of my personality tells me this is irrational thinking. I have no control over what others think about my work.

Last week, a regular reader and communicator gently suggested that the reflection of clouds in my photograph couldn’t be lighter than the subject itself – because that’s what happens in nature. This popular criticism of photographs using post-production may be factual, even though my grand-father told me it is better to be socially pleasant than statistically correct! But my reviewer has made a big assumption of his own.

Why do people think that my photographs (or the photographs of many other readers) are trying to be realistic?

I’d rather think my work is based on nature, with a Hollywood filter run over the top. I’m not trying to fool anyone that my work is authentic. I operate on the belief that people are well-educated about post-production. Look at the Google smart phone being advertised on television currently with its ‘content-aware’ fill feature. Should we expect any photograph we see today to be real?

Which brings me to the fogbow above. No, it didn’t look like this. In reality, we were in a thick sea-fog and there was just a hint of the fogbow’s structure to be seen, but through the magic and mysteries of post-production (think contrast and clarity), photography can describe something that was really there, just difficult to see with the human eye.

Does this make it authentic? Don’t ask me! I’m just a photographer.

Do I like the photo? Yes, but it’s not my favourite. And I’m sure I will spend the rest of my life trying to figure out why some photos I consider ‘seconds’ are rated higher by the general population than ‘my absolute favourites’. No need to answer me, just send money to cover my psychiatry appointments!